Getting up, he headed back to the kitchen. It was empty. Nicole had no doubt gone back to work. Perhaps cooking would distract him from the pain. Jake opened the refrigerator and considered the contents. He could get a start on the next day’s dinner. Or maybe he should be cooking Nicole another meal for today. Technically, what he had served as dinner had really only been Nicole’s second meal of the day. It might have been her lunch. It was his lunch. He normally didn’t have dinner until much later in the day, himself, and he kept hours similar to hers.
Frowning, Jake closed the refrigerator and headed downstairs to ask her if she wanted another meal later and what time that would be.
As usual, the blinds were up on the French doors to the studio and Jake could see her hard at work. She wasn’t wearing her headphones yet, so he tapped lightly at the door. Nicole glanced around with surprise and then smiled and waved him in.
“How are you feeling?” she asked with concern as she set her paintbrush down. Frowning, she added, “You’re really pale, Jake. Are you coming down with something?”
“No. I never get sick. It’s just a headache,” he assured her, and then quickly changed the subject. “You’ve only eaten twice today, and I wondered if you wanted another meal tonight?”
Nicole tilted her head briefly, considering the question, and then said, “Maybe a sandwich or salad or something. I can grab it myself though. You aren’t feeling well.”
“It’s okay, I can make it,” he assured her. “This is just a tension headache. It will go away eventually.”
“If it’s a tension headache, why don’t you try a dip in the hot tub?” she suggested. “It might help.”
Jake blinked at the suggestion. He was surprised he hadn’t thought of it himself and he was willing to try anything to rid himself of the damned pulsing in his head. “Yeah, I think I will,” he said finally. “Is there anything you want before I do?”
“No. I’m good,” Nicole assured him.
Jake nodded and headed for the door, saying, “I’ll let you get back to work then.”
“Okay. Feel better.”
Jake closed the door and headed back upstairs. He was in his room before he realized he didn’t know what time Nicole wanted to eat. He’d ask after his dip in the hot tub, Jake decided, pausing in front of the dresser and then frowning as he realized he hadn’t brought his swimsuit.
Shrugging, he stripped out of his clothes and pulled on his bathrobe, then went to grab a large towel out of the bathroom. The hot tub was outside the sliding glass doors of Nicole’s studio, but he’d noticed while in her studio that while she left the blinds open on the windows along the back of her studio, the blinds for the door were closed. The sun rose on that side, and no doubt shone right in through the sliding glass doors in the morning. He supposed she kept them closed to avoid it heating up the room and glaring on her work. Whatever the case, with the blinds closed it should be okay if he went without a swimsuit.
Nicole was bebopping between paintings, headphones on and tunes cranked. The first song she’d put on was her present favorite, Pink’s latest, but it was near the end of the playlist. There were only three songs following it, so it seemed like she’d barely put it on when the playlist ended and silence filled her ears. Silence always seemed worse to Nicole when she had earphones on, it seemed to crowd into her head, blocking out everything else.
Grimacing, she shifted her headphones off her ears and crossed to the computer to start the playlist from the beginning. She’d just grabbed the mouse when muffled sounds from outside made her hesitate.
Leaving her headphones around her neck, Nicole turned her head so that one ear was to the window and listened. She’d opened the window a crack when she’d come in earlier. Unless it was an especially cold or windy night, she always had a window open. Nicole didn’t mind the smell of paint, it was her stock and trade after all, but it could get a bit strong if she didn’t open a window to let fresh air in to dilute it.
Frowning as she recognized the sounds as those of someone being sick, she took her headphones off altogether and walked over to the sliding glass doors. The blinds were closed and she didn’t open them right away, but tugged one of the slides aside to look out. In the next moment, she shoved them aside to unlock the door, tugged it open and rushed out.
“Jake?” she hurried to the hot tub, hardly aware of the cold snow under her bare feet as she rushed to aid the man. Jake was half upright and hunched over the far side of the hot tub, vomiting into the snow. If that was not enough to concern her, when she reached that side of the tub the white snow was splashed red in the overhead light. The man was vomiting blood . . . and a lot of it.