Page 100 of Wildest Dreams

“Thank you.” I took a deep, steadying breath, willing myself not to scream. “I happen to feel it too. Which is why I’m calling.”

Silence. I waited for him to pick up on the unspoken request. Instead, there was silence, punctuated by, “And?”

“I’m calling because I know you don’t have a shift today, and I need help with Grav. Like, it would be great if you could comehere and spend a few hours with her while I draw myself a bath and call in a doctor.”

Normally, I was too cheap not to drag my ass to the clinic, delirium and high fever be damned, but my instincts told me Gravity and Tucker weren’t ready to spend time with each other alone.

“Oh…” He trailed off, sounding put off by my request. “Well, this is kind of awkward, but I have a date today.”

Was he fucking kidding me? This was about our daughter and defining and establishing his role in her life.

“Tucker.” I bit down on my lower lip, the inside of my head hot and throbbing. “I could really use some help here. Gravity needs some human interaction. Soon enough, she’s going to figure out her mommy can’t really take care of her properly. It’ll freak her out.”

I was sweating, ice-cold and burning at the same time.

“Aren’t you being a little dramatic?” Tucker asked with faux sympathy. I hated when he did this—cooed at me while saying something really cutting. “It’s just the flu.”

“Know what?” I huffed. “Forge—”

“Fine! I’ll come, I’ll come.” He sounded supremely inconvenienced. “I’ll cancel my date for you.”

Somewhere in this universe, a woman owed me her life for sparing her from this asshole.

“Thanks,” I said tightly. “Your altruism doesn’t go unnoticed.”

“Can I just ask one small thing in return?”

“What?” Words could not describe how much I suffered each time I had to communicate with the bastard.

“I’m a little strapped for cash, and I would love it if your brother could—”

“Goodbye, Tuckwad.” I hung up in his face.

Tucker wasn’t coming.

Nobody was, and things got progressively worse.

I tried to watch some Grey’s Anatomy under the blankets while Grav sat next to me on her iPad, but I couldn’t focus on anything past my state of misery and exhaustion. Grav was completely helpless, and when I accidentally complained that her twitching was making me dizzy, she even almost tried to make me a cup of tea, but I talked her out of it.

At some point, I dragged myself to the bathroom and filled myself a bath, bringing her along with me. I sat her at the foot of the claw bathtub with some toys and made her swear she wouldn’t leave my side. The idea turned out to be one of my worst, though, as I accidentally dozed off in the tub, and I would have slipped under if it weren’t for my daughter screaming at me, “Mommy! Mommy! Wake up.”

“I’m okay.” I somehow managed to crawl out of the lukewarm bath and gently collapsed naked on the floor, unable to gather the energy to pull myself together.

Gravity sat on the other side of the bathroom studying me with her big, frightened eyes, and I hated that I couldn’t give her the most basic thing she needed: a balanced and strong adult to lean on.

“What can I do?” she whispered to me. “Tell me what to do, Mommy.”

Sweetie, I am so sorry. This was a big mistake. I cannot do this alone. As soon as I get better, we’re going to pack our things and move back with Grandma.

The words sat on the tip of my tongue. It took everything in me not to utter them out loud.

“Can you grab my phone from the coffee table in the living room, baby?” I croaked finally. I had to bite the bullet and call Tucker again. I’d figure out the situation with Row. Maybe let my brother turn him down personally so he’d shut up already.

Gravity ran out to the living room, and I fought to keep my eyes open, mainly for her.

“Slowly!”

A few seconds later, she returned, wobbling carefully along the corridor, my phone pressed to her ear. Who was she talking to?

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