And when I exhale, the air doesn’t get stuck in my throat threatening to tighten around the anguish and venom that’s usually so forthcoming.
Chapter 9
Before I realize, I’m in Joanna’s driveway and have turned the car off.
I make my way over to her door and knock once.
“Ryan, come in. Lucy isn’t ready yet,” Joanna says as she swings the door wide for me to enter.
I lean down and kiss her cheek as I close the door behind me.
“How are you, Jo?”
“Good, work’s getting really busy now that prom season’s almost here. So I’m glad I’ll be going out with the girls tonight,” she says as she heads toward her kitchen. “Drink?”
“Just water thanks.”
I follow her into the kitchen and she goes to the fridge and hands me a bottle of water.
“All the girls want their hair done for prom, hey?”
“It’s usually busy, but prom brings in more work to all us hairdressers.”
“Daddy!” I hear Lucy yell as she comes out through the hall.
“Hi there, Lani,” I say as I wrap my beautiful ten year old daughter in a tight embrace.
“Dad, will you stop calling me that?”
“From the moment you were born, you’ve always been my heaven. So until the day I take my last breath, you’ll always be my Lani.”
“Really?” she says as she rolls her eyes at me.
“Yes, really. Now, give your dad a kiss.” I lean into her and turn my face.
She obliges me and gives me a typical Lucy kiss. She licks her lips and slobbers all over me. I don’t mind so much, this is part of what she does to make me laugh.
But she also knows what this means.
I trap her to my chest and bring my hand up under her chin and start tickling her. Her most ticklish spot is on her neck.
She squeals in delight and tries to move her shoulders up and her chin down so I can’t tickle her any more. The more she squirms, the more I tickle until she collapses from my grasp and tries to flee.
“Stop,” she says through fits of giggles.
“Nope, you gave me a raspberry, so now I gotta tickle you.”
“I won’t do it again, pinky promise.” She tries to hold up her pinky, but I continue making her laugh.
“Dad!”
I stop and help her off the ground.
“I missed you, Daddy.” Lucy throws her arms around me and kisses me again on the cheek.
“I missed you, too.”
“So what are we having for dinner?”
“Well where do you want to go? Chik Fil A or Chili’s or do you want me to order pizza?”
“Um, can we go to Applebee’s?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Only if it’s okay with you.” She looks up at me desperately wanting me to want to go there.
“I couldn’t think of a better place to spend with my Lani.”
“I just gotta get my toothbrush.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for you in the car. Don’t forget to give your mom a kiss.”
I walk over to Jo, who’s now in the family room sitting reading a magazine. I bend and kiss her hair. “Have fun tonight. I’ll drop Lani to school on Monday.”
“You guys have fun tomorrow with Mase. How’s he doing? I see he’s filming over in Australia somewhere.”
“He’s really good. He flies out on Sunday, he’s been called back early, so tomorrow’s the only day he’ll see Lucy. Anyway, I’ll call if I need anything.”
“Bye, Ryan,” she calls as I leave and close the front door behind me.
Moments later Lucy’s sitting next to me in the car.
“I’ve got to duck home and have a quick shower, then we can go to Applebee’s.”
“I brought a book so that’s alright.” She takes her book out of her back pack.
I glance over at it and she’s reading ‘The Diary of Anne Frank.’
“You’re reading that?” I jut my chin toward the book.
“Yeah, it’s really good but really sad.”
“I know, I read it when I was about twelve.”
“The teacher at school was talking about World War II and she was saying about a girl named Anne Frank, so I went to the library to borrow it because I wanted to read her story.”
I look over at her again, and see her nose is buried in the pages. It’s really very mature literature for her to be reading, and quite intense and dark. But of course, it’s her diary so even though the book’s filled with horrific events, I’m not going to stop Lucy reading it.
“Well, we’re home, Lani.” I park the car and try to get to her door to open it for her, but she’s already out and waiting at the step for me.
I unlock the front door, and Lucy bursts through and goes straight to her room.
“I’ll be in here, Dad. Don’t take too long, I’m hungry,” she yells to me.
I step in and have a rapid shower, and when I get out I duck my head in her room and she’s laying on her bed with her legs stretched up the wall and her long dark brown hair hanging off the bed as she’s enthralled in the book.
I dress quickly and go back to her room, to find her in the exact same position she was in when I left her.
“C’mon, let’s go,” I announce.
Lucy jumps up off the bed and with her book under her arm she comes and gives me a cuddle.
When we get back in the car, Lucy buries her nose in her book and doesn’t pay any attention to me. I drive in silence and observe my daughter as she flips through the pages. I hear small intakes of breath from her as she devours the words.
At Applebee’s I park and look over at her, she’s worrying her lip in her mouth and has an intense scowl on her face with her eyebrows knitted together. She doesn’t even notice that I’ve gotten out of the car and have her door open for her.
“Lani, do you think you want to come inside and eat a meal with your old man?”
“Sorry. It’s just, I really can’t believe how her life was. I mean, to hide behind a concealed door in a room that was tiny with another family, it’s just so heart breaking. Could you imagine the fear she felt?” she huffs as she closes the book and gets out of the car.
