Winnie shook her head. “Not yet.”
“I met Hunter and Josiah outside as we got here, they finished with the horses, and they’re headed over to the cabins to let the ranch hands know what’s going on.”
“I really didn’t mind helping with the chores.” Winnie stood and walked to the soup she was cooking. Hunter and Josiah had taken over the horses for her until Bear felt better.
This family continued to amaze Winnie. When they saw a need, they didn’t ask if they should step in, they just did it. It didn’t matter what it was, they did it without complaining. She loved it. In a way, she was envious of Bear growing up with that sort of support system. Not that her parents hadn’t supported her, but most people would have at least grumbled a little. That didn’t happen with the Wests and Fredericks.
Talking in the hall drew the attention of everyone. Caroline and King entered the room with the doctor, an elderly man, in tow. King held up his hands. “Before anyone lobs questions, Bear’s okay.” He waved to the doctor. “Take it away, doc.”
“He’s got the flu and bronchitis. The next few days, he’ll need plenty of rest and fluids, and I recommend a humidifier for warm air to help. He’s running a pretty high temperature. That’ll need to be monitored closely. I believe fatigue is what caused him to pass out.” He smiled. “I’m told he’s stubborn, so I suspect he’s felt bad for a couple of days, and instead of resting, he downplayed his condition.”
While Bear’s family talked to the doctor, Winnie sneaked past them to check on Bear. As she reached his room, she paused at the door, noting he’d been changed into a t-shirt and hopefully pajama bottoms. She couldn’t be certain because he was covered to the chest.
His room was spacious and very much him: warm colors, a few paintings, and a large king-sized poster bed. A recliner sat in the corner with a television mounted on the wall across from it. It was his little sanctum.
As she took a breath, his scent filled her nose. Spicy aftershave and nothing else but man. With the way she was feeling, she might have to steal one of his shirts so she could sleep with it after she returned home.
As her gaze fell on him again, she noticed a rag crumpled on the bed next to his shoulder. Crossing the room, she picked it up and dunked it in the bowl of icy water sitting on his nightstand. After wringing it out, she laid it across his forehead and then sat on the edge of the bed next to him.
His eyes cracked open a fraction. “I think I left you high and dry with the horses.”
Leaning across him, she braced her hand on the bed and laid her other hand against the side of his face. “You can make it up to me later.” That was the best response for a man like him. Telling him it was okay or she didn’t mind wouldn’t appease him. He kept his promises and took care of people. “I wish I’d known you weren’t feeling good.”
He opened his mouth to speak and then covered it to cough. It sounded worse now than it did before. By the time he was done, he was winded. “That hurt.” Shifting in the bed, he said, “You should probably keep your distance from me, so I don’t get you sick.”
“I’ll take my chances.” She smiled. “Besides, we were probably exposed to the same things. If I was going to get sick, I probably would be by now.” She leaned over him again. “You know, we share a common thought.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re a solid catch, Bear West. There isn’t a woman breathing that’s good enough for you. I’ve never met a man as wonderful as you.”
He waved her off as his eyes slid shut. “I’m not sure about that.”
Brushing the back of her hand along his cheek, she nodded. “I am.”
“Okay, I’ve got a humidifier,” Caroline announced as she walked in. “There you are, Winnie.”
“Hi.” She straightened. “If it’s okay with you, could I stay with him? I could use that recliner sitting in the corner.”
“I think he’d like that,” his mom said, setting the humidifier on the dresser facing his bed. Turning, she walked to Winnie. “He cares a great deal for you. I see it in his eyes when he’s looking at you.”
Winnie believed that to be true, but it was the kind of affection friends shared. “He’s a good man. I feel wretched for not realizing he didn’t feel good.”
Caroline put her hand on Winnie’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, you were worried about your dad, and you’ve got a lot on your plate. He understands that.”
