Sweet Harmonies (34 page)

She tried to pull into the back parking lot
but it was blocked off by a chain. She screeched up in front of Sue
Ann's cafe and jumped out, running toward the front door. She
pulled on it and it didn't give.

“
Great!” she cried, smacking the flat
of her palm against the door in frustration. Of course. The cafe
was closed, this explains the back lot being closed.

What was she even doing here, this was crazy.
She never behaved this way.

She turned and leaned her back against the
door, sliding down until her butt hit the pavement, and started to
cry from the sheer force of the emotional roller coaster that she
had been riding for the past couple of hours. She knew that she was
in public, dressed horribly, acting crazy. Even though there was no
one else on the street at the moment, she knew that at any moment,
someone could be snapping a picture on their phones. She could wake
up the next morning to headlines in TMZ and Perez Hilton...”Karina
Black Public Breakdown!”

She knew she should pull it together. She
just couldn't seem to do it. So she sat there with tears rolling
down her face.

All of a sudden, she felt herself tumbling
backwards, and the next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her
back, looking up into the very concerned face of Sue Ann
Perkins.

Sue Ann reached down and helped her up,
apologizing all the while. “Sorry, honey! I was calling your name
while I unlocked the door! I thought you would have heard me!”

Karina sniffled, wiping the tears from her
face.

“
No, sorry,” she said, embarrassed, “I
guess I didn't hear you. I...um...I hope I didn't disturb you....I
know you're closed....”

“
We are, I just came back to bring Ryan
some soup and crackers. He came down with the most horrible bug
this afternoon. I'm hoping it's just one of those 24 hour
things.”

Karina's eyes widened, “He's sick?”

Sue Ann nodded, “Oh, yes, poor thing. He's
got fever, chills, sore throat, headache...it hit him all of a
sudden this afternoon, and I was too busy with the dinner crowd to
go take care of him! So I was just making some soup to take up to
him, to make sure he at least eats something.”

Karina tried to say something in response,
but as she tried to put words together, her breath began to hitch
and she just started to cry again.

“
I'm sorry,” she wailed through her
tears, “I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel like I'm losing
my mind!”

Sue Ann wrapped her arms around her and made
comforting noises as she led Karina to one of the tables and set
her down in a chair in front of it. Sue Ann sat opposite her and
waited for Karina's tears to subside.

When they finally did, and Karina looked up,
she said again, sheepishly, “God, I really am so sorry! I don't
know what's wrong with me!”

Sue Ann smiled and patted her hand, “You're
in love!”

Karina shook her head, “This feels more like
insanity than love. I don't think I can take it.”
Sue Ann patted her hand again, “Sure you can, honey. You and Ryan
are a perfect match. I've known that for a while. To tell you the
truth, the one reservation I had about the two of you was that you
might have too many walls up to really let him in, and that he
would be left feeling more strongly for you than you did for
him.”

Karina laughed self-deprecatingly, “I guess
tonight set that particular concern to rest. Although I'd bet it's
raised a whole slew of others.”

Sue Ann laughed, “Oh, honey, when I first met
my Walter, you should have seen me! I was a wreck! It's a wonder he
ever said two words to me. And we were married for 45 years.
Insanity? That's what love is!”

Karina sighed and dropped her head into her
hands, “What am I going to do?” she queried miserably.

“
Well,” Sue Ann said wisely, “If you'd
like, you're gonna start by bringing this soup up to his
apartment.”

--- ~ ---

Karina padded quietly up the stairs to Ryan's
apartment and, when she reached the front door, slid the key into
the lock and turned it as slowly and quietly as possible. If he was
managing to catch even a few minutes of healing sleep, she didn't
want to disturb that.

She edged the door open inch by inch and
slipped inside. The room was dim but not dark, lit by a soft floor
lamp that sat in the corner, and she could see Ryan sprawled on the
couch, eyes closed. Not wishing to disturb him, she quietly set the
tray down on his kitchen table, then carried the bowl of soup to
his refrigerator and put it quickly inside, glancing back over her
shoulder to make sure that the light didn't wake him up.

