Page 13 of Fixation
Wait a minute, what was I saying?
Darla. We hardly ever talk since she’s killing herself working for some fancy hedge fund manager, and since I’ve been dedicating my life to my jewelry business.
And failing. My inspiration is?—
More coughing.
Every breath scrapes like sandpaper. My throat burns like I’ve swallowed glass.
What happened to me?
I gaze at the bedside table.
That’s an adorable piece of furniture. Like the picture frame, it’s made of solid wood and has these cute, slim legs.
And the armchair here, the couches in the living room…
So cute.
Focus. This doesn’t look good for you.
A voice from within. It sounds like my mom. Like Dad. Like my little brother, Beau.
Little. At seventeen, he’s a grown man.
I’ll always be five years older than him.
Hence, Beau Arlington will always be my little brother.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Oh God. I hate laughing with a passion. It drags up another cough and another. I think that’s it. I’m dying. Dead. Fucking gone.
I blink back tears of strain. Force down the shivers that sweep over my body again.
I should be working, not doing this. Lying in bed.
I have custom orders waiting. I just can’t seem to put together the stupid collection.
In a moment of lucidity, and with my eyes on my bedside table, I remember that I don’t have to work today.
I don’t. I’m sick. It started this morning. I coughed and coughed. My forehead went from warm to burning up.
Wait. My forehead was already warm yesterday, I think? Who knows anymore? Not me.
What I remember is I’ve been trying to power through. I figured it was just allergies.
Wrong.
I should’ve rested, except I had to work.
Then…this. I went from sneezing to fever tooh my God, I need my bed immediatelyin a matter of minutes.
Right before I crawled into bed and buried myself under the covers, I wrote an out-of-office message. Emailed my office-manager-turned-vice-president of Harper’s, Emersyn, who’s still taking care of the operation in LA.
She told me not to worry. The rest of my custom orders are due in four days, so I should have time to meet the deadlines.
Bless her.
