“No. I can’t move. My body doesn’t work anymore.”
Will’s hand brushes affectionately over my hairline, pushing my sweaty hair away from my face. “Why didn’t you call me to come take care of you? Or Noah?”
I grimace. “And risk getting any of you sick? No way. I’ll be fine. I have a doctor’s appointment in an hour.”
“Good. But how do you plan on getting there?”
“I’ll hitch a ride on the back of a turtle.”
“Very practical,” he says with the backs of his fingers lingering against my neck. “Let’s get you off the floor, sunshine.”
Sunshine. Am I hallucinating or did Will just call me by the sweetest name my ears have ever heard?
Will’s strong arms scoop under my bare thighs and back, lifting me off the floor and carrying me to my room, where I’m deposited gently on the bed. I’m immensely grateful for the gently part because my head feels like it’s going to explode. I would be able to appreciate all of this tenderness so much more if I wasn’t near death. Unfortunately.
I hear Will shuffle around through my closet for a minute and then return to my feet. “Annie, I’m going to slide these pants on you so I can take you to the doctor, okay? Can you give me a sign of life that it’s all right for me to help like this?”
I grunt an affirmative, and then Will gently tugs my feet and legs into my PJ bottoms. He slides them all the way up my body until they’re sitting below my hips. I use the last of my strength to lift my butt so he can slide them the rest of the way. The strange thing is, I’m the most modest person you’ll ever meet, but I don’t feel the least embarrassed that he’s seeing me half naked. I trust him in a way I shouldn’t. In a way that I know is just going to hurt me later when he reminds me he’s not the relationship type. That he hates marriage. That he’s absolutely not returning the feelings I’ve caught.
* * *
—
The sun is down and I’m feeling more like myself and a little less like a walking corpse. Will took me to the doctor, where I was diagnosed with a sinus and double ear infection. After bringing me back home and tucking me into bed, he went to the pharmacy and picked up my antibiotics. I took them and then slept for the entire day, thinking I’d wake up to a lonely house again, but instead, I leave my room to find Will in my kitchen…cooking.
“What are you doing?” I croak out—immediately reprimanded by my seriously dry sore throat.
He frowns lightly and comes around the kitchen island to put his hand on my forehead again. “Seems like your fever broke. That’s good. Medicine must be working.”
I lightly push his hand away because all I want to do is lean into it. “Will, what are you still doing here?”
“Making dinner.” He turns back to the pot he was stirring. It smells good enough to rival one of Maddie’s soups. “You should go sit down. I’ll bring you a bowl in a few minutes.”
I want to cry. My usually well-guarded feelings are sitting on the top of my skin, exposed and raw. “No. I mean what are you still doing here? As in…you shouldn’t still be here.”
“Why not?”
“Because…because!”
“You don’t say?”
I slump and wrap my arms around myself for extra comfort and stability, because, yes, the medicine is working, but I still feel like a bus ran over me. I can’t tell Will that he shouldn’t be here because we’ve kissed three times and they were all so good that I really think I’m going to need a fourth. Or even worse, that I want him to stay and talk and snuggle and laugh with me all night.
After Hank’s, I told myself I was going to take a step back from Will because if we continued on that trajectory we were on, it would spell disaster and heartache for me. So no texting. No potential run-ins. No practice anythings until I could wipe the feel of his lips from my brain and his smile from my heart because I’m starting to severely doubt my ability to keep Will in the casual category, where he wants to belong. And now here he is, making everything more complicated with soup.
“You’ll catch my cold. You need to go.”
He narrows his eyes while looking around the countertops. “Do you have any pepper around here?” His butterfly flutters all around the kitchen.
“You should be at work.”
“I looked in the spice cabinet, but it’s not there.”
“I found antennae growing out of my head.”