economic food balance in Otter Creek.”
Darcy opened her takeout container, grabbed a fork, and dug into her grilled chicken and salad.
After Darcy finished her meal, Kristi said, “Your house is so beautiful, Darcy. You must love it.”
“I love it now.”
“You didn’t always?”
“Oh, the house appealed to me the minute I saw it. The structure had good bones, like a classy lady. However, the inside was an unpleasant surprise. The woman who owned the house was a hoarder, and her family insisted on selling the house as it was. You literally took your life in your hands when you walked inside this place. I lost count of how many large dumpsters I filled up clearing out this place.”
Kristi’s eyes widened. “I can’t imagine all the work you had to do.” How did she finish the job with an autoimmune disease plaguing her?
“Oh, it wasn’t so bad.” Darcy leaned her head against Rio’s shoulder. “Rio and his teammates plus an army of PSI trainees helped clear the house. All I had to do was sit back and direct traffic.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” the medic said with a tender smile at his wife. “She worked harder than she should have.”
“My house and my mess to clear. Everything worked out, though. Now, we have a beautiful home to share with friends and family when they need a refuge or a place to recover.” She turned to Kristi. “I have pictures of the interior of the house before we cleaned it out if you want to look at them. They’re shocking.”
“I’d love to see them.”
Darcy pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the pictures she had mentioned. She handed her phone to Kristi.
She stared at the screen, eyes wide. Good grief! Stacks and stacks of stuff piled nearly to the ceiling. “It’s a wonder you were able to navigate through the house at all.”
“We caused more than one avalanche.”
“How long did it take you?”
“A week. I had a lot of help from the trainees. Josh allowed them to use helping me in place of physical training for a few days.”
Rafe scowled at Eli. “Why didn’t we have the option to ditch PT for a community service project? I’d have taken that option in a heartbeat.”
“We aren’t bodyguard trainees, buddy.”
“Some of them weren’t either,” Rio pointed out, his lips curving.
“No whining,” Eli said to Rafe. “Josh will never give us an easy out. He trains us as hard as he does his own team because we’re assigned tough missions.”
Rio grinned. “I can attest to that. Although we were in the military together for years, our workout and training regimen is more rigorous now than when we were active duty soldiers.”
Kristi watched the continuing byplay, amused despite a headache growing worse by the minute. By the time she finished eating, Kristi wished she had skipped food altogether. She prayed she didn’t embarrass herself by getting sick, and desperately tried to think of a way to excuse herself without worrying Rafe or the others. She needed to lie down.
“Kristi.”
She blinked and looked at Rafe.
He cupped her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
The other people around the table fell silent, just what she didn’t want to happen. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. Your skin is pale and clammy. Tell me what’s wrong so I can help, baby.”
No use lying to him or the others. If something didn’t change fast, she wouldn’t be able to hide it anyway. “A bad headache growing worse by the second and nausea.”
Jackson was on his feet in an instant. “Rafe, help Kristi to her room. I’ll follow you up in a minute. Darcy, do you have chamomile or mint tea?”
“Take care of Kristi,” Rio said. “I’ll bring the tea and cold packs.”
Rafe helped Kristi to her feet and slid his arm around her waist as he escorted her from the kitchen with Jackson following behind.
Dismay filled Kristi when she realized she didn’t know which room she’d been assigned. “I don’t know where to go,” she murmured.
Rafe tucked her closer to his side. “Your room is across the hall from mine.”
“How many bedrooms does this house have?”
“Plenty.” He assisted her upstairs to the third floor and down the hall to the last room on the right at back of the house.
Instead of turning on the overhead light, Rafe turned on the lamp on its lowest setting, then mounded pillows against the headboard. “Stay upright long enough to drink the tea Rio’s preparing.” He crossed the room to the closet and pulled a blanket from the shelf,