Page 26 of A Merry Penthouse Christmas
That was always the plan. I have a real career to think about. Real dreams and actual use of my master’s degree once I finish it. “Yeah. Yes! Totally! I mean, I can’t do this forever.” And there isn’t anything keeping me at Arik’s.
Is there?
Just because he hasn’t had any booty calls on the books, doesn’t mean he isn’t having any. He hasn’t exactly been pursuing me. Has he? Maybe I’ve just been fooling myself, the same way I did with Emily for years.
“Can you let me take the day to process this and think about it?” I ask. “The past month or so has been a bit of a whirlwind.”
“Of course. But if you don’t call me later, I am so calling you. Shoot, I gotta run.” Jared glances at the clock on the coffee shop wall before patting my shoulder. “But we are so talking about this later. Deal?”
“Deal.”
AndIdidthinkabout it, but in the end, how could there be any other answer?
I rub my temples and catch sight of a bottle of ibuprofen on my nightstand. There is a fresh glass of water, and when I reach for it, I notice a note beneath it.
Take more in the morning. Only call me if you’re dying.
I snort. That is not Arik’s handwriting, but because it isn’t signed, and going off the tone, I feel like I remember Skylar forcing the next dose of pills into me and being a lot less tenderwith his bedside manner. But why would Skylar be here instead of Arik?
And holy shit, is it really the next day?
I have to get up. For a shower at the very least. But first I take the meds and down all of the water. Going slow is a necessity, but I don’t feel nearly as bad as I did yesterday. I check the nursery to find it empty, but in the kitchen, there is another note.
Took Bastian to the hospital. Just rest. Everything is fine.
-Arik
Everything is not fine! I got Bastian sick? I got him sick enough to need to go to the hospital, and they’re still not home at eleven the next day!
I race so quickly to take a shower, I feel dizzy again, but I don’t care. I can’t leave the penthouse as a sweat-soaked mess, but I have to get down there. I know Arik still uses First Methodist as Bastian’s primary. I know his pediatrician. I have all his emergency numbers.
I have to get down there.
It doesn’t dawn on me to call Arik until my cab is almost to the hospital, but by then, I just want to see them, and to possibly throw myself at the mercy of Arik’s rage if anything happened to that precious baby.
I’m fatigued and winded when I finally reach the right floor, trying to remember which direction the nurse’s station is when I hear:
“Thank you, Dolores.”
Arik.
I sprint toward the sound of his voice, spotting him with a baby carrier set atop the nurse’s station desk just as he turns his head and also sees me.
“Beau.” He whirls around fully, and with the motion, I see inside the carrier that Bastian looks… fine. “What on earth are you doing here? You’re supposed to be resting.”
“He’s okay?” I ask anyway, despite seeing that Bastian is awake and cooing without a care in the world. “He’s really okay?”
“He’s fine,” Arik affirms, brushing the curls from my eyes—damp again already, damn it—just as I brush the dark hair from Bastian’s forehead. He doesn’t feel warm either. “See? Just like I told you. And just like you’ll be fine once you get back to resting like you’re supposed to be.”
“I know.” I lean in to Arik’s touch without meaning to, but it feels nice the way his fingers linger before he draws them away. “You weren’t home, and I couldn’t stay there and wait without seeing you. Both of you.” I feel suddenly very exposed with the way the nurse is staring at us. I probably seem nuts to her.
“Since Bastian is under three months, they wanted to keep him overnight as a precaution,” Arik explains. “We were just waiting for the rest of his fever to go down before they released him. Everything is fine, Beau. He’s a baby. He’s going to get sick once in a while.”
“I know, but… it was my fault. I didn’t even notice he had a fever.”
“You were probably getting yours by then too, so he didn't feel warm to you.”
“That’sworse. And you… how are you not freaking out?” I glance at Arik sheepishly. He seems so steady, so capable, so… exactly like he always is. “Baby’s first fever, and you kept your cool?”
