Jill had been right. She was as white as a sheet.
A knock came at the bathroom door. “Jo? You in there? Are you going to come help me pass out these veggie meals?”
Joanna took a deep breath and pulled herself together. There were still about four hours left on this flight. She owed it to Jill, and to the rest of the crew, not to go to pieces right now. If she did, they would have to finish the service without her, and that was a lot to ask on a long-haul flight like this one.
She scrubbed her hands thoroughly under the faucet and splashed some water on her face. It didn’t make her feel better, exactly, but it did help her feel more alert. Then, she opened the door and stepped out into the galley.
Jill stared at her. “You okay?” she asked. “You were in there for a while.”
“Yeah, fine,” Joanna said. “I maybe ate something that didn’t agree with me.”
She knew that wasn’t the case. If that had been the cause of her illness, vomiting would have made her feel better. Instead, she felt worse.
“Do you want to go sit down?” Jill asked. “I can handle passing out the meals.”
“No, not necessary,” Joanna said. “I can do this.”
“Seriously. You look like you’re about to pass out or something,” Jill said. “If you drop in the middle of the aisle, the passengers are going to freak out. This plane will turn into a zoo. Nobody wants that.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Joanna held out a hand. “Give me that tray.”
Jill bit her lip doubtfully, but she handed over a tray of warmed-up veggie pasta meals. Joanna balanced it in one hand and plucked the list of vegetarian passengers off the wall with the other. Then, she headed out into the cabin to deliver the food.
Having something to do, something to take her mind off her illness was helpful. She focused on the seat numbers of the vegetarians and moved from one to the next quickly and efficiently, passing out the food, doing her best to smile and tell the passengers to enjoy their dinner.
This was her job. Putting a brave face on things was what flight attendants did best. She could never appear to be nervous during a flight, she knew, because if one of the passengers was a nervous flier, they might read her face and decide they had something to fear.
By the time she had finished handing out the veggie meals, Jill had the first batch of meat loaf ready. Joanna kept herself busy for the rest of the flight in this fashion—handing out meals, collecting trash when dinner was over, answering calls from various seats. She made only one more visit to the bathroom, this time when no one was around to notice, and though Jill cast worried glances her way a few more times, she said nothing else about Joanna’s health for the remainder of the flight.
The plane touched down at Kansas City International Airport at 3:05 pm. Joanna was grateful for the fact that, on this trip, the time difference was both small and in her favor. If she had been flying in from Hawaii, they probably would have landed in the middle of the night.
Then again, if we’d been in Hawaii, I probably wouldn’t have gotten sick.
She waited until all the passengers had debarked and then turned to Jill.
“You know what?” she said. “I am feeling a little under the weather, actually.”
“Yeah, I thought you were,” Jill said. “Want to take off? I’ll finish turning over the cabin for the next crew.”
“Are you sure?” Joanna asked gratefully. “I hate to leave you with the work.”
“You’ll make it up to me sometime,” Jill said. “I’m not going to make you go through the cabin picking up trash. You look like you’re about to puke. Go on home and get some rest.”
“Thanks,” Joanna said, grabbing her bag from the overhead compartment.
“And hydrate!” Jill called after her. “Don’t forget to hydrate!”
Joanna acknowledged the comment with a wave of her hand and stepped out onto the jetway.
Ordinarily, landing in her home city was cause for celebration. Because Joanna was based out of Kansas City, her routes always brought her back here eventually, and stepping off a jetway into this familiar airport meant that she was facing a few days off. She would usually be on the phone to her mother or a friend already, making arrangements to get together while she was in town, taking full advantage of the layover.
Today, though, the only thing she could think about was sprinting for the nearest bathroom.
She locked herself in the furthest stall from the door, hunched over the toilet, and threw up again, wiping the sweat from her forehead with a wad of toilet paper.
What’s wrong with me? she thought with a rush of fear.
Whatever it was, it had come on fast. And Joanna wasn’t someone who was ordinarily prone to illness. It was strange and unfamiliar for her body to feel so weak.
Maybe if she got something familiar to eat, she would feel better.
But the thought of food made her heave again. This time, there was nothing left in her stomach to throw up, so she just clung to the toilet and rode out the retching until it was over.
She staggered to her feet. I need to get out of here.
The journey to the parking garage where she had left her car felt like crossing a minefield. The overpowering smells of the food court and the sounds of raucous people laughing at the bar assaulted her senses. By the time she made it outside into the fresh air, she was so dizzy that she had to stop and hang onto a guardrail for a few moments, allowing herself the time to recover.
Whatever was going on, it was frightening. Joanna didn’t think she had ever felt this sick before.
She made it to the small black beater car she had owned since graduating from college. She was fond of her car, despite its age, and she always took care to keep it immaculate inside. Today, she was glad she had done so. If she’d gotten in here and found some leftover food, she probably would have lost it.
Did she have it together enough to drive? Maybe she ought to call a rideshare service.
But all she really wanted was to get home and get into bed. The thought of having to make conversation with a driver was more than she wanted to deal with right now, and the thought of having to ask a driver to pull over so that she could throw up by the side of the road was excruciating.
She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, thumbing absently through her list of contacts. It was still the middle of the day, and her doctor’s office would likely be open. Maybe they could offer some advice.
She pressed the call button, put the phone on speaker, and rested her forehead on the steering wheel, trying to quell the dizziness.
“Dr. Franco’s office,” a brisk voice said.
“This is Joanna Perkins, a patient of Dr. Franco’s,” Joanna said. “I’m having some nausea and dizziness.”
“Fever?” the receptionist asked in a bored tone.
“I think so.” Joanna felt her own forehead, but it was useless as a barometer. She felt shaky, though. That usually accompanied a fever.
“Have you traveled out of the country recently?”
“I’m a flight attendant,” Joanna said. “I just came back from Bolivia. But I was only there for one night.”
“Hold, please,” the receptionist said.
Elevator music came through the phone speaker. Joanna tried to focus on it, breathing slowly the way she had learned in the yoga classes she attended sporadically. It helped a little. She wished she had a bottle of water.
I probably wouldn’t be able to keep it down, though, she thought ruefully.
With a click, the receptionist was back on the line. “Dr. Franco wants you to come in,” the girl said.
“When?” Joanna asked.
“Today.”
“She has an opening today?”
“She’s canceling another appointment.”
That was worrying. Under ordinary circumstances, Joanna probably would have felt anxious, but at the moment, she was too overwhelmed by her illness for anything else to really register
.
“I can come now,” she said. “I just landed at KCI, so I’m about an hour away.”
“That’s fine,” the receptionist said. “I’m putting it into the computer now. We’ll see you here in an hour.”
“Thanks.” Joanna hung up the phone.
Well, at least I’m going to get some answers. Hopefully, Dr. Franco will be able to give me some kind of antibiotic that will clear all this up, and I’ll be feeling better by morning.
Hopes high, Joanna started her car and pulled out of the parking lot.
* * *
The Sheikh's Must-Have Baby is available on Amazon now!
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Also by Holly Rayner
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The Sheikh's Stolen Bride-To-Be Page 14
