AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come in and sit down, kid. Me and Jessie have made enough pastries to feed a platoon of Marines so I hope you’re hungry,” Mikey says.
“Yeah,” Hayden replies as he walks into the room and then suddenly he is standing right in front of me and I feel like I might cry. Jeez! Am I going to be this emotional this whole pregnancy?
“Hi,” he says again.
I laugh at his nervousness and hold out my arms. He laughs too and then suddenly we’re hugging. And everything is perfect – until it’s not.
I don’t know what the lingering aroma is on Hayden’s jacket – maybe oregano? But it is suddenly the most offensive thing I’ve ever smelled in my life. I’m hit by a huge wave of nausea and I push him away and bolt to the kitchen sink where I retch.
Concerned voices chatter around me and then a warm hand is on my back, rubbing softly. “You okay, Angel?” Conor asks.
“Urgh!” I groan as I retch again but nothing comes up. The feeling passes as quickly as it arrived and I stand straight. Conor hands me some paper towels and I wipe my mouth. When I turn around Hayden is staring at me with a look of shock on his face.
“You okay?” he asks.
“She’s had stomach flu, haven’t you, baby?” Liam says.
“Yeah,” I nod.
“Shit!” Hayden shakes his head.
“It’s not catching,” Mikey adds quickly. “I mean we’re all okay, so…”
“Shall we eat?” Shane says and indicates the table.
“Um, sure,” Hayden says as he heads to the table, a little uncertain now, understandably when he thinks the food has been prepared by someone with the stomach flu.
As I walk back to the table, Hayden waits for me. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks as he puts a hand on my shoulder and as he lifts his arm I get another whiff of the smell.
“Fuck!” I hiss as I run back to the sink.
“Maybe I should go?” Hayden offers.
“No,” I shout as I hang my head over the sink again. “It’s just your jacket. Can you take off your jacket?”
“My jacket?” he frowns.
“Give me the jacket, kid,” Shane says.
“B-but…I…” Hayden stammers.
I stand straight again. “Sorry. It just smells a little…”
Hayden’s mouth opens in horror as he sniffs his jacket. “Do I stink or something?”
“No,” I shake my head. Oh God, he thinks I think he smells.
“It just smells of something,” I say with a smile.
He shrugs it off and passes it to Shane. “Does it? I didn’t even notice. I mean it hasn’t been washed in a week or two but… Have I been walking around stinking?”
Shane sniffs the jacket too and the look on his face tells me he doesn’t smell anything even remotely offensive but he pretends anyway. “Yeah. Stinks,” he agrees and Hayden’s cheeks turn red.
“Shane. It doesn’t stink,” I say. “Don’t make him feel bad.”
“What does it smell like? BO or something?” Hayden sniffs his armpits now and suddenly Mikey is pressing his lips together to stop himself from laughing and Shane is looking at me so I can tell him what it smells of.
“No. Not BO,” I say quickly. “Like oregano maybe?”
