already,” I said, popping a protein bite in my mouth to prove it.
Turns out I wasn’t okay. By the next morning I was hunched over the toilet again. I called my mom from the bathroom floor.
“Told ya,” she said. “Four days.” I groaned. “You want me to call Dr. Franklin?”
I shook my head, even though it made the room spin. “I’ll be okay. I think I just need to stay in bed today.”
“Drink your liquids,” Mom ordered. “I’ve left instructions with Fern.
True to her word, Fern got me into bed and handed me a warm bottle of ginger ale. I made a face. “It’s flat,” I grimaced.
“Mom’s orders,” Fern shrugged. “She said it would help.”
I suppose it did because I lay back down and was out like a light. I slept hard till mid-afternoon. I trudged into the dining room to find Fern hard at work at her computer, editing her newest video. “How ya feelin’, Pea?”
I shrugged as I headed for the water cooler to refill my glass. “I’m not chained to the toilet, so I guess that’s something.”
“Tell me that after the diarrhea kicks in,” she chuckled.
I plopped at the table. “Thankfully, I haven’t had that.”
Fern stole a glance. “Not even once?” I shook my head. “Are you sure it’s food poisoning, then?”
I sighed. “I guess you were right the first time. Must be the flu.”
By Day Three, we were both convinced of it. Mom visited daily to bring me more soup.
The best part of having the flu, however, meant I didn’t have to go to work. The only thing worse than death would be having to come face to face with that smug bastard, Christopher.
I couldn’t even sign online. I just knew he would find a way to make sure I knew he got the interview with The Duke. It was the only reason he had followed me at all, just to make sure I saw his passive-aggressive subtweets.
“Who says he did?” Mom challenged when I brought it up. Since I was feeling more on the mend, I managed to join both Fern and Mom at the table.
“I mean, it’s obvious, Mom. After what happened.”
She dismissed me with a wave. “It’s not obvious to me. The way I figure it, it’s not over till it’s over. All you have to do is reach out to this Duke person and let him know what happened. People get sick, Pea. It’s not the end of the world.”
This Duke person. I had to laugh. My mom was a trip.
“Mom, ‘this Duke Person’ can get anything he wants whenever he wants.”
“And? You said he was impressed with your portfolio. What if he wanted you?”
I thought back to that humiliating encounter with an inward groan. “Trust me. He does not want me.”
Mom leaned forward, that fire lit behind those brilliant blue eyes. “Then make him want you. You’re Peaches McPhee, for fuck’s sake!”
(In case you wondered where I got it.)
For the rest of the evening, Mom helped me craft a letter that I would end up submitting by 10:05pm, basically telling The Duke (and heir apparent to the Aldayne throne) why I thought I was the best candidate to tell his story.
I didn’t send it to him, I didn’t have those deep of connections, but I sent it to Audra, with another apology for my behavior the day we met.
“You just wait,” Mom said as she hugged me goodbye. “Destiny favors the bold.”
“You read too many fortune cookies, Mom.”
“And you eat too much cheap sushi,” she retorted, playfully sticking out her tongue.
It was a joke now since we all basically decided that I didn’t get food poisoning after all. Not one of us could rightfully besmirch The Sushi Shack’s good name, nor would we dare.
I was in no hurry to go back, however. The flu had kicked my ass but good. Nothing sounded good anymore except for a soft bed, flanked on either side by my body pillows Johnny and Leonardo. I was asleep ten minutes after Mom left. I knew I’d need all the sleep I could get to go into work the next day.
“It’s Friday,” Fern said. “Blow it off. You need that time to recover.”
“I can’t blow it off, Fernie. What if he calls?”
Turns out, I needn’t have worried.
My cell phone rang about ten to two in the morning. I snatched it up, blinking to focus on who might be calling me at this hour. It was from a blocked number, but immediately I worried it had something to