Page 87 of Defending Casey

He nodded and leaned over the back of the sofa to touch her forehead with the back of his hand. “She’s a bit too warm for my liking.”

Casey nodded. “I had medicine for her from Doctor Kim, but my purse… well, it’s by the road somewhere.”

Brian was busy dropping the curtains down to cover the windows, making the room a bit darker with every set. “I bet the old man has some Tylenol or aspirin laying around.”

Thomas shook his head. “Naw, I don’t use the stuff from the store. I’ve got birchbark tea in the kitchen.”

He started to walk toward the other end of the house and Brian nailed him with a look. “No. You don’t go anywhere by yourself. You think I’m going to let you make a call and warn him?”

Hale’s father lifted his chin toward the wall where the phone was located. “Go ahead. Try to make a call. If you can.”

Brian gave him a side-eye look and stalked over to the wall. He pulled the handset off of the metal cradle and put it to his ear. He looked almost pleased when he started talking.

“It’s dead.”

Thomas’s gesture was as close to ‘I told you so’ as one could get without a word, but he followed it with a few. “After Hale left, I didn’t need one. Don’t need to pay for something when no one wants to hear from you.”

Brian tossed the handset over his shoulder, and it plummeted to the ground, the ancient plastic cracked against the hardwood. “Fine. Make the damn tea. I don’t want Casey to worry about the girl.”

The girl?Her mind raged at the dismissive tone. Since when had Nora become the girl?

She tucked the question away for later. At the moment, she had other concerns that were a little more immediate.

Sitting down by Nora’s head, Casey brushed her damp hair back from her face. The house was warm, not as warm as it was outside, but it was hot enough to make things harder on Nora. She looked up at Brian and tried to let some of her anger and frustration bleed away from her expression. “Please, Brian.”

He stopped still, beside one of the windows. He started to look over his shoulder at her. “Casey?”

“Brian, please don’t close that window.”

His knuckles turned white as his fingers fisted around the cloth. “Why?”

“It’s hot in here, Brian. No AC. And if you close the windows it’s going to be harder to get Nora’s temperature down. Please?”

She saw him smile and the bright look in his eyes made her stomach turn over. “Say it again, Casey.”

His voice made him sound years younger. “It’s hot-”

“No,” he shook his head, “the last word. Say it again.”

Casey felt some bile touch the back of her tongue. “Please.”

He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, smiling as if he was savoring the word.

“Please, Brian. Please.”

His whole body seemed to relax, and he turned to look at her. “See? Was that so hard, Casey?” He stepped away from the window and toward her. “All you had to do was ask me nicely.”

Casey looked down at Nora. She couldn’t continue looking at Brian and wondering how she’d missed who he really was. She touched her hand to Nora’s cheek and blinked back tears as Nora opened her eyes.

“Mommy?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Why is Uncle Brian shouting at everyone?”

Tough question.

“Everyone gets upset sometimes, remember?”

---