be filled.

At the first sight of vomit, Reese covered his own mouth and ran off to the next free toilet. Ian had been through this many times before, but this time he at least felt sorry for the man without having to fight the feeling of holding his head down in his own vomit and flushing.

Ian grabbed a guest towel and ran it under cold water, twisted it and dabbed Jimmy’s face in between rounds of puking his guts out. He flushed and rubbed Jimmy’s head and fed him soothing words. Jimmy kept looking at Ian, helplessly as he just could not control what he had done to his body.

“Just relax, Jimmy, everything will be just fine. Just relax.”

Jimmy would nod his head, and vomit some more. Ian knew the best thing for him was to get as much of the alcohol out of his system as possible. He kept flushing as often as he could, as he knew from experience that the smell of fresh water would cause a drunken stomach to heave.

Tippy slipped in the bathroom and put a tray of black coffee on the vanity. “Looks like you have everything under control.”

Ian looked at Tippy. “I have lots of experience with this.”

She patted him on the shoulder. “I know, Baby Doll. Just holler if you need help. We’ll be by the pool snapping beans.” She started to turn and leave but paused long enough to grab the hat and slip it into one of the empty grocery bags. “I’ll just have Colton hose this off and send it to the cleaners. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”

“Tippy, don’t be too hard on Colton. When a man’s in pain, he’ll find a way to make it stop no matter how hard good friends with good intentions try.” Tippy smiled and nodded her head.

Ian turned back to Jimmy. The heaving had stopped and he was still on all fours panting, eyes watering and red faced. Ian rinsed out the towel again and patted his face and mouth. “How ya doin, Jimmy?”

“Oh….” Jimmy said, “I’m hanging in there….”

“Hope it doesn’t make you taller…” Ian flushed the toilet. “Come on…” he helped Jimmy stand up and got him to the sink. Ian filled a big disposable cup with tap water and handed it to Jimmy. “Here. Don’t drink it. Just rinse out your mouth…you’ll feel better.”

“No I won’t,” he protested.

“Yeah you will. Just trust me, Jimmy. Maybe not now, but you will feel better.”

Jimmy slugged the water and Ian could see him swish it around in his mouth. He leaned over and spit and burst into tears. Ian turned on the spigot and rinsed the sink, steadying Jimmy who was uncontrollably sobbing over the sink.

“Come on, Jimmy, let’s sit back down, just you and me, we’ll close the door and you just let it all out.”

“Okay.” He said like a child.

He helped Jimmy to the floor and eased the door shut with his free hand. Ian reached down and yanked Jimmy’s boots off, tossing the boots and the vomit covered jeans in the tub. He sat down beside Jimmy and put his arm around his shoulders.

Jimmy turned and looked in his eyes and softly said, “I loved her so much…” and then absolutely crumbled.

Ian held him tight. “Yes you did, Jimmy.” He rubbed his shoulders with