Her words didn’t assuage her guilt even a little. Now that she was looking back over the last few days, he’d kept himself out of her way, deliberately allowing her the freedom to take care of things that didn’t seem nearly as important now. “When I asked him about his cough, he just made excuses for it. I should have noticed, though. He would have.”
There was no doubt in her mind that he would have. If she’d so much as sniffled too much, he would have been right there, asking if she was okay, if there was anything she needed. Not her. She’d been so caught up in her half-hearted dream that he’d fallen by the wayside.
“I’ll go get some blankets and send the boys to move the chair closer. That way you can sit with him.” Caroline patted her shoulder and then walked to the door. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Winnie nodded. “Okay,” she replied, leaning over Bear again and pressing her lips to his hot forehead. “You’re causing me grief in all the right ways, Bear West.”
A soft snore answered her.
She touched her cheek to his and closed her eyes. Her once penlight-focused dream had been ripped in two. The fiery desire to make her dad proud currently stood at direct odds with a new dream. The one where she spent her years with a man she knew was irreplaceable.
She was no longer just in trouble. She was swimming in it with no sign of escape.
Chapter 23
Bear rolled onto his side and caught sight of the time on the alarm clock. Then his gaze fell on Winnie, sitting in his recliner, staring at something on her phone. What was she doing in his room at six in the morning? Bracing his elbow on the bed, he sat up a little.
The movement caught her attention, and she smiled. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Better. How long have you been sitting there?”
“On and off the last two days.”
His mouth dropped open. “Two days?”
She set her phone on the arm of the chair, stood, and sat next to him. “You were asleep for most of it. Apparently, you weren’t feeling good for a few days and didn’t bother telling anyone.”
He yawned and rubbed a hand over his hair. “I don’t get sick a lot. It usually takes me by surprise.”
“That’s what I’ve been told. I didn’t realize I was in the company of the poster child for perfect school attendance.” She chuckled.
“Trust me; I wish I wasn’t. You know how many times my siblings got sick? I’d have much rather stayed home, able to watch what I wanted and getting popsicles.”
Her eyes roamed over his face. “Well, I’m just glad you’re feeling better. When you passed out, it was a little scary.”
“The last thing I remember was stepping into the barn. From there, things get hazy.” He covered his mouth as he yawned again. “You’d think with two days of sleeping that I’d be a little more awake than I am.”
Winnie shrugged. “You needed the rest, and you still do. Are you hungry? I made some chicken noodle soup if you are.”
His stomach grumbled. “That sounds pretty good.” He moved to push the covers off and stand.
Staying him, she shook her head. “Nope. I’ll get it and bring it to you.”
“I can walk just fine.” Besides, he needed to use the restroom, and she certainly couldn’t do that for him.
“That’s not the point. The doctor said you needed to take it easy, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do. It’s a bowl of soup. I can manage it.” She stood. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
A minute. That’s all he’d need. “All right.”
As soon as
she left, he quickly tossed the covers off and ran to the restroom. Run was subjective. He mostly shuffled, and that was taxing. By the time she returned, he was back in bed. “That smells really good.”
“It’s had a couple of days for the flavors to marry. I always like it better when it’s had time to sit.” She set the bowl next to him on the nightstand. “I’d give it a second. It’s pretty hot.”
Taking her seat again in the recliner, she hung her feet over the arm. “I have to say this is a really comfortable chair.”
“I love the thing. It’s well-used.” He laughed. “When it’s just me here, I don’t see the point in messing up the rest of the house. It’s easier for me to just stick to my corner and keep it clean.”
Just as he moved to sit up a little more, a coughing spell hit. By the time it was over, he was holding his chest and wondering if it had knocked his lungs loose. “That has to stop.”
“Bronchitis with a helping of the flu. That and fatigue, or that was the doctor’s thought.” She looked at her phone, and her eyebrows furrowed.
He didn’t want to pry, but she’d stayed with him this whole time. The least he could do was be a good listener for whatever was wrong. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, my friend who took the money called me yesterday evening, apologizing, even saying she’d return the money she hasn’t spent. She’s been texting me, asking if I’ll ever be able to trust her again. I’ve typed out six different responses and erased each one because I don’t know that I can.”
