Swap Out(151)

A light hand lays on my hair and my eyes open, looking up and expecting to see my dad, but instead it’s Pete. He smiles and hands me a white paper sack before he leaves to go back up front, and my brow furrows as I sit up, sniffling.

But when I open it my eyes pop, because there are two cups in it, lids secured. I take out the first and there’s the string of a tea bag dangling on the outside, and I chuckle in disbelief as I set it on the side table. But my amazement gets bumped up a notch when I take out the second cup.

Chicken and dumplings.

I peel off the lid and close my eyes as I breathe it in, drowning in the aroma of creamy goodness and feeling the heat from the steam flirt with my skin. God, that’s fantastic. I check the bag to see if by any chance the clumsy yet suave stranger thought to include a spoon. He did. Along with about four different over-the-counter Cold and Flu medicines that were hidden under a very thick stack of napkins.

I don’t even care when a deep blush creeps up my neck and into my cheeks, because this is just too much. Bless Mystery Flower Man, whoever he is.

I take out the packages of medicine and set them aside, and I’m just starting to crumple up the bag when I stop. Because beneath the last box was one more napkin, and written on it in black marker and square little letters are a phone number and the words: Feel Better Soon—Thaddeus Hale.

Oh, he’s good.