was already putting her flip flops on.
“Where are you goin’?” Josh asked. He wasn’t the controlling type, but if it was that illness, he didn’t want Myra putting herself in harm’s way.
“I’m going to check on her.” Myra’s tone was matter-of-fact, warning him not to question her.
“No, they should just take her to the hospital. Mari can stay with us; that’s fine.”
Myra gently grabbed Mari’s shoulders and steered her toward the couch. She was already dressed in her pajamas. She fluffed a pillow, grabbed a blanket from the armrest, and tucked Mari in after taking her glasses. The act was a bittersweet reminder to Josh that Myra would’ve made a great mother if she had been given the chance. Even so, Josh was growing impatient with her being so stubborn.
“Myra, Brendan can take her to the hospital. If the fever is that high, she needs to go,” Josh repeated, his voice dropped down to a hushed whisper.
She turned sharply, her eyes narrowing. After a few seconds, she turned toward Brendan. “Brendan, you may stay here. I’ll be right back.” And then she was out the door.
Josh cursed under his breath and shut the door. “Pig-headed, that’s what she is,” he muttered. Brendan looked sorry, and bags under his eyes made his whole face look sickly. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah, man. I am. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do.” He looked pathetic and Josh felt the anger dissipate.
“It’s alright.” He paused, and then asked, “Want a beer?”
The two men settled in the kitchen, away from the snoring little girl. Brendan’s large hands wrapped around the bottle as he cast his dark brown eyes downward.
“If it’s that sickness that’s going around…” Brendan trailed off.
Images of Choy on his hands and knees came to Josh’s mind and he shuddered. After taking a long pull from his bottle, he leaned back in his chair. “It’ll be alright, man,” he replied lamely.
The silence was so loud between the two men. Usually they got along just fine; they’d been instant friends since becoming neighbors. But bringing up sports or any upcoming hunting trips Brendan was going on seemed futile.
Finally, after an hour and a half of being gone, Myra showed back up. Josh had just stood up to make his way out the door to go retrieve her. Brendan stood up nervously.
Myra looked tired. Like the past hour had just completely drained her. Her face was pale and her arms were wrapped around her stomach tightly.
“She’s going to be fine. Her fever has subsided. She doesn’t need to go to the ER,” Myra announced, smiling thinly. Josh’s heart skipped a beat. Something was off with his wife.
“I’m very tired. It was a long day. I’m gonna go to bed.”
“Thank you very much, Myra. We’ll be leaving, then,” Brendan spoke. Myra nodded and turned around.
Josh watched as Brendan picked Mari up off the couch. She murmured, but didn’t wake. She looked like a baby in her dad’s big arms, and that pain was back. The pain of thinking about things that couldn’t be.
Brendan thanked him again and left. When he finished locking up and turning off the lights, he went to their room. Myra was in the adjoining master bathroom. He could hear the shower running. He knocked and opened the door a crack.
“You okay, honey?”
“I’m fine. Just really tired.”
“Claire’s okay?”
“Yeah, she’s going to be fine.”
“All right.” He paused, not knowing what to say, but not wanting to leave. He looked behind him at the clock on the windowsill. It was late. He felt exhausted too.
“I’ll jump in there after you.”
“Okay then.” Her voice was monotone, no emotion at all. Not like usual. Josh loved her voice, how it rose and fell like a melody.
He shut the door and went to the closet, getting his clothes out for the next day. It was something he had started doing after living with Myra. She wasn’t the neatest person in the world, but she was