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Her eyes widened. “All of it. The sheets, the food, the socks. Everything.”
I didn’t think this was the best time to give her the full truth. So, I merely returned, “I told you that we’re in a unique position where we have to look out for one another out here. That’s what I’m doing.”
Dakota shot me a look that told me she didn’t believe a word that came out of my mouth. Even if that was the case, though, she didn’t argue with me. She accepted my explanation and sat back down.
The two of us focused our attention on the movie again, but not more than twenty minutes later, Dakota was groaning and reaching for a blanket behind her.
“Cold?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered, pulling the blanket up and over her body.
For a few minutes, she seemed to be doing okay, but it didn’t take long for her to start trembling like she had earlier, when I first arrived.
Sitting on the opposite end of the couch, I reached out, placed my hands on top of her legs that were covered by the blanket, and moved them up and down to create some friction and heat.
“Oh, God, I hate feeling like this,” she moaned.
“It’s been a few hours. Do you want to try to take some meds to help with the fever again?” I asked her.
Her teeth were chattering again. “I don’t want to, but I think I should.”
“I’ll get you some.”
I went and grabbed the medicine, brought it back, and gave her two pills to take. Once she had them down, she looked at me with desperation on her face and said, “I’m so cold.”
I felt so bad for her that I didn’t think twice when I opened my arms, wrapped them around her, and pulled her against my chest.
When I felt her grab ahold of me and press in close, I took that as a sign that she was okay with what I’d done. So, I shifted my body a bit in order to be able to situate myself in a better position. I managed to get my back against the corner of the couch, and I kept one foot planted on the ground while my other leg ran along the couch cushions.
Dakota was positioned between my legs, her arms around my waist, and her cheek pressed against my chest.
After making sure her body was covered by the blanket, I stroked my hands up and down her back.
It took a bit longer this time for her trembling and chattering teeth to subside, and once it did, that’s when things took a turn I hadn’t been expecting.
Dakota started speaking in a voice that sounded like a mix of delirium and exhaustion.
“I can’t believe you,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Keeping one arm wrapped around my waist, she brought the other up to my chest. Her fingers stroked absentmindedly there as she answered, “You’re so kind. You are the most caring person I’ve ever met.”
“I told you I was looking out for you,” I reminded her.
She inhaled, her body finally relaxed completely against mine. “Yeah, but this is different. It’s more than just looking out for me. You’re taking care of me.”
“Sweetheart, you’re sick,” I reasoned.
Dakota hummed softly, a sound that shot to a spot below the belt. “Tom didn’t do that. Tom didn’t even want to be in the same room as me. He definitely didn’t change my bedsheets or cook me food or make sure that I stayed hydrated.”
There wasn’t a question in my mind about it now. I was willing to bet that Dakota had no idea what she was sharing with me. She’d never been this talkative, and considering we barely knew anything about one another, I had to imagine that if it weren’t for the high fever, she wouldn’t have been saying any of this to me.
Maybe it was wrong for me to do it, but I decided to take advantage of the situation. I wholeheartedly believed that what she was sharing with me now was the very thing that brought her to Cottonwood to begin with, so I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to learn about it. That was the only way I’d be able to fix it.
Because I fully intended to fix it.
“Who’s Tom?” I asked gently, continuing to stroke my hands tenderly up and down her back.
