10
As I walked along next to Darla, I found myself slowing as I passed by a flower shop, peering into the window and checking out the arrangements. I liked the ones with the blue in the forefront, especially the ones with those yellow flowers dotted so prettily through.
“Amaya? Earth to Amaya?” Darla waved her hand in front of my face, and I blinked and came back down to the real world. I shook my head and laughed at how ridiculous I was being.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I feel like I’ve got weddings on the brain.”
“Well, not long till you get married,” she remarked. “No wonder. How long now?”
“Oh, only a few months,” I replied with a sigh. It wasn’t that I wasn’t super excited about what was to come, just that it was a hell of a lot to take in, the full-blown, pedal-to-the-metal momentum of the marriage I was heading toward. At least I had more notice with this one than the last time I thought I’d been married. That had just been a matter of waking up in bed next to the man I thought I was married to. I liked it better this way, even with the stress.
“Honestly, I don’t envy you.” Darla shook her head as we made our way to the small café we were picking up lunch from. “The thought of organizing a wedding at this short notice? It makes me feel like I’m going to come out in hives.”
She ran her hands over her arms as though she could already feel the irritation on her skin, and I laughed.
“Yeah, trust me, I’d feel the same way, too, if his entire family hadn’t pitched in to help,” I assured her. “And the fact that he has all the money I could possibly want for a wedding helps too. No one’s saying no to his dad or his fortune.”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to rub it in.” Darla shook her head. “What about the wedding party, though? You can’t just offer them more money to do what you need.”
“No, you’re right,” I agreed. “But it seems like everyone is all right with the date we’ve chosen. My little sister is my maid of honor, his sister is his best man, and we’ve decided not to bother with bridesmaids or groomsmen. Just keep it small. A family thing.”
“That’s sweet.” She grinned. “If I was marrying into the kind of money you are, I think I’d be inviting pretty much everyone I knew just to make a point.”
“Trust me, it’s tempting.” I held my hands up. “But I don’t have time for spite in my schedule right now.”
“What an enlightened way to look at it.” She nodded, and we arrived outside the café. Suddenly, all at once, the heat started to get to me, and I felt a rush of dizziness run through my system. I planted my hand on the wall next to the café and took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. I squeezed my eyes shut, forced myself to go in and out once more, chest rising and falling.
“Hey, hey, Amaya, are you okay?” Darla touched my arm, and I jerked back to reality, reminding myself I was out in the real world and I couldn’t just give in to my dizzy spells like this. They had been coming more and more regularly, but I had just put it down to the fact that I was trying to juggle work with wedding planning and didn’t have a whole lot of time for eating and sleeping.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I promised her. “Come on, let’s go get our food.”
We picked up our to-go salad boxes and headed back to work, and I went to hide out at my desk to eat it. I was still feeling a little under the weather, but I ignored it, reminding myself to take a little time off over this weekend so I wasn’t a complete frazzled mess by the time the wedding actually arrived. I massaged my temples as I finished up lunch, but before I had a chance to go back to work and distract myself, I felt a sudden wave of nausea rise over me. I clamped my hand over my mouth and sprinted to the bathroom. I just made it inside before I started throwing up everything in my stomach.
A minute or two later, when I was done, I heard the door open and a voice calling my name.
“Amaya?” Darla called to me. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied automatically, but then I flushed and opened the cubicle and shook my head. “Actually, I’m not.”
I washed my hands and splashed some water on my face, trying to cool myself. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed the dark circles under my eyes. Dammit, I didn’t look well. I needed to get some sleep, and a decent meal, and—
“You need to go to a doctor,” Darla told me firmly. “You just ate salad, right? You shouldn’t be feeling this bad.”
“Let me give Kristo a call, and he can help me figure things out.” I sighed. “Thanks, Darla. I guess I need someone to tell me when to take a damn break.”
“At your service.” She pretended to bow, and I managed to smile as I leaned on the counter and waited for the sickness to pass.
I talked to Kristo, who thought it better for me to grab an over the counter test. He picked me up and even went into the store to get it himself. We drove to a cute little diner that he loved, and I left him sitting at the table, his knuckles white and eyes a little wide. His words rang in my ears from the car ride over.
“I’m sure you’re fine,” he promised me. “Just a little food poisoning, that’s all.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I hadn’t eaten anything heavy enough to warrant this kind of reaction the last few days and, instead, just waited with him until we were called in.
“Everything’s going to be okay, baby.” He squeezed my hand. “I promise.”
I was glad he was there by my side, but I was having a hard time believing him, even though I wanted to. My heart twisted in my chest as I tried to think about everything it could be—not food poisoning but maybe the flu? Perhaps just tiredness from working my fucking ass off since what felt like the beginning of our relationship, and now all that stress was catching up to me in the form of this meltdown I was having? Or maybe something worse, something serious.
My heart pitter-pattered in my chest at the thought, at the notion of having to leave Jolene behind if something really was amiss. I soothed my panicked brain as best I could, and walked into the bathroom. I closed the door and took the test quickly.