Feel Like Makin' Love (Rock and Roll Trilogy #3) (4 page)

She lay in bed thinking about him, but she was thinking about Carlee, too. Worried that she
’d overstepped her boundaries as a mother-in-law, but more concerned that something wasn’t right.

~ ~ ~

Friday morning, she woke up feeling pretty good. “Hey,” she said over coffee, “How ‘bout I take you to work today? I have a couple errands I want to run.”

“You sure you feel up to that? You’ve been kinda puny for a few days.” Matthew said.

“Feeling better than I have in a while! I’ve been cooped up here for days, and I’m ready to get out.”

“If you’re sure,” he said scooting his chair closer to whisper in her ear. “Just don’t forget to come get me.” His breath was warm and sent a shiver up her spine. He
left a trail of kisses from her neck, down her jawline, moving in for a kiss. She sucked in a breath, and as she did, felt Matthew’s tongue slip in to dance with her own.

Wide
-eyed, she told him, “Well, there’s NO chance of that, now!”

“I love you, Carlee.”

~ ~ ~

She dropped him off at the college and made a few stops, making her way to the U.K.’s
version of Wal-Mart, ASDA. She grabbed groceries and some things they needed, plus a few things she wanted. She made a quick stop by the pharmacy and hurried back to the flat to drop off her purchases - and take another pregnancy test.

‘Rapid Response’ she read on the label.
Here goes,
she thought. A minute later - a negative reading. “Whewww…” a wave of relief washed over her.

She buried the packaging and test in the kitchen waste can. She really wasn’t ready for Matthew to be thinking about that again.

Later, Carlee pulled up to the curb just as Matthew exited the building. “Well, hello handsome! Going my way?” she laughed.

He got in the car and kissed her. “You seem happy this afternoon.”

“I feel good. I just picked a handsome man up on the street corner… what’s not to be happy about?” she laughed.

“
You sound good! It’s Friday night – do you wanna go out? Maybe a movie tonight and sit in the back and make out?”

“We can do that on the sofa at home,
naked if you want!” she laughed, and he let out a moan.

~ ~ ~

Monday evening, Andy and Geni were on the sofa in her living room, sharing a glass of wine. He’d been there a couple of days and was heading back south the next morning to take care of some things at home.

“W
ould you like to join me?” he asked.

“Not that I don’t
want to, but I’m gonna stick around here. I have some stuff I need to get done,” she told him.

After a few minutes she asked,
“How long are you gonna be?”

“How long can you stay?
” he asked, knowing she was reconsidering.

“If we can be back
Sunday afternoon, I’ll join you,” she told him.

“Then we’ll be back
Sunday afternoon.” He smiled as he said it, glad to share her company for a few more days.

~ ~ ~

Andy and Geni made their way south on Tuesday. Before going to his house he made a stop. “My studio,” he said. “I’ve got something I need to do.”

Marco wasn’t there;
Andy had called earlier, and he told him that he was headed out so he knew it would just be them, and in his thoughts he was glad. He hadn’t thought about how to broach the subject of him and Geni – yet. He didn’t want to hide that they were exploring a relationship; he just wanted to know how to talk about it with others. Geni agreed. It was part of the ‘take it slow’ path that they’d agreed on.

When they arrived, he showed her around and then showed her where to have a seat. He went behind the glass, set some equipment and went to the piano. He was facing where Geni was sitting when he started playing and liked that he could watch her
, as he did. She’d heard him play before - there was a piano in his home, but she recognized this as the tune he sang to her the other evening. He began singing the words. She thought about what he was singing -
It’s not because I’m lonely.
It was a beautiful song, but a more beautiful sentiment. When he was done, he came and sat with her and did a playback.

“Rough cut,” he said. “But I needed to get it started,” he told her and explained the process. “Next, Marco has a listen; we talk about variations, and
then think about accompaniment, other instruments, background vocals, that kind of thing.”

“It was very beautiful just like that,” she said. “Interesting to see how it begins.”

“Come on, we’ll lock up now - just needed to take care of that while it was fresh, and this was on the way to the house.”

Her phone rang;
she looked at the display, “Sorry, I need to take this,” and she walked across the room.

