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With a deep breath, I rolled over and slowly started to sit up. When the room spun, I stopped and lay back down—but not before I caught sight of Lily sleeping in the chair in the corner. Her head rested on her fist, and a book was sprawled open on her lap, which was covered up with a blanket from my hall closet.
Frowning, I looked around the room.
What in the hell is going on?
On the side table sat two cups. One was glass, so I could see it contained water. The other was a Yeti tumbler, so I had no idea what was in there. Tylenol, as well as Motrin, sat beside them, along with…
“Theraflu?” I whispered, my voicebarely coming out.
I attempted to sit up again, pushing past the feeling of nausea, but failed.
Movement at the door to my bedroom caused me to look over and see Timberlynn standing there, a smile on her face. She put a finger to her mouth and motioned for me to be quiet as she pointed at Lily.
As she made her way over to me, she picked something up off the side table. She sat on the bed and whispered, “She finally fell asleep about an hour ago. I don’t have the heart to move her, but she’s going to have one hell of a stiff neck.”
“Why are you both here?” I asked.
Timberlynn opened her mouth, mimicking for me to do the same. I looked down and saw she held a thermometer in her hand. I did as she requested, and after she gently put the thermometer in my mouth, she said, “You don’t remember anything?”
Frowning, I slowly shook my head. When the thermometer beeped, Timberlynn quickly checked to make sure her daughter was still asleep. Seeing that she was, she turned back to me and set the thermometer on the table again.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
I thought for a moment. Damn, my head pounded. “Taking Stella home. I came back here to change for a date, but I started to feel pretty bad. It felt like it hit me out of the blue. I thought maybe I’d eaten something bad, but my stomach didn’t hurt. I remember lying down for a few minutes on the bed…” Bits and pieces of last thing that I remember came back to me. “I called Brandee at some point to cancel the date, and I do remember talking to Clay…maybe mentioning I wasn’t going to be able to make it in.”
Timberlynn nodded. “Clay told Lily, and she came over to check on you. That’s when she found you with a hightemperature and called Tanner. He came over and got you into a lukewarm bath, with the help of Joshua and Nathan. When your temperature wouldn’t come down, we finally called Dr. Waters. He helped us lower your temperature, told us to keep you hydrated, and agreed with Lily that you should sip on some bone broth. As much as we could get you to take in.”
I snarled my lip. “Bone broth?”
She chuckled lightly. “Lily insisted.”
“The horses—” I started, attempting once more to sit up.
Timberlynn placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a slight push, easily keeping me down. “Are fine, Maverick. Nathan isn’t in school at the moment, so he’s been a huge help. His best friend Johnnie is also helping with the horses, and so is Josh.”
I nearly groaned. “Not Johnnie. He doesn’t know the difference between a horse and a cow.”
She covered her mouth to keep from laughing.
Sighing, I added, “I’m sure I’ll only be down for the one day. I can work Monday to make up for it.”
Her brows shot up. “What day do you think it is?”
“Um, last night was the wedding, so…Sunday?”
The corners of her mouth twitched. “It’s Wednesday morning.”
“What?”My voice still sounded a bit gravelly, but I must have spoken louder than I thought because Lily stirred and curled up more on the chair. With a shake of my head, I lowered my voice and looked at Timberlynn. “I’ve been in bed for four days?”
She nodded. “You were pretty sick, Mav. Dr. Waters thinks it was most likely the flu.”
I closed my eyes. I was going to be so far behind on things. Who the hell got theflu in June?
“The horses—who’s been exercising them?”
With another smile, she said, “Nathan and Johnnie. Don’t worry, Hunter has stopped by a few times to help out, and so has Ryan. Tanner needed his help with a rescue that came in. Ryan ended up taking the horse to his ranch since you were laid up. Everything’s been fine, but I do believe the horses are pretty worried they haven’t seen you.”
I looked back over at Lily. “Has she been here the whole time?”
