Chapter 5
I rolled over in the darkness and stretched my arm over a cold spot in the bed where Lane’s body should be. I sat up and looked around, still half asleep. There were no lights on around me, and I felt panic rip through me. I sat up and called out her name, but didn’t receive an answer.
There wasn’t any noise as my bare feet padded across the wooded floor towards the master bathroom. “Lane?” I tried again—still no answer.
I crept down the dark hall and flicked on the light and headed down the stairs. When I got into the great room, I froze at the sight of Lane curled up under a blanket on the leather sofa. Panic washed through me as the reasons she wasn’t sleeping in bed with me popped into my brain.
Just as I opened my mouth to wake her and ask what she was doing, she erupted into a coughing fit. Oh no. She was sick.
I tiptoed over to her and placed my hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up,” I said it more to myself then anything.
Leaving her fast asleep, I went into the bathroom to find a thermometer and ibuprofen. I rummaged through my medicine cabinet, slinging bottles out of the way until I found the pain reliever, but no thermometer. After cursing myself for not being better prepared for a situation like this, I went to the kitchen to retrieve a glass of water for Lane.
I returned to find her scrunched into a ball and shivering. I almost felt guilty for waking her, but I knew she needed medicine for the fever. “Lane?” I nudged her arm. “Lane, wake up. I brought you some medicine.”
She groaned and then opened her eyes. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
I shook my head—silly girl. “No. I was just worried when you weren’t in bed, so I came to find you. Here.” I held out the glass for her. “This is ibuprofen.”
Both of her arms shook a little as she pushed her weight up off the couch and then took the glass and pills from me. “I don’t know what’s happened to me. I felt fine when we went to bed.”
A frown pulled on my lips as the thought crossed my mind that somehow I made her sick by throwing her in the water earlier today. My fingers raked through my hair.
“Don’t do that,” she said.
I stopped and tilted my head. “What?”
She swallowed the pills and chased it down with a gulp of water. “Blame yourself for this. I’m sick. It happens. I’m sure the virus was in my system long before you tried to drown me today.”
Her mind reading ability was uncanny. Sometimes it was easy to forget she knew me just as well as I knew her. “I’m calling a doctor in town first thing in the morning.”
Lane closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. I don’t want to go anywhere. Just let me sleep this off.”
“You won’t have to go anywhere. I’ll have him come here.”
Her fingers trembled as she rubbed her forehead. “Doctors don’t make house calls anymore, Noel.”
The look on her face told me she was in pain. Quickly, I readjusted the pillows. “Lay back down. You don’t look so good.”
Once I had her in a comfortable position, I went to the hall closet and grabbed another blanket for myself. I dimmed the lights from the stairway, and then made my way over to the over-sized recliner next to the couch.
“What are you doing?” she asked as I plopped down and then kicked my feet out.
“Getting comfortable, so I can try to get some sleep.”
“You don’t have to suffer along with me.”
I raised an eyebrow at her ridiculous statement. “Where you go, I go. If you are in misery, then I’m going to be there to help you. Now, get some rest.”
****
Lane wasn’t any better in the morning, so I called the local physician’s office and rolled my eyes when I heard one of the women in the office actually squeal when the receptionist told her who was on the phone. The squealer got on the phone and asked how she could help me. She had that nervous little giggle in her voice that some women get when they talk to me. I tried to be as polite as possible without getting annoyed.
“Well, Ma’am—”
“Tammy,” she corrected while cutting me off with another giggle.
I sighed. “Tammy, my girlfriend is sick and I need Dr. Malone to come to my place and see her.”
“Oh, my goodness, I’m sorry Mr. Falcon, but Dr. Malone doesn’t do home visits. Can’t you just bring her in?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can you please just check with him? When I moved here, the mayor told me because of my…status he would have Dr. Malone make an exception for me.”
“I don’t know who—”
This chick was going to be tough to crack. A little charm might go a long way with this one. “Tammy, sweetheart, I know you’re just doing your job, but it would be a huge favor to me personally if you could just check with him or even let me speak with him. I will pay him cash. Please?”
There was silence for a moment, but then she said, “All right. Let me put you on hold.”
I did a fist pump. Being a celebrity sometimes had its perks. “Thank you.”
Tammy returned to the line and asked, “What’s the address? He can come out during his lunch hour.”
I rattled off my address and thanked her profusely before I hung up. For a fleeting second it crossed my mind that all the women in that office now had my personal information, and I hoped they didn’t plan a visit themselves.