“Hey there, how are you feeling?” she asked, seeing it was Carlee.

“Good, no headache, no nuthin’. I haven’t had a chance to call before now because Matthew’s been around, but I wanted to tell you - I took him to work Friday and made a stop. I’m not pregnant. I needed to know,” Carlee said.

“Well, part of me says ‘great’ and another part of me thinks differently,” she laughed.

“It’s good,” Carlee said. “Way too soon, and we haven’t really talked about it. The last time, I think we both felt relief; a ‘surprise’ wouldn’t have been my choice.”

“I’m with Andy, I’ll call you later,” Geni told her.

“I love you, Geni.”

~ ~ ~

Several days passed with no headaches, nausea, or swimmy-head, and Mathew felt relieved. He didn’t push the doctor visit, because she seemed OK. Thursday was Thanksgiving, and they planned a dinner, inviting their friends, Deb and Michael, to join them. Having guests come for dinner excited Carlee, and she was cooking the ‘feast’ that Matthew requested. She was sad that they wouldn’t be with family, but she knew that Andy was going to Geni’s.

Carlee was on the phone
with Geni several times on Tuesday before the big meal preparation, asking questions about things she was unsure of. “They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, so I’m learning that things like pumpkin pie aren’t a big deal here, like at home. No frozen pies that I can track down, so I’m going to attempt homemade, but the recipe I have calls for stuff I don’t have. I got the cheater crust. Homemade pie crust was waaaay over my head,” she said drawing the word out.

“Cheater?” Geni laughed.

“Yeah, the kind you unfold so it looks like you made it, but what the heck is evaporated milk, and…”

Andy listened as the two women talked. He
arrived that morning and was there for the holiday weekend. He’d been spending a lot of time with Geni and her family. It seemed that they were both comfortable rolling into what they were sharing at a slow pace. He slept down the hall, and they spent the days talking, going out to lunch or dinner, and Geni was showing him all that she loved about Jacksonville.

He watched as she
talked with Carlee that morning. Noticing that she liked sharing this experience with Carlee, he assumed that both Malia and Angela’s mothers taught them to cook, and sharing this experience with Carlee was a special treat for her.

“
My son really, really likes homemade whipped cream on his pumpkin pie.”

“Ah, but there are limits to my culinary abilities,” Carlee laughed.
“It’ll be the squirt can or nothing!”

“There’s a package on the way
; according to the email I received, you should get it tomorrow in time to practice before the big day.”

“
I love surprises! What is it?” Carlee giggled.

“I call
mine the boat motor,” Geni laughed and Andy looked up. The more he heard that sound, the more he wanted to.

“Boat motor?”
Carlee asked in a quizzical tone.

“It’s what I call the hand-held blender I have,”
Geni laughed. They talked a while longer, and when she finally hung up Geni went to the kitchen. She turned to ask Andy if he wanted another cup of coffee, but when she did, he was standing right there. Reaching out, he framed her face with his hands and drew her to him for a kiss.

“Thank you,” he said when he let go of her.

“No, I believe it’s me who should thank you. That was nice,” but he noticed that she backed away a little.

“Thank you for sharing the cooking lessons with Carlee,”
he said.

Needing to catch her breath, she turned to pour the coffee and said,
“It was my pleasure.” She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, “The kiss too.”

~ ~ ~

O
n Wednesday, the package arrived, and Carlee had an email from Geni with the recipe for whipped cream. There was a full-batch recipe and a small-batch version that she’d added a note to.
Practice with this recipe so you know how!

That afternoon Carlee and Matthew went to the market
to pick up the ingredients and a bag of frozen strawberries. Later, Carlee whipped up a batch of the whipped cream and carried a spoonful to Matthew for approval.

“Perfect,” he said slowly licking the spoon, watching her as he did.

“Stop it,” she laughed.

“I can think of all kinds of things to put whipped cream on
,” he said continuing the seduction with the spoon.

~ ~ ~

Thursday, around noon, Deb and Michael entered the flat and were welcomed by wonderful, homey smells. Matthew had a soccer game on TV, and he and Michael went to the living room to watch. Deb and Carlee retreated to the kitchen, and Carlee opened the oven door proud as a peacock.

