Chapter Seven
For the next couple of days, Aria didn’t see Ryan. She might have been too hard on him. What he’d said held at least a kernel of truth. She wasn’t sure how he’d prove to her she could count on him. Then she got sick.
Aria felt absolutely awful. She’d called the construction boss and asked them not to come.
The noise and people traipsing in and out was the last thing she needed.
What she needed was help and she knew it, so she called the only person she really knew in Marietta.
Ryan. She’d thought about asking Sierra to come over but quickly discarded that idea.
No way did she want to give a pregnant woman the flu. Or whatever nasty disease she had.
She wasn’t sure if Ryan was working or not, but she called him anyway. Even if he was working, he might have an idea of someone she could call. Thank God, he answered on the first ring. “Aria, hi. What’s going on?”
He didn’t sound angry, so he wasn’t holding a grudge. “Are you working?”
“No. In fact I have the next few days off and was about to ask you if I could see Sophie. Maybe bring her to my place for a little while? It doesn’t have to be for long but I’d—”
She cut him off before he finished. “I need help.” She hated to admit that, but she had no choice if she wanted Sophie to be taken care of.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I have the flu. Could you come over and take care of Sophie for a while?”
“I can do better than that. I can take care of her as long as you need me. How about I bring her to my place? For a few hours, anyway.”
“Can we talk about it when you get here?”
“Okay. Have you taken a test? Are you sure it’s the flu?”
“Not positive but whatever it is I feel horrible.”
“Do you have any medicine?”
“Nothing but aspirin and acetaminophen for the baby.”
“I’ll bring a flu test for both of you and some Tamiflu in case it’s positive. I’ll bring some Tamiflu for Sophie too.”
“Is it safe for babies?”
“I think so, but I’ll double-check with Jack Gallagher. He’s one of the family practice docs around here. Unless you’ve already found a pediatrician or a GP?”
“I did and it’s Jack Gallagher. Should I call and tell him you’re coming?”
“Wouldn’t hurt.”
Forty-five minutes later, her doorbell rang.
“No offense, but you look terrible,” Ryan said when he saw her.
“Gee, thanks. I’m sure I do. That’s what happens when you have the flu.”
“Have you taken your temperature?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I called you to help with Sophie. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“Sure you are. When you’re not sick as a dog. Temperature?”
She rolled her eyes. “A hundred and two.”
“Good Lord, Aria. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
“I kept hoping I’d feel better.”
He handed her the sack of medicine. “Take the flu test first. It’s quick. Where’s Sophie? I’ve got her medicine in there too, assuming it is the flu. Jack said it was fine and she can take it prophylactically. We don’t need to test her unless she has symptoms.”
“She’s in her crib in the bedroom. I’ve tried to stay away from her unless I’m nursing but it’s not working very well.
I’ve been wearing a mask when I nurse her.
I thought that might help a little, anyway.
” It was damn near impossible not to pick up her baby when she cried.
“Do you know how to give her the medicine?”
“I can figure it out. But first, you need to take the test.”
Grumbling, she did so while Ryan went to check on the baby. Shortly afterward the test came up positive.
“Sophie’s still asleep,” he said upon his return. “What’s the verdict?”
“It’s the flu.” She wanted to cry. She’d been praying it wasn’t the flu.
“I’ll give Sophie her medicine when she wakes up. And there she is,” he said, hearing her cry.
Aria got a glass of water and took the pills while he went to the sink and washed his hands. She followed him into the bedroom. Sophie was looking at her mobile and kicking her legs when they entered. Thank goodness she’d stopped crying.
Ryan leaned over the crib rail and sniffed. “I think she could use a diaper change.”
“Knock yourself out,” she told him. This wasn’t the first time he’d changed Sophie’s diaper, but he tended to give her to Aria if she was dirty.
Ryan picked Sophie up and put her on the changing table.
Not surprisingly, he was quick and competent.
He put her in her crib and went to wash his hands again.
After that he picked her up, held her in his arms, and cuddled her.
Aria wished seeing him like that with the baby didn’t make her hormones sit up and take notice but no such luck.
“Go back to bed,” he told her. “I’ve got Sophie.”
“I made up some formula and put it in the refrigerator. The doctor doesn’t think she’s gaining like she should so I’ve been supplementing my milk with formula so I can gradually change her over. You’ll call me if you need me?”
“Yes, but we’ll manage. I’ll take her in the living room. Is there a blanket in there I can use so she can play on the floor?”
“In one of the chairs.” Her furniture had come not too long after she moved and now she at least had some decent living room furniture.
“There’s a pack and play in there if you want to put her to sleep in it.
But she’ll play for a while. Also there’s a bottle of milk in the fridge.
There’s a bottle warmer in the kitchen. Don’t use the microwave. ”
He rolled his eyes. “I know.”
“I’m going to bed.”
“Good. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Sophie.”
*
Ryan had wanted to bring Sophie to his place but with Aria so sick he didn’t think it wise to leave her. So he’d wait until things had settled down a bit.
Once he got Sophie down for her nap, he checked on Aria. He thought she was asleep, though he wasn’t sure. But he gathered some diapers and wipes, having used what was in the other room.
“Ryan, is the baby okay?”
