Reena’s car wasn’t there when Nikhil got to Marley’s, and the house was quiet when he let himself in. Neither Marley nor McQueen were in the living room. She was probably resting upstairs. Nikhil resisted the urge to check on her.
He felt weird eating the food from Marley’s fridge, so he ordered some tacos for himself and some sopa de lima for Marley in case she woke up hungry. He flipped on the TV and put on some cooking videos on YouTube while he waited for his dinner.
McQueen came downstairs meowing right after the food arrived. Nikhil leaned down to pet him.
“Hey, dude, how’s your mommy feeling? Maybe if she’s resting, you’ll watch YouTube with me. Or… why are you looking at me like I stole your salmon?”
“The you-stole-my-salmon stare is hunger,” a feeble voice from the top of the stairs said. Marley was awake. Without really thinking about it, Nikhil rushed up to help her down the stairs. She waved him off.
“I can walk,” she said, her face showing her irritation. Nikhil wanted to ask her if she needed painkillers, but he alsoassumed she wouldn’t appreciate being asked why she was grumpy. So instead, he opened the fridge to get the can of McQueen’s food. Marley had made it down the stairs by the time he filled the cat’s bowl. She looked… exhausted. Her coloring was pale. She was wincing with almost every movement. Her hair was piled on top of her head. It had clearly been a rough day.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as he helped her into the recliner. He fit her pillows under her arms.
“Like someone cut me open and shoved boulders under my skin that are way too big for my body.” She winced again, then looked up at Nikhil with her big eyes. “Pain’s bad. Reena left an hour ago, and I tried to sleep but couldn’t get comfortable.”
Nikhil checked the medication log. It had only been two hours since her last painkiller so she couldn’t have more. Maybe he could distract her with good food.
“I ordered Mexican. Ever had sopa de lima? It’s lime-and-chicken soup.”
Marley looked at him again with that same heartbreakingly pained expression. Ugh. He wished there was more he could do. “I have,” she said. “In Cancún.”
He opened the bag of food and poured the soup from the cardboard container into one of the brown bowls from the kitchen. It wasn’t piping hot anymore, so he warmed it in the microwave, then sprinkled fried tortilla strips and chopped cilantro over it. He put it on the tray table in front of Marley before plating his own tacos.
“Mmm,” he heard her say while he was still in the kitchen.
“Good?” he asked. He brought his food to sit near her in the living room.
“It’s amazing. Where did this come from?”
“Armadillos.” He told her about the article he’d read about the new place nearby making authentic Yucatán food.
She looked at him with one brow raised. “You really are a foodie, aren’t you?”
He shrugged before taking a bite of his taco. It was perfect. Tender shredded chicken cooked with citrus and chilies and topped with tangy red onions and bright herbs. “This is amazing,” he said. “I’ll be ordering this a lot while I’m here.”
Marley smiled, taking another spoonful of soup. “I could eat this every day.” She looked better already—that was the magic of chicken soup. Maybe more chicken soups would help her. He could make Chinese egg drop or even chicken pho for her.
“I thought you were going to watch YouTube,” she said.
“I was going to watch YouTube with your cat.”
“But not me? I can glare at you like McQueen.”
He laughed. “Nah, your cat has mastered the glare like no other. It’s so perfect that he’s named after Steve McQueen.” He gave the cat a stern McQueen look.
Marley snorted. “He’s not named after Steve McQueen. He’s named after Alexander McQueen. The fashion designer?”
Nikhil frowned. That made sense. He picked up the TV remote. “What’s your poison?”
She frowned. “Huh?”
“What do you watch on YouTube when you don’t want to think? You into game streamers? Productivity gurus? PressTube?”
“PressTube?”
“This guy crushes random household stuff in his hydraulic press. It’s very satisfying to watch Lego bricks extrude like pasta.”
Marley laughed. Not chuckled. Not giggled. Full on laughed. And didn’t wince with pain. Nikhil felt the satisfaction of that laugh deep inside.
