I hear about snack time and Jake’s obsession with the balance bikes and how they learned a new song calledTooty Ta.I do my best to listen and respond as I normally would, but the throb in my temple is growing by the second, and my skin is getting clammy, and…
Damn.
Ireallydon’t feel good.
It’s when I’m packing away the blanket supplies to get started on dinner when she asks, “Finn?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“You look funny.”
I laugh weakly, my throat beginning to hurt, my arms feeling shaky. “I think I may need to go to bed early tonight.”
“Okay,” she whispers, her expression full of concern. “You don’t feel good?”
“No,” I admit.
Thankfully, her sweet soul comes through and she doesn’t complain about soup and apples and peanut butter (and chocolate chips) for dinner, nor about skipping her bath in lieu of an early bedtime.
I take some medicine as she puts on her pajamas, but it’s taking everything in me to not curl up into a ball and start crying, I feel that awful.
“How about we watch your daddy’s game in my room?” I rasp.
Her eyes are wide, but she takes my hand and we walk down the hall. “’Kay,” she murmurs, crawling in beside me.
I turn on the game.
We cheer—well, she cheers and I applaud quietly—as the Eagles come onto the ice.
I plug in my phone.
“There’s Daddy’s secret signal!” she cries and I peel open my lids to see Rhodes rubbing his right ear. “See? He’s thinking about me.”
“Of course he is.” I smile, glad Rhodes was able to pull it off.
We watch the puck drop, the Eagles skate and shoot and pass.
And the last thing I remember is Chloe cuddling into my side as she drifts off.
Only then do I let the blackness take over.
Ten
Rhodes
My phone rings just as we’ve boarded the plane for our flight home.
“Finn,” I say, swiping my finger across the screen and lifting it to my ear. “Is everything o?—”
“Daddy?”
My heart seizes. “Chloe, is everything okay?”
“I think that Olive and Pear need clothes.”
I blink. Then again.
“No, honey,” I say quietly as I stride down the aisle, my phone trapped between my ear and my shoulder. “Olive and Pear don’t need clothes. They’re cats. They have fur.”
