Chapter Twenty-Two
AS PREDICTED, Joe headed out the morning after, leaving Austin and Will alone together, which meant, despite Joe’s good intentions, Austin was now Will’s ride to school.
For two mornings in a row, they sat in silence, listening to Austin’s new favorite podcast. At least they didn’t have to rely on his singing voice to fill the silent car.
The first night, Austin suggested they heat up leftovers when they got home, and he barely got an answer before Will stomped upstairs.
“Guess not, then,” Austin said to Pepa as he took her outside.
Will eventually crept down for food, but they didn’t talk. Or rather Will said nothing and Austin respected the kid’s space. Though he noticed that Will wasn’t exactly alone. Apparently Ozzy had a new favorite human.
Austin figured Will deserved a little unconditional love, and also cuddles. The poor kid could do with all the physical affection Ozzy could dish out.
Of course, Will was more than happy to join him for dinner the second night after Austin stopped for pizza on the way home.
Joe did his best to keep in touch, but he was busy all day and only managed a few short texts during breaks.
Austin and Joe sneaked in a late-night call on the first day, but he was too tired on the second night, so Austin wasn’t alarmed at first when he didn’t hear much on day three.
In fact, he wasn’t alarmed at all until just before day five.
When Joe called, Austin cheerfully answered, “On your way home, sweet thing?”
“Well,” came an unfamiliar voice, “I will be as soon as I can get my boss home safe and sound.”
“Uh,” Austin said intelligently as his face flamed.
“Joe’s passed out in his passenger seat,” the voice continued. “We’re parked at his place. Managed to get your name out of him before he dozed off, though.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Visions of the worst flashed through his mind’s eye.
“Other than being a self-sacrificing idiot? Just a cold.” He snorted. “Refused to take the morning off. I finally convinced him to take a nap after lunch, but he wouldn’t let me take him home early.”
Austin groaned. “All right. Thanks for calling. I’ll come get him. Hey, you want something from Timmies on my way there as a thank-you?”
“I’ve eaten nothing but for five straight days, man. If I see another Timbit, I’ll hurl. Thanks, though.”
Austin snorted. “Fair enough. See you in ten or so.” Then he hung up and shouted, “Will!”
He usually made a point of not shouting, so instead of ignoring him, Will scrambled to the top of the stairs to look down. “What? What’s going on?”
“You have your driver’s license, right?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Great, put on your coat and shoes. We gotta go pick up Joe.”
Ah, there was the surly teenager. “What do you need me for?” Then a pause as pieces started coming together and some of the color drained from his face. “Wait, why does he need a ride?”
“Apparently someone let him work too hard and now he’s passed out in his truck because he got sick. I need you to come so we can get him and the truck home, ’cause you’re probably going to have to use it to drive yourself to school.”
“Oh my God. Typical Joe.” Will clomped down the stairs. “Leaves us to starve for a week, and when he comes home he’s too sick to feed us?”
“Maybe wait until we know he’s not actually on death’s door to start making jokes,” Austin said as he nudged him toward the door. “Come on, his coworker can’t leave until we get there.”
If he bent the speed limit on the way up Walker Road, Will didn’t say anything. Not that that was unusual.
When they were a minute or two out, though, Austin had to prompt a dialogue. “Do you remember seeing any cold medicine in any of the cabinets?”
Miracle of miracles, Will seemed to actually think about it instead of simply sassing him. “Uh, I think maybe some DayQuil and a couple Halls.”
No good for nighttime, and they’d definitely need a stockpile from the sound of things. “All right. You want to take Joe home or stop at Shoppers for drugs?”
A streetlight ticked by.
“I’ve got homework,” Will said finally, “so I’ll take Joe, I guess.”
“You just want to drive the truck.”
He couldn’t see Will smile, but he thought he heard the trace of one. “Maybe.”
In the parking lot at Romano Tree and Landscape Service, Austin shook hands with Greg, Joe’s foreman, and let him know he and Will would handle Joe from here. “Uh, I’m assuming everyone’s got a few days off coming, after this?” Austin asked.
“Yeah, and I can check messages on the work number. We’ll take care of it.”
Fantastic, because Austin had no idea how Joe ran his business. “Great. Drive safe, eh?”
Then, because he couldn’t send Joe home with Will without checking on him, he opened the truck’s passenger-side door.
Joe was dozing, his breath shallow, eyes closed. In the cab light, Austin could make out a faint sheen of sweat on his brow. When Austin brushed his fingers over his forehead, he was burning up. Definitely sick. “Hey, sweet thing.”
Joe groaned and cracked open one eye. “’Stin?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” He pressed a kiss to Joe’s forehead, because he couldn’t resist. Will, who was climbing into the driver’s seat, huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Pretty sure Greg said it was a cold and that Joe wasn’t dying,” he said with the smug assurance of a teen.
“’Ill?”
At first Austin thought Joe was protesting the fatality of his illness, until he noticed the way Joe was tilting toward the driver’s seat. He snorted.
“Yes, Joe, Will is here too. He’s the one who’s going to take your feverish ass home while I go stockpile drugs.”
