Following Me(8)

Devon jumped and immediately regretted it. “Is it?”

“Well, probably not for you. I heard you getting sick earlier. Feeling any better?” He opened the refrigerator door.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “How are you so cheerful?”

“Product of working nights, I guess. When I get a good night’s sleep, I’m a much happier person.”

“Right.” She took another tentative sip of her drink.

“Are you going to be able to go sightseeing today?” he asked, pulling out a full banquet of food.

The night before, they had agreed that Garrett would take her around the city while Hadley had to work. Devon really wanted the chance to be a tourist while she was here, but she knew that she wouldn’t get to see everything if she waited for Hadley to get home.

“Not sure,” she said, walking into the living room. She sat on the couch and put her head between her knees. Seeing that much food was making her want to run to the bathroom again.

“Well, I’ll whip you up something that will make you feel better, and we can get going.”

“You really don’t have to show me around…or make me food,” she groaned.

“Just some toast. Drink up that water. It’ll help,” Garrett said, popping some bread into the toaster.

“Okay,” she muttered.

She drank as much as she could manage. He brought her a plate with plain toast and replaced her glass of water with another full one. She took it without comment and tried to choke down the food. It did help some, but she wasn’t a hundred percent better yet. Garrett had created an elaborate breakfast plate for himself, and he ate it all in the same amount of time it took for her to finish her toast.

She tried standing again. The headache was finally dissipating, and her stomach was feeling only partly queasy. She could make it through another day.

“You ready?” he asked, coming back for her plate.

“I think so.”

“Great. We better get going then. Hadley gets off at three thirty today, so we have a good five hours to try to get in the best tourist traps out here before I have to go to work,” Garrett told her.

“Perfect. If I can make it five hours, it’ll be a miracle,” Devon said. She was happy that she had a tour guide even though Hadley was at work.

Garrett shook his head at her as he stuffed his wallet into his back pocket. “Come on. It’ll be good for you to get some fresh air.”

Devon grumbled something incoherent before standing. She grabbed her purse from the table and followed Garrett to the elevator. Riding the elevator might have been the worst part of the morning. Garrett rested a hand on her back as he warily watched her. She was pretty sure he was expecting her to burst any second, and she felt like she might.

When they finally reached the bottom of the huge complex, Devon uneasily walked out of the elevator.

“Let’s never do that again,” she murmured, clutching her stomach with one hand.

“I’ve got bad news for you.”

Devon glared up at him.

“Well, at least you won’t have to take the elevator for a few more hours,” Garrett offered.

“I don’t even want to think about it.”

“So, what did you want to see?” He stood at the entrance, debating which direction to walk in.

“Everything,” Devon said with a shrug.

“I don’t think we can see everything by three o’clock.”

“The bean thing then,” Devon told him.

“The bean thing?” He looked at her skeptically.

“Yeah, isn’t that what it’s called? I don’t know. I’ve never been there before,” she stated defensively.

“Come on. You’ll figure it out,” he said, walking toward the river.

She started after him, walking past the House of Blues and onto the State Street Bridge that crossed the Chicago River.

“What did I do wrong?” she asked, staring out across the water.

“Well, it’s not the bean thing,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s the Cloud Gate, and we call it The Bean, just The Bean.”

Devon rolled her eyes. She hadn’t thought she was that far off.

“It’s in Millennium Park, not too far from here.”

He strode purposefully across the bridge. Devon stopped for a second to take a picture. She knew she couldn’t post it anywhere online or send it to her mom like she normally would. No one really knew where she was, so it would totally blow her cover if she started posting pictures of Chicago. But she wanted memories of where she had been even if they were just for her.

“While we’re playing tourist, I should let you know that directly ahead of us is the famous Chicago Theatre,” Garrett said, pointing out the giant red Chicago sign.

Devon snapped a photo because…hey, why not?

They continued through the busy streets, and despite having to avoid other tourists admiring the pretty buildings, walking seemed to help her stomach. She still wasn’t prepared for food, but the fresh air was breezy, and Devon found that moving was helpful.

Garrett directed her down a side street and pointed out the glass exterior to the Joffrey Ballet. Looking several stories up, she watched the dancers jumping about as they passed by the building. They exited the cross street onto Michigan Avenue, and Millennium Park stood across from them. Garrett showed her the way to The Bean, and she saw clusters of people were already surrounding the massive mirror sculpture.