Bear tested his soup while he thought of an answer. “I don’t know if you can either. It took me way longer than it should to recover from Angela.”
Winnie looked at him. “With good reason. She was horrible to you.”
“More than you know, but at the root of it, I was responsible for letting it happen.”
“Bear, no—”
“We eloped to Las Vegas and got married.” He’d spoken it quickly so it would actually come out. Anytime he paused, the courage would be gone, and this was a piece of himself he didn’t mind Winnie having.
With a gasp, Winnie’s mouth dropped open. “Wow.”
Nodding, he shrugged. “Yeah. I should have known better.”
“How could you be responsible for the way she treated you?”
“Because I ignored red flags big enough to cover a football field. My family still doesn’t know about Vegas. We’d just won the lottery, and it was seconds before I met Angela. For six months, we were inseparable.” He paused, swallowing down the shame he felt. “The ink was literally barely dry on the marriage certificate before her lawyer boyfriend was shaking me down for alimony. I found out later she’d known about the money all along. She’d been a temp at the lawyer’s office where we set everything up after we won. As soon as we left the wedding chapel, she handed me the divorce papers, demanding half of everything I had.”
“Alimony?”
“I was so blind and stupid. She cried at breaking a nail. Literally cried. Looking back, I should have been wiser. Smarter.” His heart didn’t break with that realization any longer. Mostly, it made him angry with himself. “Of course, I hired a better lawyer. Two million dollars later, she was gone without a dime and the marriage was annulled.”
“I’m so sorry. That had to feel awful. I’ll definitely punch her in the nose if I ever see. That’s just not even a question anymore.”
Laughing, Bear sat up with his back against the headboard and picked up the bowl of soup in one hand and the spoon in the other. “It was my fault. If anyone deserves a broken nose, it’s me.”
“I don’t think so. You loved someone.”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but I definitely let her live in my head for far too long.” And he was done giving her his life. She may have had to walk away without any of his money, but she’d gone on with her life. What had Bear done? Moped, pined, and ached for someone who used him? He’d created a prison with her as the guard.
A glaring first sign with Angela should have been her cackling like a goose when he told her he was buying the ranch. When she realized he was serious, she was dumbfounded as to why anyone would want to live in the middle of nowhere. Only idiots did that.
She’d spit on his dream, which was why he couldn’t do that to anyone else. That was why he supported Winnie like he did. If her dream had been too far-fetched, a word of caution might have been in order, but not laughing at it.
The bed moved, and he lifted his head to find Winnie sitting next to him. “Well, we’re friends now. I’m not the greatest at standing up for myself, but I’m a tiger when it comes to people I care about. Anyone tries that again, and the mild-mannered Winnie you know will show claws.”
With as fierce as she sounded, he believed it. “I think I’d like to see that.” He smirked, though her words echoed in his ears. We’re friends now. Was that all they were? It’s all they could be if he cared about her. Despite that, his heart stung from the words.
Laughing, she combed her fingers through his hair and palmed his cheek. “You’re a great guy. One day, someone is going to love you like you’ve never been loved before.”
He didn’t want to be loved by someone. He wanted to be loved by her.
Why did he have to be sick? This was the part in the story where the guy kissed the girl, but not when he had bronchitis and the flu. There was also the matter of her future restaurant she’d be starting in the new year. His timing stank liked roadkill skunk.
When he was no longer a danger to her health, he’d take advantage of their deal. He’d kiss her, hold her, and send her on her way. He’d put his whole heart into it. It would hurt to let her go. Hurt worse than anything he’d experienced with Angela. The difference this time was that Winnie was worth the pain.
