I close my eyes, not sure what else I can say in response to that. I feel soft lips press against my forehead for a second. I melt further into the mattress and focus on that one sensation until I’m falling asleep.
“Goodmorning,sleepyhead.”Ihear a voice in my ear. It’s close, close enough that I can feel the breath of air against my skin. I crack one eye open and see Brandt leaning over the edge of the bed. “It’s early, but I have breakfast ready if you’d like to get up and eat. You have about thirty minutes before you have to leave for work.”
“Thirty?” I sit up, my vision swimming just a bit. Brandt’s hands are instantly on my lap and my back.
“Are you okay?” he asks. “Take it slow getting up.”
“I’m good,” I say. “Guess I just slept really well. I’ll take my medicine before I get to work.”
“Please do,” he says. “Let’s get you some food now, though. Come on.”
He takes my hands and helps me up, only letting go once I take a step away from the bed. I know it’s the medical professional in him, but if we’re starting any type of relationship, treating me like a fall risk all the time isn’t going to be fun.
Breakfast is scrambled eggs with avocado toast. It looks and smells amazing. I sit down at the small table he has in the kitchen and he sits across from me with a smoothie of some sort. It’s green and doesn’t look all that appetizing.
“You wear your expressions on your face, you know that, right?” Brandt says with an amused expression. “You took one look at my drink and your whole face just contorted into pure disgust.”
“It’s… Green.” I have no other words for it.
“It’s healthy, Ty.” He takes a sip and then nods toward my plate. “Yours is too, if you would eat it.”
I roll my eyes, but pick up the fork beside my plate. The eggs are sprinkled with salt, something I know is good for my new diet. The avocado toast is delicious, even if I’m not a fan of green things.
We sit in silence while we eat, and drink, our breakfasts. When I take the last bite, Brandt grabs my plate before I can even stand up and turns toward the sink.
“If you want to go get dressed, I’ll clean this up.” I nod and head back to his bedroom. My clothes are right where they were last night. I don’t want there to be questions of why I’m wearing the same thing, so I decide to keep the shirt I already have on.
Brandt is sitting on the couch with Fluff when I walk back into the living room. I smile at the sight. Fluff is perched in the space between Brandt’s folded legs.
“Hey, Fluff.” I sit beside them and reach out to pet the cat. “You are a cutie. Daddy was mean to kick you off the bed last night, wasn’t he?”
Brandt scoffs and holds his hands over Fluff’s ears. “His Daddy loves him. You take that back.”
I glance up at Brandt and smile. I stand back up and reach for my phone I left on the table last night. “I guess I’ll see you later,” I say.
“I have to work this weekend, but do you want to come over on Monday? I’m off on Tuesday.”
“I have to work both days.” I’m not sure our days off will overlap much. I know he’s off on Saturdays, however he was able to get that schedule, but that’s about it.
“I’ll leave it up to you,” Brandt says. He walks me to the door and wraps me in a hug. “Have a good day and don’t forget to take your medicine, okay?”
“I won’t.” I give him a genuine smile. “Thank you for last night. I had fun.”
When I get to work, I make sure to grab my medicine and head into the coffee shop. Austin and Orion are already inside, as usual. Daniella is getting a coffee as well.
This time, I’m not feeling tired or sick. I greet them with a smile and wave before heading to the back and hanging my things up. I still carry a jacket with me in case I get cold. My next stop is the drink cooler we have for bottled water. I’ll get Austin to ring me up for it. I take my medicine before joining the other two by the espresso machine. They are always getting their coffee right before we open.
“How are you feeling?” Austin asks. It feels like Deja vu with how many times I’ve heard that question in the last couple of days.
“Much better,” I say. I take another gulp of the cold liquid. “I’m feeling better each day.”
“That’s good,” Orion says. “You didn’t answer your texts last night, so we weren’t sure.”
“Oh sorry.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and try to click it on, but nothing happens. “I guess it died last night.”
“You didn’t notice that your phone died?” Austin asks, sounding skeptical. Or suspicious. I pocket my phone, reminding myself to grab my spare charger in the car on my break.
“I wasn’t home,” I say, offering no other information. They both look at me suspiciously, not relenting. I sigh. “I’m not telling you any more than that.”
