There aren’t any storms that I know of predicted for Madison anytime soon, so I bite my tongue about the nippy forty-degree weather.
“I gotta go.” Griffin scoots back in his chair and stands, taking his glass to the sink.
“You should take your truck. It’s cold out.”
The stupid weather. I give myself an internal eye roll.
He slips on his jacket and bends down, palming the back of my head and brushing his lips next to my ear. “Have a good day.”
I fist his jacket as he goes to stand. His gaze sweeps across my face while I fight to translate what’s in my heart and eating at the pit of my stomach. My eyebrows draw together. Griffin returns a sad smile, feathering his knuckles over my cheek.
“I love you too,” he whispers.
Yeah, that.
I nod in lieu of actual words.
*
“Helllooo?” I slip off my shoes and my coat.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say no one was home. The lights are off in the kitchen. There’s no aroma of coffee.
“Hello?” I repeat with a softer voice as I sneak down the hallway.
“Bedroom,” Nate says in a groggy almost muffled tone.
“Are you decent?”
His door is partially shut.
“Far from it, but come in anyway.”
I peek my head around the door. “Whoa! You’re still in bed?” Morgan rolls around on the floor surrounded by enough toys to keep her from escaping out into the hall or into the bathroom.
“Sick.” He’s on his stomach, like he collapsed. One arm hangs off the side of the bed, loosely gripping a toy.
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Uh huh,” he mumbles into his pillow.
“I take it you still need me? Or do I have the day off?”
A grunt is his only response.
“Sounds like a yes. Come on, Miss Morgan.” I pick her up. “Let’s get you away from your sick father.”
Another grunt as he lets the toy drop from his hand, but he doesn’t move his arm back on the bed. He’s nothing more than a corpse.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No.”
“Alrighty then. Say feel better, Daddy.”
We play, eat, change diaper. Rinse and repeat a couple of times before Morgan goes down for a nap. I lay her in her crib, not confident she’ll stay asleep since I usually hold her during naps, but she’s good for now. I get a glass of water and poke my head in Nate’s room.
“Still alive?”
“Unfortunately.” He stiffly rolls from his side to his back, squinting open his eyes.
“I brought you some water.”
He eases to sitting. I give him a tight grin, keeping my eyes wide and unblinking, focused only on his eyes instead of the flex of his abs and that heart-shaped birthmark.
“Thank you.” He takes the glass and drinks the whole thing.
“Body ache? Chills? Fever?”
“Blinding headache and sore throat.”
“Bummer. Sorry.”
“She asleep?”
Shoving my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, I nod.
“You owe me some story time.” He draws in a pained breath, closing his eyes.
“What?”
“I tell you about Daisy. Tell me something. Anything. What color are your bridesmaids’ dresses?”
I laugh. “You don’t care about the color of my bridesmaids’ dresses.”
“True. I just want a distraction from the pain. Sit.” He tips his head toward the other side of his bed.
After a few seconds of me not responding, he peeks open one eye. “I won’t breathe on you.”
I prop up two pillows and ease onto the other side of the bed, leaning back against the headboard. “Griffin thinks I should get a different job.”
Nate grunts. “I don’t like this story. Pick a different one.”
I glance over at him, but his eyes are still closed. “Were you serious about us being friends? I mean … can you be my guy friend? The one I don’t have sex with, but you give me advice about guys that only a guy could give?”
Nate chuckles, but it morphs into a moan as he scoots back down under the covers and rubs his forehead. “Yes to the friends part. And I think it’s frowned upon to have sex with the nanny. As far as the advice goes, I’ll give it, but it will come with a disclaimer. I don’t want to be responsible for you making some life-changing decision that goes awry.”
“Griffin worked on a motorcycle last night for this woman who I’m pretty sure is someone he had sex with before we were together. Is it weird that he would agree to do that for her?”
“Did she pay him?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“Then I can’t say. Next topic?”
“I’m not done talking about Apple.”
“Apple?”
“That’s her name. Can you believe it? It’s worse than Swayze.”
“Who said Swayze is a bad name?”
“Anyone who is not a liar, hippie, or fan of the original Dirty Dancing.”
“Swayze is a cute name.”
I roll my eyes. “And Apple is sweet.”
“I’m guessing Griffin is in the dog house.” He stops rubbing his head and lets his arm drape over his face.
Drawing my knees to my chest, I hug my legs. “No. We’re just kinda …”
What are we? I don’t know.
“Kinda?”
I sigh. “Going through a rough patch thanks to your childhood friend.”
“Is she giving you trouble?”
I laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
“He doesn’t buy it?” Nate sighs. “Can’t blame him. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t buy it either.”
“I find that hard to believe coming from Professor Albright’s student.”
Nate cracks his eyes open, easing his head to the side, the discomfort etched along his forehead. “How do you know that?”
Rubbing my lips together, I lift my shoulders. “You have her book on reincarnation in your nightstand drawer. And you told me I could snoop, so—”
“That book doesn’t tell you I was her student.”
“True. She told me.”
Nate’s lips part. “How do you know Hazel?”
“Dr. Greyson referred me to her.”
“Why?”
I give him the are-you-serious look.
He nods slowly, eyes fixed on me but unfocused, like his thoughts have taken him to somewhere a long way from this bed. “Is this what you needed to talk to me about?”
I shake my head. “Not exactly. But that can wait until you’re feeling better.”
“Just say it.” He flinches, trying to sit up.
“Just rest.”
“My head hurts too much to rest. Distract me.”
Daisy was murdered is not the right distraction. “Come here.” I straighten my legs and lay one of the pillows on them.
Nate’s gaze shifts between mine and the pillow.
“Head on the pillow, Professor.” I grin.
He eases his head onto the pillow.
“Black.” I run my fingers through his beautiful hair, smiling when it curls around my fingers. This is just one of the many things I’ve wanted to feel with Nate. And just as I imagined, it’s so familiar.