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SLOANE HADN'T BEEN ABLE to get started on any work for two days. Her second day in Queens was spent nursing a major hangover after drinking half the bottle of Grey Goose the night prior. She pretended she had a stomach bug in front of Sabrina, but she could tell that Frank had an inkling of what was going on. Sloane was known to handle her liquor well, so this didn't make sense. On the other hand, she was equipped at handling cheap liquor.
Maybe Flash was right. She was getting old. Practically a geriatric.
Karma must've also wanted her to bite her in the ass, because the next day, she woke up with real nausea and cramps from her period. Sabrina's mothering instincts kicked in like a ton of bricks, but Sloane shooed her away and locked the door. As she knelt over a bucket and waited for the gagging to kick in, she closed her eyes and got a split second of a distant memory. Or was it a dream? She couldn't quite tell what was real anymore, even after all these years. It had only been a second long, an image of Sloane when she was fourteen: head over the toilet bowl, puking her guts out. Her mother was holding back her hair, and when she moved, she was pretty sure she saw blood in the vomit. Sloane heard just a syllable from her dad's voice before the memory went away, and she wiped the sweat off her brow.
She didn't puke, thankfully. A couple of aspirin and two Tums an hour later, Sloane felt as good as she would on a normal day. She decided to go down to the street corner at two PM and pick up a greasy pastrami sub before bringing it back to the penthouse. Just as she sat down to eat, both her mother and Everett came into the kitchen, ruining her appetite. Everett grabbed a banana after getting home from school and received a kiss on the cheek from Sabrina. Her mother then shut the patio door and took off her gardening gloves. Sloane had the sub up to her mouth until she noticed the soil-covered gloves. "It's almost winter, Mom," she said. "What could you possibly be gardening?"
"Snowdrops," Sabrina replied cheerily. Her tone threw Sloane off. "Bet you didn't know there are flowers that start blooming in the snow. I always plant them in the balcony planter at the start of fall." She eyed the sub dripping with grease. "You're feeling better?"
