Dear Mister Summers

forty two

The next morning, the second Andin opened her eyes, her stomach lurched. That had been happening a little, lately, and she was worried that she was coming down with something due to all the stress. When she made it to the bathroom, the feeling was gone so she washed up her face and went downstairs to get some breakfast. Her mother had gone to the market, leaving a note on the fridge. After eating the pancakes left by her mother on the table, she took a sip of the tea that she had made, hoping that it would settle her stomach a little.

In the afternoon, however, it was out of her hands. Her stomach was roiling, and she made a mad dash to the bathroom, and she only just reached the toilet before she started throwing up. When she was done, she sat back and flushed the toilet, grimacing at the foul taste in her mouth. She pulled herself to her feet and caught sight of herself in the mirror. She looked pale and shaky and overheated. She was definitely sick.

She fumbled her way back to her bed and slide her aching body under the covers. Her phone on the nightstand rang and she grabbed it. It was a call from Damon.

"Andin Mia Bella," he greeted, sounding far more awake than her. "How are you?"

"Hello, Dee," she croaked through her sore throat.

"Andin?" he asked, sounding startled. "Is everything alright? You sound odd."

"Not really," she admitted. "I started vomiting this morning. I think I caught something in the office. I do not know. I am just not feeling well."

"Have you gone to the doctor?"

"No."

"You should, Andin Darling," he suggested, his voice sounding very worried. "You could catch stomach flu or something worse."

"Alright. I will this afternoon." She took a deep calming breath to stop herself from hurling. "How are you, Dee? How is Tanner?"

"I am okay. We are both fine, really. I know it has only been—like a day and you are probably busy planning for your mother's birthday tomorrow but I thought I should tell you about two things."

"Which are?"

"First, I miss you," he answered which caused her to chuckle. "It is true, you know. Last night I told Tanner to knock on your door to ask you to come over for a dinner then he broke my heart by reminding me that you are with your mother. Anyway, the second thing is your lover slash boss keeps on looking for you. He came here last night and then again early this morning. He left something on your door and since I know you are not going to come back for a while, do you want me to mail it to you?"

Hearing Damon talking about Sebastian brought him back to her mind. She had been trying to not think about him. Thus far with vomiting every now and then and being exhausted from hurling over the toilet, she had somehow managed to put him on the very back of her mind. Now she could not help but feel bad for him. Perhaps she should not have informed him that she would not be back on that post-it note. That way at least he would think she was merely taking a leave to visit her mother. Sure, he would look for her when she was not coming back to the office when she should be, but at least he would have a few days not worrying about her.

"Andin?"

"Ah, yes?" She blinked twice and pushed her train of thoughts away.

"Do you want me to mail it to you?"

What was Damon talking about? Then she recalled and quickly answered, "I do not want to trouble you. It is fine."

"I think I should mail it. I do not want to open it and perhaps it is something that could expire in a week or something. I do not know. I just have the feeling that I should simply mail it to you."