with the other.
She was completely stuffed up, she had the mother of all sinus headaches, and her throat felt like it was lined with razor blades. As if the world’s worst summer cold wasn’t bad enough, her period had started this morning and she was cramping like a bitch.
She picked up a basket, staggered down the aisle, and grabbed a box of tampons. She tossed it in the basket before wobbling her way toward the cold medicine aisle. She squinted at the cold medicine boxes, trying to think past the agony of her headache as she sneezed again. She winced and wiped her dripping nose with a tissue before squinting at the boxes again.
Her head hurt so bad. It was hard to think. She wanted to cry, and she cursed her stupid brother in her head. He wasn’t working today but he’d still refused to bring her over some tampons and cold medicine. She hated to ask him but with her parents out of town and Grace and Kira at work, she had no one else. The thought of dragging her ass out of bed had made her cringe. She shouldn’t have even bothered asking him though. She loved Daniel, but sometimes he was a selfish ass. Asking him for help was a stupid idea.
She sneezed again and clutched at her head, moaning quietly as it sent a wave of throbbing pain through her sinuses. God, her head really hurt. Her throat hurt, her stomach hurt – hell, every part of her body hurt. She blinked back the hot tears of self-pity. She didn’t even have a boyfriend anymore to take care of her.
For one black moment, she thought she was going to burst into tears right in the middle of Walgreens. The idea of picking out meds, walking to the counter, paying the cashier, and then waiting in the hot sun for the bus was horribly overwhelming. She leaned forward and rested her burning forehead against the cool cement pillar that was next to the cold medicine shelf.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. So you don’t have a boyfriend to take care of you when you’re sick. Boo fucking hoo. Take care of yourself and don’t be such a baby about it. Plenty of women don’t have –
“Addison?”
Shit. Please, let it be someone else who sounds exactly like Preacher.
She lifted her head from the pillar and stared at the man standing next to her.
The gods of luck were actively working against her today.
“Hi, Preacher. How are you?”
He placed a hand on her forehead, “Jesus, you’re burning up.”
She jerked back from his touch and stumbled away a couple of steps. “It’s only a cold but I think I’m pretty contagious so, uh, don’t get too close.”
He ignored her and took her arm, drawing her up next to him. “You should be in bed and resting.”
She blinked owlishly at him as she tried to think past the pain pulsing in her head. “Yeah, I was. I needed some cold medicine and some other, uh… stuff.”
He stared at the basket with the box of tampons lying in the bottom of it. Embarrassment flooded through her and she jerked the basket behind her body. It smashed into the shelf next to her and the tampon box flew out of the basket and landed at Preacher’s feet.
“Oh gosh,” she said. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry.”
He bent and picked up the box, tossing it back into the basket and taking the basket from her before she could even think to move.
“Thank you.” She stared at the floor. “Um, I should go now. Bye, Preacher.”
He refused to let go of her arm when she tugged. He scanned the cold medicine boxes before picking up one box and reading the back of it. “Relieves congestion, sinus headache, sore throat, fever and coughing. Any of those apply to you?”
“Yeah, all of them.”
His look was surprisingly sympathetic. “Come on, Sunshine.”
Keeping a firm hold on her arm, he headed toward the front of the store. He stopped and picked up two bottles of orange juice and then made another stop to pick out a heating pad.
“Oh, I have a heating pad at home,” she said. Her voice was nasally and hoarse and she winced when she caught sight of her reflection in the milk cooler. She hadn’t showered this morning, her hair was a rat’s nest on her head, and her nose was bright red and swollen. She was bloated looking and there were dark circles under her eyes.
God, why did