Page 16 of Seven of Hearts

The kitchen vent was my least favorite to change. Lint and dust always fell on my head. But at least it was the only one in the ceiling. The rest were wall vents.

“Do you need a hand?” Kylie asked.

“I’m good,” I said as I climbed onto the step stool and reached up, unlatching the grate cover.

A gray dust clump fell on the tip of my nose. I huffed and blew it away from my face as I reached up and pulled the old air filter out. The kitchen spun. I grabbed the top of the step stool to steady myself.

“Whoa—” Kylie rounded the island. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said as I set the old filter against the stepstool and paused to breathe. That was the second time today that I had gotten lightheaded. “I probably need to eat something before I go pick up Gio and Ellie.”

She tilted her head. “You look pale.”

I picked up the three-pack of new filters and tore into the plastic packaging. “I was sick last week. Must’ve picked up something from the kids.”

“That’s weird. Usually, kids don’t get that sick in the summer.”

I shrugged. “They’re in camps and stuff. Same little germ factories.”

Kylie laughed. “Don’t think you’re getting out of the impending interrogation. You got away with not giving me the details of your hookup after the wedding because that weekend was hectic, and then Bryan and I flew out for the honeymoon.” She slapped her hands on the slick stone countertop. “Tell me! Who was it?”

I rolled my eyes as I climbed onto the stepstool, shoved the new air filter in place, and closed the cover. “It was me enjoying a little rebound sex. That’s all.”

“And you haven’t seen her since?”

I cut my eyes at Kylie.

“Him since?”

I laughed and shook my head.

“Come on, at least give me a hint!”

“I’m not telling, because it doesn’t matter. It was a little...stress relief that I didn’t have to buy batteries for.”

“Come on,” she whined. “You tell meeverything.Just a first name?—”

My stomach lurched. I didn’t hear the rest of her sentence because I was running to the kitchen sink as the measly breakfast of a banana and a bagel that I had downed made a grand reappearance.

Cool hands pulled my hair away from my face as I heaved again. Kylie turned the water on to rinse out the sink as I braced my hands on the edge.

“I think that’s it,” I rasped as I hung my head over the sink.

Kylie waited in the kitchen while I slipped upstairs to the guest room I slept in when I stayed with the kids overnight. I had a stash of toiletries in the attached bathroom, so I didn’t have to haul them back and forth from my apartment.

When I came back down after brushing my teeth and swishing mouthwash, Kylie was holding a slim, white package.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Better,” I said with a heavy exhale as I started rummaging around the bags for the lightbulbs so I could change the blown ones in the hallway. “I don’t know what happened. It just came out of nowhere.”

Kylie lifted an eyebrow. “You said you were sick last week...”

“Yeah, but I probably got it from the kids. Like I said.”

“Were the kids sick last week?”

“Well, no. But sometimes viruses don’t present the same way for everyone. They could have been asymptomatic.”

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