“Maybe not for you, but it has for Dex. Don’t you think shedeserves a chance at happiness? Or do you want her to be alone the rest of herlife?”
“Well, youcertainly didn’t make her happy. If you had, you’d be on this side of the doorright now.” She nudged the door closed with her shoulder and left Emma standingon the porch in the snow.
Emma wanted to charge right through the door and demand to seeDex. She closed her eyes and took in a breath. No. She wouldn’t do that. Shehad no right. She was the one who’d broken off the relationship. It was amistake to have come. If she wanted Dex to figure out what she wanted, sheneeded to leave her alone. Emma just wished Grace would do the same.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Grace couldn’t believe that woman had the nerve to show herface here after the crap she said to Brent, making him think something wasgoing on between her and Dex and pushing Dex to think there could be somethingmore. She hadn’t expected anything more from Dex than she always had, and ifthat was an issue for Emma, too bad. Dex needed a girlfriend who supported her,and that included supporting her friendship with Grace.
After rummaging through the pantry, she found some crackers andbottled water and put them in a shopping bag. She took a tray from the livingroom before she dipped out a bowl of the chicken soup Emma had made and a cupof only broth for herself. She added a placemat to the tray and set the soup ontop before she reached into the silverware drawer for a spoon.
When she got upstairs, she was surprised to see Dex sitting up inbed flipping through the TV channels. She must be feeling better.
“Who was at the door?” Dex asked when she came into the room.
“Your neighbor, picking up the lights.” She sure wasn’t going totell her it was Emma. That would only make Dex feel worse.
“Oh, good.” Dex pulled the blanket up around her waist andflattened it.
“I brought you some soup.” Grace slid the tray across Dex’s lap.
“Homemade? This looks awesome.”
Grace nodded. “I thought it might make you feel better.”
The spoon was in the soup before Grace crossed the room to thedoor. “This is delicious. Thanks, Grace.”
“You’re welcome.” Grace was more than happy to take credit for thesoup.
Dex stared at the soup and scrunched her brows together.
“What’s wrong?” Emma had better not have put anything weird in thesoup.
The vegetables splashed back into the bowl as Dex held up herspoon and tilted it. “Since when do you like vegetable soup?”
“I don’t. But I know you do, and the soup is for you.”
Dex smiled. “Now it tastes even better.” She took another bite.
While they ate their soup, they watched some comedy show thatGrace had no clue about. Dex laughed a few times, which threw her into acoughing fit each time. Once Dex was finished, Grace took the empty bowlsdownstairs and put the leftover soup in the refrigerator. She hadn’t checkedthe bag for anything else until just now. It contained a small batch ofbrownies with a note. Grace read it and grimaced at the smiley face thatpunctuated the sentence. She crumpled it up and tossed it back in the bag. Ridiculous.These were going home with her. Panda hopped up onto the stool and stared ather.
“I guess you want to be fed too.” She found the bag of cat food inthe pantry and poured some into the bowl on the floor. “I suppose you needwater too.” She picked up the bowl, filled it, and set it next to the otherbowl. “Hey, get out of there.” She swiped the bag of brownies from near Panda’shead, then picked her up and dropped her to the floor. Then she rolled up thetop of the bag and stuffed it into her purse.
When Grace went back upstairs, Dex was covered up to her neck withthe blanket.
“Can you turn up the heat?” Her voice wavered as she shivered.“I’m really cold.”
“On it.” Grace went into the hall and checked the thermostat,which was set to seventy-two, plenty warm. Dex probably had a fever. She tookanother blanket from the hall cabinet and spread it across the bed before shecrawled in under the blankets next to Dex and wrapped herself around her. “I’vegot you.” Dex closed her eyes and was immediately asleep again.
Grace’s body shook along with Dex’s as the chills vibrated throughher. She held her tight, warming her with her own body heat. She had to getthis fever to break.
Dex thrashed back and forth in bed, calling out Emma’s namenumerous times during the night. Sometime during that time, Dex’s fever hadbroken. Suddenly her clothes had been drenched, and Grace had helped herchange. After that, Dex turned onto her side and slept calmly for the rest ofthe night. Grace had mixed feelings about the fact it wasn’t her name Dex hadcalled out instead of Emma’s. After all, she was the one here taking care ofher.
* * *
Grace had gotten up and left early. She’d said she needed to getto the grocery store. Brent had invited friends over to watch the game again,and they needed snacks, which was fine with Dex. She wasn’t up to having theconversation she needed to with her this morning. It was sweet of Grace to makethe chicken soup, and she didn’t know if she would’ve made it through the nightwithout her. But when Dex had woken this morning with Grace wrapped around her,the proximity had been too intimate. She’d actually thought it was Emma untilshe’d turned over. Wishful thinking. She’d known it was a long shot, but she’dhoped that Emma would’ve at least sent her a text to check on her. That was asilly thought, though. Emma probably had no idea she was even sick.
When she entered the kitchen, Panda was flipping something aroundon the floor, and it wasn’t one of her toys. The cat had a habit of stealingthings from the counter, the dresser, or wherever she perched. Dex tried to getit,