“Drugs?”
“Not the fun kind,” Austin said regretfully. “Go back to sleep, sweet thing. You might as well catch some Zs while your son drives.”
Will snorted again and started the truck.
“Drive safe,” Austin said with one last stroke of Joe’s hair.
“Aw, man, and here I was planning on drag racing down E.C. Row.”
Will must have driven exceptionally carefully, or maybe he just hit all the red lights, because he was still attempting to coax Joe out of the truck when Austin pulled up with a bag full of NyQuil, Tylenol, Halls, ginger ale, and juice.
He might have gone a bit overboard, not knowing which comforts or brands Joe would want.
“Oh thank God,” Will said when Austin hurried up. “I can’t get him on his feet, and he’s too big to carry.” Will might be almost as tall as Joe, but he was rail-thin with the stretched-out look of a teen who’d been through a recent growth spurt.
Austin nodded at his car. “Why don’t you get the stuff into the house while I see if I can talk this lump into moving. Just, uh, maybe don’t go back to your homework before confirming I don’t need help dragging him in?”
Will huffed and abandoned Austin to his charge.
“Joe,” he murmured, and Joe groaned. “There you are. I need you to get up onto your feet and into the house, sweet thing. Once you’re up and in, I’ll tuck you into bed, but I need you to walk for me.”
Joe groaned but managed to help Austin get him upright. Austin slung his arm over his shoulders and pressed another kiss to his burning forehead. “Good boy.”
Joe gave a pitiful whimper but did his best to drag his feet up the stairs to the side door.
“He’s alive,” Will said as he opened the door for them. Despite his sarcastic words, his face was a picture of relief.
“Mostly,” Austin joked back. “I’m going to get him straight into bed and dope him up with NyQuil.”
Will nodded and locked the door behind them. “I left the stuff in the kitchen.” He fidgeted with the hem of his sweater, looking like a too-young stereotype of a handwringing parent.
“Perfect. Thank you. You can go back to your homework. I’ll yell if I need anything.” He tried to smile reassuringly, though it might have come out strained given that Joe was leaning more and more heavily against him.
“Right. Okay.” Will nodded again, then with one last look at Joe, loped up the stairs to his room.
Getting Joe undressed and into bed wasn’t nearly as fun as it had been on previous occasions, and not just because his flushed, burning cheeks and fever-glazed eyes weren’t sexy.
Joe alternated between helpfully unhelpful—trying to take off his own clothes and getting in Austin’s way—and directly unhelpful—deciding he needed to go to the bathroom for a pee when Austin had only succeeded in getting one and a half boots off his feet.
But eventually he had Joe drugged up and cocooned in his bed with three kittens around him, purring contentedly as they snuggled up to their own personal space heater.
Austin wondered how long the situation would last before Joe kicked off all his blankets in a feverish haze, but he wasn’t about to chase the cats away if they were bringing comfort.
He did, however, keep Pepa from the room, as she was too wide-awake and hungry to be a nursemaid.
A few hours later, Austin was cuddled up with Pepa on the couch and reading when Joe shuffled out of his room. His hair was a riot of bedhead and his face was still flushed, but he had left the blankets behind, which boded well for his fever.
“Hey,” Austin greeted softly, and Joe wavered on his feet. “What do you need?”
“Bathroom. Drink. Bed?” He looked so befuddled that Austin wanted to cuddle him. Instead he ushered him to the bathroom and asked which drink he preferred.
A few minutes later, Austin was helping Joe back into bed, this time with a can of ginger ale on the nightstand. Joe blinked up at him and asked, “Stay?” So Austin settled next to him over the covers.
Joe groaned about that, but Austin didn’t think trying to sleep next to Joe all night would benefit either of them.
“I’ll stay until you fall asleep, sweet thing, but I need to rest in my own bed tonight.”
Joe just burrowed in as close to Austin as he could get, then fell asleep to Austin finger-combing his hair.
Okay. Now that Joe was out, Austin needed to plan.
Joe was a grown adult. He probably didn’t need constant supervision just because he was sick.
But Austin didn’t want to leave him alone either, and Will had to go to school tomorrow.
Austin could close the garage for another day.
He didn’t have anything important on the schedule, just some routine maintenance things with regular clients who’d hopefully forgive him for rescheduling if he said he had a family emergency.
He’d just ask his tenant to put the “Please Call for Appointment” sign back up.
Maybe there was a project or two he could tinker on in the garage to pass the time, just because he’d never been good at sitting around.
But he couldn’t keep the garage closed indefinitely.
Not with Joe off work, Will and the pets to feed, and the heat to keep on in this place.
They definitely needed to look into improving the insulation in the spring, because Austin didn’t think the air-conditioning bill was going to be any more fun.
Maybe the kids could hang around this weekend while Austin caught up at the shop. With any luck, Joe would be on the mend by then.
But that would only work if Austin didn’t get sick too, so he peeled himself out of Joe’s sweat-sticky embrace, popped a vitamin C in the bathroom, and trudged up the stairs to bed.