Yours Truly(43)

After she took a big sip, she looked over to AJ. “You shouldn’t be here. What if I get you sick?”

AJ simply shrugged as he took a seat next to her on the couch. Then he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Then I get sick. So what?”

“But what if someone puts two and two together, AJ? Your employee gets sick and then a day later, you get sick? Most of the people who work at the company are very intelligent and I don’t think it will be that tough for them to figure out that we’ve been spending time together outside of the office.”

AJ tucked Kat’s blanket underneath her legs. Then he placed a hand over her knee, leaning his body against hers. His touch made Kat feel a little better.

“Well, you’re not exactly Patient Zero here. If the other employees suspect that the only reason I got sick is because I’m sleeping with the sick, then they’d also end up coming to the conclusion that I’m sleeping with Carl the janitor, Mildred the account secretary, Joanne in administration, four members of the marketing team, the new kid in the mail-room…”

Kat cut him short. “Okay, I get it. There’s something going around.”

“Yes, exactly,” AJ said. “The only thing that you need to be worrying about is getting better. Nobody at the office is going to attempt to track the spread of this illness. No one will be able to figure out who got me sick.”

Kat playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Fine. I just hope you didn’t bring them Gatorade and soup, too.”

“Actually, I have to admit that Joanne in admin really appreciated the soup and flowers I brought her. She said it made her feel a million times better.” AJ smiled and shamefully shook his head. “Her husband, though, now that was a different story. Somehow he wasn’t quite as appreciative as she was.”

He flashed a wink at Kat and she managed to giggle at his attempt at humor. She found herself feeling better just having AJ there with her. Nothing changed in her actual physical discomfort, but his presence allowed her to relax, if only a little bit.

The sip of Gatorade that she had enjoyed just moments before began to make its rebellion against her. Her stomach turned. She feared that the grape-flavored concoction that had tasted so good going down would not taste as great coming up. So she closed her eyes and breathed slowly, focusing on keeping it in.

Smaller sips next time, she thought.

With her eyes still closed, she leaned over and brought her head to AJ’s lap, curling her legs back up onto the couch. He caressed her hair, gently pulling his fingers through it. The tension in her shoulders began to melt and it wasn’t more than a minute or so before her stomach finally settled back down. She couldn’t believe how much nicer it was having someone there to take care of her. It was making all the difference.

She relaxed into that position, letting AJ stroke her hair. Every once in a while, he would bring his fingers to her shoulders to caress her skin. She felt her eyelids getting a little heavy, but did her best to stay awake.

“So, what are we watching?” AJ asked as a bloodcurdling scream came from the television as a splatter of blood covered the screen. “It looks very soothing.”

Kat brought her attention to the TV and laughed. “It’s one of my favorite shows. It’s about these two crazy hillbilly brothers who hunt supernatural monsters. It’s better than you’d think. I’m kind of addicted to it.”

“I don’t usually watch stuff like this, but it actually sounds kind of interesting,” he responded. More blood splashed onto the scene as some sort of monster ate an innocent victim.

“We don’t have to watch it, AJ,” Kat said. “As long as you don’t stop petting my head, you can watch whatever channel you want.”

AJ smiled as he looked down at her. “You’re the sick one, Kat. We can watch whatever you want. Besides, I wasn’t joking. It really does look interesting.”

“You sure?” she asked. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave because he didn’t like the show she was watching. To keep him here, she was willing to watch anything.

AJ just nodded in response. A moment passed, then he spoke up again. “You must not feel well, Kat.”

“Why do you say that?” Kat asked.

“You are being way too nice to me,” he responded. “You haven’t teased me about my tie or anything. And you’re letting me pick the TV show.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so miserable in my life.” Kat snuggled further into his lap. “But having you here is helping. A lot. Thank you.”

“You deserve it,” he told her.