Bittersweet (Redemption #3) - Jessica Prince Page 0,61
soon as the door closed, Brantley looked up from the coloring book Shane had told me to grab after she finished hurling all over my shoes earlier. I was grateful that she’d been of sound mind enough to suggest it, because I’m not sure how I would have handled a sick Shane and my five-year-old son at the same time. One was perpetually grumpy and the other had limitless energy. “Are we goin’ home now?”
“Yeah, bud. We’re heading out. Get all your stuff together and put it in the bag, yeah?”
He went about doing as I’d asked while I turned to Shane, placing my hand on her thigh to keep her from climbing off the examination table. “Just wait here for a second. I’m gonna handle getting you signed out, then I’ll come back and help you to the truck.”
She gave me a hesitant nod. “Okay. If you’ll hand me my purse I’ll grab my wallet. I think I might have enough cash to cover—”
My fingers on her leg squeezed, silencing her. “I’ve got it taken care of.”
“Jensen, you can’t—”
“I’ve got it taken care of,” I repeated firmly. She curled her lips between her teeth, giving in, but I could see the struggle in her eyes. She never could stand feeling like a burden, even if the person helping her didn’t feel that way at all.
“I owe you this,” I said quietly so Brantley wouldn’t overhear. “I owe you this and so much more, sunshine. But things are about to change for you.”
“What do you mean? Does this have something to do with what you said the other night?”
“Yes, but we’ll get into it when you’re feeling better. Just know that it’s a good change, okay?”
That time her nod wasn’t hesitant at all.
I headed out of the room and took care of the bill, then I loaded the only family that had ever truly mattered into my truck and drove us back to Shane’s house.
Shane
“What’s the thumb-motor say?”
My son’s whisper-yell worked to pull me out of a restless sleep, and I slowly turned my head to find him and Jensen standing beside the bed.
“It’s back down to normal, bud. See?” Jensen held out the digital forehead thermometer I’d gotten the last time Brantley was sick, showing him the numbers on the display. “Ninety-eight point seven. That means her fever broke.”
Brantley looked up at his dad with wide, curious eyes. “That’s good, right? It means her brain won’t melt.”
“That’s exactly what it means,” he replied with a chuckle. “No melted brain.”
They both whipped their heads in my direction when I laughed.
Jensen hit me with that cocky smirk I’d fallen in love with when I was sixteen years old, and in my weakened state, I felt myself melting just a little at the sight of it. “Hey, you’re awake.”
“Hey, Mommy!” Brantley jumped up on the bed, shoving his knee right in the middle of my solar plexus as he scrambled to climb over me, but the pain was all but forgotten when he flopped to my other side and snuggled against me. “Your fever is broken. That means your brain won’t melt,” he announced seriously.
“Whew. That’s good.” I looped my arms around his little body and gave him a big hug. My arms still felt a little stiff, and there was still a dull throb behind my eyes, but for the most part I was feeling a lot better. “If I had a melted brain I probably wouldn’t remember how to make that tater tot casserole you like so much.”
His eyes bugged out comically. “That woulda been bad.”
I felt the mattress depress on my other side and looked over at Jensen as he sat on the edge, studying my face as though all the answers to an upcoming test he had to take were written on it. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, actually. I’m surprised how fast that medicine worked.” I tried looking at my alarm clock on the bedside table, but it was blocked by Jensen’s big body. “What time is it anyway?”
“Nine.” I glanced at my bedroom window. That didn’t make sense. The sun was out. If I slept until nine, it should already be dark outside. “On Monday morning,” he finished.
My head whipped back around in shock as I screeched, “I slept for nearly twenty hours?”
“Obviously you needed it. You didn’t move once. I actually came in here a couple times last night and held a mirror under your nose to check.”