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“Maybe a few,” she answered.
I brought over the box of crackers and some napkins, then returned to the kitchen to grab the soup.
When I entered the room again and approached Dakota with her soup, she had the same look she’d had on her face for my two previous trips. The only way I could think to describe it was to say that she looked like she was in awe. I didn’t know why she’d look at me that way. It wasn’t as though I’d whipped up the soup from scratch. I did the best I could with what I had. The most important thing to me was making sure she had something in her body that would help keep her from becoming dehydrated, as well as give her a bit of energy.
“Thank you,” she said as she took the bowl from me.
“You’re welcome,” I replied with a smile. “Did you find a movie?”
“I love the MCU, so I was hoping you wouldn’t mind watching one of those.”
At this point, there wasn’t much of anything she could have said that she wanted to watch that I wouldn’t have agreed to, but I was grateful that she wanted to watch something that I would have picked myself.
“I love them, too. I’m good with whatever one you decide,” I told her.
Dakota thought for a second before she decided onThor. The two of us settled in, ate soup, and watched the movie.
Throughout it, I had to admit that I glanced over at her regularly. I was happy to see that she was eating—albeit, slowly—and drinking.
When she finished, I took the bowl from her, carried both of them back to the kitchen, and washed them along with the pot and utensils, so she wouldn’t have to worry about having dirty dishes in her sink.
When I returned, she watched me approach. I smiled at her as I sat down and said, “Everything is all cleaned up, so you can just worry about resting and relaxing.”
“I appreciate that, Jack.”
I gave her nod and asked, “Do you need a blanket, or are you okay right now?”
“I’m good.”
There was a bit of an awkward silence that ensued, and it wasn’t until Dakota directed her attention back to the television that I felt that discomfort pass. There was a lot happening on my end, and I was sure it was just a fraction of whatever she was dealing with. I tried my best to keep that in mind, recognizing that this wasn’t going to be some easy feat.
Truthfully, I’m not sure I would be able to appreciate it down the road if it was easy.
Regardless, all I wanted right now was for Dakota to get better, so I could take steps toward pursuing something with her.
About halfway through the movie, I glanced over and saw that Dakota had drifted off again. I didn’t want to overstep, but I thought she might appreciate having fresh sheets on her bed. When her fever broke earlier, she sweat it out, so I figured she wouldn’t mind if I took the liberty to strip off the old sheets and put on some new ones.
With a quick search, I located freshly washed sheets in her linen closet. I put them on, tossed the old ones in the washing machine, and made my way back to the couch. I hadn’t been there for more than ten minutes when Dakota woke up again.
She moved to get off the couch, and I asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just need to use the bathroom,” she replied. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
Once again, I allowed my eyes to roam over her from top to toe as she walked away from me and toward the bathroom. The level of attraction I felt to her was growing with each minute that passed.
But everything started to change when Dakota returned.
She stepped into view and just stared at me. I could sense that something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was. “Are you alright?”
Dakota shook her head. “You changed my bedsheets,” she stated, disbelief laced through her tone.
Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe Dakota wasn’t okay with me changing her sheets. “I’m sorry. I just thought that you might want some fresh ones. I’m assuming you haven’t had much energy or desire to change them yourself the past few days.”
She tipped her head to the side and stared at me for a long time. “Why are you doing this?” she questioned me.
“Doing what?”