As she tiptoed back to the front door,
planning on easing out as unobtrusively as she had eased in, she
heard Ryan's weak voice rasping, “Were you trying to sneak out on
me?”

Even in it's thready, tremulous state, she
could hear the teasing quality come through in his expressive
tone.

She turned and smiled at him, “I didn't want
to wake you up, sicky.”

“
I wasn't sleeping, just resting my
eyes.”

“
That's what they all say. Now come on,
let's get you into bed,” she said firmly, crossing to where he
lay.

Ryan smiled weakly, struggling to get up, “I
only wish I felt good enough to take you up on that offer.”

Ignoring his quip, she slid her arm around
his back, under his armpits, and supported him as he stood. She
could tell that he was trying to lean on her as little as possible,
probably wanting to appear strong even in his weakened state. About
halfway over to the bed, however, he needed to stop for a moment
and rest.

Karina said, in a more accusing tone than she
had intended, "My God, Ryan, you're so weak! Have you eaten
anything at all today?”

He shook his head, too winded to even
answer.

When they reached his bedside, Ryan propped
his shoulder against the wall, where he waited as Karina turned
down the covers and arranged the pillows. She pulled them into a
fluffy pile in the middle of the bed, wanting him to have as much
room to spread out as possible.

She turned back to where he waited and
supported him as he climbed into the big, comfortable bed. She
waited as he scooted to the middle and settled in a half-sitting
position, leaning back on the pillows.

He reached behind his head and ineffectually
batted at the pillows, complaining, “I just want to lay down
flat.”
“Nope,” she responded authoritatively, “That's bad for your
breathing. The phlegm will settle in your lungs, and you could get
pneumonia.”

He smiled at her, “I don't know if that's
true, but I love that you care.”

Truthfully, Karina didn't know if it were
strictly true, either. But it was what her grandmother had told her
when she was sick growing up and Renata had been taking care of
her. Telling the same thing to Ryan now made her feel connected to
her childhood, her life, her family – and it brought Ryan into all
of that, as well. It made what was between her and Ryan feel even
more real. It made her feel something she had never felt for any
man before. It made her feel like Ryan was her family.

“
Well, it's true,” Karina said again,
equally as authoritatively as she had before. I mean, what the
hell? It COULD be true. Better safe than sorry.

As she leaned over to pull the blankets up
over him, Ryan snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her over
to him. Well, 'pulled' was probably overstating. In his weakened
state, it felt more like 'nudged.' But Karina was hardly going to
pull away. She slid over to where his arm was guiding her.

When she was sitting right next to him, he
leaned into her, wrapping both arms around her waist and laying his
head on her chest with a contented sigh.

When she looked down and saw his head pressed
against her so tightly, she felt a fluttering in her chest that she
couldn't quite identify. For some reason it felt so intimate, so
much more intimate than she had ever been with anyone.

Which was, of course, ridiculous. I mean,
this man had seen every inch of her completely naked. How could one
small gesture, when they were both fully dressed, make her feel so
exposed? She didn't know the answer to that, but she did know that
– while it scared her – she liked it.

Her hands raised, seemingly of their own
accord, and began stroking through his hair.

“
I missed you,” he mumbled
sleepily.

“
I missed you, too,” she heard herself
say before she could stop the words from coming out of her
mouth.

OK, she told herself, this was getting out of
hand. Plus, Ryan looked like he could desperately use some
nutrition, and he wasn't going to get any if they just sat there
hugging all night.

She gently settled him back against the
pillows and told him that she would be right back.

When she returned a moment later with a tray
carrying crackers, 7-Up, and the newly reheated bowl of soup, she
half expected him to be asleep. However, he was fully awake, laying
back on the pillows, watching her with a small smile.

“
OK, mister, let's get some soup into
you,” she said in a no-nonsense tone.

