Page 67 of The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

‘It’s going to be fine, okay? We’ll figure this out. Together.’

‘Together,’ Iris echoed and the little crease of worry between her brows softened. And he knew they were talking about getting Olive healthy again, but he found himself wishing the together applied tomore.

He cleared his throat, realizing he still had his hand on Iris’s face. He dropped it and they both snapped out of the moment.

‘Okay, right. First things first.’ He walked over to the couch and sat gingerly on the edge. He put the back of his hand on Olive’s forehead. She was alarmingly hot. No wonder Iris was freaking out. ‘Hey Olive, I’m going to take your temperature, okay?’

‘My eyeballs hurt,’ she said.

He glanced up at where Iris was hovering nearby. ‘Her eyeballs hurt?’

Iris shrugged. ‘She keeps saying that. I thought maybe she meant like a headache behind her eyes?’

‘Anything else hurt, bud?’

‘My neck feels scratchy.’

‘Your neck? You mean your throat?’

Olive just looked at him with glassy eyes. Jesus, how were you supposed to help a person who didn’t even know their own body parts?

‘Let’s just take your temp.’ He pulled out the armpit thermometer and tucked it under her arm while Iris washed the oral thermometer. They tried both and both declared Olive had a fever.

‘One-oh-three point eight! That’s really bad, right?’ Iris hissed as they stared at the tiny digital screen.

‘Google says high temperatures are more common in children than adults,’ he said, glancing back at his phone. ‘Let’s give her the Tylenol. We can also do a cool compress on her forehead. Has she been drinking fluids?’ he asked as Iris hurried to the kitchen to wet a washcloth.

‘Sort of. She didn’t really want anything.’

‘Hey, Olive,’ Archer said, sitting down beside her again. ‘You need to have some medicine to help you feel better. And some juice, too, okay?’ He managed to get her upright enough to drink down the meds and a mouthful of orange juice. ‘You’ll feel better soon, kid,’ he told her, brushing her hair from her face. She looked so small and pitiful, and it physically hurt to see her like that. He hated it. And he hated that he couldn’t just make this go away for her.

He never knew that so much of being a parent was just feeling helpless in the face of your kid’s struggles.

‘Sit with me?’ Olive asked.

‘Yeah, of course I will.’ He moved some pillows around and Olive curled up with her head in his lap. He rubbed slow circles on her back, hoping he was at least comforting her. Hoping it was enough.

When he looked up, Iris was staring at him, a soft smile on her face. She quickly schooled her features, but it was too late. Archer had seen the way she was looking at him. No, not at him, at him and his daughter, like maybe she had more than professional feelings for both of them.

And Archer found himself hoping that she did.

ChapterTwenty-Three

‘Thank God, for modern medicine,’ Iris said, clinking her wine glass against Archer’s.

‘Cheers to that.’

Iris breathed a sigh of relief as she took her usual seat at the kitchen island. The Tylenol had worked to bring Olive’s temperature down and after an afternoon ofThe Price is Right, chicken soup, and coloring pumpkins—the closest food-related item to strawberries she could find in her new coloring book—she was slathered with Vicks, dosed with more meds, and peacefully sleeping in her bed. Iris could hardly believe they’d all survived the day.

She’d been a totally shitty nanny today, and if Archer hadn’t come home when he did, she didn’t really know what she would have done. As it turned out, she was right all along. Kids were terrifying and confusing, and she had no business taking care of one.

Which was half the reason she had to quit.

The other reasons were the equally terrifying and confusing feelings she’d had when she watched Archer brush the hair from Olive’s forehead and tell her she was going to be okay. He was such a good dad, even if he didn’t believe it yet. He came home and took care of that little girl even though he didn’t know what he was doing, either. And it had done something to Iris’s insides. Something scary. Something very different from all the horny feelings she’d been having about Archer since she arrived.

It made her feel tender and soft.

And she couldn’t go feeling all tender and soft for a man with a child. A child who she’d already decided was far too scary to care for, so full circle, it was all a bad idea and she needed to get the hell out of here ASAP.