Page 88 of Had to Be You

She started to push up, and he helped her. When he got her up on her feet, she looked up at him with confusion swimming in her hazel eyes.

"Wait… What are you doing here?"

"I woke up and you were gone, so I thought I’d come over for a quickie," he answered honestly.

A small grin tilted on her lips as he helped her to her bed. "Sorry to disappoint you. And you should go. I don’t want you to get sick."

If she thought he was leaving, she was insane. He lifted her into his arms and lowered her onto her bed.

"Don’t worry about me."

She looked up at him as she snuggled into her bed and closed her eyes. "I always worry about you. I love you." The declaration was made right before she closed her eyes and started snoring.

He stood staring down at her, not knowing what to do. This wasn’t the first time a woman had told him that she loved him, but it was definitely the first time he wanted to say it back.

Leaning down, he pressed his mouth to her forehead, kissed her softly, and whispered, "I love you, too."

Once she was settled, he turned the water off in the shower and went to the kitchen to grab her a glass of water and crackers for when she woke up. On his way, he saw that her purse and its contents were scattered in the entryway. He picked them up, grabbed some saltines and water, and checked to see if there was any 7-Up. There wasn’t. He would have to figure out how to get some, but he wasn’t leaving her.

Her phone rang beside the bed, and wanting it to stop before it woke her up, he picked it up. He hadn’t meant to; it was just a knee-jerk reaction.

"Hello."

There was a moment’s pause before he heard a female voice. "Hi, is this... I was trying to get a hold of Laura."

He pulled the phone down and saw Kennedy’s name. He was relieved that it wasn’t one of her sisters.

"Hey Kennedy, it’s Knox."

"Oh, hey Knox. Is Laura around?"

"She’s in bed."

"Ohhhhhh," Kennedy drew out the word.

"No, it’s not like that. She’s sick. She came down with that flu that was going around in her family."

"Oh shit. Does she need anything? I just got back into town. I can come over."

"I’m not sure if she got anyone to cover the Snack Shack."

"I’ll call Ricky to see if he can cover; if not, I’ll do it."

"Thanks, and I don’t want to leave her, so if I sent you a list, could you pick up some stuff at the grocery store?"

"Sure, just text me what she needs, and I’ll drop it off."

"Great. Thanks."

"Tell her to call me when she’s feeling better. And, Knox, thank you."

"For what?"

"For taking care of our girl."

The call disconnected, and Knox couldn’t deny that he liked the sound of that a lot. Our girl. She was his girl. He knew that now. He just wasn’t sure what the hell to do about it.

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