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Over the first three hours of his hallucinations sort of in and out of awareness (but mostly out), I fed Leighton the juice of half a carton of coconut water, one and a half small glasses of watermelon juice, and at least three tall tumblers of ice water—all with electrolyte powder added.
Then we let him sleep for a while. I couldn’t leave him, so I sat in a chair by the bed and held his hand.
His sisters (it turned out his older sister was named Genevieve) decided not to haul him off to the ER. I had to let them make that call, but I wasn’t worried anymore.
Roberta and Genevieve spelled me for a few minutes so I could call Davie and organize the shop’s business without me tomorrow. It’d be the first day it would open without me there.
Davie and Jerry got on FaceTime with me and we hammered it out. Jerry reminded me, “This is our original contingency plan. We’ve got this. You take care of your man.”
I went back to Leighton, every fiber of my being watching him sleep. Alert for any sign he needed me.
Roberta laughed at me and looked at her sister, “Genevieve? To think weso wronglyaccused our parents of ruining us for relationships.”
Genevieve nodded with a tiny smile, “Awful how he hit the jackpottwice, isn’t it?”
Roberta looked at the scene, “Keep the faith, Big Sis. Our day will come.”
I heard their words without registering any meaning at all as I held my sleeping man’s hand.
The younger sister looked across Leighton’s bedroom at me, “Samantha? If you don’t drink some of that watermelon juice, you’re gonna faint dead away, and mooning over my very handsome brother won’t save you!”
When I admitted I hadn’t eaten since noon, they raced to have something delivered for all three of us.
Genevieve harrumphed (I was just figuring she was pretty good at that), “You and Leighton with the food thing. Two peas in a pod.”
And Roberta, “And you in thefoodbusiness,too!”
Genevieve looked at her sister, “OTL. Devastating, isn’t it?”
Roberta nodded with a deep sigh, “And I want me some of that.”
I guessed that was some kind of sister code. I let it be.
We ate. I checked on Leighton. He’d stopped his panicky, startled jumping. I felt more confident that I’d done right by Leighton.
After he’d slept another full hour, I started to wake Leighton every fifteen minutes to drink. All night. I set my phone alarm and used the Snooze button as my reminder.
I didn’t realize it till the next day, but his sisters slept in the building’s guest apartment, even though they were quick to state that they had their own homes.
What I never knew was that they took turns checking on me and Leighton through the night.
Leighton stayed awake when I roused him around dawn for yet more water and juice. He looked at me and palmed my cheek.
“You …?”
“Yes.”
“Am I …?
“Not dead.”
“I dreamt about you,” his deep voice floated on clouds.
I held his hand against my cheek, all the while examining his eyes, his color, and how he spoke. Was he recovered?
“That wasn’t a dream. I’ve been here since yesterday afternoon. And it's six in the morning.”
“You are beautiful first thing in the morning. Have I ever told you that? Your freckles pop. I could get lost trying to count them.”
