He gave her a skeptical look. “And food? Have you been eating properly? Did you usually take something to eat with you?”
She gave him a guilty look before trying to hide it.
“Right,” was all he said. She peeked up to see he didn’t look happy and her stomach dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why is that, baby?”
“I. . .well. . .you’re unhappy with me.”
“I’m not happy you haven’t been looking after yourself. That’s going to change now. You’ll be eating better and getting plenty of rest. Your leg bled a lot. Is that because of the Lupus too?”
She frowned slightly. “I’m not sure.”
“Okay, we need to ask the doctor that. You see a specialist about your condition?”
“Um, yes. A rheumatologist.”
“You might need another appointment with him. We’ll ask the doctor that as well.” He looked up as a nurse bustled in.
“Hello there, Georgina. How are you feeling?” she asked cheerfully.
Gigi forced herself to smile. “I’m feeling all right.”
“She keeps wincing as though she’s in pain,” Macca spoke up. “And she’s only had a few sips of water and hasn’t mentioned needing to go to the bathroom.” He sent her a stern look as she went bright red. What was he doing? “Has her fever dropped? What about the bleeding on her leg?”
The nurse just blinked at him.
“I’m her guardian,” he told her.
Guardian? Seriously? She turned to give him a narrow-eyed glare. He just stared back at her calmly. She sighed.
“Are you in pain, Georgina?” the nurse asked in a kinder voice than before.
“My head hurts and so does my foot,” she admitted. “Actually, my whole body hurts.”
“Your joints are aching?” the nurse asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s common with a flare-up?” he asked.
“Yes, unfortunately,” Gigi answered his question.
“Okay, let’s see if we can get you some pain relief. Let me just check your date of birth and address?”
Gigi rattled them off, aware that she’d just proven to Macca that she’d been lying before about her age. But twenty-one wasn’t far off twenty-five, right?
Besides, she didn’t feel twenty-one. Most twenty-one-year-olds hadn’t been through a tenth of what she had. Penny called her an old soul. She definitely felt like she’d lived several lives.
The nurse took her temperature and blood pressure. “Both are a little high, but we’re monitoring her,” the nurse said to Macca. She turned back to Gigi. “Do you need the bathroom?”
Gigi nodded, wishing Macca wasn’t sitting right next to her.
“I’ll go and get you a bedpan.”
“Um, no, I can make it to the bathroom.”