Page 54 of Scoring Chances
I go to check them, placing a hand on both their foreheads. They’re both burning up. Crap.
“Cole, honey. Can you hear me?”
He rolls over and swallows hard. “My throat hurts,” he says, in a raspy voice.
“I’m sorry, hon. I think you and Parker might’ve caught something. I’ll ask your brother to get you guys some medicine.”
“What do they need?” Joshua’s voice startles me from the door.
“Uh… they have a cough. Fever. Sore throats. I’d say some cough syrup, Motrin, and cough drops. Maybe some broth, crackers and pedialtye, too.”
I turn to Joshua whose writing it all on his phone. “Damn, you’re good at this.
I shrug. “I take care of my siblings when they get sick."
“Ok, well, I’ll go check on Maddie. If she’s good I’ll ask the team to take her with them to the aquarium. And I’ll go grab the things they need.”
I nod. Pulling the covers over Cole as his body shivers.
“Oh, grab some vitamin C for us, too. So we don’t catch it.”
He marks it down and then disappears into the hall.
I close the door to the quarantine room and slide my mask off.
Joshua’s in the kitchen, pouring broth into some mugs. The house is silent except for the coughing of the two boys in the room.
Thank God Maddie slept in Joshua’s room last night so she stayed away from the bug. She was so excited to get to go to the aquarium with Liam and the rest of the gang.
“I figure if they don’t get any better by tomorrow morning, we’ll take them straight to the hospital from here.”
“That sounds good.” I reach for the tray and he puts his hand over mine. “I got it. You go rest. You’ve been at it all day.”
I am tired. He must see it in my eyes. Apart from not sleeping much last night, I’ve also been tending to the boys all day.
“I’m just going to lay down for a bit.”
“Go ahead, I’ve got the boys.” He picks up the tray of broth, drinks, and medicine and carries it down the hall.
“Joshua, wait.” I reach for the box of masks, pulling one out for him and walk up to him. He lowers his head so I can reach up and pull it in place over each ear.
“Thanks,” he says, muffled by the fabric. Then he turns and heads into the Q-zone.
I grab my phone off the counter and head back to my room. The second I lay down, it feels like everything catches up to me.
My body aches. My eyes feel heavy. And there’s an annoying tickle in my throat. But I’m too tired to bother with getting up to grab a cough drop. I just need to rest. I close my eyes.
And when I open them again. It’s dark out. I’m shivering. And Joshua is placing a cool wash cloth over my head.
“What happened?” I croak, trying to sit up.
“Shhh. Lay back,” he says, pushing me back down.
I try to clear my throat but it hurts so bad I can hardly swallow. I groan sinking back down into my pillow. “I got what they got, don’t I?”
“I think so, Princess. Here,” he hands me two pills and cup of orange juice.
“Great, now how am I supposed to take care of them if I’m feeling like trash.” I swallow down the pills and drink up the juice.