After the call, Tate laid his face back down into the bed, feeling loved and complete. It was so great to have someone who was always there for you. He still missed his family a lot, but he felt like he was starting to cope with their death. It was a good feeling to know he could think of them without wanting to die. He had something to live for now, and he would do just about anything for Audrey.
He had just closed his eyes when his phone rang. Looking down, he saw a number he hadn’t expected to see ever again.
Picking it up, he said, “Hey, Elsa, to what do I owe this call?”
“What brings you in?”
Audrey looked up from her phone to the cute little nurse named Tara. It was Monday and she was still puking her brains out, and since she had promised Tate she would go to the doctor, she went. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m puking like crazy. I think I still have a stomach bug, and I need some nausea medicine. They gave it to my boyfriend for his nausea and I need it now, or I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die. I can’t keep anything down.”
“Okay, you fell victim to the Nashville crud?” Tara asked with a grin.
Audrey nodded. “Yes, and it’s lingering. I need something to knock it out. I’ve been like this for almost a week and a half.”
“Wow, all right, let’s get these questions out of the way. You said you’ve been like this for a week and a half?”
“Yup,” Audrey said with a nod. “It started with the fever, puking, and diarrhea, and now only the puking. It’s horrible.”
“Okay, when was your last menstrual cycle?”
Audrey shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I have pretty irregular periods.”
“Hmm … do you have sex?”
Audrey smiled. “Why, yes I do.”
“Okay, you use protection, right?” Tara asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
Audrey narrowed her eyes as she shook her head. “Why does that matter?”
“It is part of the questionnaire for women,” the nurse said.
Audrey shook her head. “No, we are both clean. We’ve been tested.” She didn’t know why she added that last part, probably because she didn’t want the nurse to think she was a nasty ho. It was different with Tate, she never had used protection and she probably never would. She trusted him, and it wasn’t like she could get pregnant, so why did it matter?
“Do your breasts hurt?”
Audrey took hold of her boob, and before she could even squeeze it, pain ripped through her chest. “Ow, yeah.”
The nurse marked a spot and then shook her head, moving around to gather things. When she turned back, she had a cup in her hand.
“Okay, pee in this, please.”
Audrey looked at the cup then back up at the nurse. “I just want something for the nausea, why am I peeing in a cup?”
“It’s protocol, Ms. Parker.”
“Okay then,” she said, taking the cup and following the nurse to the bathroom. After pulling down her panties, she did her business and then placed the cup where they’d asked her to. She padded through the office in her black stockings, back to her room, and sat back up on the patient’s table. Pulling her phone out, she saw a text from Tate.
Call me when you leave, I need to talk to you about something. I hope they give you the good stuff.
Audrey giggled as she typed back,
I will, honeybunch.
Fo sho.
You are such a dork.
And you love me.
I do, very much so, what do you need to talk about? I’m bored, tell me now.
As soon as Audrey hit Send, a doctor walked in with her chart and a grin on his face. She dropped her phone into her lap and grinned back.
“Hello, Ms. Parker, I’m Dr. Mann,” he said, holding out his hand. He was a young doctor, good-looking, probably in his mid-thirties. He had nice eyes too, kind ones, Audrey thought as he went on. “I see that you have been suffering from some nasty nausea lately. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that medication would make it better. I would rather you try some natural home remedies first. And we are also going to need to do some further blood work to confirm some tests.”
He was an evil son of a bitch.