Page 124 of Red King
I don’t want to see him. I’m tempted to back out, but I can’t. She’s just so happy. Look at her. Her smile is about a mile wide, and her eyes dance.
There’s this godawful noise that sounds like a mini explosion, and I look down at the baby in my arms. That can’t have come from him.
Surely not.
“Oh, dear,” Lexi says, rummaging through a bag. It looks suspiciously like a diaper bag.
“Oh dear, what?”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
I get this whiff of…death. I’ve had to clean up behind Fortune and Cookie numerous times, and it was never this bad. Especially considering that they eat everything. I’ve caught Fortune eating Cookie’s vomit and Cookie eating bird shit. Their excrement doesn’t smell anything like this.
It’s disgusting. Like that muck you find at the bottom of a sewer, only inside a dead body.
What does she feed this kid?
It can’t be milk.
It’s vile.
I lift my head and try not to breathe. It doesn’t work. I’m an ER nurse, I’ve seen terrible things. Smelled worse things, and yet…I gag.
I. Gag.
It’s never happened in all my years on the job.
“I’m sorry.” My mouth is filling with saliva. This has never happened to me before, either. I’m seconds away from losing my breakfast. Since I ate a few hours ago, that’s no mean feat. I keep swallowing down the saliva, but my body makes more. How can I have so much of the stuff?
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. Gosh!” She takes the baby, putting him back in the stroller. The baby starts fussing right away. “I need to get home to change him. It’s a bad one.” She widens her eyes. “A really bad one.”
It sure is.
Then she turns the stroller and starts fast-walking. The baby has started wailing; you can hear his little cries.
Lexi turns back. “Bring Reese next weekend. We’d love to meet him.”
I must be looking at her like she lost it because she adds, “To Solly’s christening. Bring your boyfriend.”
I nod. “I will. Of course, yes.” I nod a lot…too much. My stomach is still rolling.
She waves and keeps going.
It’s only when the beagles pull on the lead that I remember they’re even there.
“Good dogs.” I reach down and give them each a scratch behind the ear. “What do you say we go to the park?” Thankfully, the nausea is dissipating.
The dogs jump and yip around my legs.
“That’s what I thought, guys.” I smile at them.
We start walking.
What did I just do? What did I just agree to?
I’m such an idiot.
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