Page 38 of Pieces of Us
“I’ll be back.”
She gets up from the table, and I start eating.
“Where’d she go?” Audrey glances over her shoulder.
“She just said she’d be back.”
“Can you go check on her, please?” Everyone at the table is looking at me.
“She probably just went to the bathroom.”
“Why are you freaking out, Aud?” Jax pours her a glass of wine.
“I’m concerned she’s sick.”
“She said she’s tired before we came to the table,” I try to reassure Audrey so we can move on. Everyone has an off day once in a while.
Gigi finally changes the subject, asking about Jax and Audrey’s honeymoon. A few minutes pass, and Mel still isn’t back. I stand up from the table to check on her. Just to be sure.
Audrey sees me stand up and mouths “thank you” to me. I nod and start down the hall. I notice the light is on under the door to the guest bath, so I knock on the door.
“Mel, you alright?”
It takes a few seconds for her to respond.
“All good.” Her voice sounds strained.
“Are you sure? I can take you home if you want.”
I hear water run, and after a minute, the door unlocks and it opens with Mel standing there, eyes red, skin pale.
I reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear. “Melonie, you’re not okay. Let me take you home.”
A tear falls from her eye, and she wipes it away. “Can you just stay here with me for a minute until I calm down? I don’t want a bunch of questions from the gallery out there.”
“Yeah, sure.” I enter the bathroom and close the door. “Are you sick?”
“I guess so.”
I place my hand on her forehead. “You don’t feel like you have a fever.”
She sits on the floor, her back against the wall. I hand her a tissue and kneel down to sit beside her.
“Sorry that you have to babysit me.”
I pat her bent knee. “This is what friends do, Mel. Making sure you’re okay isn’t babysitting.”
She blows her nose, and we just sit in silence for a couple minutes.
“Are my eyes still red?”
I look in her eyes, and she looks like she’s hanging on by a thread. “Not as bad as they were.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with taking me home? I want to lie down.”
“Of course. Are you ready now?”
“Yeah.”
