Page 79 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve

He knew I liked ice water? I tried to remember; we’d rarely shared meals. Other than that recent one, at his house.I swallowed painfully, realizing most people liked ice water, so this didn’t signify. “Uh, why not just, I don’t know, put the ice in the water then?”

“Because I didn’t know if you’d want it now or if you’d get chills or something,” he said while handing me the cold medicine. “So, ice or no?”

“Uh, no?”

When had anyone ever been so thoughtful to me? Other than maybe Julia. Imust be hallucinating.

“Hallucinating?” Jeff asked. “It’s that bad?”

I said that out loud? Was I?

“Oh, I—no. I’m fine. I saidhungry.”

“You did not,” he said under his breath. “OK, what do you want to eat? Soup? Crackers?”

“Boring food, you mean,” I said with a laugh.

“Yes, sick woman food.”

“Sickwomanfood? Are you saying that men don’t eat the same kinds of things when they’re sick?”

He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “No. I just haven’t been around a lot of men when they’re sick.”

In an accusing tone that would probably embarrass me later when I remembered it, I asked, “Oh, but you’ve taken care of a lot of other sick women?”

His eyebrows rose a bit. “No, only my mother and sister.”

“Oh. Right.”

What an absolute idiot I was. I was never going to be able to show my face at the office again after today.

“I’ll go find you something to eat that isn’t too boring,” he said, about to turn around.

“Oh, hey, wait!” I called, probably louder than I thought. “Why did you say Hazel sent you over?”

“She said it was really urgent that we finish reviewing the legal resource list by Monday at the latest.” His shoulders lifted briefly. “I don’t know why it’s so urgent. But here I am.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to look at workstuff yet. I’m not—”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. Just get better and rest, Roxy. After you eat, you can go to sleep for as long as you want.” He darted out of the room, and I stared after him.

What onearthwas going on? And why was Ithistired?

Chapter 21

As my eyesfluttered open, I was assaulted by a piercing yellow light and immediately squeezed them shut. I grasped blindly at the covers to pull them over my face, feeling something oddly warm and firm that must have been part of my body I wasn’t yet registering.

Because thinking was hard.

I groaned and decided to stay under the blanket until that blasted sun went down—or at least until it stopped streaming through my window.

As I tried to get comfortable, my elbow connected with something solid, and I yelped.

What hard object did I leave on the bed? Maybe a hardcover book. It wouldn’t be the first time.

I stuck my hand out again to push the object away, but it was surprisingly heavy, weighing the blanket down.

A throat cleared.

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