Page 114 of Indiscretion

I smiled seeing Naomi’s name on my cell phone screen on Sunday morning. She was always a welcome distraction, but today more so than usual. I’d been at the office since five AM working on a brief to support a client I wholeheartedly despised.

“Don’t tell me you just got up?” I asked in greeting.

“Five oh two!” Naomi screamed. “Five oh two! Day three!”

I sat back in my chair. I could see her excited face even though we weren’t on FaceTime. “Wow. Your sister’s a real overachiever. The doctor said it could take up to a month for her neutrophil count to stay over five hundred for three days in a row.”

“Yep. Which means the kids can finally see her.”

“Did you tell them yet?”

“I might’ve accidentally woken them up when she called to tell me at nine o’clock. I got so excited, I screamed.”

It was eleven days post bone-marrow transplant, and kids under twelve weren’t allowed to visit until the patient’s health achieved certain milestones. Getting a blood marker over a certain amount for three days in a row was the first big one. Luckily, these days there was video calling, which made the time apart a little easier, but I knew Ryder and Molly would sleep better once they got to see their mom in person. Even though Frannie looked and sounded good over FaceTime, the kids still asked a ton of questions whenever I watched them. Which was often lately, since Naomi went up to the hospital every night.

“I’m sure they’re excited. Molly did a fashion show for me yesterday. She was deciding which outfit to wear to visit her mom when she was allowed. All of them were yellow, because that’s the color of happiness.”

I shook my head. “Can’t imagine where she learned that.”

“She’s already dressed and ready even though she can’t visit for two more hours.”

I smiled. “I’m glad for all of you that your sister is doing well.”

“And foryou.I can’t thank you enough for all of the babysitting you’ve done. I promise to make it up to you when Frannie’s home and feeling better.”

I didn’t mind helping out at all. It made me feel good to do whatever I could to take some of the load off Naomi. She’d been running herself ragged between working, visiting her sister, and playing single mom to two busy kids. Nevertheless, I liked the sound ofmaking it up to me.

“Oh yeah?” My voice lowered to a rasp. “What did you have in mind for that?”

“I don’t think I can tell you with two kids in the other room and thin walls.” Her voice lowered. “But it definitely involves me on my knees, and maybe a ponytail for you to wrap around your hand. I know how much you like to have control.”

I groaned. We hadn’t been together since her sister was admitted to the hospital. It was impossible with her crazy schedule and always having the kids. “Fuck. It’s been too long.”

“I know. I might have to break my no-hanky-panky-in-the-office rule soon.”

“I’ll tell the staff to take tomorrow off.”

She laughed. “How is everything going there? Did you get the Pendleton brief done?”

“Almost. Although it’s pissing me off how good it’s coming out. I think there’s a real shot I can get the wiretaps thrown out and that wife-beater might get off.”

“I honestly never considered how difficult it might be for a defense attorney to do their job when they dislike a client.”

“The funny thing is, I really don’t think he’s guilty of what the feds charged him with. But I hate the thought of that fucker being home to smack his wife around. I still can’t believe I heard that shit on the illegal recordings.”

“Working in the district attorney’s office taught me that people who have no morals always get in trouble again, even if they get away with it the first time. The people who just make a stupid mistake once and truly regret it are the only ones who learn their lesson. Someone like Mr. Pendleton will do something else wrong, even if they don’t get him this time.”

“True.”

“Anyway, I don’t want to keep you. I was just calling to tell you the good news.”

I looked at my watch. “I should be done here in like an hour. Is it alright if I meet you at the hospital?”

“You don’t have to do that. I can have Mrs. Hank next door watch Molly while I run Ryder up to visit and then come back and take Molly while she watches Ryder. She’s offered to keep an eye on them more than once.”

“Yeah, but you’ll spend more time running back and forth than visiting with your sister.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

---