Page 26 of Fighting For You
“What?” I finally asked when he didn’t say anything.
“You are not leaving here while you’re febrile and hacking and ill.”
I was sick enough I didn’t feel the usual magma-level rage erupt at his tone, but I wasn’t dead, so… “No. That’s exactly why I need to get home and leave you in peace.”
I dropped my head to stare at the plate of toast balanced in my lap, begging myself to finish the slice so I’d have a little more in my system to make the drive.
Thick, cool fingers urged my chin up, up, and over toward him before releasing me when our eyes met.
“You are not leaving here. There’s a foot of snow from the freak storm and you can’t drive in this condition. You’ll stay here until you’re better.”
I studied his stern face in the shadows. After a moment, he took the plate and set it on the coffee table, then stood and held out a hand.
“What?”
“You’re coming to the bed. You can’t keep sleeping on a leather couch with a fever.”
Then, as though in a dream, I watched myself place a hand in his and rise on shaking legs, felt his arm loop aroundmy waist and support me down the hallway, then lower me to the bed in a quaint, clean room.
“Get some more sleep. I’ll be in to check on you again in a few hours.”
Then he flipped off the light, pulled the door nearly shut, and I was alone.
And since none of this made sense—none of it could be parsed out or solved, and stretching out on the bed felt so good, I lay down and slept.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jude
Jess spent most of the day sleeping, then she’d cough so hard she’d nearly gag and slump back against the pillows clutching her ribs. I hadn’t been truly sick in years but remembered how that kind of cough could make you ache.
Doc finally called me around noon.
“Sorry, I’m just now getting back, I was in a meeting. How is she now?”
I’d texted him last night and he’d responded, advising Tylenol for the fever and monitoring, plus fluids and rest. As her cough ramped up, I’d been in touch. The snow kept coming, which wasn’t entirely unusual for a fluke late October storm, but I could really go for not setting any records. It was an hour’s drive back to Silverton and we were at a higher elevation here. The snow was likely worse up this way, plus the roads wouldn’t be plowed. I could getus down in my truck, though I didn’t have chains this early in the season…what a mess.
“Her fever was down when I checked an hour ago, but she seems to have chills—keeps piling on blankets whenever she wakes up. She’s coughing a lot and just looks miserable.”
All the raging about her showing up at my cabin had come to an abrupt halt when she’d passed out last night, but I couldn’t help but feel she shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be the one to see her like this. When she was conscious and well again, she’d hate having been stuck here with me.
A pained moan followed by a round of coughing came from the bedroom and Adam must’ve heard it, too.
“Biggest concerns are the fever getting too high, dehydration, and adjacent complications which we don’t need to worry about. I’m guessing it’s flu since Cookie had it, but who knows. If that’s the case, the best thing you can do is keep her hydrated, keep up with the meds, and if her fever pops up and won’t come down, you’ve got to do a lukewarm bath to get it down.”
Anxiety pulled every muscle in my body tight and I didn’t respond—couldn’t have found words for all the money in the world.
A bath. Give Jessica Korbel, a woman who actively hated me and thought of me as her enemy and ruiner of her happiness, a bath.
Sure, Doc! No problem! That is totally a thing I can do without losing my mind or making her feel like I’ve crossed every possible boundary a woman can have.
Maybe if it was someone else… Kenny? Even Catherine, if it had to be a woman. It wouldn’t befun, but I’d take care of a friend. But… Jess?
I swallowed hard, wondering if I was coming down withthe same thing she had. Maybe that accounted for this nausea and dread and stark feeling ofI cannot do this.
“You can do this, okay? She’s going to be okay. Snow should clear in a day or two, and I bet she’s through the worst of it within the next twelve hours or so, based on what Cookie said.”
I grunted, still no words at the ready, heart still galloping and breaths still short.