“My first whole turkey!
Last year I just did a breast. This year I learned that Matthew likes breasts on women – I’m afraid he got cheated with me - but when it comes to turkey he’s a leg man!” The two of them roared with laughter that made Matthew feel blissful – because it meant Carlee was feeling good.

Around four that afternoon with the meal ready to eat,
Matthew found a TV channel showing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
from the US, and they gathered for a feast as Carlee announced, “Dinner is served!”

After they finished eating, Matthew raised his shirt and puffed his stomach out, rubbing his belly.
Carlee grinned as Michael sat back and rubbed his too.

“Wow Carlee, that was awesome!” Matthew said.

“Indeed!” Michael chimed in.

“I don’t know ‘bout y’all, but there’s no room in my belly for pie just now,” Carlee laughed. “That musta been too much for my lil’
pea brain. My head is about to explode!” she said taking her hands animating the ‘boom’ from the top of her head.

As they carried dishes to the kitchen, Matthew whispered in her ear.
“Carlee, the headache again? No lightheadedness?” She shook her head no, and he got her something to take. “We need to make a follow-up appointment with the doctor. I’m sorry I haven’t reminded you to do that sooner.”

“I know, I
will,” she said.

“Do it,”
Matthew said, “please.”

~ ~ ~

When they’d cleaned up after the meal, Matthew found U.S. football on TV, and they watched, waiting for pie later that afternoon. Carlee and Matthew stretched out on the floor with big pillows, Matthew with his arm around her. Michael kicked back in Matthew’s recliner, and Deb was on the sofa. Watching TV, a nap followed. Carlee woke first and snuck in to put the pie in the oven to warm it.

Matthew followed a few minutes later. “How’s your head feeling
?” he asked, hugging her.

“Better, still a little headache, but better,” she said. “I promise I’ll make that doctor appointment.”

Finally, Deb and Michael were up, and Carlee was whipping the cream for the pie. Matthew took the first bite and declared it “Perfect!”

~ ~ ~

Several days passed with no headache, no dizziness, or lightheaded feeling, and still no doctor appointment.

Chapter Three

The following Saturday, Matthew had big plans. It was Carlee’s 21
st
birthday, and he’d made a call to his friend, Cook, to help with his plan. Cook was head chef at the restaurant, Six, where Matthew previously worked. He and Carlee hadn’t been there in a while. Listed in London’s Best of the Best, he knew he couldn’t do better than Six, plus he had connections there, and the restaurant held special memories for them.

He snuck out of bed early
with a plan to make pancakes and sausage, Carlee’s favorite breakfast, to serve her breakfast in bed. He was making mimosas to take her one so she’d stay in bed and wait, when he heard something odd and went quickly to the bedroom. She wasn’t there. He turned toward the bathroom and heard her - she was throwing up.

He went in, “Carlee!”

She was on the floor. “I’ve got that headache again, swimmy-head - bad, sat up too quickly and it came in a wave, barely made it here…” she mumbled, and threw up again.

Matthew
quickly grabbed a hair clip that was lying on the counter and pulled her hair back as she continued to throw up - it was violent heaving. She lifted her head and another wave of nausea came.

“Light
headed,” she said. The movement brought another wave of nausea, and she was vomiting again. Suddenly she slumped and slid to the floor.

“Carlee!”
he shouted in panic.

It was only a
few seconds and Matthew was soaking washcloths and grabbing towels as she opened her eyes. “Just let me lie here a minute… the floor feels cool.”

He
put a cool washcloth across her forehead and propped a towel under her head. “I’m gonna grab clothes. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No
!” Carlee said, but her protest came with a tiny, weak voice.

“Carlee, no isn’
t an option,” he told her. “I just gotta figure out how to get you up.”

“No,
” she pleaded, and started to cry. “I don’t want to spend my birthday in a hospital!”

“Carlee,” he said and she began to sob.

He sat down on the floor beside her and changed the washcloth, as she quickly sat up and threw up once more. “No, please…” she sobbed.

“
Carlee, you aren’t thinking straight,” he said caressing her back. “We need to go.”

“Please
, Matthew,” she cried.

