Page 38 of Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding)

“I never thought I would see the day you would be talking about a kid’s nighttime routine like it was nothing,” Stefano observes. “When do you leave next?”

I avoid looking at his eyes when I pick up a pen and tap it on the notepad, but luckily for me people start coming in the room. “You guys are all late,” I joke with them as everyone gets in their seat.

“Okay, shall we start?” Stefano begins. “We have a lot to go through.” The meeting gets underway when the big question comes up. Travel. The dreaded subject I was hoping wouldn’t be brought up. I’ve never dreaded this subject before but I know he will ask questions once he gets wind of me not traveling.

“How is everyone’s travel schedule?” Stefano asks. We go around the room one by one, as we talk about going away.

My leg moves up and down with nerves when it gets to my turn. “I was supposed to leave next week,” I start, “but I pushed it back a couple of days.” I canceled the whole thing, but I can start with this, then ease into it. “I have what I need from my end to do the work.”

He just stares at me and I can see the questions already in his eyes. He’s my best friend, and aside from Eva, I know him better than anyone and vice versa. “Do you have an ETA for your next trip?”

“I have to check.” Again, the lie comes out before I can stop it. I don’t have to check because I cleared the rest of the month. I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave Eva alone with Cici and no help, so I canceled things.

“We can chat on that later,” Stefano says to me, and if I read between the lines, he doesn’t want to have this conversation in front of the whole staff.

I nod at him at the same time my phone rings. All eyes come to me. “Shit,” I swear, looking down and seeing it’s the daycare, “it’s Cici’s daycare.” I pick up the phone and walk outside of the meeting. “Hello.” I put my phone to my ear.

“Levi.” I hear a woman say my name. “This is Melanie from the Small Bumble Bee Daycare.” I swear to God I feel like the blood has drained from my whole body.

“Yes,” is the only word that can come out.

“I’m calling because Cici has a fever,” she says softly. “I’ve tried to get in touch with Eva for the past twenty minutes, and all I’m getting is her voicemail. You are the next one on the list.”

“Okay.” I look around, putting the phone to my ear and walking toward my office.

“We have a policy that if the baby is running a fever, you have to come and pick her up,” she informs me.

“Of course.” I grab my keys from my desk. “I’ll be right there,” I tell her, “I just have to settle some things.”

“That is fine. I’ll see you soon,” she replies and I hang up on her, walking back into the conference room.

“I have to go. Cici has a fever,” I announce to the room.

“Where is Eva?” Stefano asks me and I look down at my phone, pulling up her name and calling her.

It picks up after half a ring. “You’ve reached Eva.”

“Voicemail,” I respond, looking down at the phone, expecting it to ring in my hand, but it doesn’t. “I have to go.” I don’t even pick up my shit, I just grab my phone and walk out of the room.

“I’ll call you later,” Stefano says and I nod at him, turning and practically running out to my car. I get to the daycare in record time. The whole time I’ve been trying to call Eva but it’s going straight to voicemail. My stomach clenches as I walk into the daycare. I enter the code that I’ve entered only once before when I had to drop her off.

Melanie steps out of her office to greet me. “Sorry about calling you.”

“It’s fine,” I say, looking down toward the hall where I hear crying. “I’ll go get her.” I don’t even wait for her to say anything before walking down the hall.

“It’s going to be okay.” I hear the woman who is holding Cici say as she cries in her arms.

Once I reach the door, I turn the handle and walk into the room. Looking at the other babies sitting on the floor, I ensure I don’t step on anything. “Look who is there,” the woman coos and Cici turns her head and spots me.

Her lower lip quivers as she sobs and my heart breaks. That is the only way to describe it. There is a pain in my chest and it feels like someone stabbed me. “Oh, baby girl,” I whisper, holding my hands to her as she lunges for me. Her blue eyes look so bright, even though she has been crying. Her little nose is red, along with her cheeks that look so rosy. “What’s the matter?” I ask, even though I know she can’t answer me. She rubs her face in my chest, along with all of the snot and tears, but I couldn’t care less.

“She’s been really fussy all day long. She hasn’t really eaten much,” the woman shares with me, and I look over to see Cici pick up the pacifier that is hanging on her pj’s and put it in her mouth.

“It’s going to be okay, baby girl.” I kiss her head. “Do you need anything from me?” I ask the lady whose name I don’t remember as she smiles at me.

“I’ll get her diaper bag,” she says, walking over to the corner where there is a changing station. She grabs the bag, bringing it to me.

“Thank you.” I put the bag over my shoulder before walking out of the room with her. I nod to Melanie as I walk out of the daycare and toward my car. “It’s a good thing I got that car seat,” I tell her as she looks at me, one of her hands on my shoulder, holding on for dear life. “And Eva said it was silly.” I shake my head as I open the back door and place her in the seat. She starts to cry as I buckle her in. “I know you don’t want this, but in order to get home we are going to have to do it this way,” I explain to her and she whines. “You know, in the fifties or maybe even the sixties I could have driven home with you in my arms.” I laugh as she watches me. “I’m sure you understand everything I’m saying.”

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