“Unlock it,” he instructed.
“Mmkay,” I replied and put my face to the phone.
“It’s unlocked,” I told him.
“Victor?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s him,” I told him. “It’s only one.”
He scrolled for a while. Then he put the phone to his ear and began to unload the food on the magazine table in front of the couch.
“Eat!” he told me. “Well, drink.”
“Yes, Victor, this is Dr. Ian Crain from the West Philadelphia Urgent Care Facility.” There was a pause. “Yes, I’m calling you because Ivory Nash has the flu. She came in last night with fever, chills, nausea, etc. We stranded her, and she has the flu. She will need to be off for the week, so I’m calling to let you know that—”
There was another pause, and if it wasn’t the flu causing me to feel antsy, it was the fact that I knew I would be fired.
“See, that’s the thing. She wanted to come to work, but I told her no sensible boss would allow their flu-infested employee to come to work, especially in the food industry. It would be a lawsuit waiting to happen, right? Either from customers, the employee, or the doctor that put her on bed rest for the week. That notion of her losing her job with no pay just doesn’t work with that concept, and I knew she was dealing with someone that was reasonable.”
There was a nod, then a few more.
“I knew you’d understand.” He looked at me and said, “You’ll have to report on Monday when you are well enough to attend. Victor knows that you will be taking care of yourself this week so that you are ready for next week.”
I nodded as I bit my nails.
“Mmkay,” I mumbled. “Sure.”
“Great, then it’s settled. Ivory will see you next week, and I’m sure she’ll have the note that shows she was legitimately ill. You can also reach the clinic at this number.”
He spouted off the number, and I just sat there in awe. When Dr. Ian finally hung up the phone, I clapped once and asked, “Are you some type of hero or something?”
He chuckled and said, “I think we all are, in our own right.”
The weight that was sitting on me was suddenly lifted, and I became emotional. This was a bit foreign for me, but water began to come out of my eyes.
“Oh, Dr. Ian . . .” I started to say.
Then he held up his hand and said, “Ian.”
“Ian. Thank you!” The hot tears were about to start pouring out. “Seriously, I really can’t thank you enough. This means so much because I really thought I was gonna lose my job.”
“It’s seriously not a problem. I don’t know what boss would want an employee to work while they were sick. It just doesn’t make sense. I’ve been running my clinic for five years now, and there’s nowhere we have any of them come in sick. It’s a representation of the clinic, so no worries.” He shrugged and began to pull out the food for me.
This man was really blowing my mind on so many levels. I had not had too many people that were kind and really looked out for me. It was almost unbelievable. My mind started to wander back to people who took advantage of me, the reason why my guards were always up. However, this situation took me out of my element. God knows I don’t really have a choice. My body aches. I go between chills and serious heat flashes, and I really can’t hold any food down. I just want to lie on my sofa bed and wait for the worst parts to be over.
“Just relax.” Ian’s head swiveled around to view me.
“Aren’t you scared that you’ll get sick?” I tried to joke.
He gave me a side-eye and said, “I got my flu shot, thank you very much. You, on the other hand, well . . . this is why you’re in this situation.”
Oh yeah, that’s right. He basically was chastising me when I came in because I didn’t get the shot.
“You know I never get the shot,” I confided.
“Yeah, well then, that’s why your ass is here.” He shook his head. “Seriously though, the thing is, when you don’t, you’re more susceptible to be a carrier of the virus. Though you might not have got it before, the problem is that you can be a bigger part of the problem by not getting it. And I don’t want to hear anything about those vaccines and the old wives’ tales. People died from polio, the common flu, and less than that just decades ago. We are not infallible.”
He waved his hand to me and said, “Clearly.”
I had no room to argue with the man, but sure enough, I didn’t want to since he was, in essence, taking care of me. Plus, he was the doctor with the degree. So I, with my masters in waitress-ology, didn’t stand a chance. I didn’t get sick often, but as he said, clearly.
Sitting down next to me on the sofa, because I never pulled out the bed part, I unpackaged the spoon from its plastic holder and dipped it down into the soup and said, “Here’s drunch.”
I wanted to laugh, but it came out as a cough. Leaning forward as he put the hot soup to my lips, my shoulders ached, causing me to wince.
“Fuck,” he murmured. “Let’s try to get this down, and then you take a nap. I got extra soup for you, along with crackers, ginger ale, and plenty of water. The meds, you have them, but here is my number.”
Ian nabbed my cell phone and programmed his number inside. “You call me if you need anything. I’m working the late shift again. Closing at midnight.”
I nodded at him as I looked around to see what else he planned to do. The damn man was feeding me, and I was too sick to wave my independent flag. However, the concept was also foreign to me. Nobody took care of me.
Like ever.
Therefore, who did he think he was?
Chapter 4
Ian
Every day that week, I went to drunch at Ivory’s apartment. “Why?” my fraternity brother asked me on many occasions throughout the week.
“Like, dude, why the fuck are you going to some chick’s place to give her food? Is she paying you in dividends that you aren’t sharing?” Hal waved his hand around the air as if it were a cyclone. “She’s sick, so I know you’re not hitting that. Like, what the fuck?”
“It’s complicated,” I replied and kept walking to get the veggie burger at the vegan restaurant, not too far from the clinic.
Hal was not trying to find out what was happening for my sake. The man just wanted to be nosy so he could tell his sister or something. A programmer by day and mystery novelist by night was my frat bro. Oddly enough, he wasn’t socially awkward, like most of those geeks could be. I was sort of a geek but definitely wasn’t awkward. My job didn’t afford me to be.
It was my lunch break, which was the end of his nine-to-five job, so we always grabbed a bite to eat when I worked the late shift, which happened to be all this week.
“So what happens when she’s not sick anymore?” he asked as the lady handed us our burgers.
The question almost caused me to drop my burger.
I had not thought about that. How else would I be able to interact with her if she didn’t need my help? Shit!
Hal looked at me as if he knew a secret. However, I wasn’t really ready to admit it. A woman walks into my clinic, and she has the flu. She didn’t get the flu shot, which I hate, and now I’m going over to her apartment on a daily basis to give her lunch. She still hasn’t called me or asked me for anything, but I show up every day. According to her vitals, she’s getting much stronger now, which is great, but Hal’s question is the thing that’s roaming through my head right now.