Page 86 of Protect

I finish up and make my way back to the living room to check on Hollie, wondering what Violette would’ve done if I wasn’t here, but I already know the answer. She would’ve trucked on through and wouldn’t have let herself rest.

Fuck, being a mom isn’t for the weak.

I just sit down on the loveseat and take a breath when a matted haired Hollie sits up on the sofa across from me, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. I check my phone, 9:30 p.m.

I make my way over and sit down beside her, brushing a piece of hair off her clammy but cool forehead.

“How are you feeling, Hols?”

“Where’s Mommy?” Hollie asks.

I point to Violette’s bedroom.

“You know how your tummy was sore before?”

She nods, hugging Power Piggy and then reaching into her nest of blankets and pulling out the one she gave me the first time I came over. She hands it to me, I take it and set him in his spot on my knee.

“Well, now Mommy feels like that too, so would it be okay if I sit with you for a bit? We can watch anything you want.”

“Okay…I got all my yuckies out,” Hollie tells me matter-of-factly.” I went blahhh,” she says.

I chuckle. “Well, that’s good.”

“I’m hungry,” she says in a yawn.

I nod, because that’s a great sign, especially since it’s been quite a few hours since she got sick.

“Tell you what,” I say, moving to the kitchen and grabbing some electrolytes from the fridge. I rummage through Violette’skitchen in search, remembering where her dishes are from this morning.

I crack the seal of the bottle and pour some into Hollie’s sippy cup and then screw on the top.

“You drink some of this and if your tummy feels good after an episode ofSuperPets”—I rummage through the pantry and find what I’m looking for—“you can have a couple crackers, okay?” I bring the box of salted tops crackers with me.

“Okay I’m firsty,” Hollie says, reaching her chubby hands up to me. “Can you sit with me?” she asks, looking up at me with those big hazel eyes the exact same color as her mom’s. “Bring your pig too,” she adds, pointing to my pig on the other side of the couch. “He’s friends with my piggy.”

“Piggy, right,” I say under my breath, grabbing it and sitting down beside her. I pick up the remote and turn onSuperPets.

“Do you feel sick?” Hollie makes her pig ask my pig in a high-pitched voice.

“No, we’re Power Piggies, we don’t get sick, right?” I say in my best pig voice.

“Right,” she says with a weak little smile.

“Do you get scawed?” she asks.

“Sometimes.” I make my pig tell hers.

“I was scawed when I blahhed,” Hollie tells me.

I look down at her and raise my pig’s little hand, patting her pigs head. “That’s okay, everyone gets scared. But you feel better now?”

“Yes,” she says.

Hollie sets her pig beside mine on my knee, satisfied with their chat, I suppose.

I turn my attention back to the TV, picking out an episode.

What I don’t expect to happen part way through the first episode is Hollie scooching over to me and snuggling right into my arm, before smiling up at me.

---