To My Romeo, with Love novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: 102.4

The fever came in the middle of the night, nine days after my second treatment.

I woke at ten to three, soaked and shaking, with my teeth chattering so hard they clicked.

The thermometer on my nightstand beeped.

102.4.

The nurse had given me one rule on a laminated card taped to my fridge.

If it's over 100.4, you don't wait, you don't call in the morning, you come in.

I sat up and the room swung.

My father's bed was empty.

The bus depot had called him at midnight about a flooded repair bay, and he'd kissed my forehead and promised he'd be back by four.

I called his cell.

It rang six times and went to voicemail, and I remembered that he leaves it in his locker when he works.

I tried to stand.

My legs went out from under me and I sat on the floor with the phone in my hand.

My chest hurt.

My heart was pounding at a speed that frightened me.

I couldn't call an ambulance and wake the street.

I couldn't think of who else to call.

The truth was that I knew exactly who to call.

I had known his number since I was eight years old, and it was the only one I knew by heart.

I pushed the buttons with a shaking thumb.

It rang once.

"Pink?"

His voice was thick with sleep, then it wasn't.

"What's wrong? Where are you?"

"I'm home. I have a fever. I think I need to go to the hospital, and my dad's not."

"I'm coming."

"Fraser, I'm."

"Stay on the line. Don't hang up. Don't stand up. I'm coming."

I heard his keys.

I heard a door bang, and the engine of a truck that I knew.

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