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Nicole lifted a hand to wave goodbye as I passed her but didn’t speak. She’d been the primary trip planner, putting in months of effort to bring everything together, but she didn’t seem like she was having a very good time.
I found all my equipment in the hallway outside the suite I’d share with Jenna and hauled both air purifiers across the hall to the balcony room shared by Grandma and Nicole. I sprayed everything in their room down with disinfectant, ceiling to floor, paying extra attention to the knobs and switches, then headed back to our room to do the same.
A knock sounded at the door. “Adam? It’s Jenna. Can I come in?”
“Yes,” I called back, coughing a little.
Jenna let herself into the room with her key. “Hey, everyone is—Wow.” She coughed and waved her hand in the air. “The disinfectant is really strong in here.”
“I have some masks.” I turned my head too fast and found the room spinning. I put a hand out to steady myself against the couch.
“Whoa,” Jenna said, moving forward to stand next to me. “You need fresh air. Let’s go and sit on your grandma’s balcony for a bit.”
We didn’t have one of our own since I’d had to book an interior suite to stay near Grandma. “Good idea.”
Jenna accompanied me across the hall and knocked on the door, placing a hand on my back when I got so dizzy I had to lean my head against the wall. I tried not to think about the various kinds of bacteria my face was coming into contact with.
Nicole answered the door.
“We need to borrow your balcony,” Jenna informed her.
“Oh, okay,” Nicole replied, and Jenna led me inside, past Grandma sitting on the edge of her twin bed, cheerfully commenting on the space-saving features of the room.
“And this cushion comes out so you can put your bag inside—what’s wrong, Adam?” Grandma had to work to be heard over the hum of the air purifiers I’d placed.
I tried not to move my head too much as I walked forward, worried I’d get dizzy and fall down.
“I think he just needs some air,” Jenna explained. She guided me onto the balcony and settled me onto one of the lounge chairs bolted to the floor, adjusting the seat back so I could recline.
I shut my eyes and took long breaths through my nose. The breeze was nice, but sitting totally still seemed to effect the biggest improvement on my lightheadedness. “Thanks.”
“Jenna?” Grandma called. “I want to show you something.”
“Be right back.” Jenna gave my shoulder a little squeeze, the gesture far more comforting than it ought to have been. I squashed the desire to call her back to stay next to me, healing me with her presence.
A short time later, someone stepped back onto the balcony and closed the sliding glass door behind herself. Had Jenna returned already? I cracked one eye open.
Nicole settled into the chair next to me. “Grandma said for me to order you a ginger ale, so it should be here soon.”
“Thanks.” I wasn’t particularly thirsty, but I knew better than to argue with Grandma’s dictates. “Where’s Jenna?”
Nichole chuckled. “Apparently Grandma brought all your childhood photo albums to show her.”
“Yikes.” Poor Jenna. Nobody wanted to be stuck looking through someone else’s pictures. Why had I thought it was okay to ask a stranger to do this?
“Adam?”
I turned my head very slowly to face my sister. “Yeah?”
“Jenna is really nice. Grandma already loves her.” Nicole waved back toward the sliding doors.
“And?”
“Just maybe don’t mess this one up? I really don’t think you could find anyone better.”
Ouch. I squished the pain of my sister’s lackluster evaluation of my interpersonal skills. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Not that it mattered, since my relationship with Jenna wasn’t going anywhere.
“Are you coming to dinner?”
