Page 56 of Wish You Would

God.This is humiliating. All of it. My hair needs to be washed, I’m not wearing a stitch of makeup, I swear I must look green, and let’s not forget that he found me picking up groceries off the ground in the middle of the busiest beach in Reed Point. I’m a gigantic mess.

The warm Reed Point breeze hits me almost as soon as we start walking home. I close my eyes hoping the nausea will pass but it only makes it worse. By the time we finally make it back to Haven Harbor, I’m feeling even worse.

I make it to the kitchen, where I immediately start to put away the groceries. I can feel Holden studying me. He must notice that I’m about three seconds from getting physically ill.

“Briar, you look pale. Are you feeling okay?” His expression and the tone of his voice has softened.

“Not really. I think I have the flu.”

Before I even know what is happening, Holden is beside me, one hand on my forehead, the other on the back of my neck. “I think your temperature is okay, but you’re getting into bed. You’re sick, Bee. You need to rest.”

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not.” He wraps an arm around my shoulder and then guides me down the hall and up the few stairs to my bedroom. I stand beside the bed, shivering, as he pulls the duvet back and then gently motions me into bed and pulls the cover up over me.

“I’ll be right back,” he says, turning and leaving me in the room by myself.

When he returns in a few minutes, he has a wet cloth in his hand that he places on my forehead.

“Thank you. That actually feels good.”

“You’re welcome. What have you eaten today?”

“You don’t have to—”

“I can feed you, Bee. It’s not a hardship.” He picks up a pillow from the other side of the bed and shoves it behind my back, making me extra comfortable. In a daze, I notice Bear has jumped up on the bed and nuzzled herself next to my feet.

“I had tacos at the beach. I’m not hungry, but thank you,” I sigh. I have absolutely no energy left in me to banter with him, which disappoints me. “I need to just sleep off whatever virus I picked up.”

“You need to at least drink something and stay hydrated. Fluids will help you feel better faster,” he says before disappearing from the room again.

I close my eyes when the room goes quiet, wishing I wasn’t feeling this way. I only open them when I feel a warm hand run softly over the apple of my cheek.

There’s a beat of silence. For the first time in weeks, a smile tips the edges of his lips. He removes his hand from my cheek, and I want to ask him to put it back. Instead, he glances at something on the nightstand. “Here, I brought you orange juice, and ice water. I wasn’t sure which one you’d prefer.”

My heart flutters in my chest at the way he’s looking at me— I can see the care and concern shining in his eyes.

“You should sleep.”

“I’m not sure I can. I slept all morning.”

He adjusts the towel on my forehead before he walksacross the room to the dresser and grabs my laptop. He brings it over, fluffing the pillows against the headboard and then climbing on top of the duvet. The mattress dips with the weight of his 6-foot-one frame.

“What are you doing, Holden? I don’t want you to get sick. Trust me, you don’t want to feel like this.”

“I appreciate that, but I’ll be fine.”

“What about Bear? You can’t be in here.”

“Briar, I’ll be fine. I took an allergy pill a second ago.” Holden’s eyes flick to my cat. “Why did you call her Bear, anyway? It’s kind of a weird name for a cat.”

I laugh. “The day I got her, a friend came over to visit and brought her dog, which is big, a cross between a Lab and a Bernese Mountain Dog. I was trying to get Bear back in her carrier because I didn’t want her to get scared, but she hid under the couch. A while later, me and my friend were having coffee at the kitchen table and the cat comes crawling out from under the couch, walks straight up to the dog and swats it on the nose with her paw. That’s when I decided on Bear. She’s cute, but she’s tough—or at least she thinks she is.”

Holden smiles, looking impressed. “Note to self: don’t mess with Bear.”

“Not if you value your life,” I grin.

Holden opens the screen on the computer. “I’ll watch a movie with you, then I’ll make you some soup.”

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