Sweet Sunshine (15 page)

Erin laughed and pulled a key from her apron pocket. “Okay. There’s a stairwell in the hall if you go through the kitchen. You can go that way instead of taking the outside stairs if you want.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I turned back to Eliza, who was comfortably sitting on one of the barstools. “You okay here for a few, baby girl? I’m just gonna run up and check on Miss Chloe for a minute.”

She looked at me with a calculating little girl grin. “If I can have a cupcake for breakfast, I’m totally cool.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You get
one
cupcake. If I find out you snuck two, you can kiss that pink bedroom goodbye.” I turned back to Erin and stressed, “She gets
one
cupcake.”

Erin turned to Eliza and I heard in a conspiratorial tone as I headed around the counter, “We’ll just have to make sure to give you one
big
cupcake, huh?”

Eliza giggled and I caught myself smiling even as I rolled my eyes and pushed through the door into the kitchen, ignoring the curious stares as I made my way up to Chloe.

As I slipped the key into the lock, my chest squeezed. It wasn’t that same, enjoyable feeling from the night before. It was something uncomfortable and unsettling. “Chloe?” I called as I pushed the front door opened and stepped across the threshold. “You here, sunshine?” No answer. I made my way farther into her place, my gut twisting at her lack of response. The apartment was open so I was able to see the sheet of her unmade bed, a mangled mess, half on, half off the mattress.

“Shit,” I muttered, that twisting in my gut growing exponentially, panic setting in. “Chloe. Where the hell are you?”

A moan sounded through the apartment, behind the only door in the entire apartment. Rushing in that direction, I shoved the door open and froze in place at the unsuspecting sight of Chloe curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor near the toilet.

“I threw up,” she slurred in a small voice.

“Oh, baby,” I said quietly as I fell down to my knees beside her. The rush of relief coursing through my blood at the realization she was okay warred with a concern I’d never felt for anyone but Eliza before. “I can see that.” Reaching up, I flushed the toilet and guided Chloe to sitting. Her skin was still uncomfortably hot to the touch as I brushed her matted hair from her damp forehead. “We need to get you up, sunshine. I need to get you to the hospital.”

“No.” She batted at my hands weakly. “No hospital. I’ll be fine.”

Despite the ticking in my jaw at her stubborn behavior, I somehow managed to speak in a calm voice. “Chloe, you have vomit in your hair and you’re still running a fever. This isn’t a goddamned head cold.”

“No hospital,” she continued to argue. “They smell funny.”

Somehow, by the grace of God, I managed to refrain from commenting that they couldn’t smell any worse than she did right at that moment. As I helped her off the floor I came up with another idea, because despite the fact I couldn’t seem to get my head straight where this woman was concerned, I knew there was no way in hell I’d be able to leave her apartment knowing the condition she was in. “Fine, no hospital. But your only other option is to come home with me. Either way, you’re leaving here, whether I have to throw you over my shoulder or not.”

“Derrick,” she sighed.

“Chloe,” I growled in a warning tone. Then, miraculously, the fight washed out of her. “Fine. But I need a shower. I can smell myself.”

“You need help or you think you can do it yourself?”

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, seeing as she was running a fever and, from the looks of it, had just thrown up the entire contents of her stomach, but she still managed to shoot me a killing look as she answered, “I can do it. Go away.”

I failed at masking my chuckle as she gave my chest a pathetic shove. “Fine. I’m gonna run down and tell Eliza what’s going on. I’ll only be a second. You sure you’re all right by yourself?”

“Yes. Just need to get clean.” Then she slammed the bathroom door in my face.

Chloe

THE SHOWER HAD
helped, but hardly. My head felt like it was about to fall off my shoulders, and my entire body felt like I was moving through cement. That, coupled with the body-wracking chills and pain radiating throughout my entire body made me less than happy as I pulled the bathroom door open and came to a halt at the sight of Derrick rummaging through my underwear drawer. To be fair, I’d always been a
horrible
patient when I was sick.

“What the hell are you doing, perv? Stop touching my underwear!”

“Relax, crazy,” he responded, turning from my drawer to a bag he must have found in my closet, and tossing the clothes inside. “I’m packing you a bag so you have everything you need at my place…” he trailed off as his eyes came up and landed on me. “Fuck me,” he groaned in a pained voice as his gaze raked up and down my towel-clad body. I tried to tell myself that the goosebumps were from the fever and not his penetrating stare, but God knew I was lying.

“Uh…” he stumbled before grabbing something off the bed and extending it my way. “You should get dressed,” he waved the yoga pants and t-shirt at me. “You don’t want to get any sicker.”

I took the clothes from his hand and made my way back into the bathroom. Once I finished dressing and tying my damp hair in a knot at the top of my head, my energy was tapped out. Dropping down onto the closed toilet seat, I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to stop the spinning in my head and the rolling in my stomach. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever felt so sick.

There was a faint knock on the bathroom door, followed by Derrick’s low, enticing voice. “Sunshine?”

“Hmm?” I hummed, keeping my eyes closed as the door creaked open. It wasn’t until I felt the rough pads of his fingers skimming from my temple to my jaw that I opened them and met his warm hazel eyes, filled with so much concern.

“Let’s get you out of here so you can rest, sweetheart.”

All I could do was nod, so I didn’t have it in me to protest when he scooped me up into his arms and carried me from the bathroom. “My purse,” I said… or at least I think I did. My mouth moved, but I wasn’t sure if I was actually forming words or not.

