Page 109 of Once Upon a Fall

“Everything aches,” she mumbles.

He nods, like he knows exactly what he’s dealing with here.

“Dean, can you bring me a glass of water?”

Twenty minutes later, after he’s gotten her to drink some water and take something he brought to help with the fever, he tucks the covers around her again.

He grabs the bag he brought, and I follow him to the kitchen.

“Is she okay?” I ask him.

“Yeah,” he says, setting his bag on the table. “Looks like the flu to me. She needs to sleep and make sure she gets fluids for the next few days.”

He pulls a couple of bottles of electrolyte drinks out of the bag and sets them on the counter.

“Okay,” I tell him.

“Call me if her temperature goes any higher. I’ll be by in the morning to check on her.”

“Sounds good,” I say.

What I don’t say is that I have a bag half packed upstairs to leave tomorrow.

I did the math while I watched Rosie’s dad care for her. She’s got guests arriving to stay at the inn, and no one else who knows how to run this place.

I need to make a call in the morning.

I don’t have to delay the Manhattan contract. The next morning, when I make the call, I tell the executives that I can start on schedule, just not in person, and they agree to let me do the first week over video.

I came up with the idea sometime during the night while trying to sleep on Rosie’s too-small couch, where I could keep an eye on her.

Pushing the contract back another week meant risking losing it altogether, which I don’t want to do. But I can’t leave Rosie. Not when she’s this sick. Not when the inn still needs someone to keep things running. So, I was grateful for the compromise. And a little surprised at how easily they agreed to it.

Daryl stops by a little after nine.

“Her fever is down. Have you been able to get her to drink anything?” he asks, leaning against the kitchen island after checking on her.

I nod. “She drank a couple glasses of water.”

Although she fought me on it. The medicine her dad gave her must have helped, because when I got her awake enough to drink something, she was alert enough to tell me to go back to my room and that she was fine by herself.

She wasn’t, though. She nearly passed out on the way to the bathroom and later spilled half a glass of water down the front of her overalls, which finally convinced her to change into pajamas.

I stayed put on that couch. The crick in my neck this morning is proof.

“Good,” her dad says. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her.”

“No problem,” I say.

After he leaves, I clean up the Sleeping Beauty room, changing the sheets and cleaning the bathroom. Then I wash towels and make sure the other rooms are ready for the guests checking in today.

Rosie tries to get up twice, telling me she needs to get the inn ready, but I tell her I’ve got it handled and take her back to bed, where she falls right back to sleep.

Her dad must have told her siblings, because Dominic stops by that afternoon after both sets of guests have checked in, and Emma brings soup later that night.

I heat up some for her, and she manages to eat a few bites before handing me the bowl back, which I’m calling a win.

“Thank you, Dean,” she says after I’ve taken the bowl to the kitchen and brought her back some of the electrolyte drink her dad left for her.