“Julia? Are you okay?” a gruff male voice asked.
She wiggled her fingers to prove she was conscious. A large warm hand wrapped gently around her wrist, and the man used his fingers to take her pulse.
“Ice pack?” She didn’t care who sat next to her. She just needed someone to help. The weight left her bed and returned a minute later with an icepack wrapped in a towel. She’d registered that it was Alex from next door but couldn’t spare the energy to ask how that had happened. Then she remembered. Her mom was out of town. Calvin must have gone to Alex for help.
Under normal circumstances, she would have been upset that Calvin hadn’t heeded her warning to stay away from him, but the pain made her desperate. A five-year-old couldn’t take care of himself, much less her. Without the medicine, she had no choice but to ride it out. And there was no way to do thatandwatch Calvin.
“Migraine. Calvin?” It was all she could manage. The ice wouldn’t make the headache go away, but it would freeze the pain for a bit. If she could feel better for just a second, she could call one of Calvin’s friend’s moms to come and get him. Or try her sister. Julia didn’t know the moms all that well and didn’t want to impose, but with her mom unavailable and her sister forty-five minutes away and busy with her own family, what choice did she have?
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” Alex said. “My mom used to get those. Do you have medicine I can get for you?”
“Haven’t filled prescription,” she mumbled.
“Should I call your work to tell them you’re sick?”
“Have online business,” she forced out. “No one to call.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Lobotomy?”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about Calvin. I’ll deal with him.”
Deal with him? She didn’t have the mental capacity to figure out what that meant. The ice had numbed her head, but the throbbing hadn’t stopped.
She should have been prepared for this. As a single mom, it was totally irresponsible to not have a backup plan for Cal in situations like this. As soon as she felt just the tiniest bit better, she’d make some calls. Until then, her only option was to suffer and pray for time to pass quickly.
* * *
Alex’s week had fallen to shit in a hurry. On Monday afternoon, he met with the police and his attorney to give his side of the bar fight story. The officers said they were interviewing other witnesses and would get back to him, which meant there was no way the situation would be resolved in time for him to participate in the lieutenant’s exam process.
So, instead of taking the LT test on Tuesday, he’d had a meeting with the fire department brass, who were conducting an independent investigation. Not the interview he’d spent months preparing for.
They were sympathetic but told him they couldn’t lift the suspension or make a “finding” until the police and courts had resolved their side of it.
Later that day, Garrett texted to confirm that Ray really was transferring to their firehouse, which meant Alex had to switch houses, because he sure as hell wasn’t staying to be bossed around by Ray.
Garrett also sent the details for the going away party for their current commander, Trent. Alex added it to the calendar on his phone. The change wouldn’t come for another six weeks, which should’ve given Alex plenty of time to transfer. But when he contacted HR, they informed him he couldn’t even put in a request until his suspension was over.
When Calvin knocked on his door Wednesday morning, he’d actually welcomed the distraction. That was until Calvin told him his mom was sick and not moving.
Alex grabbed his trauma bag and rushed over. He was relieved to find her breathing and conscious, but she was obviously in a lot of pain.
After talking to Julia and finding out what was wrong, Alex called his mother, who had suffered from migraines for many years.
“What can I do?” he asked. He hated feeling so helpless.
“Not much if she doesn’t have medicine,” his mom said. “Just keep things quiet and dark and cool.”
“How bad could it be?” Alex said.
“The worst one I ever had lasted almost three days. And for about eight hours of that, I threw up every hour. That was before they had good meds though. If it becomes unbearable, you could take her to the ER.”
“I’ll call Johnny. See what he recommends.”
“Good idea,” his mother said. “Is this someone you’re seeing?”
“No, she’s a neighbor. Her son came to get me when she wouldn’t wake up.”
