I grabbed vegetables for a stir fry and tried to remember the meats I had in my deep freezer, and after grabbing some stuff to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast in the morning, I headed on up to check out. I’d only been in the store for 45 minutes, and if I got this stuff home and put up, I could rearrange her room a bit before she arrived tomorrow.
I got back to my house and checked my phone to make sure no one from the hospital had called. I hauled the groceries in and got everything put away, and before I did anything else I washed down both heads of cabbage and placed them in a pot of water. I salted and peppered it before throwing in some other seasonings, and I covered it just to let it sit on the counter. Chelsea loved the broth from this soup more than anything, and I wanted to make sure she had plenty of it.
I bounded upstairs and busted through the door to the spare bedroom and immediately got to work. I stripped the bed sheets and put new linens on it, I dusted down the furniture and the fan, I cleaned up the attached bathroom and placed fresh towels out for her to use, and I made sure the good toilet paper was on a roll. I ran the vacuum quickly over the carpet and made sure the lamp by her bed had a working bulb, and when I felt like everything was done, I wiped the sweat from my brow.
And then, I heard my phone vibrating downstairs.
I took off down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen, and when I saw Chelsea’s number pop up on my phone, I felt a rush of panic clench my throat shut.
“Chelsea? Are you alright?”
“It’s just me, Flynn.”
“Hey there, Mrs. August. Everything alright? I’ve got food in the house for Chelsea, and her room all made up.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she said.
“Are y’all alright?” I asked again.
“Chelsea’s askin’ for ya is all. Figured I’d call and see where you were.”
Chelsea. My Chelsea. My wonderful, soft, spunky, sassy, sensitive Chelsea was asking for me. She was wondering where the fuck I was, and all I was doing was sweating in the middle of my damn kitchen.
I’d taken too fucking long.
“I’m getting into my car right now. Tell her I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll let her know,” Mrs. August said.
“Oh… Flynn?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Thank you,” she breathed.
“It’s not a problem. I promise,” I lulled.
Chapter 12: Chelsea
My head was still wrapped in gauze and throbbing when the doctors finally discharged me. The venom had worked its way out of my system, but it was going to take time for the entrance port at the base of my skull to heal. Cooling packs were wrapped around my head to keep any swelling from the concussion under control, and the doctor was rattling off many different things to Flynn.
She gave him a list of the things I couldn’t eat, gave him a rundown of the types of activities I needed to stay away from, and then gave him a rundown of how long it should take for the severe concussion to dissipate before we needed to be getting nervous. The worst was behind us, but I still had a long road to go, and I was secretly glad my work was letting me off the hook for a month. No, I wasn’t the happiest when mom had informed me that she called them, but they had promptly filled my hospital room with flowers and bombarded me with emails telling me they would take care of my designs and my show until I could get back.
Flynn helped me into the car before he slung the brown bag of medications in the back and my parents followed us to his home. My dad, as slow moving as he was, helped me get into the house and up the stairs while mom unpacked me in the room Flynn had set up for me. I could smell the cabbage soup the moment I walked in, and my mouth started to salivate, and once mom got me unpacked and dad got me working with the television Flynn had put in his guest bedroom, he gently laid a bowl of soup in my lap.
“There’s plenty more where that came from, and you can eat as little or as much as you want,” Flynn soothed.
“Alright, I’ve got your clothes in here, your toiletries in there, your bath stuff by the tub, and your blanket at your side. Dad’s working on the television, and I’ll be by later tonight to check on you before I go to bed.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I smiled lightly. She squeezed my arm slightly and left me on the couch. I tried to spoon the soup into my mouth, but my hand was trembling too much, and before I could protest or try to figure it out myself the spoon was hovering next to my lips.
“For once, just go with it,” Flynn smirked.
I parted my lips and took in the beautiful cabbage liquid, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dad smirked. He wrapped his arm around my mother and escorted her out of the room, and I saw her take one last look down the hallway before she started helping my father down the stairs.
“Your father’s really lucky to have her,” Flynn said as he scooped another spoonful up to my lips.
“And she’s lucky to have him,” I mused. He helped me eat in relative silence, and when my head started throbbing, I closed my eyes and sighed.