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“I need my hand, Kieran. Try this.” I softly lay the cooling pack on top of his head. His grip around my wrist loosens.

"That’s good.” His eyebrows crease. “Wait. What are you doing here, anyway?" He tilts his head and stares at me with a confused frown.

"Well, first I came here to ask you about social media for the shelter." I look around the living room and find the same blanket I handed him on his porch draped over one of the armchairs. “You’re the person to ask, I hear.”

“Oh, did you now?” He attempts to wriggle his eyebrows, which ends with a pained groan and him repositioning the pack. “Did you watch it?” He’s slowly sliding further down the couch, and I think it’s time he got some proper sleep.

"Dick, get off the couch."

First, the golden retriever stares at me with what I'm pretty sure is a ‘You're not my real mom’ kind of defiance.

But I can wait. For a minute, I keep pointing at the ground, meet his eyes, and ten seconds later, he takes the hint and hops off the couch, only to curl up by Kieran’s feet. It’s cute how protective he is of his owner.

"You're a dog whisperer," Kieran says in awe and pulls his legs onto the couch, letting himself flop sideways.

"Nah, I'm just strict." I chuckle and tuck him in. "Did the medicine stay in?" Kieran nods and hugs a pillow to his chest. “Good.” Absentmindedly, I run my fingers through his hair. "Try to sleep some more, Kieran. I'll rustle around a bit in your kitchen, okay?"

But he's drifting off.

Rose follows me into the kitchen, but Dick remains right where he is, next to his owner.

"Okay," I whisper to Rose and let my eyes wander over his kitchen. "Let's see if I can find everything I need."

By the time Kieran stirs, there's a freshly made soup cooling on the stove and I found the glasses. I also did more social media research and marked down more ideas for ours, and researched accountants in the area to reach out to.

Currently, I'm throwing a bunch of vegetables and fruit into his expensive looking blender.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," I can't help but tease him. He trudges into the kitchen with sluggish movements, as if he’s walking against hurricane winds, a blanket around his shoulders like a cape, and Dick won't move more than ten centimeters away from him.

"You’re still here.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” I throw his words from before back at him, hoping he’ll remember.

“Ha. Ha.” I grin. He definitely remembers. “What's that?" Kieran nods at the blender skeptically.

"Vitamins," I declare, and throw a piece of carrot in there for good measure.

"I can see that." He stares at it as if it’s poisonous, jaw tight and nose crinkling in disgust. He can find it disgusting all he wants. He’ll still have to drink it.

In his blender are a bunch of apples, oranges, berries, and cucumbers. Spinach and all the other disgusting and good stuff Wayward Hollow’s supermarket had available are in there, with remaining pieces of them scattered around the counter.

"This," I put the lid on, "is the cold remedy my parents swear by." The loud whirring sound makes Kieran wince and rub his temples.

"Sorry about that." I move the blender around so the blades can get all the pieces. "But trust me, it will make you feel better."

I check my watch. It's been a few hours since he took the medicine, so he should be okay to take more.

"Here." I slide the bottle toward him over the kitchen island.

He grimaces, still fixated on the blender, and blindly grabs the bottle. "I doubt it."

I shoot him the same glare I gave his dog to get him off the couch. “Shut up and take your medicine, Kieran.”

"Okay, okay." He turns the bottle in his hands to find the dosage line, and I trust him enough to take the correct one.

Meanwhile, I grab two glasses out of his cupboard, filling them with the freshly created smoothie. I lovingly call it the smoothie of doom.

"Ugh, this is disgusting." Kieran shakes his head after drinking the medicine, then promptly winces once he notices it's not the best move to make when you have a headache.