Since the place wasn’t huge and it sounded like I was regurgitating all of Zeus’s siblings, Mason showed up in the doorway real quick.
“Oh, shit. Sorry,” he murmured, closing the door behind him with enough force to make me hear my brain’s heartbeat.
When it was over—this time—and I was pressed back against the wall, a towel wrapped around my shoulders and my head on the tub, I managed to check my phone. There were several texts from Tori about how we needed to talk Whit and Jenelle into a double date even though we knew they’d hate everything about that. There were a few from the fifth-year we were reporting to in general surgery, endless “Aldritch????? For real?!?!” messagesfrom half the residency program, and not a damn thing from Whit.
That last one didn’t come as a shock.
I’d planned on grabbing some ice cream sandwiches and heading to her place tonight on the off chance she wanted to talk, especially after Cossapino reminded everyone that he was about as useful as an ingrown hair. But the last thing she needed was me vomiting on her doorstep. She’d have me expelled from the program and I wouldn’t even blame her.
My hands shaking from the ravages of this miserable fucking virus, I typed out a quick message to her.
Henry
I’m sorry about what happened today and that you took the brunt of it. Are you all right?
I waited until she read the message and then put my phone down. I doubted she’d respond tonight. But then the phone buzzed across the tile.
Whitney
Thanks. I’m okay.
Henry
Do you want me to trip Cossapino on the stairs?
A minute went by and then another. After five, I accepted that Whit was maxed out for the day. At least she’d answered. That meant something.
At some point, the front door opened and I heard Mason say, “Back again.”
I didn’t know he’d left.
He knocked on the bathroom door. “Okay to come in?”
“Yeah?” My voice was like a pile of broken bricks. “It’s probably contagious.”
“Nah,” he said, leaning in the open doorway. “I’m always immune to that stuff.”
“So am I,” I grumbled.
He dropped to the floor, folding his long legs in front of him and setting down a grocery bag. “Ginger ale, crackers, electrolyte drinks,” he said, setting each item on the tile. “You probably have better doctor stuff, but I thought it might help.”
I eyed his haul. I trusted my stomach with none of it. “Thanks.”
He leaned back, his arms stretched out behind him. “I should probably apologize.” When I only stared at him, he went on. “I think I’ve been a pain in the ass since I showed up at your door. That wasn’t the intention, of course, but you know how these things go.” He twisted open an electrolyte drink and gave me a pointed look. “You were a pain in the ass for the whole year leading up to my wedding.”
“But you see where I was coming from now. Right?”
He slid a sleeve of crackers across the floor to me. “I’m not playing Justifiable Asshole with you tonight, but thanks for theI told you so.”
I opened the package, but left it at that. “I did tell you so.”
“You know what’s funny? Florrie and I had the worst first date in history. Have I ever told you about this?”
I started to shake my head, but quickly thought better of it when my stomach churned. “I don’t think so, no.”
“Yeah, it was after you’d split with Miah so I think I kept most of it to myself so it didn’t get weird.” He gave me a sheepish look that saidIt ended up kinda weird, didn’t it?“We’d been texting for a few months at that point and we decided to hang out. We made plans to meet somewhere for drinks, maybe dinner, but when we got there, the whole place was locked down. Some kindof event going on. We end up parked on the side of the road, trying to figure out where to go. We make a new plan, she follows me to another spot, and I’m convinced it’s gonna be great. But the restaurant is closed. Out of business. At this point, we’re two and a half hours into the date and I’m ready to call it. I want to go home and order some wings.”
“Fair,” I said.
