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“Sorry,” I say as I answer, not bothering with formalities. “I’m not going to be able to make it this afternoon, either. Still fighting off something.”
“It’s no problem, we can put off the closing until Monday. I just hope you feel better soon.” Chase is as understanding as he’s been all week, but that doesn’t make me feel better.
Nothing makes me feel better—not hot showers or Tylenol or sleep or any of the movie suggestions Ashton has texted me in an attempt to help me pass the time in my sick bed. Not even our chef’s special curried chicken soup, the one that has always nipped any malady in the bud in the past, can beat this virus or whatever the hell it is.
“I’m probably dying,” I mutter as I say goodbye and end the call. “A slow, lame death that will bore us all to tears before I finally succumb to the inevitable.”
“Could be,” Luke says from his place on the opposite couch, where he and his wife, Holly Jo, are snuggled up, ready for their own movie binge in the main room.
They’re having a low-key Valentine’s Day at the mansion, their home away from home. They’re planning to watch movies, have an indoor picnic by the fireplace, and play the new pinball machine Luke ordered for the game room when he found out Holly loved vintage pinball.
“Or you’re just being a big, stubborn baby,” Luke adds, making my head jerk his way in time to see Holly slap him on the arm. “What?” Luke asks his wife. “You’re the one who said it was all in his head.”
“I did not,” Holly says, turning to me with a sheepish smile. “I said it was all in your heart. I think you might be lovesick.”
I snort. I adore my sister-in-law but she can get a little woo-woo every now and then. “I wish,” I say with a hoarse laugh. “But I’m afraid this is the real deal. My throat’s been sore for days.”
“Because you won’t call Kayley and work this out,” Holly says. “You’re making your throat hurt by holding in all the things you want to say. Things like… ‘I adore you’ and ‘let’s date’ and ‘here, have that mountain I stole from you, you deserve it.’”
“I didn’t steal it,” I say with a frown, hating that the words feel like a lie. “I landed it fair and square. And the only thing I want to say to Kayley is that it hurts like hell that she was only sleeping with me for a chance at that property.”
Holly nods. “Exactly, it hurts your throat and your body and your head. You’re so hurt, you’d making yourself physically ill, which is a shame because I really think this is all a big misunderstanding.”
“I agree,” Luke says. “I saw Kayley at the Kountry Store yesterday while I was buying Valentine’s Day candy. She looked miserable. Her eyes were all red.”
“She’s lovesick, too, I bet,” Holly whispers.
“Or we caught the same cold while we were out at The Stone Mallard for dinner,” I say, ever the voice of logic in my increasingly odd family. Luke used to be a level-headed human, but Holly opened his mind and heart so wide he indulges her in ways I never could have imagined before.
Lovesicknessisn’ta thing. I’m legitimately ill.
It doesn’t matter that the thought of talking to Kayley makes my throat feel better than it has in days. This is still ridiculous and I’m not going to be talking to anyone any time soon. I’m going back up to my sick bed and rewatching The Hangover. The chaos of that movie is what I need right now to keep my mind off the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m alone again.
“I’ll see you both tomorrow,” I say as I rise to my feet. “And don’t worry, I’ll stay out of the game room, in case you’re planning anything romantic down there.”
“Or you could man up and go skiing,” Luke says, tossing a bright pink piece of paper my way.
I catch it on instinct and lift it to read, “Mount Love’s Midnight V-Day Ski. Admit One,” on the front. I glance back at Luke, “I’m not going to a Valentine’s Day ski.”
“Kayley’s going to be there,” Holly pipes up. “She goes every year and I have it on good authority that she’ll be there tonight. And that she’s missing you as much as you miss her.”
My heart lifts again and for a moment, I really do feel better. “Really? Who told you that?”
“A little bird who would prefer to remain anonymous because she doesn’t feel right meddling in a friend’s love life,” Holly says. “But I have no such issues and I can’t stand to see you two screw this up because you’re both too proud and stubborn to have an honest conversation.”
“And you said you were going to give her the mountain anyway,” Luke says, clearly exasperated by being forced to go over this yet again.
“But that was before she ran off without saying goodbye,” I say. “Before she made it plain that she was just toying with me until she got what she wanted.”
“She texted you to explain that,” Holly says. “And it was a very sweet text.”
“Impersonal,” I correct. “It was a veryimpersonaltext.”
“So was yours!” Luke practically roars. “You’re resenting the woman for doing the same thing you’re doing—playing it safe.”
“And what’s playing it safe getting you?” Holly Jo asks in a gentler tone. “Sadness and misery and a bad case of lovesickness. That’s it. You’ve tried playing it safe. Now, why not try putting your heart on your sleeve and telling her how you feel. You don’t have to give her the mountain or even bring up the property. Just…tell her how you feel aboutherand see what she says. She might surprise you.”
I chew the inside of my cheek, shocked to find that the more I imagine getting dressed and hitting the slopes to find Kayley, the less sickly I feel.
