“Vance.Hi.”
“What’s wrong with Addy?Did you take her to the doctor?”
“She has a cold.If she’s still not feeling well in a few days, I’ll take her to the doctor, but she’s fine for now.I gave her some medicine for her fever, and she ate a little of her dinner.”
“What if it’s something more serious?”
“I doubt it.They’ve been sick quite a lot over the last few years.”
Thanks to school and daycare, they’d come home with various illnesses.But thankfully, so far, none of them had been serious.
“Why have they been sick?Is their immune system weak?Have you thought about homeschooling them?”
I giggled at his suggestion.“And when would I do that?Before or after work?Besides, they love daycare and school.And it’s important for them to socialize.”
“I guess so.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“Do you have everything you need?Did you make her soup?”
“We had lasagna for dinner.It’s one of her favorites, so she ate some.”
Tonight’s dinner had been a lucky coincidence.
“I’m sorry I’m not there to help out.”
“Vance.There’s nothing you could have done anyway.She needs sleep and something to keep the fever down.She’ll be her usual self in no time.”
He grumbled something under his breath.“If you’re sure.”
“Absolutely.”
“But you’ll call me if she gets worse?And give me updates tomorrow on how she’s feeling?”
His request made me melt into the couch.He couldn’t be real.Nobody cared this much about someone else’s kids.Not even their own dad cared this much when they were sick; he always left me to deal with it.
“I will.”
“Good.”There was a muffled conversation on his end.“I gotta go.Have a good night.”
“You too.Bye.”
We hung up, and I dropped the phone onto the couch next to me.
It was official.I had lost my mind, and my feelings toward Vance were here to stay.
I was so screwed.
Chapter sixteen
“Mom,mytoeisitchy,” Addy called out from her bedroom.
I heaved myself out of the couch that had swallowed me when I’d dropped onto it after putting the girls to bed.Today had been a day of mixed feelings.I’d sold my car and had found a much cheaper and smaller one at the dealership.I needed the warranty in case anything broke, so I had opted to pay a little more money to get the security I would otherwise not have.
The girls had cried when I picked them up in the new car.And no matter how much I talked it up, even going so far as naming it (Martha), they wouldn’t calm down.Then my realtor had called telling me he had an offer on the house.Unfortunately, it was way below the asking price.Now I had a decision to make that was giving me a headache.
Sitting down on Addy’s bed, I inspected the toe in question.“Looks normal to me, ladybug.”
