Page 46 of Game Changer

“You could have Dad deliver,” I say, not wanting to wait. “I need one of those forehead thermometers.”

“You got it, sweetheart,” Mom says as Lily and I make our way through the back.

“Your mommy calls you sweetheart like my mommy calls me little flower?”

“She does,” I say, unlocking the door to enter the hallway.

Walking up the stairs, she holds tighter.

At the top of the stairs, I toe off my sneakers and pull her cute little boots off, one then the other.

“You got a bed, my Syd?”

“I do,” I answer, punching in my code—1212—and opening the door, leaving both our footwear outside.

“You got a TV in your room to watch movies?”

“I do, but I haven’t ever watched a movie in there, so that would be both of our very first times.”

“Cool.”

She’s so warm.I really hope Dad hurries, I think.

“You got pink on your stove?”

“Above it?” I ask. “The backsplash?”

“It’s so pretty. Gold, too, like the Knights, right?”

“Just like the Knights, Miss Lily.”

“I so, so cold, my Syd.”

I rub my hand up and down her back. “Then let’s get you all tucked in and warm so we can pick out a movie.”

“I see the rest later?”

“Of course, anytime you want. This is a very special girl boss hideout,” I tell her as I take the stairs up to my room.

“Does Daddy get to come here?”

“Of course, but it’s just more special for girls.”

“Daddys make things special for the girl bossesses.”

“They sure do.” I pull back the duvet and set her in the middle of the bed.

“I so co-co-cold,” she whimpers.

“Well, you won’t be for long,” I climb in, wrap her up in my arm, and pull the down comforter up around us.

“I don’t think I feel good. I think I miss my mommy.”

“I know you do.”

She shakes in my arms, lower lip quivering. “I gotta say prayers for her ’case I fall asleep.”

“All right,” I say then realize I don’t have my phone with me. “I promise to wake you up when I talk to your daddy and we make a plan for tonight.”

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