I was sitting on the floor covered in a flour and vomit paste. This shit could seriously not be made up. I tried to get up to turn off the faucet, but fell back to the floor, as I slipped in the concoction that was covering the floor. Anna and I were both screaming, me from trying to get out of the spray and Anna, trying to find a way out of the kitchen without dropping Lila. She was afraid to move because if she slipped, she could drop or fall on the baby.
“What the fuck is going on?” Both of us stopped screaming and looked up. Luke was staring at us in disbelief. Sebastian made his way around the mess and shut off the water. The men stood back and stared at the us. I looked over at Anna and we both started laughing.
“You look like a paper mache project, Harper!”
“Yeah, well you’re covered in shit!”
Anna looked down at herself and sure enough, she had shit everywhere. She must have gotten it all over herself when she grabbed Lila after the diaper was off. We burst out laughing again for another five minutes.
“How did this…How did you… I was gone for an hour! How did you do…this?” Luke said as he waved his arm around the kitchen. We just started laughing again. Sebastian pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.
Luke sighed and shook his head, then reached for Lila.
“Okay, give me Lila and I’ll clean her up in the tub.”
“Um, you can’t. I kinda threw up in there,” I said, trying to hold back a laugh.
“Why would you throw up in the tub? Why didn’t you use the toilet?”
“I couldn’t get the lid open because of the child proof locks. You do realize she’s not going to attempt to get in the toilet for at least another year, right?”
Luke looked up at the ceiling. “Dear Lord, please save me from these women. Alright, Sebastian, go get a towel to wrap Lila in, I’ll go clean up the tub and bathe Lila. You two start cleaning up the mess and when I’m done, I’m putting you both in the shower and I’ll finish cleaning up the kitchen.”
“Hot. Can I watch?” Luke smacked Sebastian upside the head.
“Shut up, dickhead. That’s my wife.”
“Chill out. It was just a joke.” Sebastian left the room in search of a towel. Anna decided it would be easiest to get the majority of the mess up with towels, so Sebastian went in search of every towel he could find. We started mopping up the mess and then we went to shower when Luke came back with a clean Lila. Luke set her down in the pack ’n play and then went to help Sebastian clean up the kitchen. After cleaning up the mess, I decided to go home and avoid any more disasters for the day.
The next day, I received a bouquet of body washes and shampoos from Jack. I was confused, but then I read his note.
I heard about the disaster at Luke and Anna’s. I thought I would send over reinforcements for any future visits. Always knew you were trouble.
Jack
It made me laugh and I could tell that he was trying to mend things between us. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see Jack, but having a little piece of him every once in awhile was a relief for me.
Over the next few weeks, I went out on a couple of dates with guys that Anna and Luke set me up with. The first guy wasn’t bad, meaning there was no toe licking, but he wasn’t a winner either. He lived with his parents in the bedroom he grew up in. It was awesome because his mom still cooked his breakfast and dinner and packed a lunch for him. He said it gave him extra time to go after his real goals. I didn’t know what those were because he talked about video games for half the dinner. I knew nothing about video games and couldn’t care less. He said that he really wanted to bring me back to his place, but his mom was having a canasta game in the living room and he didn’t want to disturb them with my screaming his name. I was pretty sure I threw up a little in my mouth.
The next date, I had some hope for. His name was Mark and he was an attorney. Anna said that he took pro bono cases advocating for children in his free time. I was actually kind of nervous meeting him. I took extra time to do my makeup and put on a deep v neck black dress. He picked me up and drove me to a restaurant a few towns over. It was a swanky restaurant and they had excellent reviews. We chatted a little on the ride over about where each other grew up and things we liked to do in our spare time. So far, we didn’t have too much in common, but he definitely wasn’t boring. We sat down and he ordered us a bottle of wine.
“So, Anna tells me you do some pro bono work with kids.”
“Yeah, it’s really just an incentive at the company.”
“How so?”
“Well, I do some pro bono work and it looks better for me at bonus time.”
He said it like that would make him more attractive. It didn’t to me, but I decided that all people liked to earn extra money, so I let it go.
“Well, I’m sure you enjoy your work.”
“I do. It’s very rewarding. I make a lot of money off of other people. Every time they fuck up, I can charge a little more.” Okay, chances are I had been totally wrong about this guy. He sounded like a total douchebag. His phone pinged and he spent the next five minutes texting while I sat there sipping my wine. Another winner. Maybe I could fake an emergency and slip out of the restaurant.
“Where’s the waiter? You’d think with the price of this restaurant, the service would be a little better. Oh, here he comes. The dickhead is finally coming to take our order.”
“Do you know what you would like to eat?” The waiter smiled at us and I instantly liked him based on his smile. He was probably early twenties and was really friendly, even with my douchebag date.
“Well, considering that we’ve been waiting here for ten minutes, I would say we do. I’m going to have the steak, rare. No mushrooms. No onions. I want a baked potato with all the toppings, and don’t be skimpy. I want the asparagus cooked until it’s just a little crunchy. If you bring me soggy asparagus, I will send it back to the kitchen.” The waiter looked over to me for my order. I didn’t really want to stay, but he drove, so I’d just eat quickly and ask to be taken home.
