Keegan was trying to hold in her amusement, but she cracked when I openly laughed. “I’ll talk to her about it,” Keegan promised. “Gabby, let’s go find out what we need to do to take care of baby mice. Then, we need to go to the pet store and get another cage, because Cheese and Whiskers can’t live in the same one anymore.”
“But they’re married, and they love each other. You can’t make them get divorced,” Gabriella said as they left the room.
Shaker chuckled and got back to his feet. “That kid can throw a punch.”
“Looked like it.”
“Speaking of throwing punches, you ever thought about getting into sparring or boxing at a gym? Hell, even just going to town on a punching bag is a great way to relieve some stress,” he suggested.
I shrugged. “No, but I’d rather try that than talking to Harper.”
9
Avery
Several weeks passed with no sign of Savior. We fell asleep on the sofa one night, and when I woke up, he was gone. I’d been back to the bar a few times hoping to run into him, but he was never there. I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out how to cross paths with him again before I realized I had something much bigger to focus on.
“Mommy!” my babies squealed as they came through the front door.
I knelt down and wrapped my arms around both of them. “Oh, I missed you so much! I’m so glad you’re home. Did you have a good time?” I rambled through my tears.
They both started to chatter at the same time, rushing to tell me all about their summer vacation with Nana and Papa, who were grinning from ear to ear.
“You two go put your things in your room, and I’ll get dinner started,” I told them.
My mother followed me into the kitchen while my dad dropped onto the sofa and turned on the television. “How are you doing, honey?” she asked in a concerned tone.
“I’m okay,” I answered quickly and started pulling things from the pantry.
“You don’t look so good.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I replied sarcastically. Truthfully, I hadn’t felt well in over a week, but not so much that I felt like I needed to go to the doctor. Since my husband died, I slept like shit, so I never truly felt great.
“I mean it, Avery. A mother knows when something is wrong with her child. What’s going on?”
I shrugged. “You know I don’t sleep so well anymore. It was a little worse with the kids gone.”
“Honey, we could’ve come back early, or you could’ve joined us. I thought you wanted some time to yourself,” she said.
“I did, Mom. I haven’t felt great for the last day or two. I don’t know; maybe I’m coming down with something.”
“Well, go sit down. I’ll take care of dinner,” she insisted and shooed me away.
“Thanks, Mom. I’m going to go lay down until dinner’s ready.”
I felt like shit leaving my mother to cook dinner for my children when she’d been doing it all summer, but I was suddenly overcome with exhaustion.
The moment I crawled into bed, a wave of dizziness hit me and cold beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to remain as still as possible while taking slow, deep breaths. I had just gotten my nausea under control when my mother entered the room.
“Avery!” she gasped, and then I felt her cool hand on my forehead. “Frank! Bring me a glass of ice water and my purse!”
Mom’s hands disappeared, and I heard the water running in the bathroom. Seconds later, she returned with a cool washcloth for my face.
“What’s wrong, dear?” my dad asked.
“Avery’s sick. Can you get the kids started on dinner?” she asked.
“Of course,” my dad said and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Let your mom take care of you, peanut.”
