Page 69 of Against the Clock

“You did?What was it about?”I squeezed her hand reassuringly, hoping it would give her the confidence to tell me about it.

She looked up at Roman, and he nodded.I tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that rushed through me that she had chosen to talk to him about it yet seemed so reluctant to talk to me.Since when did she keep things from me?

“Daddy was with the lady who brought me home the other day from the subway.They were hugging each other, and then they...kissed.”She looked up at me with guilt on her face, and it broke my heart.“Then he left with her, and I kept calling to him, asking him to come back, and he wouldn’t.I was really mad at him.”

I swallowed down the mix of emotions that she had just brought up and tried to focus on how to respond to her.

“I’m sorry, pumpkin.Dreams can be hard to understand sometimes, but I can promise you that Daddy would never walk away from you.You meant everything in the world to him.”

She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye as we heard a clap of thunder far off in the distance.Roman looked up at the sky as the clouds moved with the rush of wind and the blue turned an ominous shade of gray.

“We should get inside before the storm hits,” he said, standing up and gently placing his hand on Rosie’s back to guide her inside.

Once she was inside, he lingered by the door and whispered in my ear, “I wouldn’t worry too much about the dream.We all know how wild our imagination can get.”

I forced a smile but knew there was more to her dream than he knew.

Thirty-Four

Roman

2 Hours Ago

Quinn seemed to relaxa little as the rain pounded on the roof while she curled up and watched a movie with Rosie.This was probably the most I’ve seen anyone sit and watch movies, but it wasn’t like there were any other options.If it was just Quinn and me, there were plenty of ways that I could fill the time without watching TV, but Rosie was here, and that left few options for a five-year-old.

It was a little after two, but it felt like it was so much later since we got up at five.I was glad that Quinn slept for a few hours but wished she would have gotten a solid eight hours of sleep instead of five.But something was better than nothing, and she seemed to be more alert than she was before.

I had fixed Rosie lunch earlier but knew that Quinn hadn’t eaten yet today.Restless and desperate for something to do, I got up and went to the kitchen to make something since I hadn’t bothered to eat either.My stomach growled as I turned the bacon in the skillet and flipped the pancakes onto a plate.Who said there was a time limit on when you could eat breakfast?

“Hey Rosie, do you want some pancakes?”I called to her in the living room.Not that I had to yell or shout, given that they were sitting less than twenty feet away from me in the same room.But pulling her attention away from the hundreds of spotted dogs on the TV was another thing.

“No thanks,” she replied happily, leaning forward as Quinn got up and joined me in the kitchen.

“I hope you’re hungry,” I said over my shoulder as she pressed her body against mine and slid a hand up and down my back.

“I’m starving.What can I help with?”

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