Chapter 24
Sitting in Gabby and Wyatt’s kitchen, Winnie boxed a pie and set it atop one that was already boxed. Wyatt and Gabby were doing things a little different this year. Instead of a simple farmer’s market, they were having a Christmas festival. In order to prepare for it, she’d made quite a few pies, and they were all working on getting them ready.
With Bear on the mend, Winnie felt a little less tied to the house. He’d been grounded to his room until Christmas Eve, which was the day after tomorrow, and even then, he’d be taking it easy.
Molly took a bite of the pie Gabby had cooked especially for her and groaned. “I love you, Gabby.”
“You love my pie.” Gabby laughed.
“This is true, but I love you too.”
Rolling her eyes, Gabby said, “I only made it so the other pies were safe.” She bumped shoulders with Winnie as she boxed a pie. “If I didn’t, I would have needed a muzzle on her.”
“Hey, of the vices I could have, pie seems to be relatively tame.” Molly set her fork down, wrote the type of pie on a sticker, and then slapped it onto a box.
Wyatt stopped behind Gabby, planting a kiss on her head. “I love you.” With that, he went on his way.
The small token of affection warmed Winnie’s heart. This whole family seemed to realize what they had and cherished it. “That was sweet.”
Blushing, Gabby grinned. “He does that a few times a day. I absolutely adore it.”
Winnie wanted that. And in the last couple of days, there was desperation attached to it with only one person who could ease the ache. Learning that Angela had married Bear to snake his money away broke her heart. How could she have done that to him? He would have done anything for her, and she threw him away like it was nothing. He’d thought Winnie was kidding, but she wasn’t. Angela deserved a good punch to the nose.
“Are you still thinking about opening a restaurant?” asked Carrie Anne.
“Uh—”
Gabby nodded in reply, cutting Winnie off. “Well, Wyatt and I have talked about it. He called Bandit, and he’s saying when he comes back, he doesn’t really want to run it now that his mom is gone. That place is just sitting there. He said we could do what we wanted because he
has no plans to reopen it at the moment.”
Winnie looked at Gabby, confused. “Wait. You’re opening a restaurant here?”
“In town, yes, but there’s no concrete timetable. The festival is a test to gauge traffic. The town is reviving a little all the time. We’ve had great ratings on the schools this past year. If that keeps up, it’ll draw people.”
“Plus, it would be nice not to have to drive to Amarillo to go to dinner,” Carrie Anne added.
Gabby closed the lid on the pie she’d just placed in a box. “If you don’t mind, I’d love to sit down sometime and talk about what all we’d be looking at. I was thrilled when Bear said you were a chef and were opening a restaurant.”
Reagan chuckled. “I’m sure Bear will be visiting every chance he gets so he can see you.”
Winnie's chest tightened. No, he wouldn’t, but she’d keep that part of the lie intact. They’d agreed to not pretend. If they knew their relationship would end after the holidays, there was no way they wouldn’t ask more questions. She didn’t like lying to them. “I certainly wouldn’t mind it.”
Israel walked into the kitchen holding Camry. The little girl held out her arms for Carrie Anne, and she took her, kissing her face all over and making Camry giggle. “Are you ready for some food?”
The little girl patted her chest, and Carrie Anne stood. “I’m going to go lie down and feed her. I’ll be back when she’s done.”
“That is, if you don’t fall asleep, right?” Gabby eyed her.
“My body is feeding a human being. I’m allowed to nap.” She lightly tugged on Gabby’s hair as she left the kitchen.
How could Winnie have gone from knowing exactly what she wanted, where she wanted it, to wishing she had this life? Small town festivals, a slower pace of life, holding hands with Bear and…loving him.
The thought nearly rocked her from her seat. She loved him down to the depths of her core. They’d spent hours talking on the phone. If she knew anyone, it was him. There had been nothing to do but talk because of the distance. They’d talked about their family, kids, and all the things they thought his parents might ask about. She’d been shocked to find she had so much in common with a man she’d agreed to fake date.
The Fake Girlfriend's Billionaire Match (Caprock Canyon Romance Book 4) Page 10