Saturday April 6

She opened the door and found Johnny sitting on the top stair leaning against the railing. Bobbie sensed something wrong so she sat down beside him.

“It’s over; Mitch wants nothing to do with me.”

“Oh Johnny what happened? you guys seemed so happy and you were getting along so well with Sid.”

“Yes, and apparently I am undermining her authority and spending too much time with him. She also saw some pictures on your website and thinks I’m still hung up on you. She seems to be a very jealous person.”

Bobby knew right away which picture. It was photo shopped a little to make them look a little more put together but they were singing and looking into each other’s eyes. “Singing is our special connection, Johnny. It’s hard for people to understand it. I’m not sure we understand it that well either.”

“I told her I wanted to come over here and talk to you about the roof deck and she said that if I walked out the door not to bother coming back. And ya know, when I walked out the door I could hear the angels sing and it felt like a weight had been lifted. I guess I didn’t realize how bad she made me feel.”

“Are you sure you weren’t just relieved the argument you were having, was over?” She knew that Johnny’s mind was made up. “You can stay with me until you find your feet. Come on in. I like the company.”

“I spent the night in the Airport. I almost bought a ticket to Ireland but Mom and Dad are gone now and Aunt Linda sort of depends on me here. Though not as much, since she moved in with your Mom.”

“Oh Johnny, your aunt Linda dotes on you and so does Mom. We’d all miss you!” Then she moved over to the kitchen and said, “I’ll whip us up some thing to eat.” She opened 2 cans of tuna and dumped it into a bowl and cut up two apples and stirred it together, with some mayonnaise. She grabbed two plates and piled them with lettuce and put the tuna and apple on top. Then she sprinkled some walnuts on and added some gluten free salad dressing. “Voila, supper is ready.”

“Thanks.” Said Johnny. “I don’t think I can eat.” He sighed. “To make things worse I’m starting to feel really weird because I just ate one of Mark’s sourdough pizzas. I was hoping that sourdough had less gluten or something but I feel really over heated and light headed and I have wicked heart burn and I think I have to lay down.”

She directed him to the spare room by her office. It was the furthest bedroom from hers, for discretion, and hoped he’d feel better soon as she ate her salad.

After about 20 minutes, she heard Johnny in the bathroom getting sick. I guess the sourdough did have gluten. She wasn’t sure what to do but she went into her office. She heard him get up to get sick 3 more times. Better out than in, she thought. Bobbie decided he needed some water so she got a big glass and a clean waste basket and after she heard him go back to his room, she knocked gently.

“CCCome in” said Johnny shakily.

She went in and saw he was trembling and helped him get under the covers. She left the glass of water on the side table and a clean garbage can on the floor beside him. He gave a deep halting sigh and she could tell his shaking was starting to ease. “A Celiac gluten reaction is no joke”

Bobbie said good night and went back to her office. It was a little early for her to go to bed so she she went to the kitchen and put things away and washed the dishes she’d used. She took some bone broth out of the freezer guessing it would be good for Johnny the next day.

Then she went back to her office and opened her computer and worked on the deck plans that Johnny had sent her earlier in the week. She saw it was going to be a 20 wide by 20 long. So a 400 foot deck. She’d want electricity for lights, sound equipment and she would want to be able to charge her laptop. She wanted water up there too, for a sink. She’d have to talk to Rocco about that on Monday. Maybe he could find some pressure treated wood or cedar for a pergola and a railing. She’d check with Lorne on the possibility of a glass railing. Everything was so expensive, she was spending a lot of money.

A barbecue would be important and she considered getting propane piped up too. Mind you, with an elevator, changing an actual propane tank wouldn’t be that onerous and some places, you could get you tank filled cheaply. Soon it was around 10PM Bobbie decided to call it a night and went to bed with a book.

Around 4 she heard Johnny in the bathroom again. She’d never understood that a gluten reaction would be this bad. She got up and determined that Johnny was having diarrhea now and thought about how she could soundproof the bathroom. You couldn’t really put a tapestry in a bathroom. A couple of plants would help and maybe she could put a cupboard on one wall and store towels there. It would make the room less echo-y.

Johnny staggered out of the bathroom carrying the garbage can Bobbie had given him and mumbled. “Both ends now.”

“Pepto Bismol?”

“Yes please.”

Bobbie went into her room and got a pair of sweat pants and shirt. She thought Johnny would be more comfortable in them. She had a sports drink with electrolytes so she poured some in a glass and got the Pepto Bismol from her en-suite. She took everything to Johnny’s room. He was shaking again and Bobbie helped him get his jeans and shirt off and got him into the sweats and tee,, then made sure he had a dose of medicine and got him in bed. She got him to take a couple sips of electrolytes and left him, hoping he was done getting sick and could get some sleep.

She went back to bed and actually fell back to sleep. She woke around 6. She sat up listening for Johnny. All was quiet. She brushed out her hair and hopped in the shower. She picked out a cheerful pair of seersucker shorts and a nice blue shirt and thought about her day. It was Sunday and she promised to take her mom and Linda to church and then to the grocery store. Bobbie always thought her mom was a big heathen but Linda was mellowing her it seemed. She wrote Johnny a note saying she’d be back around noon and to text if he needed anything.