“I’ll have-”
“She’ll have a salad. Nothing with meat. Just the vegetables.” I was pissed now. Who was he to take me out to eat and order a salad for me with no meat? Was I supposed to starve?
“Actually, I’ll have the steak also, with everything on it. Medium rare and whatever else is served with it.”
“I’m paying for dinner so you’ll eat what I order. Trust me, you don’t need the extra food.”
Anger fueled me as I stood and slammed my napkin down on the table. Food or no food, I was leaving on my own. There was no reason in the world that could tempt me to stay a minute longer with this guy.
“Thank you for a horrible evening, but I think I’ll find my own way home.” I shot a sympathetic look to the waiter and walked towards the lobby. I was searching for my phone when the manager came over.
“Miss, I am so sorry about your experience here this evening. Please allow me to arrange a ride home for you.”
“It’s quite alright. It wasn’t your fault. I just seem to have lousy taste in men. I’ll call for a ride, but thank you.”
I called Drew and asked him to come pick me up. Promising that he would be here as soon as possible, I hung up and sat in the corner of the lobby waiting for him to show. Imagine my surprise when none other than Jack walked through the doors. I was slightly embarrassed at needing to be picked up from a date by my ex-boyfriend, but a larger part of me was relieved to see him. If not Drew, he was the next best thing, even though his presence brought pain also.
“Hey, pretty girl. You called for a ride?”
I felt like crying. My emotions were all over the place lately. I’m not ashamed to admit that it was hard for the love of my life to witness my shame of yet another really horrible date, but he was gracious as ever and didn’t make me feel like a loser. He walked me out to his truck and made sure I was all strapped in before heading home. I didn’t speak and he must have realized I wasn’t in the mo
od to talk because he remained silent. When he pulled up to my house he shut off the truck and stared out the windshield.
“You deserve better than these jackasses you’ve been seeing. I hope you can see that.” He paused and turned to look at me. “I still love you and I hope-”
“Jack, please don’t. I’m not ready to hear this stuff yet. I don’t know what you want from me. We broke up because of our differences. Has that changed?”
“Yes.” My head snapped to look over at him and my heart was pounding loudly in my ears. I couldn’t hear these things. I wasn’t ready. Was he saying he wanted to get back together? What if he changed his mind? I didn’t think I could take it.
“I can’t say that I want to be a father. I think I’d be shit at it, but I’m willing to try for you.”
“Jack, you need to really think about this because I don’t want you to have children with me just to get me back. You need to want them also.”
“Baby, I’ve gone over six months without you and I can’t do it anymore. I don’t know exactly what I want. I just know that life without you sucks and I don’t want to do it anymore. I want to have you back in my life and not just as friends. If having children is what you want, then we’ll have children. A whole house full and I promise to love them as much as I love you.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was this really happening? Jack slid across the seat and kissed me. “Just think about what I said, pretty girl.” I sat there for a minute, afraid that if I moved, he would disappear or I would find this to all be some horrible dream. I finally nodded and got out of the truck, walking numbly to the door. When I got inside, I flopped down on the couch and stared at the floor. Drew came sauntering into the room and sat down next to me.
“So, you had a bad date, huh?”
“Jack said he wants me back and wants to have kids with me.”
I still couldn’t believe it and just stared at the floor.
“Say what?”
“Yeah. He said he wants me back and he’ll have kids if that’s what I want. He said he doesn’t want to be without me anymore.”
“That’s great, sweetheart. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“I just don’t know if I can believe it. I want to, but I don’t want my heart broken again.”
Drew pulled me in for a hug. “Well, if it doesn’t work out with him, you can always call Dr. Dan.”
I laughed and smacked Drew in the chest.
“I’m going to bed. I’m exhausted.”
“I’ll come with you.”
I went upstairs and snuggled in bed. Drew took a shower and then got in bed and pulled me close. “It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
“Drew, if Jack and I do get back together, are you gonna be okay?”
“Harper, I love you and I want you to be happy. You can’t take my feelings into consideration here. You have to do what’s right for you. I’ll still have you in my life. That’s not going to change if you move back in with Jack.”
It was the middle of the night when I felt my stomach turn. I bolted from the bed and made it just in time to throw up. There wasn’t much in my stomach because I hadn’t eaten dinner on my date. I laid my head on the toilet and waited for my tummy to settle. Drew came in and handed me a glass of water. I took a few small sips and went back to bed. Drew switched sides of the bed with me so I would be able to make it to the bathroom. I woke up several more times that night to run to the bathroom. In the morning, Drew brought me some crackers, a few bottles of water, and my phone. He made me promise to call if I needed him.