“Are you sure you’re only ten?” I ask her as I close the door behind her once she exits the car.
“You’re funny, of course I’m only ten. I’ll be eleven in four and a half months. So, I suppose you can pretend I’m eleven.” What kid talks like that?
“How about, you stop growing and just stay ten?” I smile and wink at her as we walk through the doors into the restaurant.
“You’re a dork, Dad.”
We’re seated quickly and the waitress hands us the menus and leaves.
“What are you getting?” I look over to Lucy to get her answer.
“I might just have mac and cheese.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah, my throat’s a little sore. So I don’t want too much.”
“You alright?” I ask as I lean over to feel her forehead.
“I’m fine.” She moves her head so that I can place my palm on her.
She’s a little warm to touch, but nothing to cause concern over. Especially seeing as she’s still hungry.
“How are you folks doing tonight?” I look up to see the waitress is back and looks completely disinterested in being here.
“We’re great,” I answer for myself and Lucy.
“You ready to order?” She shifts her gaze and looks over her notepad to me.
Instantly I see the familiar gaze I tend to get from women in her age group. They glance away but look back at me and try to size me up.
I’m not interested.
I used to fuck them when I wanted the relief, but I now only want relief from Mason.
Or Stella.
What the hell?
Stella.
Her eyes. The green is so hypnotic and the fierceness and depth they harbor just makes me want to div
e into them and become lost forever.
“Sir?” The waitress’ nasally voice snaps me out of the Stella dream I was having.
“Yes, she’ll have a Mac and Cheese, and I’ll have Marsala Mushroom Sirloin, steak well done please. And just a tap water.” I close the menus and hand them back to her.
“Sure, I’ll just get your drinks,” she says as she turns and leaves. But before she’s too far, she throws me a little look over her shoulder. I roll my eyes and turn my head to look at Lucy.
“I think she likes you.”
“I think you may be right.” I run my hand down her cheek and notice she’s gotten a little hotter in the last few minutes.
“Are you going to ask her out?”
“You, Lani, need to stop trying to be older then you are. No, I’m not going to ask her out because I’m not interested in her. What I am interested in, is you. You feel a bit warmer then you should. So if you start feeling sick, you need to tell me,” I say as I move over to be closer to her on the bench seat.
“Alright.” She folds her arms onto the table and puts her head down to rest on them.
Our water arrives and I pour Lucy’s, but she barely takes any sips.
When dinner gets to the table, she lifts her soft face from her folded arms and eats only a few bites.
Now I’m becoming concerned for her, it’s been 45 minutes since we came here and she’s rapidly becoming feverish.
When I touch her forehead again, she’s burning up.
With only half my dinner eaten, I decide to leave and get Lucy home and into bed.
Driving home, Lucy leans her head up against the passenger side glass window.
“Daddy, I don’t feel well,” she says as I see her starting to shake.
When I pull into the drive way of home, I run to her side of the car and sweep her up in my arms. Her entire body’s alight with a scorching heat, it’s radiating through her clothes and it feels like I’m touching a fireball.
I place her in my bed and take her shoes and sock off, trying to cool her body down.
“I’m cold,” she says as she curls into her side trying to get warm.
“I know, Sweetheart. I’ll get you some medicine, that’ll make it better.” I lean down and kiss her forehead, but the heat’s intensifying every time I touch her.
I go into the kitchen and get my medicine box out, I find the children’s Tylenol and see there’s enough for two possibly three dosages for Lucy. When I pour out what she needs, I take it to her.
“Lucy, you need to sit up to have some medicine.”
She leans up on one elbow and reaches for it. Her eyes are blood shot and her face is ghostly white.
“I’m sorry I’m sick, Daddy,” she says as she takes the medicine and drinks the allocated amount.
“No need to be sorry. Everyone gets sick.” I take the medicine cup from her and place it on the bedside table that wasn’t destroyed last night.
“Night,” she whispers as she falls into a deep sleep.
I sit beside her on the bed and just watch her.
Her fever’s come on rather rapidly, so I just want to make sure she’s alright.
I go into the bathroom and wet a wash cloth for her forehead, and when I go back into my room, Lucy’s entire body’s shaking so hard she looks like she’s convulsing.
Shit.
A panic washes over me because in less than a couple of hours she’s deteriorated so quickly.
I place the wash cloth on her forehead trying to cool her, but her skin soaks the moisture up like a sponge to water.
So I get two more washcloths, and place them on her feet.
“No!” she screams as her body’s involuntarily shaking.
Heading back to the medicine box I find the thermometer. I place the digital thermometer to her forehead and the readout says 102.6.
Fuck.
The wash clothes have been sucked dry again, so I repeat the process trying to cool her down.
As the minutes tick by, and I try to remain calm, I notice Lucy’s stopped moving as much.
I keep repeating the wash clothes and hope that combined with the Tylenol, she’s cooling down.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles.
“It’s okay,” I say as I smooth her hair with my hand and kiss her forehead.
Her body’s completely covered in sweat.
When I check her temperature again, it’s gone up. Now it’s 103.1.
