Chapter Ten
Gabe was a goddamn idiot. He’d never stopped to consider Elle might be allergic to something. Though, seriously, who could have guessed she was allergic to sage, or that the grocery store would even stock something like that in the flower section?
He cut through traffic, taking the opportunity to check on her. Holy shit. Angry red blotches covered her pale skin, clearly visible even in the fading evening light. Though he couldn’t be sure, he thought maybe the skin around her eyes was swelling too. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, determined to fix the mess he’d made.
An old yellow Volkswagen cut him off and slowed down, until they were crawling up to the blatantly green light. He muttered under his breath, riding their ass. They needed to get the hell out of the way before Gabe made them get out of the way.
“You know, I’d feel a lot better about this if I was sure we weren’t going to end up in a fiery ball of death.”
“Yeah, well, that won’t matter if your throat starts swelling and you die in my passenger seat.” That could happen with an allergic reaction. He’d seen it on the Discovery Channel.
Elle choked out a laugh. “I’m just miserable, not dying.”
She might be thinking that now, but it was possible that the full reaction hadn’t hit. Things would keep getting worse until they got the meds into her system. With another curse, he flipped on his turn signal and cut across two lanes, earning a startled curse from Elle. They veered into the lot and skidded to a stop in the parking spot closest to the doors.
“This is a handicapped parking spot.”
“So I’ll get a ticket.” Gabe threw open his door and ran around the front of the car to get hers. “Let me help you.”
“I’m fine.” Elle shoved past him and marched toward the store. “You’re acting insane.”
“And you didn’t look for cars. What if you got hit?” Christ, he sounded like a mother hen.
Apparently Elle thought the same thing. “Thanks, Mom, but I’m a grown-up. I have no intention of throwing myself in front of a car.” She hurried inside, but Gabe could have sworn he heard her mutter, “But I might if you don’t stop nagging me.”
Gabe searched for the medicine aisle, but apparently Elle knew her way around because she was already there by the time he figured out where it was. She grabbed the generic brand, but he snatched it out of her hand. “Get Benadryl.”
“It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not.” When she didn’t move fast enough, he reached around her and put the box back. The name brand was two bucks more, but it was a small price to pay when Elle’s health was on the line. “Take some now.”
Elle jerked away as if he’d waved a dead animal in her face. “I’m not opening this box and taking medicine right here in the aisle. That’s against the rules.”
Gabe glared. “You already know how this goes. Take the damn meds or I’m going to force it down your throat.”
“You really know how to show a woman a good time.” But instead of flipping him the bird, she watched him open the box and dole out a dose of the gross pink liquid. Elle took it as a shot. “We done yet?”
Not by a long shot. “No. We need…” He shoved the stuff back into the box, and considered. What else would she need? God, he didn’t know the first thing about this crap. That stupid show on the Discovery Channel had focused more on the dying part and less on the treating it.
“While you’re figuring that out, I’ll be walking this way.”
He followed her, eyeing the contents of each aisle they passed. Chocolates—chocolates would be good. Chicks dug that stuff when they weren’t feeling good. Gabe veered into that aisle and started to choose some random brands. Then he stopped. What if she was allergic to nuts or something?
Carefully examining the nutritional facts on the back of each package, he decided on basic milk chocolate and dark chocolate. On second thought, maybe he should get some of the white stuff too. There was no telling what Elle would like, but she’d already proven she was particular about weird things.
He walked in the general direction she’d gone, but stopped in front of the soup section. Did an allergic reaction count as sick? Maybe he should pick up some chicken noodle soup too… Yeah, good idea. The Campbell’s kind was what he used to give Nathan when they were kids. Before he could second-guess himself, Gabe added two cans to the stuff in his arms.
On a whim, he stopped in the bath and body section and picked a few different bubble bath bottles. He wasn’t a fan of the whole bath thing, but Elle seemed like she’d be into it, and he remembered something about taking baths when you have chicken pox. Maybe it was the same for allergic reactions.
