“My mother is a massage therapist,” he told her quietly. He ran his hands through her hair, massaged her scalp with firm pressure, and then went back to stroking her face. He smiled when Adrianna let out a soft moan that told him his efforts to relax her were working.
“Tell me more about your family,” Adrianna said.
“My mom never remarried after she left my dad but she lives with a guy. His name is Denny and he’s a construction worker. He has two kids who live in New Jersey but I’ve met his son a few times. He looks like a young Dan Aykroyd, like from Ghostbusters, and get this, his name is Ray.”
Adrianna let out a soft laugh and tried to ignore the pain in her body, focusing with all her might on Jack’s hands and words.
“What about your sister?” she asked.
“Gillian lives in Wisconsin, like I told you. She’s married, and stays home taking care of my two nieces, Sophie and Allison. They’re only eleven months apart.”
Adrianna was about to comment about the slight age difference in his nieces but then she realized Jack had just told her his sister’s name and her eyes popped open in amusement. “Gillian? Your sister’s name is Gillian?”
“I know, don’t say it.”
“Jill? Jack and Jill, you’ve gotta be kidding me!”
“It wasn’t intentional, okay?” Jack laughed. “I told you I was named after my father and my mother named my sister after my grandmother. I went all through school being teased about it, don’t you start, too, now. And Gillian doesn’t let anyone call her Jill anyway.”
Adrianna promised she wouldn’t tease anymore and went quiet again, just enjoying the treatment she was getting.
Jack continued to talk about his family for a good thirty minutes until he realized Adrianna had fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he kept her head in his lap and leaned back against the headboard, and rested himself. They were six hours into Adrianna’s detox and he hoped the rest of the time went as easily.
No. Such. Luck.
The remainder of day one wasn’t so bad but on day two, Adrianna woke feeling like she was in hell. She needed to dash to the bathroom where she emptied her stomach of what little she had in it and then Jack rubbed her back while she dry heaved for the rest of the morning. With each violent wrack of her body, her back spasmed and she cried out in pain at every one of them. All Jack could do was hold her until her body calmed.
Without the strength to move herself, Jack carried Adrianna to his couch where he made her sip Gatorade and tried to distract her from the pain with movies. Only ten minutes into Casablanca, she ran back to the bathroom to vomit and dry heave all over again.
Awful didn’t even begin to describe how Adrianna felt. Every muscle in her body ached, much worse than the time she had the flu when she was in college. Her skin, which had insects crawling beneath the surface, she was sure, burned and though she wore only a tank top and pajama shorts, she was sweating profusely. Her back felt as if the screws holding her spine together were twisting deeper into her bones and head pounded with every shaky breath she took.
Jack was in agony just watching her. He felt completely helpless as he rocked her in his lap on his bathroom floor. He wished for a moment that he knew one of those movie techniques where the hero renders a bad guy unconscious with a pinch to his neck. He wanted to put Adrianna out of her misery and since knocking her out was not an option he sang to her. Reaching back into his memory for a calming song he liked, he did the best he could with his deep voice.
“Still my heart and hold my tongue. I feel my time, my time has come. Let me in, unlock the door. I’ve never felt this way before.”
Though Adrianna had never been a big fan of Coldplay, she let Jack’s voice wheedle its way through the cloud surrounding her brain that was telling her to end the suffering and take a fucking pill. She quieted her whimpering and listened, trying to focus on each word of the song.
“For you, I’d wait, ‘til kingdom come. Until my day, my day is done. Just say you’ll come, and set me free. Just say you’ll wait, you’ll wait for me.”