I’m thrown in a flurry and need to get her to the hospital, and quickly.
Stella.
Mason told me Stella’s a doctor.
I pick my phone up and hit speed dial one.
“Ryan, now’s not a….” Mason begins saying.
“Lucy’s really sick,” I breathe into the phone. I can hear it in my voice, I’m panicking and totally stressed.
“Ryan’s daughter is sick,” I hear Mason repeating to someone, most likely Stella.
“What’s happening?” Stella’s taken the phone and is now addressing me.
“Um, my daughter’s gotten really sick. Her fever came on rapidly. Within an hour and a half it’s already 103.1. I gave her Tylenol about forty minutes ago, but it’s not helping.”
“Ryan,” she starts but my stress wins over her.
“I’ve got to get her to the hospital,” I start pacing.
“Ryan, listen to me. Mason and I are on our way over. Just wait until I get there,” Stella says in an authoritarian no-nonsense tone.
Calm embodies me and I know once Stella gets here, Lucy will be fine.
I look at my alarm clock.
7.01pm. I wipe Lucy’s forehead with a fresh wash cloth.
“I don’t want a dog,” she mumbles.
That makes me panic even more because she doesn’t have but always wanted a dog, and now she’s hallucinating.
My heart elevates and my mind’s going crazy with ‘what if’ scenarios. My breath’s coming out in short gasps and my stomach’s begins to spasm just thinking about how worthless I feel because I can’t help Lucy.
I fall to my knees beside her bed and smooth her hair back from her petite and colorless face.
“The doctor will be here soon, Lani,” I whisper to her.
“Can I go to the beach?” she moans as she turns over to face away from me.
I look at the clock and it’s 7.14pm.
Shit, they’re taking too long to get here. If Mason and Stella aren’t here in the next few minutes I’m taking Lucy to the hospital.
I jump up and grab my keys and Lucy’s bag, just preparing myself for the moment I need to get her there.
I open the front door to put her back pack in the car, and I notice a very sleek red Lexus pull into my driveway behind my truck.
Mason leaps out of the passenger side and he opens the back door and gets a black medical bag out.
Stella is out of the car and walking toward me with haste.
“Where is she?” Stella wastes no time in asking for Lucy.
“She’s in my room, her fever has reached 103.1 when I last checked, and now she’s hallucinating.” I lead Stella into my room, and for one selfish moment I wish that I was leading her there for a totally different reason than to help Lucy.
As I step aside and let her in, I can’t help but rake my eyes over her body. She’s dressed in fitted jeans that hug her ass so tight that my cock twitches against my boxer briefs. I follow her leg line all the way to the floor, and notice she’s wearing a pair of pink ballet flats.
I wish that her legs were wrapping around me as I push her up against the wall.
“Ryan?” I look over to Stella and half her mouth is curved up in a smile.
“Sorry, what?” I ask ashamed for being caught with images of Stella fucking me.
“I said, how quickly did her fever come on?” Stella asks as she takes her stethoscope out of her bag that Mason’s brought into the room.
Stella keeps watching Lucy shivering on the bed.
“It happened real
ly fast. She was fine when I picked her up from her mom’s and by the time we got to dinner she said her throat was hurting. It’s really only been a couple of hours.”
“Her body’s shaking like this because the fever came on so rapidly. She’s having febrile convulsions because her body’s gone into shock and trying to fight the onset of the fever. She’ll be okay but we need to lower the fever fairly quickly,” Stella says as she turns her body back to my incredibly ill daughter that’s lying still on my bed.
I step closer to watch Stella, but Mason puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Let her work, Lucy’s in good hands.”
I step back and go to the opposite wall and watch as Stella exams Lucy.
Lucy moans and mumbles a little, but nothing that’s audible.
“She’s a pediatrician,” Mason whispers in my ear as I watch Stella work.
Standing next to me, he entwines our fingers together and steps closer to me, closing the gap between us.
Stella looks over and smiles but lifts one eyebrow to us.
“Ryan, is Lucy allergic to penicillin?”
I shake my head no.
“Mason, take my car and go the pharmacy. Here’s a prescription, and get some Tylenol, too.” She carries a certain tone of dominance as she speaks with Mason.
He let’s go of my hand and walks over to Stella and takes the prescription.
When he’s out of the room Stella stands from the bed and in a few steps is in front of me.
“Ryan, Lucy has tonsillitis. They’re really quite inflamed, which is what’s causing the fever. Ordinarily I would be saying that I’d just let her body fight the infection with the prescription that Mason’s bringing back. But she’s quite bad and I need your permission to give her a shot of penicillin to get her started toward recovery.” She puts her hand on my shoulder and instantly my body calms under her touch.
“Yeah, of course,” is the only thing that stumbles out of my mouth.
“Her fever is what has me concerned, so the quicker that we can get pain relief and antibiotics into her, the better it’ll be for Lucy.” She starts back toward the bed.
“Do what you have to, Stella,” I say, but Stella falters in her steps.
She turns her body around to face me completely.
“Sorry?” she asks as she places a hand on her hip.
“Do what you have to, please.”
Yes, Master Page 6