Page 68 of Taming the Boss

So I’d spent time with my boy, just hanging out together. At least until he’d started sneezing and sniffling.

Not sure what else to do, I’d suggested we should watch Bubble Guppies on the sitting room sofa like he’d done so often with Maddie. He was good for a bit until he started knuckling his eyes and saying he didn’t feel good, so could he have a rocket pop? I figured why not, so I got one too and we watched the cartoon and ate popsicles for dinner since I was saving my leftovers until Maddie came back.

If she ever did.

He shifted around on the couch until he was lying half on my lap, which was how I’d realized his cheeks were red and he had another fever.

Panic instantly seized me, but instead of freaking out and calling Maddie, I gave him another popsicle to hopefully cool him off. Then I looked up online what to do with a three-year-old with a fever.

First, I had to take his temperature, but I didn’t have a thermometer. So, I copied what Maddie had done the other day and downloaded the DoorDash app to order one from a nearby store. My order included some children’s acetaminophen, Ginger Ale, plain vanilla ice cream, and some Gatorade for electrolytes. The ice cream was in case he had a sore throat. He kept complaining that his head hurt, so I figured the Tylenol should help with both that and the fever, whatever it turned out to be.

But the DoorDash driver couldn’t find my house, although the one who’d come here before when Maddie had made an order had found it just fine.

Finally, about an hour later, the driver had finally located my place. I’d taken Owen’s temperature with the thermometer and discovered it was 100.5, which apparently wasn’t dangerous.

Maybe he’d picked up a bug somewhere. Or the one he’d seemed to have the other day hadn’t been completely squelched. I gave him a dose of Tylenol along with some Ginger Ale and another popsicle and I tucked him in on the couch under his new throw with his stuffed toys—including the new Care Bear, to try to cheer him up—to watch the entire slate of shows on Nick Jr.

After a while, he dozed with his new friends tucked in around him after asking a couple of times about Baddie.

I told him she’d be back later. What else could I say?

Meanwhile, I tackled more paperwork. Xavier and Gavin had zeroed in on some new properties they wanted to put offers in on, but we’d have to move quick as the competition was heating up. This time, it wasn’t only from Maitland, either.

One of those competitors was freaking Hamilton Realty. Always nice to keep it in the family.

I had such a list to wade through that I didn’t look up again until Owen’s thrashing on the couch from a nightmare yanked me out of what I was doing.

Which was when I realized it was pitch black outside and still no Maddie.

“Hey Owen, hey there, wake up.” I inched up the couch to brush my hand over his now much cooler brow. Maybe the rest had helped him too, at least until he’d had what seemed to be a bad dream. He came out of it slowly, and then he tossed his arms around my neck, so I cradled him in my lap and rocked him back and forth until he was lulled back to sleep.

Not much later, the door opened and Maddie crept inside, her eyes narrowing on the two of us as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. I was more than a little surprised myself.

Owen was cuddled against me as if I was actually his father, someone he not only liked but trusted to take care of him.

Fitting, since his mother had been sniffing around more lately, placing calls to Caro to talk to me. As of yet, I’d avoided her. I’d contacted my lawyer to draft a letter to send to her last known address to cease and desist. I still hadn’t decided definitively if that was how I wanted to handle things.

Maddie stood in the foyer clutching a duffel bag. “Sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to be so late coming back, but Alan asked me to take a short shift at the shop because a bunch of his part-timers were sick.”

I waved it off. “So’s this one, I think.” I brushed a hand over Owen’s hair while he slept. “Guess his fever didn’t magically disappear the other day from popsicles, after all. Though, surprisingly, they are pretty good.”

“Aww, oh, no. Poor little dude.” She came over to sit beside us on the couch, dropping her duffel to the floor. “How bad is his fever?”

“It was at 100 but feels a bit lower to me now.”

She leaned over to stroke his hair and her strawberry scent floated over me, settling me at once. “Yeah, he doesn’t feel too hot. Hi, buddy. How are you doing?” Her soft question as his eyes flickered open had him sitting up excitedly and extending his arms to her.

“Baddie, you came back.”

“Of course I did. Sorry I missed sneaker shopping, but?—”

“We didn’t go. We watched Guppies and Paw Patrol and other shows while we waited for you to come home.” Hearing myself, I cleared my throat. “I mean, back.”

“So, we can go shopping tomorrow then? Together?”

“Yes, together,” Owen echoed. “You’ll stay over tonight?”

“I think so. That’s up to your daddy.”

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