“Yes!” Steph cried, caught up in the contagious enthusiasm. “Perfect.”
“And hemorrhoids,” Laurie pointed a finger to the sky.
“You’re inspired.” Steph gave a mock bow. “I’m awed by your presence.”
“Thanks.” Laurie lifted her chin, accepting the accolades. “I try.”
Steph laughed and then fell into contemplative silence. “Finn offered me a job.”
Laurie sucked in a loud breath, turning to face her. “Carina got you fired?”
“Not yet. But I can tell from the weekend, I won’t be able to stay if they get married.”
“I’m sorry, Stephanie. Even though you call it a crush, I think you’ve been in love with him a long time. It has to hurt.”
Steph threw her hands up in the air, in an effort to appear blasé. “Nah. I was never serious. I knew it was only a pipe dream.”
“Maybe he won’t marry her. He could still support the baby, even if they weren’t married. Especially if he doesn’t like to be around kids.” Laurie put a comforting hand on her shoulder, which only served to make tears spring to her eyes.
“It’s possible.” Steph swiped her sleeve across her face. “But Finn thinks he’ll feel obligated to marry her.”
“Branson might listen to you, though. He trusts you. Maybe you could suggest they shouldn’t get married. You shouldn’t have to give up your job.” Laurie angled her head. “By the way… where would we be moving if you took the job with Finn?
“New York City.”
“New York?” Laurie danced a seated victory jig, pumping her hands in the air. “I’ve always wanted to live in New York. That’s awesome. My classes are online, so I can live anywhere. We’d have so much…” Her voice trailed off. Her lips turned down, and her brown eyes turned puddly. “Sorry. I know you don’t want to leave Branson. We’ll just pray they don’t get married.”
Steph nodded, swallowing her tears, as a surge of nausea hit. “I think the stress may be getting to me, because my stomach feels terrible. Or maybe it’s something I ate.”
“You could have a stomach virus.” Laurie wrinkled her nose. “Ellie threw up all day yesterday.”
“Oh no.” The meager contents of her stomach rolled around to confirm the diagnosis. “The school nurse warned us there was something going around, but I thought we’d escaped it. Why didn’t you call me?”
“You know I would’ve called if it had been a respiratory bug. But I knew her CF didn’t make a stomach bug particularly dangerous.”
“Poor thing. Can’t believe she’s so peppy today. She didn’t even mention being sick.”
“It didn’t last long. She was feeling better by bedtime and was fine when she woke up this morning. Maybe a twelve-hour bug. Ran a little fever. I guess you’ll know all about it, soon.”
“I hate throwing up.” Stephanie clamped her hand over her mouth. “This is going to be a long night.”
Laurie disappeared into the other room and emerged with a white spray bottle. “Here goes the Lysol, again.”
“I hope you don’t get it, too.”
“You and me both.” Laurie looked like she was considering drinking the Lysol. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go hide out in my suite. But I’ll come over in the morning and get Ellie ready for school, so you can sleep in.”
“Sounds good.” Steph barely got the words out before limping to the bathroom, her only comfort in knowing she would have another day before she had to face Bran.
Branson fumbled about in the huge kitchen, grumbling that nothing was where he remembered it. He shouldn’t be surprised, since he hadn’t cooked anything for himself in the past two years. At two a.m., all his culinary employees were sound asleep, but it wouldn’t have made a difference. He had to do this alone.
He’d been lying in bed awake when Stephanie’s text came in. Stomach virus. Will take sick day tomorrow.
He’d immediately fired back a text informing her of his intention to bring her a cup of ginger tea for the nausea. She protested, but he was determined. He was equally determined to make it himself, without any help from the staff. This meant smelling each box of tea to locate one with ginger flavor.
After every open package failed the sniff test, he considered calling on his cell for a late-night grocery delivery.
He fumed. Sixteen different flavors of tea in the drawer, and none of them are ginger. Then he remembered the cook’s special tea tin inside the pantry. Fortune smiled on him as he opened the lid and breathed in. Ginger!