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“I, uh…I can imagine.”

“Anyway, I’ll let you go, but I’ll see you at Melvin’s Wednesday night, right? I hear he’s trying out a new recipe that night, but he’s keeping it hush-hush.”

I hoist my bag up higher on my shoulder. “Sounds great. I’ll be there.”

She kisses me on the cheek. “Thank you, dear. Have a good day.” And then her eyes widen as she fans her face. “Oh, Jesus Christ. Can’t I catch a break today?”

“Hot flash?”

Patty fans her hands harder. “Yup. I’m telling you, Lennon. Just wait until you can visibly see the steam coming off of your head.”

When I check the time on my phone, I realize I have five minutes left to get across campus, so I put some pep in my step and sneak into the lecture hall just in time for class to start, finding my favorite seat empty and waiting for me.

Smiling from ear to ear, I settle in to take notes, making sure to say hello to Ginny sitting in the row in front of me. By the time the lecture is over, I’m starving, so I hit up the vending machine and get a protein bar to hold me over until I can eat a solid meal, which is usually after our lab. By then, I’m also hoping that my stomach has settled down.

Ginny walks over to me, stretching her latex gloves over her hands. “You look like shit.”

“Wow. Well, hello to you too.”

Her eyes move across my face. “You’re a little pale. You feeling okay?”

The faint hint of nausea from earlier hits me again.

Grimacing, I nod. “Yeah, my stomach is just upset today.”

“Have you eaten anything?”

“I just scarfed down a protein bar.” Ginny moves the equipment around on the table in front of us. Today we’re practicing putting a central line into a dummy.

“Okay, well…let’s hope that helps.”

“I didn’t get much sleep last night either,” I add, with a smirk on my lips.

Ginny grins back at me. “Oh, did Adam keep you up all night?”

“Yes, he did, and I’m not complaining one bit.”

Ginny barks a laugh and then we go silent, listening to our instructor as she explains the process for what we will be replicating today. Ginny was with me the night I met Adam at The Charming Bull, so she knows all of the details of our young relationship.

Nausea hits me again as I watch our instructor, but this time it’s stronger. I inhale deeply, hoping to ward it off, but that only makes it worse.

Oh my god, I think—I really think I’m going to be sick.

I clutch my stomach and start taking steps back, slowly sliding toward the door, hoping I make it out in time.

Luckily, I do—just as my protein bar comes right back up onto the sidewalk outside.

I heave a few times, hoping I got it all out before standing up slowly and taking in deep breaths, waiting to see if I’m done getting sick.

“Jesus, Lennon,” Ginny says from behind me, concern written all over her face after following me outside. “Are you okay?”

I lean against the outside of the building, staring out toward the small lake in the center of the campus between buildings, watching the sun glisten off of the surface of the water and the fountain with my great-grandmother’s statue in the middle. “I definitely feel better now, but I’m still nauseous.”

“Were you around anyone with norovirus?”

I shake my head. “Not that I know of.”

“Eat any weird food in the last twenty-four hours?”