Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

flu,” he concluded. Setting aside his stethoscope, he frowned. “I bet with all that running around you were doing, you forgot to get yourself immunized for the flu, didn’t you?”

Mentally crossing his fingers, he looked through his bag and found that he had thought to pack some extra acetaminophen. Taking out a fresh syringe, he removed the plastic casing and gave her an injection.

“That should help lower your fever,” he told Lila. He frowned thoughtfully. “But you still can’t be left alone, not like this.”

There was a chair over in the corner by the window and he dragged it over to her bed. Sitting down, Everett studied her for a few minutes, reviewing his options. He was due back in Houston tomorrow, but there was no way he was about to leave her in this condition.

The injection he gave her should lower her fever, but things didn’t always go the way they were supposed to. If Lila took a turn for the worse, there was no one here to take her to the hospital. Or do anything else for her, for that matter.

Even if he didn’t feel the way he did about her, he couldn’t just abandon her.

Everett made up his mind. He might not have been there for Lila thirteen years ago, but he could be here for her now.

Stepping out into the hallway, he took out his cell phone and placed a call to one of the doctors he worked with. He found himself listening to an answering machine telling him to leave a message. He’d hoped to talk to the other man directly, but that wasn’t an option right now.

“Ryan, it’s Everett. I’m in the middle of some sort of flu epidemic here in Austin and I’m going to be staying here a few more days. I’m going to need you and Blake to cover for me at the office. I appreciate it and I owe you—big time. Any questions, you have my cell.”

With that, he terminated the call.

Coming back into the room to check on Lila, Everett called Schuyler next. His sister answered on the second ring.

“Schuy, it’s Everett. I’m going to be staying in Austin a few more days.”

“Oh?” Schuyler really didn’t sound all that surprised, he thought. “Did you and Lila manage to patch things up?” she asked.

He wasn’t about to get into that right now. That was a personal matter and it was officially on the back burner until Lila got well.

“It’s not what you think,” Everett was quick to tell his sister.

“Okay, if you’re not trying to romance Lila into taking you back, then why are you going to be staying in Austin a few more days?” Schuyler wanted to know.

“You know that flu epidemic I came here to help treat?”

“Yes, I got my vaccination, Ev,” she told him, thinking that was what her brother was going to ask her.

“Good, but that wasn’t what I was about to tell you,” Everett said.

“Okay, then what were you going to tell me?” Schuyler asked gamely.

“Lila came down with the flu,” he told his sister simply. “She lives by herself and there’s no one to take care of her.”

“My Lord,” Schuyler cried. “If I saw this story on one of those movie-of-the-week channels I’d shut off the TV.”

“I didn’t ask for your evaluation,” Everett told her impatiently. “I just wanted you to know that I was still in town—and why.”

After a moment, Schuyler said, “You’re serious. Then she’s really sick?”

Did Schuyler think that Lila would pretend to be ill—and that he’d just blindly fall for it?

“Schuy, I’m a doctor. I know what ‘sick’ looks like. Right now, Lila’s not only displaying all the signs of the flu, she’s unconscious.”

Schuyler’s tone of voice changed immediately. “Anything I can do?”

He thought of Lila’s car. It was still at the Foundation’s parking lot where Lila had left it. He knew that Lila would undoubtedly prefer to have the car close by when she regained consciousness—if for no other reason than there might be something in it that she needed.

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Everett told her. “If you and one of your friends could swing by here tomorrow morning to get the keys, could you pick up Lila’s car from the Foundation’s parking lot and drive it over to her house?”

“I think I liked you better when you didn’t feel it was seemly to ask for favors,” Schuyler told him.

He knew she was kidding. He also knew he could count on his sister.

“I’m growing as a person,” Everett quipped.

“That’s not how I see it,” she told him. “All right, where’s ‘here’?” his sister asked.

He thought he heard her shuffling papers on the other end and then he heard Schuler say, “Okay, give me Lila’s address.”

He did, and then he said, “I assume you know where the Fortune Foundation is located.”

“You know, you can be very insulting, big brother,” Schuyler told him.

“Not intentionally,” he told her, then added, “Thanks for this, Schuy.”

“Yeah. I just hope you’re not going to wind up regretting this, that’s all,” she told him, sounding concerned.

She was worried and he appreciated that. But there was no need for his sister to feel that way. “Schuy, Lila’s sick. I’m a doctor. I’m supposed to take care of sick people.”

Schuyler barely stifled a laugh. “You don’t think this a little above and beyond?” she questioned.

“I’m an ‘above and beyond’ kind of doctor,” Everett answered, doing his best to make light of the concerns his sister was displaying.

“Not funny, Ev,” Schuyler informed him. “I worry about you,” she stressed.

“And I said I appreciate that. I also appreciate you picking up that car and bringing it back to Lila’s house for me,” he said, bringing the conversation back to what he was asking her to do.

Schuyler sighed. “What time do you want me to come by?”

There was no reason to push. “Whenever it’s convenient.” He glanced toward Lila’s room. “It doesn’t look as if I’m going to be going anywhere for at least a while.”

“I’ll still call