Holly shot to her feet, an excited smile lighting up her face. “Thank you, Lily. I can’t wait!”
“You’ll have to find a way to get over here every day until we get this right,” Lily cautioned. “You’ll have to think of something to say to the dads so they don’t get suspicious.”
“Oh, I’ll handle them,” Holly said airily, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Tomorrow is Saturday so I’ll come over in the morning and make the boys go over to their fathers’.”
CALLIE stirred, tried to swallow, and grimaced. She opened her eyes to see Max staring intently down at her, his lips set in a fine line.
“Your throat hurting worse?”
She nodded. “Need something to drink.”
He leaned forward, holding her tightly so she didn’t slide from his lap, and retrieved the glass of water sitting on the coffee table.
She drank greedily, trying not to flinch at the discomfort it caused her throat. Her fever had broken and she was damp with sweat. Where before she’d been freezing and sure she’d never get warm again, now she was hot, aching, and twitchy all over.
When she was done drinking, she lay limply on Max’s chest, her eyes closed in exhaustion. It was ridiculous really. There was no reason for her to feel so weak, but she couldn’t do battle with a kitten at the moment.
The doorbell rang and she groaned, but Max simply lifted her to the side and settled her among the pillows. As if he was expecting someone. She glanced up, her suspicions confirmed when Max opened the door and Dr. Burton came in, shaking snow from his hat before Max took it and his coat from him.
She huffed in exasperation as Max and the doctor returned to the couch. “Max, really. This was so unnecessary. I can’t believe you made Dr. Burton come all this way. What about his patients?”
“You are my patient, missy,” Dr. Burton said in reprimand. “You should have come to see me first thing this morning instead of crawling home to suffer alone.”
Callie allowed him to poke and prod at her. He looked at her throat, made several noncommittal noises, and then took out his cell phone.
“Looks like strep to me. Of course, I can’t do a test here, but that throat looks bad and, regardless, you need an antibiotic, so we’re going on the assumption you have strep. Start the antibiotics immediately and by tomorrow afternoon you should start feeling better.”
While Dr. Burton phoned in the prescriptions, Max left the room for a moment. Callie snuggled back into the pillows, already feeling the chill returning. A few minutes later, Max came back and spoke to Dr. Burton briefly before showing the other man out.
The next thing Callie knew, Max was back, holding more ibuprofen in his hand.
“Take these, dolcezza. Your fever is returning.”
She swallowed them down and then sighed in contentment when he sat beside her and pulled her back into his arms.
Then she frowned. “How am I supposed to get the antibiotics?” Obviously Max would have to go into town to get the prescription filled, but the selfish part of her whined at the idea of him leaving.
“I called your mother. Well, actually I called your dads first and they said your mom was in town with Lily, so I then called your mom and asked her to pick up your medicine on her way back. She’ll be by in a little while to see you.”
“Mom’s awesome,” Callie croaked out.
Max smiled tenderly down at her. “Moms are the very best when you’re sick.”
She wasn’t so absorbed in her own misery that she’d forgotten Lauren. She’d thought of her all afternoon. Lauren was sweet and shy, so different from Max’s dominating personality. It sickened Callie that Lauren had been abused by some asshole she’d trusted.
“Max?”
He swept his hand over her hair, smoothing it from her forehead so he could see her eyes.
“I know you wanted to give Lauren time, but I really think we should go get her.”