The Bromance Book Club - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,48
Amelia by the shoulders and steered her toward the toilet—a split second too late. And now there were two floors to be cleaned.
“It’s OK, sweetie,” Thea said, rubbing a circle on Amelia’s back. She turned around to check on Ava, who now stood naked and shivering. Balancing on one foot, Thea leaned over and checked the temperature of the water. “Go ahead and get in the bath, Ava.”
Turning back to Amelia, she gently moved her to the side of the toilet and told her to lean over in case there was more. And yep, there was. Amelia shivered with a pitiful whimper. Thea smoothed her hair back. “It’s OK, honey. It’ll be over soon.”
She finally got Amelia into the tub a few minutes later. Gavin appeared in the doorway as she lathered Ava’s hair. He looked at the floor, grimaced, and used a leg to block Butter from coming in.
“Amelia’s sick too,” Thea said. “Can you grab some clean towels from the closet?”
“Which closet?”
Resentment pounded at her temples. “The same closet they’ve always been in,” she said in a clipped voice as she dumped water over Ava’s head.
“Which one is that?” he snapped.
“Seriously? How long have we lived here?”
“I don’t spend a lot of time paying attention to towels, Thea.”
No shit. “The linen closet in the hallway.”
Gavin disappeared and returned a moment later with one hand towel. “This is all I could find.”
The pounding became a jackhammer. “I just put an entire stack of clean towels in there yesterday.”
“Well I didn’t find them. What do you want me to do?”
“There are clean ones in a basket in my room.”
A vein popped along his jaw. “Your room?”
Thea shot to her feet. “Forget it. I’ll get them.”
She stormed to the linen closet, retrieved the stack of towels that Gavin had to purposely not see in order to miss them, and stormed back.
“Where were those?”
“In the closet.” She dropped the stack on the floor and finished rinsing Ava’s hair. “OK, sweetie, go to Daddy.”
“I want Mommy,” Ava whined.
“You’re going to have to settle for me, squirt.” Gavin picked her up from the water. He knelt to dry her off, his body brushing against Thea’s as he did. She scooted over, which earned her an annoyed scowl.
“I’ll get Ava into her pajamas,” Gavin said. He stood, Ava in his arms. Tucking Ava’s head into his shoulder, he walked out of the bathroom.
Thea finished Amelia’s hair and then paused to gaze at her daughter, who still looked pale. “You feeling any better, honey?”
Amelia nodded and yawned. It was going to be an early bedtime tonight.
“Come on, sweetie.” Thea hefted Amelia from the tub and dried her off. Then she carried her into the girls’ bedroom. Gavin sat on the floor, threading a shirt over Ava’s head. He looked up.
She looked away.
* * *
• • •
Gavin’s neck burned with frustration at Thea’s dismissal. He tugged Ava’s sleep pants up. “Let’s get you into bed.”
“I want Mommy.”
Wow. Would that ever not hurt? He wished someone had told him that having children could devastate a man in ways unimaginable before. Gavin stood and picked Ava up. “Mommy’s getting Amelia dressed.”
He glanced backward. Thea had set Amelia on her bed and was helping her into a nightgown. Amelia pressed her face into Thea’s neck as Thea caressed the back of her head with a soft, soothing whisper that Gavin couldn’t hear. But he felt her voice all the same. Tender and loving. Gavin was officially jealous of his own kid.
Ava yawned, so Gavin set her on the bed and lifted the covers for her to scoot beneath. Thea had skipped the toddler bed thing with them and moved the girls straight into twin mattresses. They were way too small for Gavin’s long frame, but he made do. He laid down next to Ava and smoothed her wet hair from her face.
“You feel any better?” he whispered.
She nodded, yawning again. “My tummy doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“That’s good. You probably just ate too much at Uncle Del’s.”
“I had three pieces of pie.”
Yikes. “How’d you get three pieces?”
“Mack said we could have as much as we want.”
Gavin was going to kill him. “You need to ask Mommy or Daddy for stuff like that, honey. You know that.”
“But Mommy would say no.”
Gavin chuckled. “Probably. But that’s because she knows that if you eat too much, you’ll get sick.”
Ava’s eyelids grew heavy, and she snuggled her favorite stuffed animal to her face. The duck had once been bright yellow, but it was now faded into