Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,11
into my office where I quickly finish my notes on Charlton’s file, shut down my computer, and turn off the lights. It’s time to get my kids off the bus.
“Give her my love,” Lisa says when I tell her I’m off.
“Will do. Just in case, would you give Rick a heads-up before you roll out? Things seem to be moving quickly.”
“Oh no. I’m so sorry, Rafe.”
Hearing the emotion in her words I avoid looking at her, having a hard enough time dealing with my own. “Me too,” I mutter, as I pull open the door.
“What’s wrong?” Sofie asks me the moment she steps off the bus and sees me, immediately suspicious.
“Nothing, Pipsqueak,” I assure her, as I hoist Spencer up on my shoulders and grab for my girl’s hand. “Was done early so I thought I’d wait for you at the stop. Grandma and Grandpa should be over soon. Grandma’s bringing dinner.” I ramble in an attempt to distract.
“Is Grandma making dessert?” Spencer asks above me.
“Probably,” I tell him, glancing at his sister.
Her eyes are firmly focused on the house at the end of the driveway, her lips set in a straight line.
Fuck, I want to scoop her up too, take both my kids, and run as far as I can from the heartbreak I know is waiting inside.
“Hey, guys,” Nicky says a tad too brightly when we walk in the door.
She’s sitting in a corner of the couch, her feet up on the ottoman, covered with a quilt. It’s at least seventy-five degrees outside, hardly the type of weather that requires an extra layer. The inability of her body to retain heat is another of the many signs her heart is failing. Another is the cough that seems to have developed these past two days, signaling fluid build up in her lungs.
Not that I needed additional signs, just looking at Nicky is evidence enough.
I leave the kids with her and stick my head into the kitchen, where I find Taz pulling chocolate milk from the fridge.
“Hey, how are things?”
When she turns around I note the strain in her face. “Tough. She spent most of the day in bed but insisted she needed to be up when the kids got home. It cost her though.”
“I see that. I called palliative care. The nurse will be here at seven thirty tomorrow morning, but maybe I should see if someone can come in tonight? Get her some relief for the night?”
Taz shrugs her shoulders. “Not sure she’ll go for that, not with Mom and Dad coming. I already tried to get her to let me give her only the first dose, but she refuses.”
“Let me call,” I insist. “If I can get them to pop in after nine, the kids will be in bed and we can make sure Mom and Dad have left.”
Taz nods, setting the glasses and a plate with cheese, crackers, and grapes on a tray before carrying it inside, while I quickly call to arrange for a nurse to visit tonight.
“She hardly ate at all.”
Sarah pins Taz, who’s putting plates into the dishwasher, with a glare the moment she walks into the kitchen after putting the kids to bed.
From the moment Ed and Sarah showed, the tension had been thick enough to cut. Dinner had been a rather quiet affair, with Sarah and Spencer doing most of the talking. Sofie had been quietly observant, as had her grandpa. Nicky had a hard time keeping her eyes open, and Taz looked like she was trying hard to be invisible while keeping a close eye on her sister.
Some of the tension had lifted while Sarah took the children upstairs. With both Ed and Nicky dozing off side by side on the couch, I’d followed Taz in here to help clean up.
Taz quietly continues to load the dishwasher with Sarah’s eyes boring a hole in her back.
“Mom,” I quietly draw her attention. “Eating takes a lot of her energy. It’s no use trying to force-feed her.”
“Don’t say that,” she snaps, the eyes she turns on me fearful.
“Please, Mom,” Taz pleads with her. “Don’t waste precious time on things that don’t matter.”
Before Sarah has a chance to respond, Taz slips out of the kitchen.
“Come on.” I put my arm around Sarah’s slumped shoulders and guide her inside, where Taz perches on the armrest at her sister’s side, kissing the top of her head before whispering something in her ear. A soft smile appears on Nicky’s lips as she blinks her eyes open.
“How