He took his phone from his pocket and dialed. It was 8:30 in the morning in the U.K., but only 2:30 in the U.S.

“Hey,” Andy said, sleep heavy in his voice
, sitting up in the bed. “What’s wrong?” he asked, alarm in his voice. He looked at the clock and knew it must be bad.

“It’s Carlee,” he said, “something’s wrong… she’s sick
, throwing up, and I think she just fainted… arguing with me… not being rational… I need someone to talk some sense into her. She’s balled up on the bathroom floor - moves her head, she throws up. I thought we had this under control, but she’s had a headache off and on, the throwing up is new… says her head is swimmy and she sat up too fast,” Matthew was rambling.

Andy was resisting the urge to bark, but controlled it and asked calmly, “Has she been back to the doctor?”

“No,” Matthew said. “I know, I should have pushed it, but she seemed fine and…”

Geni
had come south for the weekend, and the room she was using was just around the corner. She heard the phone, and then the alarm in Andy’s voice. She detected from what she could hear that something wasn’t right. She pecked on the door and stuck her head in. Andy motioned her in. She sat beside him on the bed and listened.

“Put this phone on speaker so she can hear me
. Go get hers and call 911 or whatever the hell it is over there!” Andy told him, and his anxiousness over the situation became the bark that he’d tried to hold back. “Go! I’ll stay on the phone with her!”

“Carlee,” he said
in a calm voice.

“No
, Papa,” she pleaded and threw up again.

“Carlee, listen to me
!” He shouted the words, trying to get her attention; she was sobbing now.

“L
isten to me!” he shouted louder. “If this has been going on for a while like Matthew tells me we need to get to the bottom of this.”

Geni was on
her phone making a flight reservation; she knew he would want to go.

“You too,” he whispered to her
, and got his wallet off the table beside the bed and pulled out a credit card.

“
Carlee,” he said firmly. “Listen to me…”

“I can’t pick my head up,
it brings the nausea in a wave,” she said, throwing up yet again.

“
Carlee, listen! You need to go to the hospital! You need to find out what the hell is going on! Carlee…” he hated raising his voice to her, he never had, and he didn’t like doing it now, but she wasn’t thinking rationally.

“I’m not pregnant,” she mumbled.

“Good to know,” Andy said.

“Rescue is here,”
Matthew said coming back in earshot. “The hospital is close. I’ll call you back.” As the paramedics attempted to pick Carlee up and put her on a gurney, every movement brought a new wave of nausea.

“I
’m not pregnant,” she told them.

By the time t
hey got her on the gurney, she was crying uncontrollably. They had a pan, and she continued to throw up with even the slightest movement.

Matthew followed
them to the hospital. He called his friend, Cook, on the way. “Something’s wrong with Carlee; plans are off, I’ll call you later,” he said cryptically when Cook was on the phone.

~ ~ ~

The hospital was only a couple blocks away. In the ambulance, they had given her IV medication for the nausea and a line to get fluids started.

After they got Carlee in the ER and settled, a nurse came to Matthew.
“She's quite dehydrated from all that vomiting,” the nurse told him. “She’ll doze a bit from the medicine they gave her for the nausea. I’ll have some forms for you to fill out, but can you answer some questions for me for now?” she asked.

“I'll do my best,” he told her, dragging his hand through his hair, trying to calm his own nerves.

“Her age?” the nurse asked.

“
21 today,” he said.

“When did this start?”
she continued.

“
It’s been off and on since summer, but the vomiting is new.” He went on to explain everything he could think of, camp, and their return flight from the U.S., any incident that came to mind. “Her doctor is treating her for vertigo.”

“Who is
the doctor so that we may contact him?” the nurse asked.

He quickly scanned his phone for the information. “Ramsey Withborne,” he said and showed her the information. “She
seemed fine yesterday, at least she said she was. This morning I found her on the floor in the bathroom throwing up, said she woke with the headache and sat up, or moved too fast, and every movement made her more nauseous. I think she fainted.”

“
The first thing she told me when I saw her was that she’s not pregnant,” the nurse said and smiled.

“
Seems that’s important to her; it’s the first thing she told me too, and her Papa, and the paramedics,” he said.