A cart would have been a good idea, but it was too late now. He shifted the stuff until nothing was in danger of falling and kept going, glancing down each aisle as he passed. Elle was nowhere to be seen.
She wouldn’t have left without him, right?
Hell, of course she would.
Gabe spun around, ready to drop everything and go sprinting after her. Then he caught a glimpse of her on the other side of the store. She had something pressed against her face—he recognized it as frozen peas when he got closer.
“There you are.”
“Here I am.” She sighed and lifted the bag long enough to frown. “What’s all that?”
“Ah…” He felt stupid standing in front of her, his arms overflowing with random crap. Maybe he should have just left everything alone and gone with her to the freezer section. “I thought you might want some of this.”
Elle leaned in, nearly smacking him in the face with her frozen peas. “Chocolate, bubble bath, and chicken noodle soup.”
“I didn’t know what would help, so I got a bit of everything.”
“I…see.” Those blue eyes focused on him, and Gabe suddenly felt like he had when, at ten, he’d hung Joey Pandini’s dirty underwear from the flagpole, and had to sit two hours outside the principal’s office waiting to see if his mom would show up.
She hadn’t.
Elle finally broke the moment by shoving the peas back against her face. “Can we go, please?”
“Yeah, sure. My bad.” Gabe dumped everything into the cashier’s lane and tapped his foot as the teenager rang everything up. The kid moved so slow, Gabe was tempted to toss him aside and do it himself.
“I need the peas, ma’am.”
With a long-suffering sigh, Elle handed them over. He wasn’t sure, but Gabe thought her skin was a little less red. Either that or it looked less red because red covered every inch he could see. It was hard to tell in this light. “We should go to the hospital.” Why hadn’t he thought of that first? It was the logical thing to do.
She accepted the peas back from the kid. “We’re not going to the hospital.”
“You could go into anaphylactic shock—”
“Gabe. Stop.” She actually reached out and put her hand on his arm. Every muscle in his body jumped to attention, which was damned inconvenient at the moment. For her part, Elle didn’t seem to notice his pants fitting him a bit tighter. “I’m really going to be okay.”
“Are you sure? Because it’s no trouble to get you there.” He mentally mapped the route—ten minutes, tops. Sure, they might break a few traffic laws along the way, but what was that compared to Elle’s safety?
“I’m fine. Promise.” She held out her pinkie. When Gabe just stared, Elle reached down and hooked his pinkie with hers, giving it a firm shake. “See. We’re good.”
Who the hell pinkie swore after grade school? He wasn’t even sure he’d done it in grade school. Shaking his head, he paid for their stuff and walked with her back to the car. It wasn’t until they were both inside, the motor running, that he realized he had no idea where she lived. “Where am I headed?”
She flipped down the visor and checked her face in the mirror. “I think the swelling’s going down—you can just drop me at my car.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You’re seriously not going to let this go, are you?”
“Are you surprised?”
Elle draped the peas back over her face and sighed. “No. Take 395 North. Hatch exit. First right and then another right. Third house on the left.”
It seemed easy enough. Gabe exited the parking lot and drove north. Night had fallen completely while they were inside, and there was something relaxing about leaving the city limits. For half a second he considered continuing on the highway and going to his house, but he nixed the idea—Elle would be most comfortable in her own home.
Following her directions, he found himself in one of the many suburbs that were scattered at the northernmost edge of Spokane. At least in this one the houses weren’t crammed together, each sporting a decent front yard—and backyard, if the size of the fences were any indication. His headlights coasted over Elle’s house as he pulled into the driveway, revealing it to be a cheery yellow. There was even a hanging pot of flowers on the porch.
Somehow, Gabe wasn’t surprised. He put the Camaro in park and wondered what his life would have been like if he grew up in a house like this. Different. Really different. It was the kind of life he wanted for the future, for the kids he’d recently decided were part of the plan. Christ, but he was so tired of the aching loneliness that was eating him alive.