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Celeste hesitated. “Miranda told me this morning that you have a guest. She didn’t seem well earlier when Natalie brought her back to her room, so I haven’t disturbed her.”
“Wait. What?” Cody asked, concerned. “What do you mean she wasn’t well?”
Celeste’s forehead creased into lines of concern. “The girls arrived home from school while I was finishing that side of the house. I was coming to do this side when I met them in the foyer. The woman, she didn’t look well. She was stumbling and asking Natalie for help. I offered to assist, but Natalie said she’d deal with it. I left them to do the upstairs here.” Celeste bit her lip. “I hope she’s okay.”
Cody’s heart dropped. “Something’s not right.” He rushed back down the hall to Summer’s room and called out, “Summer, I’m coming in.” He gave her a second to say no, then opened the door and found her curled in the fetal position on the floor, her arms covering her head like she needed to protect it, a pool of vomit next to her.
Chapter Nineteen
The knock on the door sent a lightning bolt of pain up the back of her head to the front and made the pressure behind her eye pulse in agony. Nausea rolled through her again as the stench of vomit filled her nose. She wanted to get away from it, but moving seemed impossible at the moment.
The door flew open and Cody swore.
The sound of his voice was both a relief and another round of anguish. She curled up even tighter and pressed her arms over her ears as she used her hands to try to hold her head together, like it might shatter at any moment from the enormous pain radiating through her skull on the right side of her head.
She needed to keep the light out of her eyes, the noise from ringing in her ears. Anything and everything that made the pain worse.
“Summer?”
Her name felt like an ax through her head. “Don’t talk,” she whispered, and tightened her arms around her head.
“Summer, baby, what’s wrong?”
“Shut up.” She needed him to stop, to go away and let the silence come back. “Too loud. It hurts.” Even those few words made her want to scream in agony.
God, she was so tired. Her body was so tense her shoulders ached, her stomach wanted to turn over, and pain radiated throughout her head with each beat of her heart. She tried to breathe with shallow, steady breaths, but even that was an effort.
Cody brushed his hand gently up her arm and whispered, “Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong.”
She winced with pain. “Cluster migraine.” She grabbed his hand and held on to him. He was an anchor in her sea of agony. She couldn’t remember another migraine ever being this bad. Ever since she got here, she’d known the mild headache was warning her to take care of herself, not work too much, get some rest, and not let the stress get to her. But she hadn’t listened to the little voice in her head telling her she was setting herself up for this.
“I’ll get you some ibuprofen.”
“Won’t work. Hospital. Narcotics. It’s the only thing that will work now.” Every word cost her, but she needed the pain meds. Now. “Please,” she begged.
Cody thankfully didn’t speak, but did what she needed him to do and scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the room.
“What’s wrong?” Brooke asked, making Summer tighten her hold on Cody and bury her face in his neck.
He held her tighter, too. He spoke in a soft whisper. “I’m taking her to the hospital for a very bad migraine. Ask Celeste to clean up the vomit in her room, please. I’ll call you later.” Cody moved quickly to the foyer. The brighter light made her close her eyes tighter.
“Is she okay?” Haley asked.
Cody didn’t speak, just shook his head, brushing her sweaty forehead.
“Are you taking her to the hospital like she asked?”
Cody’s whole body went perfectly still. “What?”
Haley mimicked Cody’s tone and spoke softly. “She asked Natalie to take her, but Natalie said it was only a headache and not an emergency.”
Cody felt Summer trembling, every word adding to her pain, and pressed his cheek to her head. “Haley, you will tell me and your father exactly what happened later. Get the door. Help me get her in the car.”
Cody practically ran with her to his car and set her in the front seat. He put the seat belt around her and she curled in on herself, trying to still hold her head and not vomit all over his car. He closed the door with a soft push instead of slamming it. Summer overheard some mumbled words between him and Haley, then he was behind the wheel and started the car. The second the radio came on he shut it off.
Without a word, he put the car in motion, then put his hand on her head and brushed his fingers against her hair. He took it away, and she missed that anchor and wanted it back.
She heard him speaking into his cell phone. “David, man, I need your help. Are you at work?” Cody paused. “Great. I’m bringing in someone with a cluster migraine. She says she needs narcotics. She’s in bad shape, man. The light and noise are killing her. She vomited. She’s sweating.” Cody paused again, then let out a huge sigh of relief. “We’ll be there in like ten minutes. Thank you. I owe you.” Cody put his hand on her back and rubbed it in circles, but didn’t speak again, even though she knew he wanted to offer words of comfort and reassurance.
