I went back to sleep after Shane had calmed me down a little bit, but it was fitful. I vaguely recall Jenny coming in with a thermometer and my pills not much later, but I was so out of it by that point that I didn’t remember much. I heard Jenny telling Shane that my temperature was up again, and Shane bringing me more medicine and water. Then she told me to go to sleep, and once the medicine hit, I did. I have the sneaking suspicion that they were sleeping pills, although she swore they were just another prescription. Maybe they were; I have no idea. Regardless, I slept.

**********

Charlie didn’t want me leaving the house the next morning. That was what he told me when he came by later on that night. He’d spent the day with Alice, and told me she was doing better for the rest she was getting. She also appeared happy to hear that I was resting too. I believed him; it sounded like Alice. But I was going insane, not seeing her.

“Okay. If you’re feeling better tomorrow afternoon, you can stop over for a little bit, all right? No more than half an hour, though. I don’t want you wearing either her or yourself out,” he said as sternly as he could, which wasn’t very. The poor kid looked absolutely exhausted. Still, I felt that I had to speak up in my own defense.

“I seem to remember raising you, Charles. I know you’re worried, and rightfully so, but it’s not your place to lecture me, all right? I know enough not to wear your mother out. I’m not going to push it,” I said through gritted teeth. It wasn’t that I was angry at him; I just wanted the acknowledgement that I was a grown woman and didn’t need to be babied, especially by my son.

He held his hands up in a gesture of defeat. “I know, and I’m sorry. But your fever came back and I’m pretty sure it’s not gone yet, so I’m just trying to be careful.” He sighed and sank down onto the bed beside me, his shoulders slumping. The circles under his eyes looked even darker today, and I suddenly felt like the biggest bitch on earth for putting even more pressure on him when he was only trying to look out for everyone’s best interests.