Free About Last Night... by Stephanie Bond Page A

operator," he said, but Janine stopped, disgusted with his guess.
    He splayed his hands, at a loss. She mouthed something emphatic several times before he covered the phone. "What?"
    "I'm with the doctors, Einstein," she hissed. "This—" she repeated the motion "—is using a stethoscope, not a switchboard!"
    He frowned, then uncovered the phone. "I mean, she's staying with the medics … on the slim chance she can help."
    His words garnered another dark look from Janine, but Steve seemed convinced. "Oh. Will you see her?"
    "I'd say that's a safe bet," Derek said, his tone dry.
    "Just tell her to call me." Steve said, then laughed without humor. "I'm sorry as hell you got caught in this mess, man. By all
    rights, it should be Jack holed up with the plague, eh?"
    "Just one more reason to kick his ass when I see him," Derek grumbled, then said goodbye and hung up.
    For a few seconds, neither he nor Janine spoke. Fatigue pulled at his shoulders so he stretched his arms high, then he rubbed
    his eyes with his fists.
    "You really shouldn't do that."
    He stopped. "Shouldn't do what?"
    "Rub your eyes like that," she said. "You could scratch your corneas."
    Derek stared at her, feeling luckier and luckier to be unencumbered by a female. "You," he said, pointing a finger, "be quiet."
    She blanched, then he was horrified to see tears pool in her eyes. "Oh, no," he said, holding up his hands. "Don't cry." A big
    tear slid down her cheek and he groaned. "Ah, for the love of Pete," he begged, feeling like a heel. "Please don't cry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
    "I'm s-sorry," she whispered. "It's the wedding, and, and, and now this q-quarantine…"
    "Are you feeling ill?" He'd hate to think he'd given her whatever he had. Derek bit down on the inside of his cheek—there he
    went again, caring.
    "I don't think so," she said, her lower lip trembling.
    He stood and walked over to her, then gently clasped her shoulders and turned her around to face the bathroom. "Why don't
    you take a nice, long bath?" he said in the voice he saved for his most neurotic clients. "I'm sure you'll feel much better."
    She nodded mutely and disappeared behind the closed door. The wafer splashed on and, too late, he realized his cold
    medicine was still on the vanity. Derek blew his nose, then lowered himself to the floor for twenty-seven push-ups before he
    had to stop and sneeze again. He gave up and pulled an accordion file marked Phillips Honey from the bag he'd repacked,
    along with three pint-size clear plastic containers of Phillips's products: nearly transparent wildwood honey, pale yellow
    honey butter and a mahogany-colored sourwood honey with a chunk of the waxy honeycomb imbedded in its murky depths.
    Derek stared at the honey, willing a brilliant idea to leap to his blank pad of paper. After a few seconds without a revelation,
    he numbered lines on the pad from one to twenty. He would start with trite ideas, but sometimes when he reached the end of the
    list, something fresh would occur to him. A honey of a taste. How sweet it is. He kept glancing toward the bathroom,
    wondering what she was doing in there. Sweet, sweet surrender. He tossed down his pen in disgust.
    Picking up the container of light honey, he rolled it between his hands to warm and loosen the contents, then opened the flip-
    top lid and squeezed a tiny dollop onto his finger. He smelled the translucent stickiness, jotting down notes about the aroma—
    sweet but pungent and a little wild. He tasted the honey, sucking it from his finger, allowing it to dissolve in his mouth,
    wondering why, instead of images of warm biscuits, the nutty sweet flavor of the honey evoked images of the woman bathing in
    the next room. Probably because she was a nut, he reasoned, then massaged his aching temples.
    A knock on the door interrupted his rambling thoughts. Derek pulled his sweatshirt over his head and ran a hand through his
    hair, then checked the peephole to see two sets of suited