What the hell?
I grimace and press my palms against my eyes. “What the fuck, Ellis?”
He could at least have told me where he is heading. He may be a lot better, but I have no idea what he’s up to—he might be pushing himself, maybe walking around to God knows where for the next hour, and I’ll get a call from the police that they found him passed out on some snow-covered street.
“It’s none of my business,” I tell myself. “He’s an adult and I’m not his keeper.”
Still, I fret.
I fret way too fucking much.
In an attempt to keep myself distracted, I do my work—or, at least, I attempt to. I sit by the wooden desk with my laptop open in front of me. It’s not until I’m uselessly scrolling up and down my scouting report on Killian Schultz that I realize that half an hour has already passed.
Then an hour passes.
Where is Ellis? I debate texting him and asking him where the hell he is, but I again remind myself that he’s a goddamn grown adult. Yeah, he decided to take a work trip despite being sick, and can’t remember to eat unless I shove food in his face, and does very questionable things such as pack flimsy clothes for a snowstorm, but…
Oh, God.
I’m definitely going to get a call from the police soon, aren’t I?
Maybe I should call Heather and convince her to see where Ellis is.
There’s an idea.
“It’s a holiday,” I remind myself, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Don’t bother Heather.”
The sun’s already setting when Ellis finally decides to grace me with his presence once more. The door opens and I swivel around so fast I almost fall off my chair, and my jaw drops as Ellis struggles to come in with all the bags he’s carrying. His hair’s in disarray and has flakes of snow in it, and his cheeks and ears are red.
Despite looking as if he’s walked a number of blocks with bags that look half his body weight, he smiles at me so widely it makes my chest ache.
“They didn’t have banana bread here, but I found some!” he announces, lifting the bags and showing them off. He’s got three bags, all of them from different places. “Dee, check it out! I wanted pasta too and the best rated place wasn’t too far but the wait time waslooong.Christmas Eve is a busy time for them, who would’ve thought? Then I stopped by the grocery down the street to grab some wine, because if we’re going to watch sappy movies all night, I’m definitely going to need the buzz.”
“Ellis…” My voice cracks. “Jesus Christ. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Shut up and help me out! My arms are killing me.”
I almost fall over my own feet in the effort it takes to rush to him. Ellis missteps and almost stumbles. Or maybe he lost his balance because he’s an idiot who hasn’t recovered fully yet, like I thought, and walking that distance with all this shit made him light-headed. I grab him by the arm to steady him, and he only flashes me a wide smile.
“You’re going to get sick again,” I mumble.
“I’m fine!” Ellis shakes me off and unceremoniously hands me all the bags.
He takes his jacket off and discards it to the floor, and I must be totally out of it because I don’t even berate him for it.
Speechless, I set the bags down on the desk and gape at him.
Ellis, walking past me, puts a finger under my chin, and snaps my mouth shut. “It’s going to be an unforgettable night, Dee.”
Somehow, I don’t doubt that.
I’m peeking into the bags he’s brought when I hear sheets ruffling behind me.
“What are you doing?” I ask, baffled. Ellis is smoothing out the comforter and doing a terrible job at it.
“Preparing for our movie night,” he says with the tone that suggests he’s actually being rational right now.
“Amovie night?”
