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“Jeez, she’s so rarely sick, I forgot what a pain in the butt she is when she’s not feeling well. I may take you up on your offer after all, Brand. Let you deal with her miserable ass.”
“What offer?” Lia asked curiously, her eyes going from one to the other.
“That’s not important right now. Just rest and don’t worry, you’ll be home before you know it.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be better before Friday,” Lia said morosely. She had been thinking about the shopping trip to Cape Town. They were supposed to fly out on Friday evening, which was just two days away. And Lia was definitely not going to make it.
Daff winced and met Sam’s gaze.
“What? Why are you guys sharing secret looks? I’m sick, not dead,” she said irritably. Being sick was bad enough, but having people keep secrets from you just because you happened to have a touch of flu was insufferable.
“I was thinking of postponing,” Daff said. Lia sat up and the wonderful, uninterrupted flow of oxygen cut off as she unintentionally pulled out her nasal cannula.
Sam growled and she met his glare with her glower but allowed him to tug the cannula back into place. She was irritated, not stupid. She was enjoying the oxygen too much to willingly sacrifice it at the altar of righteous indignation.
“What do you mean, you’re thinking of postponing?” Lia gasped and then coughed, thanks to the scrape of air over her vocal cords.
Crumbs! This was the absolute worst.
Daff grabbed a glass of water and handed it to her, and she took a thankful sip.
“Daff, you can’t postpone,” she said, her voice raspy after the bout of coughing. “There’s no time. Send me selfies and stuff, keep me involved . . . there are ways I can be there without really being there.”
“There’s always Skype,” Sam suggested with a hint of smugness—why smugness?—in his voice. Lia nodded and pointed at Sam, too tired and her throat too sore to actually verbalize her approval.
“You’re knackered, aren’t you?” Sam asked, while tugging free some hair that was trapped between the cannula and her cheek. She nodded again, feeling like a limp noodle. And her head felt huge and like it was floating somewhere above the bed, staring down at everybody.
“Tell nurses . . . ,” she managed, her voice sounding wheezy. “Sleep.”
“I don’t know what you’re doing, Brand,” Daff said, her voice low and urgent as they both watched Lia drift into unconsciousness.
“That makes two of us, Daff,” he admitted tiredly. “Look, just think about going ahead with this dress-shopping business. Lia took care of me, I’d like to return the favor.”
“Is that all this is? Repaying a debt?” Sam considered her question thoughtfully, then glanced down at the way he was dressed—or undressed, as it were—and grinned wryly.
“You know it’s not,” he said quietly.
“Do you know what it is?”
“No. It just is, okay? Can we leave it at that for now?”
“I worry about her. After Clayton, she shut down emotionally. It took her months to actually start behaving normally again. It made all of us a little overprotective. We don’t want to see that happen to her again. I’m not sure she could recover a second time. She’s . . . she feels things deeply.”
“Was she in love with that prick?” Sam asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer. He looked down at Lia, at her pale, exhausted face, and knew with absolute certainty that she would not agree to marry someone unless she had strong feelings for him. The thought of her in love and having her heart broken was absolutely maddening. How could anyone crush something so precious?
“You know I can’t answer that. It’s something you should ask her.” Sam sighed. Daff turned to leave the room and paused at the door when she noticed that Sam hadn’t moved to follow her.
“Are you coming?”
“I’ll stay awhile longer,” he said. “Can you call the retirement home? They’ll be expecting her for their Wednesday social mixer.”
Daff looked somewhat startled by the request, and her eyes narrowed as she gave him another penetrating look before she nodded.
“Yeah, I’ll call them. Since you’re so familiar with her weekly routine, are there any other cancellations I have to make?” Sam thought about it for a moment.
“Maybe give the animal shelter a heads-up. And I think she was going to do that Books Are Fun thing at the library today. Not sure, but it won’t hurt to call them anyway.”
“Right,” Daff said, her eyes still calculating. “Anyway, after I do that, I have some stuff to discuss with the family. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to leave.”
“Thanks,” Sam muttered, his eyes glued to Lia’s face. He wasn’t going anywhere until Lia was discharged, and if that meant sitting here shirtless for the rest of the day, being ogled by curious nurses, then so be it.
