Chapter Thirteen
Hal
When I first got sick, I thought it would just require a few naps, and I’d be fine. Only that day, I got progressively sicker. What I’d wanted to do was call August, but I didn’t because I didn’t want him to get sick.
The sicker I got, the less I thought about anything at all, other than my head hurting, my body aching, and remembering that if I didn’t keep drinking my water, it was only going to get worse.
It burned to swallow anything, including liquids, but I did it, knowing it would hurt even worse being in the hospital.
I hadn’t expected August to show up, and, when he did, there was such a sense of overwhelming relief.
The telehealth appointment had seemed like a good idea at the time, but as I got worse, I knew I needed more than that.
I just didn’t have the energy. Having someone there taking care of me was great.
It also had me feeling bad, worried that he was going to get sick too.
But every time I told him I didn’t want him staying too close, that I didn’t want him getting sick, he assured me he’d rather be sick than watch me like this again.
“Promise me you won’t keep anything like this from me again.” And he didn’t say it only once. He wanted to be sure I heard, digested, and agreed to his terms.
I was finally feeling human, wearing new jams, and sitting up on the couch instead of being stuck in bed.
“I promise. And I really didn’t know I was that sick.” Which was concerning in and of itself.
“I know, but you scared me.”
“It scared me too.”
“I can stay another day.” He brushed the hair off my forehead. “Let me.”
I shook my head. “No, please don’t. Because now that I’m feeling better, I’ll feel like I need to stay awake and entertain you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I’m aware, but I can’t help it. I’m already feeling like I should talk to you instead of closing my eyes and doing nothing.”
“Then you really must be feeling better.” He kissed my forehead—not just with affection, although there was that too. He was making sure my fever hadn’t come back. “I can go, but remember, I have plates in the fridge ready to go in the microwave. You need to eat.”
“I will, Daddy.”
“And you need to drink all your water.”
“I will, Daddy.”
“And you need to call me if you aren’t feeling any better.”
“I will, Daddy.”
We hadn’t had a big discussion about me using that name, but it was the only thing that felt right in this situation, and not once had he shown that he minded my using it.
He gave me a hug and left, checking up on me every couple of hours via text messages.
This time, I knew if I didn’t respond, he’d show up again.
It was sweet, wonderful, amazing, even. But I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said that the need to entertain and keep him company was first in my mind when he was still here.
It was like I didn’t want to miss a second of my time with him.
I dozed on and off all afternoon, fully waking when there was another knock on the door. So much for the buzzer system. People might have recognized August, or the buzzer might have malfunctioned again. It could be either.
Another knock had me up and walking to the door, and when I opened it, I was surprised to find Ridge there with his backpack and a pillow under his arm.
“Ridge? What’s this about?”
“I had to—” He stopped mid-sentence and looked me up and down. “Oh man, you look like shit.”
“Thanks for sparing my feelings,” I said as he came inside. I locked the door behind him. “I’ve been sick.”
“Well, did you want me to go somewhere else?”
“Ridge, you haven’t even told me why you’re here in the first place.” This was so like him.
“Oh, right. My building’s being fumigated, and I don’t have any pet-sitting jobs lined up.
So I was hoping I could crash here for a few days.
” His building made mine look like the fancy side of town.
He claimed he loved it, but also, this wasn’t the first time he’d had to leave for fumigation, so his definition of loving a place and mine were very different.
“You’re always welcome.” I went back to the couch, grabbed my teddy, and lay down, using my unicorn as a pillow and closing my eyes. Unlike August, Ridge was like a brother to me. He could be bored. I didn’t have that same need to keep him company.
“I’ll get my stuff put away. Then want me to make dinner?”
“Daddy left dinner in the fridge,” I mumbled.
The next thing I knew, he was squatting in front of the couch, right in front of me, his face inches from mine. “You cannot throw a ‘Daddy left dinner in the fridge’ at me and then go to sleep. Sit up. You can sleep later.”
I chuckled and pushed myself up, hating that my body still ached. “I was sick. I missed some days at work. I didn’t message anybody but HR. I felt like I was at death’s door.”
“And you didn’t call an ambulance?”
“It was a figure of speech. Are you listening or being the annoying kid in class and asking questions?” I flicked his forehead.
“Fine. Get to the part where August was here.” He rubbed where my finger had hit his forehead. It didn’t hurt. I barely touched him, unlike when he did it to me. His flicks always stung.
“He just showed up, and he took care of me, and he scolded me.” I stuck my bottom lip out in a faux pout.
“He scolded you? Like you had to write lines, or you got spanked? Like, what does ‘scolded me’ mean in this context? A friend’s gotta know?”
“He told me not to do it again and to let him know if I was sick so he could take care of me.”
“Pretty sure that’s not scolding in anybody’s definition.”
“Is too,” I countered, using my not-so-big words.
“No, it’s not.” He stuck his tongue out. “And when did he become Daddy?”
I shrugged. “He kind of always was, I guess.”
“I feel like there are a whole lot of details you’re leaving out. Do you want to give them to me now, or do you want to take another nap first while I try to figure out what’s going on with the dinner situation?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you now.” It was better to get it over with than to not be able to fall asleep waiting for the conversation to happen.
And I told him everything. Although when I was telling him about our night at Chained, his gaze changed.
My guess was that I wasn’t giving him new information, and that Ernie had already spilled the beans, which was fine.
The three of us knew each other’s boundaries on what we could and couldn’t share amongst each other.
Nothing he said there would have been something I wouldn’t have already told him if I hadn’t gotten ill.
“And now he’s taking care of you when you’re sick.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Well, good for you. You got a daddy. Maybe I’ll be next.” He stood up and patted the couch where my unicorn was, gesturing for me to lie back down.
“Well, first, I don’t have a daddy.” Yet. “I’m working on finding one, that’s all.”
“You found one.”
“Fine. But I’m sick, and I was apparently not quite knowing words and you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean.” He patted the couch again, and this time I lay down. “And you have a daddy. You’re holding a bear and have your head down on a unicorn, both of which are brand new, which has me guessing a certain someone gave them to you.”
He wasn’t guessing. I’d just told him. Or maybe I hadn’t. Gods, I hated being sick.
“They were.” I pointed to the kitchenette. “Didn’t you say you had things to do?”
“I do. And once I’m done with them, I’m gonna pump you for more information because your life lately is better than any of the vertical dramas I’ve been watching on my phone while cat-sitting.”
“Why don’t you just pull up real movies on your computer?” He always complained about those movies yet always watched them.
“Well, the last two places had shitty internet. And besides, I like them, as bad as they are.”
“It’s because you have the attention span of a flea.”
“I do.” He stretched out on his tippy-toes. “But this flea is hungry, so I’m going to figure out what in there I can eat without making a certain hot daddy angry with me.”
“He won’t care if I share.”
“Ha! All daddies care if someone takes what they made for their boys.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not his boy yet.”
But I really wanted to be. And I didn’t think it would be long before I was.