Chapter Ten
J osh woke before his alarm, the way he did most mornings, and lay in that blissful suspension between sleep and wakefulness, where he was both completely aware and fully capable of drifting off again. If not for the years of early wake-up calls to tend to the cattle and the horses, he might have been tempted by the thought of another hour. But he was used to rising with the sun, and today would be no different.
Except, it was different.
He stretched, suddenly aware of an unfamiliar ache in his bones. Josh was used to hard work. His muscles had long grown accustomed to the effort of labor on the ranch—trekking long distances around the property, lifting hay bales, maintaining the facilities. But this morning was different. He ached in a way that told him he’d perhaps had too much of a good thing, and then the previous night came crashing back. Dinner on the porch. Telling Amy how he felt. Kissing her. Taking her to his bed. Well then, that explained the odd exhaustion that clung to him, and Josh couldn’t be happier. He grinned to himself as he sleepily reached beneath the covers for her.
Only, his hand brushed nothing but empty space, and his eyes flew open.
Josh turned his head, finding Amy’s side of the bed vacant. He reached out again, feeling along the space she’d occupied. The sheets were rumpled but cold, and worry flared to life inside him. He already missed her presence, and his entire body ached with her absence. He waited for the sleep fog to clear, but confusion settled over him like a strangling weight and he frowned, sitting up on his elbows. With two fingers he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
What was going on?
When they’d fallen asleep last night, Amy had been tucked up against him, warm and content in his arms. She’d told her sister she was staying the night.
So what had happened between then and now?
Maybe she’d reconsidered staying with him, or regretted their night together, and snuck away. No, she wouldn’t have set off on her own. Someone must have come to pick her up. But wouldn’t he have heard someone come down the lane? Tires weren’t exactly quiet on the gravel. None of it made sense, and his heart sank.
Last night had been wonderful as far as he was concerned. Holding Amy in his arms, watching as she drifted off to sleep… He couldn’t have asked for a better end to the night. And after everything she’d said, why would she run off?
I like you an awful lot .
Her words played on repeat in his mind. He’d said that being with her felt right and she’d agreed. So when had it all gone wrong? Had he somehow failed to live up to her expectations? Did she finally realize that he was just some average cattle rancher? That to be with him would mean being stuck here too?
Josh flopped down on his back, staring at the ceiling, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He couldn’t believe this was to be his lot in life again. He couldn’t believe he’d lost Amy when he’d only just found her.
Then he heard the squeak of the pipes in the wall. Someone was running the water in the bathroom.
The bathroom! Of course. Josh almost burst out laughing. What a fool he was, panicking. There was no reason to panic. Amy had simply gotten up to use the bathroom. He pressed his hand to his face, massaging the worry lines from his forehead. He really had to let go of these fears. Amy wasn’t his ex. He wanted to be able to trust her with his heart.
Then Josh heard a different sound and he sat up.
Was that retching?
He strained his ears, listening for that unpleasant sound again. Everything was quiet, and then… Yes, Amy was getting sick.
Why was she sick?
A moment later the toilet flushed and then the pipes squeaked and clattered again as the water in the sink ran. When he heard the bathroom door pop open, he looked to the hall. Amy appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, a hand pressed to her stomach, ashen-faced. She clutched the doorframe with her other hand, her fingers blanched.
Even from here he could see a slight tremble.
Immediately Josh rolled out of bed and gathered her to him. She felt clammy. Her body sagged like it was too weak to hold her up.
“I thought you’d left.”
“Only made it as far as the bathroom,” she said, and he could tell she was trying to make a joke.
He pushed her hair back from her face. “Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I think I have to go. I’m not… I’m not feeling well.”
“Of course. I’ll uh…” Where were his keys? No, first he needed pants. “I’ll drive you back to Faith’s.”
He dressed as quickly as he could, then helped get Amy downstairs and into the truck. There was a moment when he thought she was going to be sick again, right there on the driveway, but once she was sitting in the passenger seat, she rolled the window down and half leaned out, breathing in the fresh air.
Josh was filled with competing emotions. He was worried and anxious that something might really be wrong, and also disappointed. Last night he’d envisioned waking her up with breakfast. He wasn’t a miracle worker, but he could manage eggs and bacon and coffee. Now he just wanted to get her back to Caleb and Faith’s so they could figure out if she needed to see a doctor.
Was it a bug?
Or something she ate?
Oh… Oh!
“God, I hope it wasn’t the burgers.” Josh pressed on the gas, speeding down Juniper Road, spitting dust in his wake.
“No… No, I don’t think so,” Amy said. “If something was wrong with the meat, you’d be sick too. But you feel fine?”
He nodded. He did feel fine. Right? He took a deep breath, trying to assess if he somehow felt unsettled. Nope. He felt fit as a fiddle. “So far so good.”
“See,” Amy said, sucking in shallow little breaths that made him nervous.
