My average height was causing me to struggle to keep him upright. I managed to get him to the bed, and he fell like a lumberjack onto it. Curling himself into a ball he started to shake. I stared down at him and put my hands on my hips. “What’s wrong with you, then?”
Watery eyes stared back at me. “I think I’m sick.”
A flash of panic struck me. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no! You have that bachelor party coming in this afternoon.”
“You have to take them.” He started to heave, and I ran into the bathroom to grab the garbage can.
“Jacob!” I whined at him. “C’mon, you can take them. You’ll be better in a few hours, or days, and everything will be fine. Please don’t make me take a bunch of frat boys up to Racers Roost. I’ll kill one of them, I’m sure of it.”
Racers Roost was a six-bedroom log cabin my brother and I built together almost five years ago. Between my race winnings and Polaris royalties, and his NFL earnings, we sunk everything we had into Brooks Adventure Outfitters. The house was nestled deep in the forest, and it was where we took our customers when they joined one of our wilderness excursions.
His response was a robust hurl into the garbage can.
Closing my eyes, I lowered my chin to my chest and shook my head side to side. With resignation and a heavy sigh, I told him, “I’ll call Morgan, she might be able to work the shop while I’m gone.”
A grunt and a moan were all I heard from him as I left his room. I went back to the kitchen to call Morgan Archer, a friend of one of our employees.
As the phone rang, I poured myself a cup of coffee and then took the sandwiches out of the microwave. They had hardened, so I tossed them in the trash and sat down at the kitchen bar, waiting for Morgan to answer her phone.
She answered after a few rings and I proceeded to tell her my predicament.
“Oh, goodness, what exactly do you need from me?” She whispered. Her voice was muffled. I imagined her huddled between the bookshelves of the library, where she worked her usual job, mumbling with her hand over her mouth.
“Jacob is sick and I need to pick up a party at the airport this afternoon. I was hoping you could come work in the shop until Cody and I get back.”
Cody was our employee. A twenty something year-old skier, snowmobiler, river-rafter, and mechanic-in-training. He showed up one day over a year ago and just made himself useful. He was rangy and wore a man-bun. These days, he was indispensable to us.
“Oh sure, I can do that.”
She was going to hate me for my next words, so I said them in a rush. “And then I was wondering if you could work the store and check in on Jacob for the next three days.” I squinted my eyes shut and prayed she’d say yes.
“What?”
“I know, I know. But, now that Jacob is sick, I need to take this damn excursion since he won’t be able to work. I need Cody and Mac with me and everyone else has left for the holidays. There’s no one else.” I begged. “Please?… Please, please, please, please, please.”
“I can work the next two days, but I work on Friday, so Jacob needs to be better by then.” She tried to sound adamant, but I could hear the teasing lilt in her voice. I thought she might have a crush on Jacob, but I had more pressing problems than thinking about the two of them.
She told me she’d be at the shop at 2:30 p.m. and we hung up.
I finished my coffee, rinsed my mug in the sink, and reached for the aspirin in the cupboard above the microwave. Taking two for Jacob, I shook the bottle and took two for myself. A dull ache was already beginning behind my eyes and I needed to ward it off.
Jacob was lying flat on his bed, one arm thrown across his stomach, the other across his eyes. He was breathing heavily. I sat down on the edge of his bed, put my palm to his forehead, then gently nudged him awake.
Now that I knew he most likely had the flu; I spoke more softly to him. “Jacob. Jacob. You need to take some aspirin. Jacob, wake up.”
He groaned and slightly rolled himself to his side. Lifting himself up on one elbow he took the aspirin, put them in his mouth, and washed them down with the glass of water I handed him.
The pillows cushioned his fall back down to the bed, and I laughed at his misery. “You look pathetic.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
He waited a moment and then, without opening his eyes, asked if I got in touch with Morgan.
“Yes. She’ll be here this afternoon while I go get the party.”
“Good. That’s good.” His voice trailed off.
“You so seriously owe me for this.”