Chapter 2.111

—Loralee—

I clenched my teeth against the waves of nausea that rolled through me; the smell coming from my sous chef’s station was vile. I covered my mouth, pressing my hand firmly against my lips to fight the strong urge to gag.

After a moment, I managed to ask, “What is that?”

Calvin turned to look at me in confusion. “A New York strip.”

“I think it’s rancid.” There was no way anybody should eat that.

Rather than agree with me, he shook his head. “What? No, impossible. It’s just fine, Loralee.”

I braced my hand against the counter behind me against a sudden wave of dizziness. For a moment, I thought I was going to have to drop right down onto the floor.

“Don’t you smell that?”

Tiffani, one of the servers, walked over to me, face filled with concern. “It smells just fine to me. Maybe you should go home. I think you’re sick.”

“I’m not sick,” I denied. Admittedly, I’d been a little achy the last few days, but of course I was – I’d just started going to the gym.

“You really don’t seem alright,” Tiffani said with a frown. “I’m sure Calvin can handle things tonight.”

The man nodded. “Yeah, I can cover. No problem.”

I wanted to protest – I really did – but if I spent any longer in that kitchen, I was definitely going to vomit. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve got this, Loralee,” he said confidently. “Go home and feel better.”

Without further protest, I hung up my chef’s hat and left the kitchen. The dinner rush hadn’t quite hit yet, so only a few tables were occupied. In probably half an hour, though, people would start trickling in pretty rapidly. I felt bad about leaving with no notice, but they were right; if I was sick, I didn’t need to be in the kitchen.

Outside, I got into my car and just sat there for a good fifteen minutes waiting for the nausea and dizziness to go away so that I could drive.

By the time I got home, though, I was actually feeling pretty normal. Whatever had hit me at work, I hoped would just be a fluke.

When I got out of the car, I knew it wasn’t completely gone; the dizziness hit me as soon as I was on my feet. Well, this is gonna get old fast.

“Loralee?” Tommy got up from the couch with a frown when I walked inside. “What are you doing home already? Is something wrong?”

I shook my head – and immediately regretted it – and walked into the room to sit down. “No, everything’s alright. I’m just not feeling so hot. I think I’m getting that bug the boys had last week, so I didn’t want to contaminate the food.”

He sat down next to me and pressed his hand against my forehead. “You don’t feel hot.”

“Ouch, hit a girl where it hurts, Smithson.”

He rolled his eyes. “Loralee.”

I laughed a little. “It’s probably nothing. I’ll drink a bunch of water, go to bed early, and I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Uh huh. Remember when I said that last year and the next day I was on my ass for a week? Do me a favor and make a doctor’s appointment.”

I huffed softly. I wanted to argue but I knew my husband. “Alright, if you insist, I will. But I’m telling you, they’re going to tell me to go home and drink water.” And give me a prescription for something I could’ve just bought over the counter.

Tommy leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Better safe than sorry.”

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So, guys, guess what? Today is the one year anniversary of Gen 2. The first gen 2 chapter posted on November 2, 2015. We’ve come SO far in the last year. I had hoped that we’d be a lot further along by now, but life had other plans. We are in the home stretch, though; Gen 2 officially will end with chapter 2.125. I am really excited about the progression that’s happening. Now that Josh and Nora are both very happy, we’re taking a step back from both of them and focusing on our heiress and sparing (heh) a few chapters for Luc, too. But it won’t be long now until Loralee passes the torch!