Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Do you want me to help you sit up?”
Opening my eyes, I saw her standing there. Next to her was one of my TV trays with a plate of food on it and a tall glass of water.
“Nah, I got it,” I said, pushing myself up. “The room is spinning.”
Clare moved the TV tray in front of me, then held her hand out. “First, let’s take some Tylenol for that fever.”
I took the pills and the offered glass of water. The cold felt good going down my throat.
“After you eat, I’ll give you the other medicine.”
Nodding, I focused on the plate in front of me. I blinked a few times then looked up at her.
“You got me Greek food?”
She smiled. “I did. A friend of mine owns a Greek restaurant and they owed me a pretty big favor, so I called it in. He was closed today, but made an exception for me.”
“How did you know what I liked?” I asked as I looked down at the food. There were actually two plates on the tray. One had hummus and pita bread on it. The other had a chicken gyro and fries. A small Greek salad was in a smaller bowl.
When I glanced back up at her, she gave a one-shoulder shrug. “You mentioned it one time and I remembered.”
I blinked at her several times. Clare had remembered such a small detail, and that knowledge did something strange to my chest.
“Thank you, Clare. I don’t think anyone has ever done anything so nice for me before.”
She waved off my comment. “I’m sure that’s not true. I’m going to go get my food and I’ll join you out here.”
I wasn’t about to wait for her to come back. I was starving and dug into the fries first. The more I ate, the better I started to feel.
“I thought you were my mother,” I said when Clare returned with her food, the same exact thing I had. She pulled her legs up onto the chair across from the sofa and pulled the tray to her.
“Rory told Jennifer she was going to make up some leftovers and bring them to you. When I offered to do it, your mom took the phone and thanked me over and over for taking care of her, and I quote, ‘Baby boy’, and on Thanksgiving Day, no doubt.” Clare grinned. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was sitting alone in my apartment about to heat up a chicken pot pie.”
I smiled. “You probably just made my mother add you to the list of potential people I should marry.”
Clare paused her chewing for a moment, then rolled her eyes. Once she was finished, she swallowed and said, “Why do our mother’s feel like it’s their duty to try and set us up? Or think they’re in charge of our love life.”
“Beats me. Does she do it with your brother as well?”
Shaking her head, Clare replied, “Nope. She said because he’s in the military it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to settle down just yet.”
I put my gyro down. “So that’s what I have to do to get my mother off my back…join the military?”
Laughing, she simply shook her head and studied me. “How are you feeling?”
“A little bit better.”
“Now that you have some food in your stomach, you can take the other medicine.”
My eyes traveled over her face before catching her gaze. “Thank you for coming over, Clare.”
A shy smile appeared on her beautiful face. “You’re welcome. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay until your fever comes down some.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
We finished our food and Clare cleared our plates. She returned with a cup of nasty ass medicine and took my temperature again. When she frowned, I asked her if it had gone down any.
“No. Would you be willing to take a lukewarm bath to see if it will come down some. I think it might relax you some as well.”
“Honestly, Clare, I don’t have the energy to take a bath.”
She chewed on her lip. “I can help you.”
I raised a brow. “Is this your way of trying to see the goods?”
Her face turned bright red. “No!”
Laughing, I replied, “Liar.”
“Wes, you’re sick and I’m not interested in seeing your…goods.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
She stood and walked up to me. “When was the last time you changed clothes?”
“Yesterday.”
“Tell me what you want to wear, and I’ll get it all ready, then start the bath. We’ll want to move rather quickly because I don’t want the water to get cold and you start shaking. It will make your fever go up.”
I stood and followed her into my bedroom. “How do you know all of this?”
Glancing over her shoulder at me, she winked. “I’ve been sick before, and my mother has taken care of me. Surely you’ve had the flu before and your mother took care of you.”