Chapter Seven
Lewis
I began to feel better almost as soon as Wilder touched my forehead.
Not perfect, but that night, I woke up in a pool of sweat from a broken fever.
I even changed the bedding and my pajamas before running out of steam and tumbling back between the sheets to sleep well for the first time in what felt like forever.
If I’d done that when I first got sick, the disease probably never would have been able to take hold of me.
So, back to bed and sleep, only rising long enough to eat more soup and take a hot shower that felt like heaven.
The next morning, I woke and cautiously self-assessed.
The cough hadn’t woken me even once in the night, although it was present.
Just not nearly as bad. I picked up the phone to call him, considering the possibility of a FaceTime then thinking it would be too pushy and hitting the regular dial.
“Hi, it’s Lewis.” It flashed through my mind that he might not even remember who I was, that he’d only come over with the soup and medication out of kindness. Or to take a look at the bees. Or to arrange to buy honey.
Perhaps he made house calls every day of the week, and I’d been thinking of myself as special in a way that I didn’t deserve. But for reasons I didn’t want to examine too closely, I didn’t want him to have forgotten me. To not have been special to him.
“Hi, Lewis. It’s good to hear from you. How are you?”
The moment his voice met my ears, I remembered something else. Something huge and relevant.
“Did you really offer to go on a date with me?” I blurted out.
Please let it not be just something he said because he’d been facing the most pitiful wreck and wanted to give him something to live for.
“Oh no. I’m sorry,” he said. “That was inappropriate.”
Gods, how ridiculous was I? And I couldn’t even blame it on the fever because of course it had been gone for a day and a half. “No, I am.” My face burned, making me grateful I hadn’t chosen to FaceTime. “I apologize. I should have realized. I mean—”
“Lewis?”
“You probably have to go.” I held my finger over the disconnect. “Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for visiting and bringing me the medicine and the soup. I had planned to make my own but until today, I was not up to it.”
“Wait. Don’t hang up. You are misunderstanding me. I want to go on a date with you.”
“You do?” My heart sped up, slamming against my rib cage, and my bear let out a low rumble inside me. “I would hate you to feel obligated because I was so pathetic last time you saw me.”
“Not pathetic. Sick. Other than not wanting to go out with me, of course. Here I was all excited about a hot alpha agreeing to date me. I’ve never asked anyone out before. Omegas aren’t really supposed to.”
They weren’t? “Growing up with my dads, I think I was exposed to more equality than the average bear,” I mused. “So, I don’t find it odd at all that you’d ask me. It’s an honor.”
“That’s a relief.” He chuckled. “But you never told me how you’re doing. Are the remedies helping?”
“I started feeling better when you were here, a little, and by yesterday morning, I had no fever and it’s been uphill from there.”
“But you’re resting? You were very ill and it probably took more out of you than you know.”
“Yes, I am, as much as possible. I’m very grateful to you for going out of your way.”
We talked another few minutes about this and that before hanging up. We would get together soon. For just a moment, my mind wanted to argue that he was in this for a discount on honey, but the bear was not hearing it.
The bear was saying mate.