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A callfrom Sally was ultimately what made Levi go back to work, despite him insisting he wanted to stay at home with me. Apparently, one of their best workers had interviewed with Calvin, and wanted to offer more intel on what my brother was offering. Levi offered to still stay home, but I told him he should handle it and we could talk later.
He made me promise to call him if I started to feel any worse.
I wasn’t worried about it. The plan was to take it easy, and I did exactly that. I was able to finally style my curls and look more presentable, then I sat on the couch with a book while my hair dried.
At noon, I was trying to figure out if I should have lunch when my phone rang and Emma’s name flashed on the screen.
“My God,” she said when I answered. “Having a reliable car is a lifesaver when you live in the middle of nowhere.”
“I’m glad you have one,” I said.
“But I’ll give it back if Levi didn’t hold up his end of the agreement,” she said. “Did he?”
“Not yet.”
“See, I knew he was lying?—”
“Not because he didn’t want to, but because we got a little busy.”
“With?”
I blew out a breath. Levi’s and his family’s concern was a reminder of how much I didn’t talk about my issues.
And Emma didn’t deserve that.
“The ER. I had another bad migraine.”
“Oh, shit,” she said. “I knew you seemed a little off.”
“It might have been one of the worst I’ve ever had. I was completely out of my medicine and?—”
“Why were you out of your medicine?” she cut in.
“Is there any chance you couldnotgrill me on this? Trust me, I’ve heard so many lectures about this that I can’t take any more.”
“I’ll do my best. What happened?”
“I ran out after Calvin fired me, and I wasn’t on Levi’s insurance yet.”
“But don’t health benefits last for bit? Like the rest of the month?”
“Not when Calvin is the one making the decision.”
“Thatdick!”she snapped. “Fuck, I hate him.”
“I do too,” I said. “And I made some pretty bad choices. When Levi walked in, he was pretty freaked out.”
“Did this happen before or after you told him?”
“Before,” I admitted with a wince.
“No.Amy, I told you to?—”
“I know! But it all happened so fast. And to make matters worse, I found out this was a recurring thing for him. His dad did this same thing with his cancer diagnosis.”
I heard Emma suck in a breath. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Not my finest moment.”