He still wasn’t convinced this wasn’t somehow his fault.
“And besides,” she said, “you’re a great cook.”
“Wasn’t much cooking involved,” he noted. It wasn’t the potato salad, was it? Lord smite him for even suggesting such a thing. Of course it wasn’t Angela’s potato salad. He’d eaten it the day before. Again, if there was something wrong, he’d be just as sick.
“It wasn’t your dinner. The burgers were delicious.” Amy pressed her face into her hands. “God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be,” Josh said, still wondering if he’d inadvertently poisoned her. “Please don’t be. I had a wonderful time with you. This is just—”
“Mortifying,” Amy cut in.
“It doesn’t change one second of the time we spent together. Don’t think that.” Amy leaned her head out the window again. Josh looked between her and the road, to the way her entire face pinched, a tiny crease appearing between her eyes.
“I’m sure I just caught a stomach bug somewhere.” She groaned. “Oh God, I hope I didn’t give it to you!” Her eyes flew open, startled as she looked at him. “Josh, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“How can I not worry? The first night we spend together and I infect you with some horrible stomach germ.”
“You didn’t infect me with anything. We don’t even know what this is yet.”
“I hope not. Cause I really do feel awful.” Amy paled and reached one hand out for the dashboard to brace herself.
Josh pressed on the gas a little, trying to shake the thought that fate was laughing at him. Here he’d found this wonderful woman, and she was ridiculous enough to like him back, and now he’d given her food poisoning or something. Ryder and Noah were never going to let him hear the end of this once they found out how his latest romantic entanglement crashed and burned. He could almost hear them now… Remember that one time the girl literally left your place throwing up? You made her sick to her stomach?
Josh grimaced just as Amy groaned, pressing the back of her hand to her lips.
“Do you need me to…” Josh started, trying to figure out how to best help her. “Should I pull over?”
She shook her head, eyes squinted, and sat back in her seat. “No, keep going. I’m okay. I think it’ll pass.”
“Will it?”
“I don’t know. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay, sure. What?”
“I don’t know. Distract me.”
“Distract you. Right.” He could manage a story. “Did I ever tell you about the weekend when Shane and I almost crashed a truck into the side of Otis and Angela’s barn?”
Amy snorted. “Having met Shane, I’m not even a little surprised.”
“Hey, I was the voice of reason in this situation. Even at nine years old I knew it wasn’t going to end well.”
“You were nine?” she said, her voice rising.
“Yes. You know country kids. You learn to drive almost anything by the time you’re tall enough to reach the pedals.”
“So what happened?”
“Shane was a short little thing and couldn’t quite reach the brakes.” He shot Amy a grin as she laughed.
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was. But, you know, once we got going it was too late. I still remember us ripping through the pasture, screaming as Shane blindly tried to slam his foot down on the brake pedal. And I’m like looking over the dash, being our eyes, grabbing the wheel to dodge the cattle, and we go ripping through a hay bale and as that clears, right at the last second I spot the barn, and just yank the wheel and we careen past it, still screaming. It was the closest I’d ever come to living out an action movie.”
Amy shook with laughter. Josh did too, remembering the feeling of the truck slamming to a stop as Shane finally got his foot on the brake.
“Then what?”
“I could hear Angela hollering all the way from the house. Next thing I do is look out the window, and there she is, marching straight across the pasture toward us. To this day I swear there was steam coming out her nostrils.”
“What did you do?”
“The only thing I could do. I bailed out the side of the truck, ditched Shane to deal with his grandmother, and went running home. You would have thought I was a track star.”
Amy laughed again. “You didn’t.”
“That woman put the fear of God in me. I wasn’t about to let her catch me.”
“And so that was it?”
“Oh no. Otis drove over to our place later, talked to my parents about what happened. Or what almost happened. No one was impressed. Shane and I spent many weekends after that mucking out stalls on both properties. Angela made sure we were too busy to have any more time to get up to that kind of fun.”
“She put you on the straight and narrow path.”
“Oh, absolutely. Who knows how many derelict trucks I would have taken for joyrides in my youth without her intervention.”
Amy shook her head and Josh was pleased to see that she didn’t look quite so ashen. He pulled onto Faith’s street and into the driveway, throwing the truck in Park.
“You don’t have to get out,” Amy started to say.
“Like hell I don’t.” He hopped out of the truck and met her at her door. She was already half out of the truck. “You think I’m just going to dump you on the doorstep?”
She wobbled a bit and he wrapped his arm around her, helping her to the door.
It flew open before they reached it, and Faith’s smile slowly fell from her face. “Uh-oh,” she said to Amy. “You look awful.”
“Gee, thanks,” Amy muttered.
“Don’t worry,” Faith said. “I’m sure it’ll pass.”
But before Josh could say as much as a goodbye, Amy darted into the bathroom again.