Page 38 of Breathless
“Pretty much.”
“Maybe your body needed the rest,” he suggested.
“Maybe.” She turned over and got a better look at him. “Ewww. You’re covered in gunk.”
“I’ve been in the ceiling again. It isn’t as bad in the girls’ dorm as the boys was. But it is still dusty.”
“You should go shower,” she said.
“I will. Think about what you want to eat,” he said.
She moved the sofa throw pillow so she could curl up and lay her head on it in a different spot. Then she closed her eyes again after he left, drifting back off to sleep.
“Chaney!” Rawlins called, waking her when he returned from showering. “Is this the bottle of pills you took today?”
She sat up on the sofa, blinking her eyes several times to wake up. “I don’t know, I guess. If the bottle was on the counter, I did.”
“This is a pain pill. Not the antibiotic. No wonder you have been sleeping.”
“It has helped my cramps,” she said.
“But it isn’t the pill you took yesterday. That was the antibiotic,” he explained.
“Okay. Sorry. I guess I wasn’t fully awake this morning when I came down and took it and I got the bottles confused,” she said.
“I’m going to put this one in the cabinet and only have the antibiotic on the counter since it is what you need to be taking,” he said. “That is why you are so out of it.”
“Yeah. I can’t hold my eyes open,” she giggled. “I think I’ll go to bed.”
“No. You need to stay awake, or you’ll wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep and feel rotten tomorrow. See if you can walk around without too much discomfort. That should wake you up.”
She did as he asked, and they prepared soup for dinner which was warm and filling. She changed clothes and then they went outside and walked almost down to the swings and back. Then and only then would he allow her to go to bed and sleep.
By the next morning, she was up and at it like nothing had happened. She was amazed that her stomach wasn’t hurting from her surgery. Dr. Pirelli had said it would take several days before she felt better. Maybe all that sleep yesterday had done the trick?
She was dressed and ready to go by the time that Rawlins came down for work. He frowned when he saw her waiting for him on the sofa.
“No,” he said. “Dr. Pirelli has not given you the okay to go back to volunteering.”
“But–”
“No.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and stormed back upstairs, slamming her bedroom door the band echoing through the house. “Who do you think you are, Mr. Hot-Shot Brotherhood Protector?” she fumed. “When did you become a dictator?”
Walking over to the window, she watched him get into his shiny new car and drive off, leaving her alone. What exactly was she supposed to do all day? Watch TV? She’d never been acouch potato even if she was supposed to be recuperating. Then she remembered she hadn’t had a chance to investigate taking classes online during the trial, so she went into her study and sat at her desk.
To her surprise there were a few options, but most of them were for introductory level courses that she had already completed. Which would not progress her in her studies. She might have to rethink taking classes this semester. She made a call to her advisor to set up a meeting to discuss her major change and what necessary steps she’d need to take to do that.
The sound of a car pulling in her drive and the door shutting caught her attention and she got up from her desk, walking to the window to look out. It was Broderick. What was he doing here? She didn’t have an appointment with Dr. Saunders today. That wasn’t until tomorrow, was it? She grabbed her appointment book and double checked, but she was right. It was tomorrow.
She didn’t wait for the doorbell to ring to go downstairs and was on the landing when it did. And she answered the door within a matter of seconds. “What a surprise to see you Broderick,” she said. “Did my parents send you?”
“They did call. May I come in?” he asked.
“If you like,” she said.
“When did Rawlins get a car?” he asked.
