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“Thank, fuck,” she sighs in relief. “Are you good with hamburgers?” she questions. “I can’t be bothered to actually make something.”
“Yeah,” I say before hanging up the phone and crashing back down on my pillow.
Half an hour later, I hear Dani unlocking my front door and the sound of Mia’s cries instantly fill my home.
I pull myself out of bed and slide on my bunny slippers before making my way down the hallway. I find Dani and Mia in the kitchen, and I walk in after them to the smell of my lunch, making my stomach grumble. Mmmmm, that’s good.
I take the screaming baby from Dani and curl her in my arms. “What’s wrong, my little princess?” I soothe.
She looks up at me with tears in those big blue eyes and the sight breaks my heart.
“She’s been like this since the middle of the night,” Dani tells me as she searches my cupboards for some plates.
My heart breaks further. Mia’s so tiny. It’s not fair for her to be suffering from this sort of pain. If there was a way I could take it from her and make the pain my own, I’d do it in a heartbeat. “Have you taken her to the doctor?” I ask as I slowly rock her in my arms.
“Yeah, the home doctor came out during the night. There’s not much we can do for her besides letting her rest and waiting it out,” she tells me. “She wasn’t calming down at home, so I thought I’d try you. She always seems to relax with you.”
I smile down at the precious gem in my arms. “That’s because I’m your favorite person in the whole wide world,” I tell her in my baby voice as I walk her to the couch and take a seat, snuggling her close to my chest.
“No way. She loves her mommy the most. You come in a close second though,” Dani says as she brings our lunch over to the couch and sits down beside us. “Maybe her daddy in third.”
“I don’t know what your mommy’s talking about,” I tell Mia. “She must have taken a trip to crazy town.”
Dani ignores me as she dives into her lunch, and I do the same, struggling with only being able to use one hand. An hour later, after a lot of rocking and soothing, we manage to get Mia settled into a deep sleep.
After placing Mia down in the little makeshift bed Dani made for her, I find Dani spread out on the couch just moments from falling asleep, and a small smile pulls at my lips.
Leaving her be, I go about the house, cleaning up after lunch and collecting all of Mia’s toys and pacifiers that are spread out over the living room. Deciding I should at least do a little work today, I make my way into the office and get stuck into my investigations as I allow Dani some time to catch up on her rest.
I’m an hour in when a call comes through on my phone. I look down with a frown, not recognizing the number.
“Hello?” I say with a questioning tone.
“Hi, uhh . . . is this Sophie? It’s Luke from Frisky Framing,” the voice says.
Understanding dawns instantly. “Oh, hi. Yes, it’s me. What can I do for you?”
“I was just calling to let you know your frame is ready,” Luke says.
“Already?” I ask in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that for another week or so.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says sheepishly. “I sort of put a rush order on it.”
“Oh,” I say, slightly taken aback. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“Well, yeah, actually, I did. Consider it an apology after I awkwardly hit on you last week when you made it obvious you have a husband and a kid.”
I don’t want to go into the details of correcting him, so I let it slide. “Thanks,” I say. “I have a free afternoon. Can I get it today?”
“Yeah, sure. It’s pretty big though,” he warns. “You got a big car?”
“Sure do,” I smile before ending the call, an excited rush pulsing through my body. I can’t wait to see how it turned out. Tank is going to be so surprised, and I know he’s going to love it.
Excitement fills me as I try to get back into my work, but I can’t concentrate. Deciding to give up for the day, I dash down to my room to get dressed before coming back out to the living room and gently rocking Dani’s shoulder. “Mmm?” she questions with her eyes still firmly closed.
“I’m ducking out for a half hour. Are you good here?” I ask, trying to be as quiet as possible as to not wake little Mia. Though, her soft snores let me know she is truly out of it.
“Yeah,” Dani mumbles as she adjusts herself on the couch, clearly not very comfortable.
