Page 36 of Cop Blocked

She shakes her head. “No. Mommy will do it!”

“It’s bath time anyway.” Rachel sits up slowly and reaches for her crutches.

“I had no idea. She must have done it when I came back to get the trash. We were sitting at the table together. I was gone two minutes tops.”

“It hurts to laugh.” She reminds me. “Relax. She’s done it to herself on my watch. I’ll get her cleaned up, and we’ll all be good as new.”

“Look, I know I’m way out of my league here…”

“Piper and I can manage bath time.” She cuts me off. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll keep the door open and yell if we run into trouble.”

Without thinking, I kiss her forehead. “Okay.”

“You might want to make sure she didn’t paint the kitchen table while she was at it,” Rachel calls over her shoulder as she hobbles her way down the hall.

Shit. That’s the last thing I need.

Heart thumping in my chest, I quickly check. I’m relieved to find that the table was spared. I clean up the paints and rinse out the brush, making a note that next time, we stick to crayons.

“Oh God,” I hear Rachel gasp and take off running down the hallway.

She’s sitting on top of the toilet lid, with tears in her eyes, staring at Piper.

“I’m okay.” She fans her face. “Her chest. The bruise. It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”

I swallow hard. Sure enough, there is a nasty blue/green mark from the chest clip on the car seat. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this. That’s a good thing. It means that you had the clip in the right place, and it did its job.”

Rachel nods. “Give us a minute. We’re almost done.”

“Yeah. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”

Not knowing what else to do, I start picking up Piper’s toys and putting them in the toy box. I’m nearly finished when Izzy - Rachel’s tiny Yorkie - makes her appearance, yapping at me.

“I bet you need a walk, don’t you, little lady.”

Izzy yips then dances around in a circle, excitedly.

“Come on, then.” I pick up her leash and clip it onto her collar. “Rach, I’m going to take Izzy for a walk if that’s okay,” I call down the hall.

“Okay!”

By the time we take a quick stroll around the block and come back inside, Rachel is sitting on the couch, looking completely exhausted.

“You good?” I ask while unclipping Izzy’s leash and hanging it back by the door.

“Yeah, it’s not as easy wrangling a toddler to sleep like this.” She yawns. “I’m so fucking tired. I don’t think sleeping on the couch last night was a good idea.”

I look at her in shock. “Yeah. Probably not. Why the hell did you sleep on the couch?”

“I told Piper we were having a slumber party. I wanted to be close in case she needed anything, and I didn’t think I could help her up and down off of my bed.”

“This might be a shitty time to ask…” I take a seat next to her, finding comfort when she leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder.

“Let me guess, where’s Piper’s dad?”

“Wouldn’t he want to be here?”

She tenses. “Actually, no. He wouldn’t or doesn’t. Piper’s dad has never been a part of her life. The minute he found out I was pregnant, he bolted. When she was born, he signed all his rights away and hasn’t looked back since.”

---