Page 52 of The True-Blue Romance

“She has a hundred-and-three-degree fever, and I can’t get it down. The after-hours pediatrician told me to take her to the hospital just in case. Especially since she’s so lethargic.”

“She was fine on Friday!”

Lee hands my debit card over to the frightened-looking cashier as I attempt a smile to calm myself down. I enter my pin as I take deep breaths.

“I don’t know, Joseph, she came home from school yesterday sniffling and coughing. Now it’s a full-ass cold. I don’t know what you want me to say!”

I fight against the urge to scream and yell and watch as Lee takes a card with the date we can come pick up the finished pottery. Lee works his hand into my pocket and takes my keys from me, then guides me out of the store and promptly helps me climb into the passenger seat. I smile at him through my fear, and he smiles back. My shoulders lower at the sight of his smile. I pinch the bridge of my nose hard in frustration as Danica mumbles on.

“Listen, is she at the downtown children’s hospital?”

“Yes.”

“I’m already downtown, so I’ll come now until she’s released or admitted. Okay?”

“Okay,” Danica murmurs quietly but doesn’t hang up. “My boyfriend is here with us.”

“I would assume.”

“See you soon.” And then Danica hangs up.

“The children’s hospital?” Lee asks for confirmation, already pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward the expressway.

“Yes, downtown.”

“We’ll be there soon. She’s okay.”

“I know,” I say while reaching over to take Lee’s hand, needing the comfort of his hand against my own. Savannah was frequently sick through preschool, almost to the point of needing tubes in her ears with how many ear infections she had. But by kindergarten it had evened out, and now that she’s heading into first grade, it’s been a long time since she was really ill. We always get our shots to lessen illness. I try to not worry about it being something serious, something that I missed on Friday morning when I took her to school.

“She’s okay,” Lee says again with a hard squeeze of my hand.

I take a deep breath as we pull up outside the children’s hospital. Lee gives my keys to the valet and shoos me along to head inside. I stand still for a moment, watching him handle everything, but he gives me a pointed look that is impossible to argue with. Two young women at the counter look at me as I approach them.

“My daughter, Savannah, I think she’s in the emergency room.”

“Driver’s license?” the blonde woman asks.

I hand over my license, tapping my fingers against the counter as the woman gets me a visitor badge. I glance over my shoulder to see Lee walking toward us. “He’ll need one too. This is my partner.”

Lee looks shocked for a moment but just dutifully grabs his wallet to dig his ID out. The other woman takes Lee’s ID and makes him a visitor badge, then they point us toward the emergency room doors. I take Lee’s hand into my own again, because fuck the possibility of someone getting upset in this moment. My comfort means more than someone’s feelings. Lee holds my hand in a soft grip, his thumb sweeping over my knuckles as we hurry through the emergency doors.

It’s not Danica who I see when I walk through the doors. It’s her coworker, Dominic, who I met many times while Danica and I were together. This makes a lot of sense. I always thought he was in love with her, and everything she would say about him was gentle and kind. He waves me over, eyes dipping down to our joined hands, but his face doesn’t show any emotion beyond worry.

“I came up here to wait for you to show you back. Savannah is sleeping.” Dominic leans forward to shake Lee’s hand. “I’m Dominic. You must be Unc-Lee?”

Lee chuckles, but it’s uncomfortable. “Yes.”

Dominic nods toward the door. “Come on.”

We follow Dominic through the doors, past room after room. The walls are painted with ocean animals, and the lights on the ceiling are softer, less jarring than other hospitals. Lee’s hand squeezes mine again, and I squeeze his back just as we stop in front of a room.

“Nurses are making us wear masks in case it’s Covid.”

“Fuck, really?”

Dominic nods as he points toward the masks on the cart by the room. Lee and I mask up, so does Dominic, before we enter through the sliding door. Savannah is sound asleep in the bed, pale as hell, her blonde curls a sweaty mess. Danica sits holding her hand, and she glances up at me, all tired worry. Her eyes land on where I’m gripping Lee’s hand like a lifesaver, and her eyes do this weird sort of eye roll that isn’t anger, but sort of like relief.

“She was asking for you both.”