"The nerve of that man!" Charlotte was still fuming over her last exchange with Alexei three days later as she sorted through new stock with Sarah at the store. She turned her face into her sleeve and coughed.
"I can't believe he said that either, honey." Sarah hummed in commiseration and sliced into a new pallet of product with her box cutter. "He actually asked about her dad?"
"Yes!" Charlotte turned her head to cough again, the force of her response aggravating her already sore throat. "I wanted to hit him, Sarah."
"I'm sure you did." Sarah peeled away the shrink wrap. "Maybe he didn't mean it the way it sounded. You did say he's Russian, so English isn't his first language."
"That's no excuse." Charlotte grumbled and cleared her throat a few more times. "Other than a slight accent, his English is fine. He knew exactly what he was saying."
They fell silent as they worked together, years of knowing one another giving them an easy rhythm.
Charlotte sniffled and coughed her way through another hour, until Sarah had finally had enough.
"Girl, you're sick. Go home."
"I'm fine." Charlotte couldn't even get the two words out before being hit with a sneezing fit that made her eyes water. "It's just allergies."
"Allergies? The first week of November?" Sarah planted hands on her hips and faced Charlotte, her dark eyes stern.
"Fine. Maybe it's the dust in here." Charlotte wiped her nose with a tissue, trying and failing to hide her wince. Her nose was already so raw from how much she'd been wiping and blowing that morning.
"Charlotte Evangeline Woods."
Charlotte squinted at her friend. "That's not my middle name."
"Whatever. You're going home."
"I have to get Zoe in three hours."
"Fine. Go home and sleep until then."
"Franny isn't here yet for her shift."
"Ursula is here. And she'll agree with me when I go tell her you're soiling all the new kitchen towels."
Charlotte gasped and started coughing all over again. Rolling her eyes, Sarah nudged her with an elbow.
"Get out. Now. Before I call the CDC and have you declared a danger zone."
"Pretty sure that's not how it works." More sniffling. She stifled a cough. For a second.
"Charlotte."
"Fine." Another cough. "I'm going."
In truth, she knew she'd been fighting something off for days. Maybe a quiet afternoon before she had to get Zoe would help.
She grabbed her things and headed out, coughing as she waved with her free hand to Sarah and Ursula.
At home, she tried to be quiet, ever conscious of Grumpy Russian downstairs. The last thing she wanted today was a confrontation with him. She changed out of her work outfit and into sweats and a long-sleeved Henley T-shirt before collapsing on the couch. Before she drifted off, she remembered to set the timer on her phone, so she wouldn't sleep through Zoe's pick-up time.
Then, she let herself relax. In between some more sneezing and coughing.
─────
Alexei thought it was very quiet when he got home from his team meeting late in the afternoon. He stood in the center of his apartment and frowned at the ceiling, wondering if Charlotte and Zoe were out for the evening, which would be a first. Shrugging, he wandered around, changing out of his khakis and polo shirt and into his usual sweats and T-shirt. He thought he might hit the gym down the block for a light workout.
As he was checking his headphones to see if they were charged, he heard a more familiar thump from overhead and found himself smiling. There was something he'd have never thought a few weeks ago, that he'd be pleased to hear signs of life from upstairs. As he walked over to grab his runners from the closet, there was another bang from overhead. Then another, a series, as if Zoe were stomping with long, heavy steps across their apartment. Then back in the other direction.
Alexei paused, one shoe on, the other in his hand, and frowned as he listened. It kept up, the stomping-slash-pacing, back and forth. Her footsteps stuttered, then started again.
That wasn't normal. Or at least, not as normal as one would find a nearly four-year old's noise, and he was quite familiar now with Zoe's usual noise.
Sliding his other shoe on, Alexei grabbed his keys before heading upstairs. He didn't bang on the door as he normally would have. He knocked twice, quick, light raps. The stomping from inside stopped and a few seconds later, the lock twisted.
When the door opened, he expected to see Charlotte's face, but instead had to look down into Zoe's wide eyes, so blue like her mother's.
"Hey."
At his single word, Zoe's lower lip trembled right before she opened the door wider and threw herself at his legs.
Alexei hissed out, not in pain, but in a sudden rush of true worry. He bent, sliding his hands over Zoe's small shoulders, cursing a blue streak in Russian under his breath. Grasping her under her arms, he lifted her up and held her against his chest.
"Zoe, what's wrong?"
Zoe shook her head, her little arms going around his neck in a tight grip. "I knew you'd come if I stomped. Did you hear me? I was going stomp-stomp-stomp all over."
Alexei breathed out, patting her back as he strode into her apartment, closing the door behind them. He looked around for Charlotte and didn't see her.
"Zoe, why did you want me to come up here? Where's your mom?"
Zoe finally lifted her face, tears on her flushed cheeks. "She's in the bathroom. She was throwing up. A lot."
Alexei's stomach lurched. He didn't do well with illness, but hard on the heels of that revulsion was concern.
He rubbed a hand over Zoe's face, rubbing one cheek dry with his thumb. "Can you show me?"
She nodded and pointed, but seemed in no rush to climb out of his arms. He indulged her for now and followed her directions across the apartment, into the bedroom. It was indeed a near exact copy of his own unit downstairs. Turning right in the bedroom, barely acknowledging the big messy bed, he looked into the master bathroom.
There was Charlotte, leaning against the bathtub, one hand over her eyes, her hair a mess around her face, half in a ponytail, and what he could see of her cheeks at once pasty and flushed.
