“I was thirsty,” I said into her shoulder, appreciating the support. I felt like I was going to fall over any second. “And I wanted to see what was going on, I heard voices.”

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you up,” Jenny apologized, still putting groceries into the fridge. Charlie stopped helping and came over to me, taking me from Shane and hugging me.

“It’s probably my fault, my voice carries a lot. I’m sorry I wasn’t more quiet, Ma,” he said.

“No, it’s all right. I was thirsty anyway.”

“I know, but I want you to stay in bed. You’re exhausted and you’re sick, you shouldn’t be up walking around,” he replied. I opened my mouth to protest, but Jenny spoke before I was able to.

“Shane and I are going to stay in the guest room tonight. If you need anything, just yell for one of us and we’ll come get you whatever you need.” I looked over at her, still putting groceries into the fridge, and started to say something, then thought better of it when I saw the look Shane was giving me.

“Okay,” I muttered. “I’ll be good.”

“You’d better be. The threat to send a few gay waiters to keep you in line still stands,” Jenny said as menacingly as she could, which wasn’t really that menacing at all.

“Yes ma’am,” I replied, giving her a mock salute. It didn’t matter much, though, because she was still rearranging the contents of the fridge and not even looking at me. Shane just shook her head.

“You go get back in bed. I’ll bring you some water and some juice,” she said, turning me back in the direction of my room by the shoulders. I almost turned around, then thought better of it and obeyed.

I had to start slowly since I was still dizzy. I think Charlie saw me stumble, because he murmured to Shane to stay with Jenny. Then he put his arm around me and walked me to my bedroom, where he put me into bed and pulled the covers up over me. “Now you stay there. The guest room is right across the hall, so yell for Shane or Jenny if you need something. You’re not bothering them, they volunteered to stay and help you out. I’d have done it, but I need to get home. Brendan’s not feeling so hot right now either. But I love you and I’ll check on you in the morning before I head to the hospital, all right?”