Page 24 of Moonshot

“Oh?” Silence.

“Mick?”

“Hmm?”

“Is everything okay?”

Silence. Is he alone?No, Ava. Don’t start down that path. You’re letting Carson get into your head.

“Have you been drinking?”

“No.” Again, I hear nothing but heavy breathing across the phone line. This is so odd.

“I’m not sure what’s going on tonight. But I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Okay. Goodnight, El-”

“Hello?” Pulling my cellphone back to look at the screen, I quickly discern he’s hung up on me. What on earth? Did he even realize he was talking to me? I start to replay the conversation in my mind as I open the messaging app to review the texts again. Does he call everyone princess?Maybe that way, he doesn’t get all of his girls confused.

I slam my phone down onto the bed in front of me and decide I need to put these crazy doubts out of my head. That conversation with Carson about men who travel is starting to niggle me. I need to get some sleep. Fretting over this confusing situation will only make me paranoid, and Mick has done nothing to give me a reason to think the worst. He’s gone out of his way to be a gentleman. I’ll just ask him to clarify what happened on Friday. For now, I’m choosing to believe he simply got hammered.

There isonething I’m certain of. I’m not turned on anymore.

Mick

It’s been a little over a week since I’ve seen Ava, and I can’t wait to get to her office. We’ve spoken by phone a few times and shared a few texts, but it isn’t the same as being near her. First things first, I need to clear the air with her about some of the texts I sent the other night.

I hadn’t realized how hard allergy medication would affect me when Ava began texting. I’d gone to grab a bite to eat at a new place near the hotel where I was staying in southwest Virginia. It was an Indian restaurant that had received good reviews online. I can usually tolerate a fair amount of spice, so I ordered the Naga pork curry dish. I know some Indian dishes can pack the heat, but I’ve never experienced one that caused anything beyond a light sweat or a burning on my tongue and throat previously. But that night… that fiery curry dish shouldn’t be legal for human consumption.

I’m not sure if it was simply the extreme heat at war with my body or the amount of water I consumed to douse the internal flames, but I was wrecked. I was experiencing chest pain, belly pain… but the worst of it was my mouth and throat.

I have no idea how I made it back to the hotel alive except for the fact it was only two blocks away. I do remember that at one point I considered looking up the directions to the closest emergency room on my phone but instead chose to do what any other rational man in my shoes would. I called my mother.

First, she recommended I try a spoonful of sugar or honey. This moderately priced hotel didn’t have any honey at the ready, so I broke open every sugar packet in the room’s coffee station to no avail.

“How about you make a peanut butter sandwich, Mick.”

“Are you dicking with me, Mom?”

“No.” I could hear her laughing through her hand on the phone receiver. “It’s supposed to help with the capsaicin. I think the oil in the peanut butter helps, and the bread works like a mop.”

“What the fuck? I’d have to eat fifteen of them,” I’d yelled, pouring another glass of water down my throat. Didn’t matter. There was no peanut butter sandwich to be had in the hotel, and if I’d gotten behind the wheel, it would’ve been to drive myself straight to the hospital. I shake my head, laughing at the recollection of walking back into the bathroom, flipping on the light, and squealing like a five-year-old girl.

“Oh my god, Michael. What’s wrong?”

As I stared in the mirror, suddenly, my biggest issue wasn’t the pain nor potentially collapsing to my impending death from curry, but the fact that my lips now resembled someone who’d just received a cosmetic injection of Botox. “My lips look like Angelina Jolie after a day with the plastic surgeon.” My voice is starting to sound muffled.

“Can you breathe okay?” I could hear the concern and didn’t want my mother to panic.

“Yes. My tongue and throat only hurt. They don’t feel swollen. Just my lips. The only breathing issue is because they’re so damn big.”

“It could be the capsaicin is causing them to swell. Do you have any sleeping pills with you?”

What?“Are you trying to kill me, Mom?”

“No. Allergy medicine and sleeping pills usually contain Benadryl. It’ll help the swelling. I would take a few and apply some cool compresses.”

“Okay. I’ll call the front desk and see if someone can send them up. I’m afraid to leave the room looking like this.”

---