“Yeah,” Livy agreed. “And she says we’re going to swim and collect shells, roast weenies over the fire and stuff too.”
“Hmm,” Paul murmured around his chocolate bar and nodded, but then frowned as he suddenly wondered how Jeanne Louise had rented the motel room. She didn’t have her purse and his money was in his wallet in his back pocket. He could feel it.
“Here we go,” Jeanne Louise said stepping out of the bathroom with a damp cloth and heading for Livy.
“Jeanie?” Paul asked after swallowing his bite of chocolate bar. “How did you rent the room?”
She stilled briefly in cleaning up Livy and then glanced to him. “The motel owner was willing to take cash. I told him you’d pay in the morning.”
He arched an eyebrow at the guilty expression on her face. “And he agreed to that?”
“Of course,” Jeanne Louise mumbled, avoiding looking at him by running the washcloth over Livy’s now clean face again.
She’d controlled the motel owner to make him agree. Paul would bet money on that, but he let it go. He would pay the man in the morning. Everything was fine. Still, it was rather troublesome that her kind could make mere mortals do things they didn’t necessarily want to do. He doubted there was a motel owner on the planet who would rent rooms on the promise of payment in the morning, not to mention a credit card in case of damage . . . unless made to do so by a passing vampire.
“There we go. Time for bed,” Jeanne Louise murmured, tugging back the blankets and sheet on one side of the bed and patting it for Livy to move to it.
“But I just woke up,” Livy protested.
“I know, hon. But it’s bedtime and you want to be all rested and feeling good for the beach tomorrow, don’t you?” she coaxed.
Livy considered that and then nodded, but rather than move, she said, “But I can’t sleep in my clothes.”
“There are pj’s in the Walmart bag,” Paul said, standing to go collect the bag from where Jeanne Louise had set it at the foot of the bed.
“I’ll get it,” Jeanne Louise said at once, hurrying to try to get to it first.
“I’m not an invalid, Jeanie. I can do it,” Paul said with irritation as he snatched up the bag. He then grimaced and offered an apologetic expression before adding more gently, “I’ll do it.”
Jeanne Louise nodded and backed off, leaving him to dump the contents on the bed and sort through the clothes that spilled out. He’d bought the promised clothes for Jeanne Louise, as well as pajamas and a T-shirt and shorts for Livy, and another pair of jeans and a T-shirt for himself. He hadn’t thought to buy either himself or Jeanne Louise pajamas though. He didn’t normally wear them and he just hadn’t thought of it with Jeanne Louise. He’d only bought them for Livy because they’d seemed to jump out at him as he’d passed the rack where they’d hung. They were pink with white Dalmatians on them and he’d thought she’d look adorable in them.
Sighing, Paul set his own clothes aside, along with Livy’s, put the clothes he’d got for Jeanne Louise back inside, and then offered her the bag. “Sorry. I didn’t think to get you pajamas.”
“That’s okay,” she murmured, accepting the bag. “I can sleep in the T-shirt and my panties.”
Paul blinked at the announcement. Not that Jeanne Louise noticed, she’d turned away to set the bag on the end of the bed Livy was in. Forcing away the image she’d just put into his head, Paul collected the pajamas and moved to the head of the bed.
“On your feet, muffin,” he ordered lightly.
Giggling, Livy stood up on the bed in front of him and bounced around as he caught the hem of her T-shirt and tugged it up and off over her head. She continued to bounce around as he put the pajama top on her, but he brought a halt to her bouncing by catching her ankles and tugging them out from under her when he was ready to trade her shorts for the pajama bottoms. It was only after he’d done it that it occurred to him that perhaps she shouldn’t be hopping or dropping about, that perhaps it would cause another headache to flare up.
Fortunately, it didn’t, and Livy laughed uproariously as she bounced onto her behind on the bed. She then kicked her legs as he tugged her shorts off and put the pajama bottoms on. Boomer thought this was a fine game and immediately bounded onto the bed, barking excitedly.
Paul had to order the dog off the bed, but smiled as he finished tugging Livy’s bottoms into place. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks rosy. If he hadn’t seen the scans himself in the doctor’s office, and been there for the headaches she’d been suffering for the last several weeks, he almost could have believed she was just your normal, healthy little girl. But she wasn’t. She was dying. The thought made his smile fade and his voice was gruff as he murmured, “Under the blankets now.”
“Okay,” she said cheerfully, but stood up on the bed again, hugged his neck, and kissed his cheek before moving to the spot where Jeanne Louise had pulled down the covers. She dropped to her bottom, scooted her feet under the blankets, then grabbed them and pulled them up as she lay back. Livy then closed her eyes, and proceeded to make loud snoring sounds.
“Monkey,” Paul said, managing a small smile.
Livy opened her eyes and grinned at him briefly, but just as quickly her eyes closed and her face slid into sleep. Helped along by Jeanne Louise, Paul knew. He didn’t look to the woman, but continued to stare at his precious daughter and renewed his determination to save her life. He would convince Jeanne Louise to turn her. He had to.
“I’m going to take a shower,” the woman in question said softly.
Paul nodded, but didn’t glance around. He heard the rustle of the bag as she collected it from the end of the bed and a moment later there was a soft click as the door between the bedroom and bathroom closed.
Sighing, Paul bent to brush a wisp of hair away from his daughter’s face. “Don’t worry, baby,” he whispered, running his finger along her cheek. “Daddy’s here. He won’t let you die.”
Paul was peering out the window at the parking lot when Jeanne Louise came out of the bathroom. She’d washed her panties in the sink, wrung them out the best she could, then had laid them on the sink to dry a bit while she took a shower. Of course, they hadn’t been dry by the time she’d finished and she’d had to don them wet, but they would dry on her body and at least they were clean.