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CHAPTER 20
The next morning, I woke with the hiccups.
Not the simple kind that lasted a few minutes, but the kind that lasted for hours. It hadn’t happened since I was a kid, but back then, when I got stressed, I’d sometimes get hiccups that refused to quit. My mom even took me to the doctor for it once, and he’d explained that stress and anxiety can occasionally trigger tightened muscles and an increased swallowing of air, which causes the diaphragm to spasm involuntarily.
Calder thought it was hilarious how long they were lasting, but only because I hadn’t told him the reason they were here. Or that it had been years since I’d gotten them in one of these long, miserable stretches. It had never come up before, so I hadn’t had the occasion to explain. I was grateful for that because otherwise I’d need a reason why I was suddenly so stressed.
He walked into the bedroom carrying his coffee mug. “Did they stop?”
Hiccup.
He chuckled. “Guess not.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to go to the gym. Try holding your breath again.”
“I’ll do that.”
Fifteen minutes after he left, the annoying spasms finally stopped. I downed a cup of coffee, which had been impossible before, then cleaned up a bit and took a shower, hoping the hot water would relax my body some more.
I’d just finished getting dressed in the bathroom when voices drifted in from the kitchen. Not one. But two. Male voices.
My stomach dropped. I walked out to find Calder scooping protein powder into the blender while Rafe leaned casually against the cabinets.
His eyes lifted to mine and—
Hiccup.
Calder burst out laughing. “Still?”
I closed my eyes.
Calder looked over at Rafe. “She’s had the hiccups for a couple of hours now.”
“Has she?”
“Tried popping out from behind a door to scare her. Didn’t work.”
“Perhaps I can think of something that would do it...”
My eyes widened. “I don’t think—hiccup—scaring someone actually works.”
“I’ve heard hiccups can be caused by stress,” Rafe said.
“It’s not that.” Calder winked. “I took care of that last night.”
Rafe’s jaw tightened. He pushed off the cabinets. “Good for you.”
Calder, oblivious as ever, screwed the lid onto the blender. “You heading out already?”
Rafe’s eyes cut to me one last time. “Yeah. Don’t forget to put in the batteries I brought.” A second later, the door slammed behind him hard enough to rattle the glasses in the cabinet.
Calder shook his head. “Jeez. I think he needs to get laid, too.”
Hiccup.
***
Later in the day, I waited until Calder went out to run errands before calling my mother.
I barely suppressed a sigh of relief when she answered. “Hi, Mom.”
