Page 106 of Fly with Me

“Can’t go away. Here to provide sustenance for the invalid.” The mattress shifted as he sat on the bed. “Sorry I couldn’t come by again until now.”

She lifted the pillow slightly to see him. “Thanks for covering my shifts. You didn’t have to come today. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“It’s selfish, really. I miss your cooking. I’m a stakeholder in your full recovery.” He brandished a sandwich from her favorite bistro downtown. “Did you have a sudden upswing last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your place was a disaster on Wednesday—I mean, I’m not judging. You were sick as fuck. But it’s spotless now. And your fridge actually has food in it. Maybe I should eat this sandwich. Joni said you still sounded like death warmed over yesterday when she’d talked to you.”

“Oh. Um… Stella came by.” She pulled the pillow over her face again.

“That explains why your couch cushions are organized by color.”

“She brought me soup. And gave me a tit massage with Vicks VapoRub that almost gave me an orgasm.” Olive kept the throw pillow over her head. Hiding from his reaction was a best practice.

“Because the store was out of cough medicine, she thought a homeopathic oxytocin release was your best bet,” he said dryly. She knew Derek well enough that she could imagine his eyebrow waggling.

“Essentially. She said something about it being what her grandmother used to do.”

“I bet she wasn’t thinking about her grandmother during the tit massage.”

“Just a friend helping out another friend.”

“Sounds like I need to find some new friends.”

“Because you don’t want me to massage you into horny oblivion?”

He made a disgusted noise. “Yuck, no. No offense.”

“None taken. I don’t want you anywhere near my lady parts either.” She coughed once.

“So, we’re agreed.”

“Definitely.”

“You want my advice?”

“No.”

“Talk to her.”

Olive lifted the pillow off her head and held it to her chest.

Derek pushed the sandwich into her hand. “Also, eat this. You still look like shit. How much weight have you lost?” He took her pulse.

“I did try to talk to her last night. I got out of the shower and was all about to have an honest conversation about me liking her and how I wanted to be real girlfriends. But then I realized—”

“After the shower?”

“Yeah. I was high as a kite on codeine when she got here, but I finally felt coherent enough after the shower, so then—”

“You were naked and tried to have a relationship-goals conversation?”

“I was not naked.”

He crossed his arms over his chest.

Olive took a bite of her sandwich and chewed, following it with a swallow of disgustingly cold coffee. “I was wearing pajamas. I only took my shirt off later. Before the Vicks massage. Everything else stayed on.” Unfortunately, her brain added silently.

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