I spent the entire day in bed, making several more trips to the bathroom. I felt horrible. Every smell made me want to vomit. I hated getting sick because it always seemed to drag on for days with me. Every time I ate something, I threw it back up. Drew call me several times to check in, but I told him I was fine. What would he do about it anyway? By the fourth day, I was still in the same condition. I felt absolutely horrible and couldn’t believe how this flu was dragging on. I spent more time in bed than out and rarely felt well enough to eat anything. Because I had been sick so much, I didn’t have the energy to do anything other than sleep. I hadn’t been working on my book and my editor needed me to finish the corrections for the final edit. Drew was starting to look at me with worry and insisted that this was more than a nasty stomach bug. I told him I would make an appointment to see a doctor the next morning, but I forgot again the next day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jack
I hadn’t heard from Harper since I picked her up from her date. I was starting to get nervous that she was blowing me off because I waited too long to change my mind. I hoped to God that she was considering my offer, but I had to keep in mind that she might not want me back and I would have to accept that. The stress of not hearing from her was killing me. I had texted her several times over the past few days reminding her that I was serious and I wanted her back, but she never responded. I tried calling a few times, but it always went to voicemail.
I was elbow deep in fixing a car when my cell phone rang. I jumped up to answer it and banged my head on the hood of the car. Swearing, I rubbed my head and quickly wiped my hands on a rag so I could answer my phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Jack. It’s Drew.” I had never really talked to Drew very much since he moved in with Harper so this was a little weird.
“Uh, hey. What can I do for you?”
“I need a favor.” There was a pause on the line and I was wondering if he was going to ask. “Harper is going to kill me, but I need your help. Harper’s been really sick this week. She keeps telling me it’s a nasty bug, but she hasn’t been able to keep anything down and she doesn’t even get out of bed. I made her a doctor’s appointment, but I can’t get out of work today. I need you to take her.”
“Of course, I will. What time is the appointment?”
“It’s in two hours at the women’s clinic.”
“Alright. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of her.”
I heard Drew sigh in relief. If he was making her a doctor’s appointment, this must be pretty bad.
“Thanks. Let me know how it goes.”
“Will do.”
I hung up the phone and practically ran to the office. I let my office manager know that I had to leave and then went to talk to Sal. He had no problem taking over for me when I told him I had an emergency to take care of. I quickly went home to shower, then headed over to Harper’s.
I knocked on the door but no one answered. I called Drew and found out where the spare key was and what the security code was for the alarm system. When I walked upstairs, I called Harper, but she didn’t answer. The bedroom was empty and when I looked in the other room, steam practically shot out of my ears. There was no bed. It had weights in it, but none of Drew’s stuff was in there. I peeked back in the other room and saw his stuff in the hamper. They were sharing a room. I couldn’t deal with this now. Harper needed me and I had to focus on that . I knocked on the bathroom door and when I got no answer, I opened it to find Harper asleep on the bathroom floor.
“Harper. Hey, come on. Wake up.”
Harper opened her eyes and looked at me. “I don’t feel good.”
“I know, honey. I’m gonna take you to the doctor and we’ll see what they say. Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.” I had about forty minutes left before we had to leave. I ran her a bath and quickly washed her hair and cleaned her up. Then I got her out and dressed in some comfy clothes and dried her hair. We were running a few minutes late, so I carried her out to the truck and drove over to the clinic.
“How are you doing over there?” I asked as we drove to the clinic.
“I’ve been better.”
She was leaning against the door and she was extremely pale. I hated to see her not feeling well, but honestly, I was a little scared that she was so sick.
“We’re almost there. You can see the doctor and then I’ll get you back to your
bed.”
We arrived at the clinic with two minutes to spare. Harper didn’t want me coming back with her and I tried not to be offended by that. When she came back out over a half hour later, she was deathly pale. She was walking slowly towards me and she was shaking slightly. Shit. This must be bad.
I took her by the arm and led her to the door. We slowly crossed the parking lot to the truck and I helped her in, all the while she was completely silent. When I got in and closed the door, I turned to her. She was staring at her shaking hands.
“Harper. What is it? What did the doctor say?”
“Um, she said that it’s just a really bad stomach bug and she wrote a prescription for an antiemetic. She said that once I get the vomiting under control and I can hold down food, I should feel better. Would you mind stopping at the drugstore on the way home?”
“Of course not, but how about I get you back home and then I go for you so you can rest?”
“Okay. That sounds good.” She leaned her head back against the head rest and kept her eyes closed the whole way home. I helped her back into the house and was going to take her upstairs, but she said she was too tired and would just veg out on the couch. I covered her with a blanket and got her a bottle of water, then headed out to the drugstore.
When I picked up the prescription, I asked the pharmacist if there was anything I needed to know.
“Hmm. Well, let’s see. Is she sick?” I looked at the pharmacist strangely.
“Yes, that’s why she was prescribed an antiemetic.”
“No, sorry. What I mean is, does she have cancer? This medicine is primarily prescribed for patients undergoing chemo.”
My world stopped. She was sick. That explained why she was so pale and was exhausted. I half-listened to the rest of what the pharmacist said and then went back to Harper’s. I sat in the truck for fifteen minutes trying to get myself under control. She needed me to be strong. It was obvious she didn’t want me to know yet, so I would have to wait for her to tell me. It occurred to me that her appointment hadn’t been very long, so I wondered if they had done blood work or if she was scheduled to go back in for a screening or a biopsy. I had so many questions that I knew I didn’t have any right to ask.
Jack (For The Love Of A Good Woman Book 1) Page 20