“
They are going to take some blood to run a few tests and we’ll take it from there. We’ll let her rest a bit and get those fluids going a while first.”

The nurse left for a few minutes.
 Matthew quickly shot a text off to Andy to update him:

Dehydrated, meds for nausea, she’s resting. Will run tests.

A few minutes passed and Andy replied:

On the way to the airport.

Matthew knew he would be.

A doctor came in the room a short time later. Matthew was in a chair beside Carlee’s bed, his head resting on the side, his hand gently petting her hand while she slept.  

Around eleven a man in a white coat entered the room.
“Dr. Miles Saunders,” he said extending his hand to Matthew.

Carlee stirred, and l
ooked at Matthew as tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be silly, sweetheart,” he brought her hand to his lips. “This is Dr. Saunders. He’s the doctor who’s going to help us find out what’s going on.”

She looked up,
“I’m not pregnant,” she said.

“
I’ve heard that you’ve mentioned that once or twice,” he smiled at her. “How do we know this is so?”

“
I took a pregnancy test on Monday.” She looked at Matthew, then back to the doctor. “We’ve only been married a short time and I worried when this started; didn’t want a surprise yet,” she smiled. 

Matthew squeezed her hand
and said, “We took one several weeks ago as well.”

“Two,” Carlee replied. She looked at Matthew and started crying again, “I took another one two weeks ago
, too.”

“
We’ll do another just to be sure. I’m going to have some blood drawn, and we’ll see what we find. I want you to rest a little longer first. Seems you had a rough go of the vomiting for a spell. Was that the first time for that?”

“
Yes, sir,” she said and Matthew thought she sounded absolutely exhausted.

“OK
then, I’ll see you again in a little while,” the doctor said and left the room.

Matthew leaned to her, touching his forehead to hers when they were alone and asked,
“Carlee, why didn’t you tell me about taking the other pregnancy tests?”

“
Because after we took the very first one, I think we were both relieved. I needed to know, because I didn’t want a surprise to be why we talked about it now,” she said.

He tenderly brushed
wild curls that had escaped from her ponytail back from her face.

“
Thank you for pulling my hair back,” she smiled.

“
It seemed like it was in the way,” he laughed. “I love you, Carlee.”

“
More,” she replied. “I love you more Matthew, to the moon…”

“And back,” h
e leaned closer to kiss her; but she put her finger on her cheek.

“Here,” she said.
“Do you have a peppermint? I have a nasty taste in my mouth.”

He had
one in his pocket, but looked into the hall to ask if it was OK to give it to her. A moment later, the nurse returned with a small bottle of mouthwash and some water.

“Do this instead, please.
Swish, rinse and spit,” the nurse said. She did, and then she shared a kiss with Matthew. In no time she was fast asleep again.

~ ~ ~

At two that afternoon, a technician came in and drew several vials of blood. An hour passed, and the nurse returned to the room.

“We’re going to take her for some tests,” she
explained to Matthew. “She’ll be gone an hour or so.”

It was
three that afternoon and Matthew realized he was hungry. He had missed breakfast, and now it was past lunch. There was a small café in the building, so he went to grab a sandwich and a drink. He sat at a small table alone, thinking and praying.

He
returned to the waiting room in the Emergency Department, figuring from the last text from his mom that they would be arriving soon.
They
he thought, and was glad his mom was coming with Andy, for a lot of reasons.

The nurse appeared
in the waiting room about forty-five minutes later.

“Mr. Davis,” she
said. “She’s back, and the doctor is with her. It took a little longer than we thought.”

Matthew’s head and heart were
racing. When he reached the area where Carlee was, she was crying.

“We’re going to admit her
. She’s not very happy with me right now,” Dr. Saunders smiled. “I understand this isn’t the best option for a birthday celebration, but it is the best option to get to the bottom of this.”

“We have to do what’s best,” Matthew said, taking her hand.

“Her white blood count is elevated; I want that explored. She explained about the vertigo, so we did a CT scan as well, we’re waiting on that information too. Her blood sugar is good; she told me about the fainting episode over the summer.”

Matthew had a million questions but he wasn’t sure where to begin
, so he waited. The doctor left the area. He and Carlee were alone for a little while as they prepared a room for her.