“Mashed potatoes are fire. I’m ready,” Luca said with a grin.
“Well, let’s hope they aren’tonfire. I’ll bring you some in an hour or two after I check on your mom.”
Luca’s nose wrinkled. “Does she still have the pukes?”
“It’s mostly a fever now,” I told him. Sutton had barfed in spectacular form for hours last night, but once we got some sassafras tea in her, that had calmed. But despite a few rounds of Tylenol, she was still struggling.
“She’ll be okay, right?”
I hated the tiny bit of fear I heard in Luca’s voice. “Of course. She’s just sleeping for a while. Like a bear in hibernation. I hope she doesn’t snack on either of us when she wakes up.”
Luca giggled. “Make sure you’ve got snacks waiting.”
“I will.” I glanced at the TV. “You’ve gotMighty Ducks?”
Luca bobbed his head in a nod. “I’m going to watch all three in a row.”
I didn’t know how he didn’t have them memorized by now, but if they made him happy, he could watch them a dozen times in a row. “Nothing like a good brain rot to cure what ails you.”
Luca grinned, a new tooth just starting to peek out from his gums in that incisor spot. “Best medicine ever!”
I chuckled and pointed at his nightstand. “Use the walkie-talkie if you need anything.” I’d asked my mom to bring over the ones my siblings and I used to play with, and it had come in handy with how big the house was.
“Code name Speedy reporting for duty,” Luca shot back.
I gave him a salute and headed toward the hall. I made it to thenext room and slowly opened the door. Sutton was sprawled like a starfish in the middle of the bed, her hair in messy disarray. I slowly crossed to the side of the bed to take in her face. Her cheeks were a little less red, and I hoped that meant we were past the worst of the fever.
As I leaned over her, Sutton’s eyelids fluttered. When they finally opened, she let out a startled shriek. “What in the—?” she croaked. “What are you wearing?”
Her voice was a little raspy, but she sounded way more like herself than the two other times I’d woken her for a dose of meds. I took a step back, gesturing at myself. “You don’t go into battle unarmed.”
Sutton’s lips twitched as she pushed up against the pillows. “Are those ski goggles?”
“Shocker, but I didn’t have any science ones left over from high school chemistry.”
As she blinked sleep away from her eyes, she stiffened. “Luca?—”
“Is fine. No fever. Kept down soup and bread. We’re moving on to mashed potatoes soon.”
Sutton’s hand moved to her belly. “Don’t talk about food. It’s too soon.”
Another wave of worry sliced through me. “How do you feel?”
“Gross,” she muttered. “I think my fever broke because I’m all sweaty.”
I picked up the thermometer on the bedside table and pointed it at her forehead. A second later, it beeped. “Ninety-eight point five.”
“Thank goodness,” Sutton said, collapsing back onto the pillows. “I feel like I just ran a marathon.”
“Why don’t I run you a bath and then heat up some broth for you? We can see how that goes down. My mom brought over her homemade chicken noodle soup, and it cures everything.”
Sutton blinked up at me, her eyes filling with tears.
I quickly ripped off my goggles and mask, moving closer to the bed. “Hey, what’s this about?”
“You could get sick. You should stay back.”
I tugged off the rubber gloves, tossed them to the floor, and slid onto the bed next to her. “Not even those nasty germs will keep meaway if you’re upset.” Sutton burrowed her face into my chest. “Tell me what this is all about.”
