Orlando (Boyle Heights #4) - Elizabeth Reyes Page 0,131

kept wiping with a tissue. She stood on the backyard deck, supervising Oreo, who was sprinting around in his walker. The guy couldn’t move his little feet fast enough, and it’s why at first, she’d balked at getting him a walker to begin with. She’d read they were more dangerous than they did babies good. But he was in a walker one day when they’d picked him up from Orlando’s mom’s house, and she couldn’t believe how much he loved it. So, she’d given in to the idea. Only she made everyone who might be watching him when he was in it, promise that he’d be supervised at all times. The little guy just had way too much energy to burn off and ran amuck in it the whole time. Today was different. She didn’t even have to be out there because there were enough people there to keep an eye on him. They were having a Dodger-themed birthday party for Dominic. Aside from gardening and baking, the Dodgers were another one of his passions in life. There was a playoff game today, so Orlando had said it’d be a perfect day for this. He’d invited all the guys from the shop to come down as well. Orlando had also taken Dominic down to 5th Street to meet Sabian, the superstar Dodger shortstop, on a day he was signing there. He was a good friend of the owners, and since Beast knew them well, he let Orlando know when Sabian was going to be there signing and got Dominic VIP treatment.

They’d even offered to let him celebrate his birthday in a special suite down at the stadium since Sabian had enough clout for that. Unfortunately, while Dominic had gone to many games in his lifetime, he’d been traumatized several years ago after witnessing a bloody brawl at one of them. Ever since he refused to go again. Danica had been standing next to Ali and Drew as they spoke of their babies. She wiped at her nose again with a tissue as she listened to poor Drew complain about her cracked nipples. “I swear it’s been brutal. Chelsea never did this to me.” She turned to Danica. “With Chels—” She stopped and pointed at Danica’s tissue. “You have a bloody nose?” Danica glanced down at her tissue just as she felt the warm liquid drip out of her nose.

Nine was on his feet instantly as she brought the tissue back to her nose. He grabbed some napkins from the table with the cake and handed them to her. “I’ll keep an eye on this guy while you go wash up. Got some on your top.” He motioned to the front of her blouse.

“Crap,” she said, looking down at the stain on her blouse. “I’ll be back.”

“Hydrogen peroxide,” Ali said, moving her big baby from one leg to the other. “Trust me. I was notorious for getting spontaneous bloody noses in my first trimester with both pregnancies.” Danica slowed her steps as she took that in. “Stained up plenty of clothes and pillowcases.”

Orlando turned to Danica as she walked into the house. He’d been on his way out. He peered at her, his eyes on the tissue over her nose. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Just a bloody nose. I get them sometimes.” Like once a year, if that, but she kept that to herself. “I’m gonna go clean up and change my blouse. Nine’s got the baby.”

She continued on to the bathroom, Ali’s words still in her head as the nausea that had her throwing up earlier lingered. Because of the runny nose, Danica had just thought she was coming down with something. Now her heart was beginning to race with another alarming thought. Grabbing her phone from where it was charging in the bedroom, she brought it with her to the bathroom. “No way,” she whispered as she set it down on the sink, and she ran the water and began rinsing her nose and face. This was the second time she’d rinsed her face off in less than an hour. The first time had been earlier when she’d been in there hugging the toilet. The moment she was done, she stuck tissue in her nostril to clog the blood from dripping and dried off her face with a towel. Glancing in the mirror, she frowned because she looked as exhausted as she’d been feeling lately. Another reason she’d been sure she was just coming down with something. She picked