Esti left Daniel to sleep in the morning.
'I won't wake him up just to tell him he can stay in bed.' She said making an instant coffee in her travel mug.
'That makes sense.' I replied, sitting at the table still unshowered and still in my nightclothes. We were both quite tired, but she looked surprisingly perky. 'You look beautiful today.'
'Stop it.' She said, but I saw her smile.
'You do. I wish I had had teachers that looked like you.'
'Well, now you're with a teacher that looks like me.'
'That's true; that's far better actually.' I yawned. 'So, what's the medicine situation?'
'7.5ml of Calpol, so that's a 5ml measure and a 2.5ml measure-'
'Oof, I'm glad you told me how to work that out. God, I would have struggled.'
She stared at me, still with a smile. 'Up to four times a day. When he has a fever, or pain. If he's just feeling nauseous try and get him to sleep, or distract him. Paw Patrol always works.'
'And that's it?'
'Yes, and lots of water – if he can stomach it.'
'Okay, well in that case, we should be fine.'
'Are you still sure you want to take care of him? I can still call in...'
I stood up and walked to her. 'As much as I'd love for you to stay at home,' I hugged her to me; her hair, still damp from the shower, smelt like berries. 'You should go to school, we'll be fine.'
'Thank you so much Ronit.'
'And stop thanking me. This is... just us now. It's what we do, isn't it?'
'I suppose it is.' She said, her voice slightly muffled as she spoke into my neck.
I pulled away and kissed her. 'Have a good day.'
'You too, please keep me updated.'
'I will.'
She kissed me then; a lingering, smooth kiss where her tongue very gently pressed against mine. I couldn't help but groan a bit.
'Actually,' I said, slightly stumbling into her. 'Maybe you could stay here.'
Esti laughed, and pecked my lips. 'I'm afraid it's too late now. But I love you, and I'll see you later.'
She grabbed her coffee, squeezed my hand and then left. I heard the front door click shut and made myself a coffee. Daniel eventually woke up later in the morning, threw up a little bit but then acted quite chipper. I set him up a makeshift bed on the couch and gave him medicine, water and some dry toast which he occasionally nibbled.
I text Esti updates throughout the day as she requested but they were quite infrequent; Daniel was getting better with every hour and by the time Esti got home that evening, he was the normal, frantic ball of energy he always was.
'It must be you.' Esti said, watching Daniel scoff down his dinner. 'Everything you touch turns to gold.'
'I think you're vastly overestimating my capabilities.'
'More please.' Daniel said, his face covered in sauce.
That night in bed, I put my hand in between Esti's legs but she pulled away sharply.
'I'm sorry, I'm just so tired.' She explained, pulling me into an embrace. 'Can you just hold me?'
'Of course.' I replied, feeling slightly unsettled. I held her, and we fell asleep, but my sleep was jerky and disrupted. I dreamt of Dovid and Shayna and Esti, losing keys to the new flat and being late for my first day at my new job; it was as though all of my anxieties built up at that moment. I woke up exhausted.
