31. Clam Jousting
THIRTY-ONE
CLAM JOUSTING
Trey
I jump off the bed. “Is she alright? What happened?” I love that kid as much as I love her mom. She’s my chipmunk and right now she’s hurt. What’s even worse is that I’m not there.
“The kids were playing, and she jumped and fell awkwardly on her arm. It might be broken.” Rylee casually throws her legs over the side of the bed as if there isn’t an emergency right now.
“Shit. Get dressed.”
My fingers shake as I tug on a pair of jeans and throw a shirt over my head. “I’ll pack the car.” In a frenzy, I rush around the room, shoving everything haphazardly into our bags, disregarding whose belongings they are or where they should go. I’ll sort everything later. When the upstairs is clear, I toss our bags in the backseat of my SUV along with the cooler. I set a reminder to call the resort and explain that I’ll cover the additional cleaning fee since I left all our food in the kitchen.
Once we’re on the road, I press the gas pedal to the floorboard. Streaks of brown and green flash by in a blur on the two-lane highway. It’s like I have tunnel vision. My only objective is to get to Abby. I hate that we’re not there for her.
Rylee’s phone buzzes again and she puts it on speakerphone. “Hey Parisa. How’s Abby doing?”
“She’s asking for you and someone named Squirrel?”
“That’s me. Put her on.” My chest tightens as if a five-hundred-pound brick is pressing down on it.
“My. Arm. Hurts,” Abby chokes out between sniffles.
“Hey, Chipmunk. We’re on our way. We’ll be there soon.” My tone is soft and soothing, hoping to reassure her even though my chest is in a vise grip. “You be strong, okay?”
“Okay.” She sniffles again. “I love you.”
My heart jumps to my throat. I glance at Rylee, and she smiles softly.
The vise grip loosens a little. “I love you, too. We’ll see you soon.”
I love that little girl with every fiber of my being. I’m hurting because she’s hurting. My knuckles turn white as my grip tightens on the steering wheel.
“Trey. Slow down. It’s not going to do us any good if we get in an accident and end up in the hospital ourselves.” Rylee grips the grab handle.
“Sorry. I’m just… I want to make sure she’s alright.” I ease up on the gas pedal.
“She’ll be okay.” Her warm palm on my thigh eases some of my anxiety. “She’s a tough girl.”
I exhale a breath. My nerves settling a fraction. “You’re right. She’s your daughter, after all. I don't know how you can keep your cool.”
"Oh. I'm freaking the fuck out but it's not going to do anything to help our situation at the moment."
I curl my hand around Rylee’s, intertwining our fingers, offering what little comfort I can give her while she does the same for me.
* * *
“Wow, this sling is pretty bad a—awesome. It’s pretty awesome.” I run my fingers over the hot pink sling. “I bet you were a brave girl when they did the x-rays.”
Abby nods as she sits next to me on the couch at Rylee’s apartment.
Parisa brought Abby to the emergency room and sure enough, she broke her arm. We met them at the hospital right before they took her in for x-rays. Afterward, they set up an appointment for a cast, but in the meantime, they gave Abby a sling to keep her arm still and to wait for the swelling to go down.
“You know, when I was your age, I broke my arm too,” I say to Abby.
“You did?” Puffy, red stained eyes meet mine.
“Yeah, I was trying to impress all my friends and show them I could jump from one side of the jungle gym to the other. When I jumped, I didn’t quite make it and I hit the ground, breaking my arm.”
“Wow. That’s what I did.” She sniffs, wiping her hand over her face.
“I even have a scar where the bone poked through the skin.”
Her face scrunches up. “Eww! That’s gross!”
“You want to see?”
“Yeah!”
I twist my arm, so my elbow is facing her and run my finger over the scar that runs down my forearm. Abby leans in to inspect it closer. “Sometimes it pops out of place, and I have to push it back.”
She glances up at me, eyes wide. “No, it doesn’t.”
“It does. Look closely.” While she leans in for a closer inspection, I hook my finger in my mouth and pull it out, making a loud pop. She jumps and screams before falling over into a fit of giggles.
“Okay. Maybe it doesn’t. But I did get a really cool green cast that all my friends got to sign. What do you say? Should we get some markers so we can have your friends sign your cast?”
“Yeah! Can they be glittery ones?” She kicks her feet.
“We will find you the glitteriest markers. What do you say we put on a movie? We’ll just hang out for the rest of the night.”
“Yeah! Can we have ice cream too?”
“Go get your pajamas on,” Rylee says, “and we’ll meet you in the living room with a big bowl of popcorn.”
“Okay.” Abby scampers off to her room, her little feet patter along the carpeted floor. Rylee struts up to me and I stand to greet her. “You’re really amazing with her.” She rests her hands on my chest. “I’m sorry we had to cut our weekend short.”
“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I’m more than happy to spend the night on the couch watching whatever animated cartoon Abby’s obsessed with this week, while snuggling up with my two favorite girls.”
Her gaze meets mine as she drags her finger back and forth over my chest. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“If by promise, you mean we get to play my favorite game, Trey Goes Clam Jousting, then yes. That’s the exact promise I want.” I wrap my arms around her shoulders, and her hands drop to my waist. Bending down, I press my lips to hers. It’s soft and gentle, but fuck, I want more.
“Eww! That’s gross!” Abby barrels down the hallway at full speed.”
“Slow down,” Rylee demands.
She slows her pace, her pink princess blanket dragging behind her. She flops down in the middle of the couch. “Bunny can sit here.” She pats the right cushion. “And Squirrel, you can sit here.” She twists so she can pat the other side with her good hand.
“Looks like we have a chaperone for this movie.” I give Rylee one last kiss since I won’t be able to over the next two hours.
“I’ll make the popcorn.” Rylee spins out of my grasp and saunters into the kitchen.
I can’t tear my gaze away from her perfectly round ass sways back and forth with each step. My hand twitches to gently massage the soft skin before giving it a smack. I love seeing my red handprint on her creamy skin. Later. We can do that later. Right now, there are more important matters to take care of first. I lower myself to my designated spot on the couch. “Chipmunk, what are we watching?”
“Princesses!” She shouts. A wide toothy grin covers her face as if she didn’t break her arm six hours ago.
Twenty minutes into the movie, Abby’s softly snoring as she’s cuddled into my side. But there is nowhere else I’d rather be right now.