Aurora looked up, seemingly surprised at Sasha’s directness.
“I’m not sure you really understand how important Freya’s nutrition is to Angeni,” Aurora said, carrying the torch of righteousness for her friend.
“Oh, trust me, I know,” Sasha said.
Freya wailed and wailed, as if sensing that there was food present and she was being denied access to it. Sasha already knew that Freya took formula just fine. She’d had no hesitation with the bottle.
“Let me ask Erik,” Aurora insisted.
She stopped at the island, bent over, texting Erik.
“Okay,” Aurora said, looking up with a grave expression on her face. “He said to do the formula, just for today. He’s not going to tell Angeni.”
Sasha was pleasantly surprised—at both his ability to be logical and his willingness to lie to his soulmate.
“All right, we are one step closer to a happy baby,” Sasha said.
“I can run to the store,” Aurora said, already reaching for her purse on the island.
“There’s formula here,” Sasha said, keeping her eyes on Freya’s beet-red face.
“There is?”
“I saw some. In the closet in my room,” Sasha said. That was all she had to say. Aurora could think whatever she wanted.
“Oh,” she said. She dropped her purse on the island.
“And a bottle too.”
Aurora appeared perplexed, disbelieving that her beloved Angeni was secretly storing this contraband.
“She must have been thinking ahead to a situation like this one,” Aurora said. “That makes me feel better, actually.”
Sasha just shrugged.
“But I’m not sure she’ll take a bottle,” Aurora said. She bit her lip.
“I bet I can make it happen,” Sasha said. “Let me try.”
Aurora looked on in wonderment as Freya took the bottle, just as Sasha knew she would. Aurora made Sasha swear that they wouldn’t tell Angeni about the formula. “We’ll just say she gobbled up the whole batch of the pâté, okay?” Aurora said. It was so silly, Sasha half expected a pinkie promise.
By nightfall, Erik was still at the hospital with Angeni, and Freya had guzzled two bottles. Matt and Jer brought pizza from town, something they rarely did because of Angeni’s preference for home-cooked meals. They used the same phrase of rationalization as Sasha had—extenuating circumstances.
When Aurora, Matt, and Jer retired to their tiny homes at the back of the property, it was just Sasha and Freya in the house alone. Sasha was exhausted from the drama of the day, and judging by how Freya fell asleep in her lap, Freya was exhausted too. Sasha didn’t want to get up from the couch and wake Freya, so she closed her eyes right there, figured she’d make her way to her room the next time Freya stirred.
Sasha woke up just after midnight when Erik came through the front door. When he realized Sasha and Freya were there on the couch, he winced, mouthedI’m sorry. Freya shifted in Sasha’s lap, her face scrunching in discontent. Now was the time to go to her bedroom.
“How is she?” Sasha asked as she stood from the couch, holding Freya against her chest, the baby’s mouth rooting into her neck as it sometimes did.
“She’s okay,” Erik said. “Vomited on the way to the hospital. Concussion. They want to keep her overnight for a couple scans, just to be safe. Has quite a goose egg on her head now.”
He looked exhausted, puffy bags under bloodshot eyes.
“Areyouokay?” Sasha asked.
She started walking down the hallway to her room, curious if he would follow her. He did.
“I’m beat,” he said.
