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He really liked to look at her. It relaxed something that was always unsettled inside him.

“How’s the writing going?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

“Okay.” He stifled a groan as he turned his chair back toward his laptop. Staring at the screen made the pain even worse.

Damn his head anyway. Why was it doing this to him?

She came over and looked at the collection of dishes and cups on the side of his desk. An uneaten sandwich. The barelytouched smoothie. A bottle of water. A glass of iced green tea. She shook her head, clearly disapproving.

Ridiculously, her expression made him feel guilty. “I told Nancy I didn’t need anything.”

He was fully expecting Eve to give him a lecture about taking better care of himself. It was all there on her face, and he deserved it.

It wasn’t rational to go all day without eating or drinking, particularly in his condition. He knew it as well as she did.

But she didn’t say anything. She started collecting the dishes and putting them on the cart Nancy had wheeled in earlier with the lunch he hadn’t eaten.

He tried to save his coffee cup, but Eve got it before he could and put it on the cart. She felt the bottle of water, which was evidently no longer cold because she added it to the cart and then wheeled it right out of the library without saying a word to Jude.

Ludicrously, Jude was kind of hurt that he didn’t even rate a lecture from her.

He’d turned back to force himself to keep writing when motion behind him distracted him again.

Eve had come back.

She carried a glass of ice water. She set it down on the desk beside him and just stood there.

He met her eyes, but she didn’t move.

He could have held out—it wasn’t like he was any sort of pushover—but he couldn’t find the incentive or the energy. So he picked up the glass of water and gulped down half of it in several big swallows.

When she still didn’t move, he drank the rest of the water. Then he realized that he hadn’t peed in ages. Once the thought crossed his mind, the need became urgent, so he had no choice but to get up to go to the bathroom.

He returned to the library to find Eve sitting in his chair.

“I need to finish this chapter today,” he told her, too tired and pained to even be annoyed with her. “I don’t have that much of it left.”

“Okay,” she said, gazing up at him with those big blue eyes. She didn’t look annoyed with him either. More like she was thinking, solving a problem. “It’s only four o’clock. So why don’t you rest for an hour? Then try to eat something. Then you’ll have the whole evening to finish your chapter.”

He stood perfectly still, staring down at her. Something stubborn inside him that had always clung to his self-sufficiency wanted to argue, but he couldn’t make himself voice it.

“Can you really tell me that you’re getting anything decent written right now?” she asked.

Of course he wasn’t. For the past hour, he’d mostly been forcing out words. Any words.

“Okay, fine. But just an hour or so. And I’m not taking a pill.” His response came out with another groan. He walked over and collapsed onto the couch, vaguely pleased when Eve immediately came over to sit beside him.

“So don’t take the pill. A short rest and something to eat will probably help you feel better.”

As soon as he got to the couch, Jude was hit with the overwhelming urge to lie down and close his eyes like he had the other day.

But that felt weak, and he didn’t want to be weak. He didn’t want Eve to see him that way. He didn’t want her feeling sorry for him.

Instead, he slouched farther down so he could rest his head against the back cushion. He closed his eyes, telling himself it would only be for a minute or two.

Eve was shifting on the couch beside him, and he wanted to open his eyes to see what she was doing, but he didn’t have the energy.

He jerked in surprise when he felt her hands in his hair.