“I got it, sweetheart,” his chest rumbled against my cheek as he spoke. “I have everything you need. Just relax and let me take care of you.”

As my eyelids fluttered shut and I snuggled into the heat of his chest, the last thought I had before my body fell into sleep was: It was nice to finally have someone to take the burden off my shoulders for once.

I HAD NO
clue how long I was out. I didn’t recall anything after Derrick lifted me off the toilet seat and carried me through my apartment. I opened my eyes to the sound of voices and had to blink some of the fog away. The bed I was in was
huge
, the mattress plush and felt like a cloud. Definitely not my own. Not that my mattress was anything to sneeze at, but it didn’t hug my body, that was for damn sure.

“You sure there’s nothing else you can do for her?”
Derrick’s voice
. Then I remembered Derrick’s ultimatum, either go home with him so he could take care of me, or go to the hospital.

“She’s gonna be just fine, son.” I finally got my bearings enough to notice Derrick and Dr. White standing a few feet away from me. I’d known Dr. White my whole life. He was the town doctor and, in a town as small as Pembrooke, made house calls on a regular basis. His name was fitting, considering the shock of white hair on his head and the full-on Santa beard he sported. He had a gentle, friendly demeanor and everyone in town loved him, even the small kids who were afraid of needles but forced to go in for their annual vaccinations. You couldn’t look at the man who was a cross between St. Nick and Colonel Sanders and not love him.

“Give her the Tamiflu when she wakes up, Tylenol for the fever, and keep her hydrated. She’ll be back to her normal self in no time.”

I blinked my eyes as Derrick’s chest rose and fell with a large sigh, almost as if he was relieved to hear what Dr. White was saying. Then, “Thank Christ for that. Woman’s stubborn as hell when she’s sick. I lost count of how many times I wanted to wring her neck.”

Now I
know
I heard that right. “Uh, laying right here, you know,” I grumbled. “I can hear you.”

Dr. White laughed. “You act like he’s lying. Known you all your life, Chloe. A ray of sunshine on most days, but when you’re sick, you’re a downright pain in the ass, girl. Horrible patient.”

“Thanks,” I deadpanned, or at least tried my best, seeing as I still felt like crap and had trouble concentrating on much else. I pushed myself up to sitting and rested my back against the headboard.

“Try not to give Deputy Anderson too hard of a time, Chloe,” the doctor told me, earning himself a scowl. “I know you’re in a hurry to get better, so rest and meds. Don’t overdo it, or I’ll stick you in the hospital just for fun.”

He wasn’t joking, either. Sure, Dr. White was sweet, but if a patient didn’t take their wellbeing seriously, they got to see a whole new side of the old man. A side I wasn’t too keen to see, so I gave him a muttered, “Yes, sir.”

“Tamiflu twice a day for five days, with food. You can quit the Tylenol as soon as your fever breaks and stays down. Water and sleep. I’ll be checking on your progress with Deputy Anderson since I know you well enough not to trust you as far as I can throw you.”

“I can feel the love from here,” I frowned. “Stop, it’s too much. You’ll make me cry.”

Dr. White laughed again and turned for the door, Derrick following behind. “I see what you’re saying about being a horrible patient,” he said in a not-so-quiet voice.

“Can still here you!”

“Didn’t say it quietly, sunshine,” he shot over his shoulder as he walked the doctor out. Once alone, I let my eyes scan my surroundings. I’d never been to Derrick’s house before, and what I saw definitely wasn’t what I would imagine for a single guy living alone, child or not. The walls were painted the softest dove gray to contrast the dark navy bedding on the king-sized bed. The bedframe, dresser, and nightstands were all made of a dark, rich cherry wood, almost the same color as the wood flooring. And he had a massive cream-colored area rug —
an area rug
, for crying out loud — that stretched from under the bed, all the way across the room, stopping just feet from the stone hearth of the fire place.

The room was impeccably decorated, and I thought to myself, if this was what the guest room looked like, I couldn’t imagine just how amazing the master bedroom was. But none of those details — stone fireplace included — were the most stunning feature. That went to the view beyond the glass French doors on the far left wall, beyond the cozy little deck built off what looked to be the side of the house. Nothing but forest and mountains as far as you could see.

It was absolutely breathtaking.

Derrick’s view was what people all over the country traveled to our tiny mountain town to see. You couldn’t look at a view like that, all lush and green, and not be moved by it. It was tranquil, peaceful, nature at its most beautiful, and I instantly fell in love with it.

“I brought you some toast, sunshine” Derrick said, pulling me from the amazing sight beyond the French doors. “Doc said you had to take the meds with food, so—”

“Derrick… the view,” I sighed dreamily.

“Yeah,” he smiled, his eyes following mine out the doors. “No such thing as a bad morning when you wake up every day to that.”

Wait… “This is
your
room?”

The mattress dipped under his weight as he sat on the bed, his back to the fireplace so he was facing me. “Yep,” he answered, sitting the plate of toast on my lap and reaching up to press his palm to my forehead. He held it there for longer than necessary to gauge a person’s temp before those rough fingertips skated down, down, down, past my temple all the way to my collar bone. It was the type of touch you expected to feel from someone who wasn’t simply a friend. “Only two other rooms in this place. One’s Eliza’s, and the other’s an office, slash gym, slash storage room. Didn’t think you’d appreciate sleeping on the futon in there.”