That evening, Zoey did feed me before serving me fresh cookies and wine. She made a casserole, saying it was good comfort food and likely what I needed. It was good as hell, just like everything she made. I didn’t go in on the cookies and wine though. Out of nowhere, I lost my appetite. I felt weak and lightheaded.
“You don’t look good, bud,” Zoey noted as she walked into the living room with a glass of wine for herself. She placed it down on the coffee table before reaching over to assess the temperature of my forehead. “I promise I didn’t poison you. Your child support checks don’t bounce,” she jeered with a genuine moue.
“I’m starting to feel sick.”
“Holy mother of Joseph! Up!” she yelped, pulling me by the arm. “They discontinued this carpet since I bought it!”
I made it to the toilet just in time. My guts came up and wouldn’t stop.
“Geesh, Stent!” Zoey patted my face with a cold cloth until I was done.
I collapsed next to the toilet, feeling fatigued all of a sudden.
“I’ll get you a toothbrush and towel set. You need a cool shower and to relax. Do you want me to take you home?”
“Hell no!” That came out harsher than intended. I just knew there was no way I wanted to be alone or without her. I didn’t get sick, rarely ailed by the common cold, even when caring for Jordan when he was afflicted. I was a big ass baby when sick. I wasn’t settled on Zoey seeing that side of me, but I damn sure didn’t want to be alone. “I don’t wanna be by myself like this.”
Wearing the same frozen expression she held at the hospital when I asked to come over, she nodded. I was prepared to hear apprehensive questions about the return of Jenna, but they didn’t come. Zoey left me alone in the bathroom for a few minutes and returned for me while on the phone with Srey, firing off a list of personal items including clothing that I needed from my apartment. She took me into her bathroom to shower where I actually fit, unlike the countless tight ass ones I took in JR’s.
By the time I was done, as I dried, I could hear Zoey on the phone with Sarah, giving her my symptoms.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Okay. I’ll keep an eye on him. Yes, Momma!” she huffed. “Oh, of course not. I promise to take care of your Stenton. No, you don’t need to speak to him. He’ll be fine…unless you wanna fly back to take care of him. You’re bossing me around the same way you do every time Jordan gets sick! He just needs some rest and—” Zoey sucked in a breath and her widened eyes scanned my shivering frame, only covered in a towel. “Momma, I gotta go. Yeah…I will. Bye.” She disconnected the phone.
I didn’t have clean clothes.
With her mouth still agape, she muttered, “No underwear… I mean you don’t have any…here!” She shut her eyes frustrated by tripping over her words. “You don’t have underwear here, but they’re on the way. I found sweats of yours from JR’s closet. You still have a few pieces of clothing here.”
She handed me the clothes and I took them back into the warmed bathroom, still fogged from my shower, and dressed. I couldn’t give a damn about free-balling, I needed blankets. I was cold as shit. When I walked out into the bedroom, Zoey was dressing her bed. She glanced up and found me.
“I don’t have a spare comforter to fit this bed, so you’re gonna have to make do with mine. I have a few blankets to top it, though.”
Rubbing the cold from my arms, I asked, “I’m sleeping in here? In your bed?” I felt my teeth chatter.
“It’s either this or the couch and Sarah Barrett would have my head if I put you on the couch like this. C’mon, get in the bed! You’re trembling.” She waved me over with urgency.
I damn near dove into the bed. Zoey immediately covered me, patting the covers and blankets to warm me. Right away I caught the permeating scents of her body from the mattress and pillow. I smelled vanilla and citrus, somehow soothing my mind—my body was a different story. I was sick!