“I love you too,” he replied.
The next day Jack was lying in bed with Daisy - rousing himself occasionally to feed her and let her out and managed a few bites of food and juice - before returning to bed, burrowingback under the blankets to sweat it out. A few hours later a gentle hand on his shoulder gave him a small shake.
“Jack? Jack, are you feeling okay?”
“Bella - what are you doing here? I told you not to come, I don’t want you to get sick.”
“Oh please, I wasn’t going to let you be here on your own. I brought a few things. Do you think you could eat a little - when was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t remember - maybe some toast this morning? I’m not really hungry.”
“You need to eat. Do you think a shower might make you feel better? And some clean pajamas? That always makes me feel better. I’ll tell you what - you take a quick shower; I’ll change the sheets on the bed while you’re in there and get something for you to eat - I know just the thing.”
Jack pulled the blankets off, got out of the bed and into the shower. Bella worked quickly to change the sheets, laid out some clean pajamas for him, and took Daisy into the kitchen where she got to work getting something together for him to eat. A short while later Jack was sitting up in the bed when Bella returned with a tray that held a glass of juice and a bowl of something that smelled good even through his stuffy nose.
“Here you - just what you need,” she said, placing the tray on the bed.
“What’s this?”
“It’s pastina.”
“Pastina? What’s that?”
“It’s like Italian penicillin - every good Nonna has a pastina recipe. It’s what we have when we’re sick. Mine has a specialingredient - Calabrian chili paste. You’ll feel better in no time. Now eat up.”
“Yes Ms. Genovese”, he said, raising the spoon to his mouth and taking a bite.This is pretty good.Bella watched him like a hawk, making sure he ate the whole bowl. Satisfied, she took the tray back to the kitchen, closing the bedroom door behind her so Jack could nap undisturbed while she tidied up the house.
Waking up several hours later, Jack was surprised to see it was already dark out -I must have really been out of it- and that he was feeling better.Those nonnas know what they are doing.Getting out of bed, he went to brush his teeth, then wandered into the living room to find Bella.
“Jack - you’re up! How are you feeling? Here - sit down” she said, guiding him to the sofa and tucking a throw blanket to put over him.
“I feel better, thank you. Is there any more of that pastina left? I could use another bowl.”
Bella beamed. “Of course - let me go heat that up. I’ll bring it in, you stay here.”
Returning a few minutes later with a bowl for him, she excused herself to the master bedroom, telling him she'd be back — she just wanted a quick freshen up.
Jack had just finished polishing off the pastina when he heard Bella's voice from the doorway.
"And how is the patient doing?"
Looking up, he saw Bella standing there in a sexy nurse costume -where the hell did she get that?- with her strappy high-heeled red sandals on. He dropped his spoon — it hit the bowl with a clatter -I must be hallucinating.He put his hand to his forehead.No fever, I’m not hallucinating.Walking over to him, Bella leaned over to take the bowl from him, giving him agood look at the low-cut top of the costume, smiling seductively at him. Placing the bowl on the coffee table, she moved and the next thing Jack knew she was straddling him on the sofa.
“Bella, you’ll get sick.”
“Captain, I’m the nurse here - and right now I have the exact cure for what ails you. Now you let me do my job.”
“Yes ma'am, I will be the model patient and do exactly what you tell me.”
Jack returned to work a few days later, feeling a million times better, while Bella went back to Dallas, smug in the fact she didn’t get sick.
“Jack! You’re back - we didn’t expect to see you so soon. You must be feeling better”, said Margie when he came walking into the briefing room.
“Yeah Jack, you had a serious case of ‘man - flu’”, snickered Elena.
"Feeling great, thank you. Let's just say I now know exactly what I need next time I get sick.” he replied. “Okay - bring me up to speed on what I missed - and I want to go over a few of the system checks today. Who’s first?” Getting down to business, the crew updated Jack on everything he'd missed, then headed off to the model capsule to go over the checks he wanted to work on.
Back in Dallas, the Bella Pelle team were at the office, preparing for a significant day. People Magazine had reached out - wanting an interview with the team - with a focus on the company growth, and of course the NASA connection. The PR firm they used had set the whole thing up and a reporter, along with a photographer, were coming in from New York, where they would give her a tour of the facility before moving to the conference room for the interview portion.
