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“Could you stay?” the nurse asks as Ali reaches for the door handle. “She’s more comfortable with you here.”
Ali looks to me for direction, and I have to nod my head. If Aria needs her to be here, then so do I.
“I’m here, angel,” Ali says, stepping back into Aria’s line of sight.
The exam goes quickly with us first giving our information to the nurse before having to relay it all over again for the doctor when she comes into the room.
The doctor listens and looks, working quietly before giving us any information.
“She definitely has conjunctivitis, but she also has a sinus infection.” The doctor types some things on the tablet she brought in with her. “I’m going to prescribe eye drops and antibiotics. It was suggested in your paperwork that Main Street is where you get your prescriptions?”
She looks up at me and I confirm with a nod. If that’s where Max asked them to be sent, then I know I won’t have any problems with insurance there. It’s one less thing for me to have to worry about and deal with.
“I’m going to send her scripts electronically, but it may be twenty minutes or so before they’re ready. Her paperwork says that she goes to an in-home daycare.”
“At the clubhouse,” I confirm, my leather cut already making it obvious where I work.
“But she’s around other children that aren’t siblings?”
“Correct.”
“She’ll need to avoid interactions with other children if you can help it. I’d suggest finding alternative childcare until her symptoms are gone for the pink eye which is around seven to ten days.”
“So don’t take her to daycare?” I clarify.
“Keeping her as isolated as possible is best,” the doctor says with a smile that makes it clear she’s completely oblivious to the situation she’s putting me in.
Chapter 13
Alyssa
I watched in real time as relief washed over Harley’s face when the doctor told him eye drops and antibiotics will cure what ails Aria. Then I watched as he shuttered his emotions when she mentioned her needing to be isolated.
He hasn’t said a word since we left. We stop to get her medications from the pharmacy in complete silence, it being unspoken that I’ll stay in the vehicle with Aria while he runs inside.
I haven’t been able to deduce if he’s worried about being locked in the room at the clubhouse with Aria for over a week or if he’s considering coming back to his own house. Maybe it’s a combination of the two that is causing him so much concern.
“I can keep her at the house,” I offer as we sit in the vehicle outside the house I’m supposed to be staying in.
He pulls his eyes from the front to me, and I wonder if this is the first time he’s been this close since the accident. Every time I’ve seen him near here, he’s parked across the street, whereas now, we’re in the driveway.
“Overnight?”
“If that’s what you need.”
His eyes drop to my mouth as if he can’t believe I’m offering.
“You don’t even stay here at night, Ali.”
“I will if that’s what she needs.”
“I don’t want to be away from my daughter, especially not when she’s sick.”
I nod in understanding.
“Would you stay here if I stayed here?”
This question isn’t one I considered. I figured he didn’t want to be here at all.
“I just think it may take both of us, but I understand if—”
“I can do that.”
“I know you’ve been through a lot, but maybe if there’s someone in the house with you, you won’t be too scared to sleep.”
I could tell him that Boomer has offered to sleep on the couch here every night since I caved and let him come inside with me, but I only did that because I consider the man my friend. Despite our civil conversations today, I don’t think of Harley in the same way.
“I’d feel safe with you here,” I tell him, finding myself a little shocked that I believe it.
“She’s just happier when you’re around,” he continues.
“You don’t have to explain why you may need help. Babies are exhausting even when they’re well.”
“I haven’t been back since…” His whispered confession fills the SUV, and I have no damn clue how to respond to it.
Aria squeaks from the back seat, followed by a low whimper that we both know is going to turn into a wail very quickly.
“Is there something I can do to make it easier for you?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“I can take her and go inside so you can enter on your own, or if you think it will help, you can carry her in and I can disappear for a while.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” His eyes plead with me, making me realize how damn hard this is going to be for him.
“I’ll take her and give you some time,” I decide, not giving him a chance to choose.