Back in the living room, Lane’s face was pale, and dark circles had formed under her eyes as she watched television.
“Hey,” I greeted her as I sat down next to her. “How you feeling?”
“Lousy.” She attempted to scoot away from me, but I grabbed her around the waist and slid her back to me. “What are you doing? I can’t get you sick.”
“I don’t care about that.”
She snuggled into my side. “You may not, but your fans will if you can’t make your shows.”
“You’re more important then my shows.” And I meant that. She was my everything. “Dr. Malone will be here around lunch time to check you out.”
“I guess you do have some pull after all.”
I rubbed her arm and kissed her blazing-hot forehead. “I don’t know why you continue to doubt my mad skills.”
A chuckle turned into a slight cough as she leaned away and reached for the toilet paper roll I had brought her in lieu of tissues. The cough was starting to sound worse, too. I hoped this doctor hurried up.
After my attempt to get Lane to eat some chicken noodle soup failed, there was a knock on the door. Relief flooded me as I knew this man could help her in way I couldn’t.
On the other side of my door stood a stout little guy, who couldn’t be much taller than five foot. His red hair was thin on top, but still thick on the sides, while his neatly trimmed beard perfectly matched the color of his hair. He kind of reminded me of one of those munchkins from the Wizard of Oz, just a slight bit thinner.
“Dr. Malone?” I questioned since he didn’t have a white coat on or anything, merely a pair of khaki pants and a cheap looking button down shirt.
The man pushed by me and walked into the living room without a word. If he wasn’t my only chance at getting Lane better, I would’ve tossed him back out the door on his ass for being such a pompous dick.
His beady eyes shifted onto Lane who sat shaking on the sofa under a blanket. “You the sick girl?”
Lane nodded and licked her dry lips. “Yesss, sir.”
For being such a little man, he seemed like he could intimidate the shit out of people when he wanted.
“Fever?”
Lane shrugged. “We don’t have a thermometer, but I think so.”
The doctor narrowed his eyes at me. “What kind of person doesn’t keep a thermometer on hand?”
I flinched at his snippy tone. People didn’t usually speak to me that way. “The kind of person who is very busy.”
He laughed, but it was thick with sarcasm. “Son, don’t tell me about being busy. I’m busy from the time I get up, until the time I go to bed seeing patients. Even making house calls to our new resident celebrities because they feel too prestigious to come down to my clinic, yet I guarantee you I have one at my house.”
My jaw ached as I ground my teeth together to keep me from lashing out. Instead I took a deep breath. “I guess I’m slacking then.”
Satisfied with my answer, he sat the small black bag he carried in with him on the coffee table and opened it. He produced the thermometer and cleaned it with an alcohol wipe before placing it under Lane’s arm. Dr. Malone also pulled a stethoscope and went to work listening to Lane’s lungs. A couple seconds later the thermometer beeped, and I attempted to read it over his shoulder before he blocked my view.
“Young lady, your axillary temperature is one hundred point three. That accompanied with the cough and the wheezing and crackles I hear in your lungs tells me you’ve got a nasty infection. I’m going to go ahead and give you some samples of an antibiotic that the pharmaceutical company has graciously supplied my office with for patients. Also here’s a decongestant.”
He pulled two white bottles from his bag and hands them to Lane. “Use the liquid medication every four hours as needed for cough, and take one pill every twelve hours until they’re all gone, regardless if you feel better. Understand?”
She nodded and he closed his bag. “Good. Now, there’s a matter of payment to discuss.”
Dr. Malone turned towards me expectantly. Right. Money. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cookie jar from the overhead cabinet above the stainless steel refrigerator. Not the most original place to keep a wad of cash, but it worked.
I counted out five hundred dollars, not really sure what a physician’s time was worth, and handed to the little man on the other side of my counter. “Will this cover it?”
He took the money from my hand and recounted it right in front of me. “It’ll do. Call the office if you need anything else.”
And just as quickly as the doctor had wafted into my home, he found his way back out.
I watched through the window as he shut himself inside his car and then sped back down the drive.
“He was an odd one, wasn’t he?” Lane’s voice caught my attention and I immediately went into the kitchen to retrieve something for her to drink so she could take her new medications.
I handed her the glass. “Yeah, not much of a bedside manner.”
“Right? That was exactly what I was thinking,” she said before swallowing down the meds.
It was good to see a smile on her face even though I knew she still felt miserable. I sat down and then pulled her head down so she could rest it in my lap. My fingers stroked through her soft hair. We settled in together watching some movie on television but it wasn’t long before we both were fast asleep.