His eyes traveled down to the bowl of soup,
and he looked much less enthusiastic.

“
Just leave it on the nightstand, I'll
eat it later,” he said.

“
Nope. I'm pretty sure you need to eat
it now.”

He shook his head, “Later, Karina.”
Karina shook her head right back at him, “The choices are sit up
and eat on your own or lay back and have me feed it to you. The
choices are not, now or later. You have been misinformed, I'm
afraid.”

“
I said I'll eat it later,” he replied
in the firm tone that had worked so well on her in the past. She
smirked. He had clearly made the mistake of thinking that what
worked on her in the bedroom would work on her any other
time.

“
Yep, and I said you'll eat it now. And
since I could probably wrestle you down and force feed you in your
current state, I would suggest that you make it easy on both of us
and cooperate.”

As she spoke, she set the tray on his
nightstand, sat on the bed next to him, and then moved the tray so
that it rested on the bed over his lap.

“
Has anyone ever told you your bedside
manner leaves a lot to be desired?” Ryan grumbled.

“
Nope, I have never had any complaints
when I play nurse,” she declared cheerfully, spooning some of the
soup and placing the spoon in his hand, “although usually my
playmate is a 'doctor' and not a 'patient.”

A small rasping gasp escaped him, and he
said, “Only you could make me laugh when I feel like death.”

A sense of pride welled up in Karina and she
tried to cover it up by saying, “Laugh later, eat now.”

“
I like it when you're bossy,” he said
smiling.

After he ate few spoonfuls of soup, the color
began to return to his face, and he pulled himself up to sit
straighter in bed, far more smoothly and easily than he could have
moments before.

“
Wow,” he rasped, “I actually do feel
slightly better. You were right, I admit it.”

He continued slowly eating as she slid off of
the bed and bustled around the apartment, collecting things he
needed for his bedside table – tissues, bottled water, and packets
of over the counter cold and flu meds.

She did this partially because he needed the
things and partially so that he couldn't see her face, couldn't see
how deeply affected she was by seeing the results of her actions.
He was feeling better now because of her. She had insisted he eat
the soup, and the soup had made him better.

She knew it was silly and completely out of
proportion for the accomplishment, but she felt ridiculously happy
and proud of this.

She had never taken care of anyone before,
but with Ryan it felt like second nature.

After Ryan finished his soup and crackers,
she carried the tray out to his kitchen and washed the dishes. She
came back in to see if there was anything he needed, but found him
asleep.

Still, it was not the fevered, unsettled
sleep that she had witnessed when she had come in. Instead, he lay
in what looked like peaceful, contented slumber.

She leaned over to plant a soft kiss on his
forehead and felt that he was still burning up.

Karina went into the bathroom and ran a cloth
under cold water, bringing it back to the bed and gently wiping
down his face. He stirred a little but did not wake. She refreshed
the cloth under the faucet and returned to repeat the process,
running the cool cloth over his arms, chest, abdomen, and then back
to his face and neck.

She repeated this every half hour or so,
every time she felt his skin start to catch fire again.

Near dawn, she was feeling weak with
exhaustion, but the thought of leaving Ryan there alone was
completely unacceptable to her. She decided to crawl into bed and
catch just a few minutes of sleep before getting back up to
continue taking care of him. She slipped under the covers next to
him, curled up in a little ball, and with a sigh of relief, fell
fast asleep.

The next thing she was aware of was opening
her eyes to bright sunlight streaming through Ryan's bedroom
window.

Damn, she thought to herself, I slept so much
longer than I intended to! She turned her head to make sure Ryan
was OK, and found him sitting up in bed next to her, smiling.

“
Hey,” she murmured groggily as she
rolled over and stretched her arms above her head, “How are you
feeling?”

“
Like a human being again,” Ryan
responded, smiling, “Thanks in no small part to your Florence
Nightengale-ing last night, I'm sure. Thanks for that.”