Page 42 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

The next thing she remembered was Ryan arriving at the bedroom door and helping her into his dad’s bedroom.

At least it was warm in there, she thought groggily, looking over at the fire in the hearth. It was a cheerful sight and the crackle of the wood was quite comforting as well.

She saw her phone on the bedside table and was amazed to see the time: she had slept for most of the day.

It was so lovely and comfortable in bed, but she knew that she couldn’t stay in there any longer. So she slowly pushed the duvet off her and stood up. She felt groggy, having slept for so long. And she definitely still had a temperature and a thumping head.

‘Hi,’ said Ryan, appearing in the doorway, carrying a load of logs in his arms.

She briefly remembered his arm being around her as he helped her across the apartment and would have blushed if she didn’t feel so rubbish.

‘You shouldn’t be up,’ he told her, heading over to the fireplace.

She gave up trying to walk, collapsing back onto the bed. She looked up at the window, where the sky was beginning to darken.

‘Are you hungry?’ asked Ryan, placing a few more logs onto the fire before straightening up to head over to the bed.

Katy shook her head. ‘Not at all.’

He frowned. ‘At least drink some water. That’ll help you feel better.’

She gave a small laugh. ‘Since when were you an expert?’

‘I keep telling you that I’m an expert in everything,’ he replied before going out into the kitchen.

He brought her a glass of water, along with a pitcher, which he placed on the bedside table. Then he sat down on the other side of the bed.

‘Are you cold?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘No. I actually feel better already.’

He frowned. ‘Liar. You don’t look it.’

She shuffled awkwardly in the bed. ‘Gee, thanks.’

‘I didn’t think you cared about what I thought,’ he told her, a smile playing on his lips.

‘I temporarily forgot.’ She turned her head to look around the room. ‘The fire’s nice.’

‘Yeah. And it’s warm too, so get used to it,’ he replied. ‘This will be your bedroom for the time being.’

‘Not for long,’ she murmured. She was so tired that her eyelids were closing already. ‘I must go to work.’

‘Don’t worry about that for now.’

They were the last words she heard him say before she had dozed off to sleep once more.

* * *

Wanting to make sure that he helped Katy feel better rather than worse when she woke up, Ryan rang Grams to check what he needed to do.

‘Water and maybe some nice chicken soup,’ Grams told him. ‘Chicken soup fixes a lot of things. Other than that, just rest and keep warm.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ he replied.

‘Just take care of her,’ said Grams. ‘I know she’s got a tough skin on her, but I have a feeling that she’s pretty vulnerable underneath.’

Ryan hung up thinking how fast things had changed. He didn’t want Katy ill. He didn’t even want fragile Katy. He wanted feisty Katy, always scrapping and fighting to get everything organised.