“She’s fine. She just went down for her nap.” He crossed the room to Aria’s bed. “Have you taken your temperature again?”
“I’m fine.”
He put his hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up. When did you last take aspirin or ibuprofen?”
“I don’t know. This morning sometime.”
He picked up a glass of water and shook some aspirin out of the bottle. Handing her both, he said, “The Tamiflu should start helping before too much longer.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“It will.” He hoped. “How bad do you feel?”
“Terrible. Like I want to crawl in a hole and pull the cover over myself and wake up sometime when I’m not sick.”
“Sit up.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “Why?”
“Just do it.”
Still grumbling she did so. Ryan reached behind her to get her pillows. He fluffed them then put them back behind her. “Thanks. Who taught you that? It’s not a doctor thing.”
He laughed. “My mom used to do it for me when I got sick.”
“My mom was never around when I was sick.”
He knew she’d been raised by a single mom but he didn’t know much else. He smoothed a hand over her hair. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “She did what she had to do to survive. Fortunately for me, I never had to depend on a man to support me so that I was left destitute when he abandoned me.”
“That’s what happened to your mom and you?” That explained a lot.
“More or less. Never mind that, though. You can be sure I’ll be there for my daughter. But I hope like hell she doesn’t get this.”
“Our daughter,” he reminded her.
“For now,” she said.
“What does that mean, for now?”
“I didn’t want to get into this.”
“Apparently you did or you wouldn’t have said what you said.”
She frowned and shrugged. “It means I can’t trust you to stay. For all I know you’ll get bored and decide you need to leave, and Sophie will be left with a single mom. Except this single mom is in a lot better shape than my poor mom was.”
“I’ll let you go to sleep.” He left the room before he got even angrier.
Sure, she had reason to be upset about how he’d left, although they’d never talked about the idea of him staying.
And she hadn’t told him about the baby, either.
But damn, he hadn’t realized that she might actually hate him. It sure as hell sounded like it though.
Still pissed when she woke up, Ryan said, “You don’t have a lot to eat but I can make you soup. There’s frozen pizza too. Or I can go pick up something if you feel up to staying with Sophie.”
“You don’t need to take care of me.”
“Somebody needs to.”
“If you really don’t mind, I’ll have soup. You can eat the pizza if you want.”
He made Aria some soup and took it to her. She thanked him and he shrugged and left to eat the pizza and tend to the baby. He figured he’d stay overnight but hoped she’d be better enough in the morning for him to at least be able to pick up food and shower and change clothes at his place.
As for the rest of it, the fact that she totally didn’t trust him and might not ever trust him, they were going to talk about that tomorrow as well.
Ryan had thought, okay, hoped, that he and Aria might be able to salvage their relationship, but so far that looked like the last thing on her mind.
He wished it didn’t matter to him but it sure as hell did.
*
Two days later, Ryan left her house to shower, change and to pick up groceries.
He’d gone home quickly the morning before too, but this time he intended to stay longer.
Today Aria was much better, the medicine having done wonders.
And though she told him she didn’t need his help anymore she was fairly sure he wouldn’t pay any attention to her.
Sure enough, he didn’t. He showed up an hour and a half later, looking like he’d had the most restful night imaginable when she knew he couldn’t have slept more than a couple of hours total, if that.
Her couch wasn’t long enough for him and to her horror, he’d made a pallet on the dirty carpet, laughing when she pitched a fit.
He came in with bags of food—healthy stuff like fruits, vegetables, easy-to-fix meals. And lots of liquids.
“I wasn’t sure if you drank Gatorade but if you don’t, I’ll take it home with me. I also bought lemonade and orange juice. And milk since I know you like it and put it in your coffee.”
He remembered how she took her coffee. It shouldn’t have made her feel good, but it did. “Thank you, but this is too much. I can handle things from now on.”
He looked at her critically. “You don’t get over the flu in a couple of days. Even with Tamiflu. I have today and tomorrow off so there’s no reason for me not to help you. Besides, I like taking care of Sophie.”
At least he hadn’t asked to take Sophie to his place again. She must have looked skeptical because he said, “What? You didn’t think I’d want to take care of my own child?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from you.”
His gaze hardened. She’d only spoken the truth. She hadn’t meant to piss him off, but clearly, she had. To be fair, maybe she had harped on that a bit too much.
“Let me get this straight. You don’t trust me. Hell, you don’t even like me, yet you told me about Sophie and brought her to Marietta so I could meet her.”
“I didn’t say I don’t like you. Of course I like you. You’re Sophie’s father.”
“All that means is you liked me back then.”
Before he could add any more, she said, “Letting you meet Sophie wasn’t the only reason I came here.
It wasn’t even the main one.” Which was a big fat lie, but she was going with it.
“I wanted to move to a good place to raise my child. A good place to start my business. Denver wasn’t it.
I’m sure I could have found a good place to live and raise Sophie, but I didn’t think I could make a go of my nursery.
I’m hoping Marietta is the best place for both of those things. ”
“I don’t understand how you can trust me with Sophie, feeling the way you do.”
“I trust you with her. But I don’t trust you to stay.”
“You trusted me before, didn’t you? What changed?”
Aria stared at him. “For starters, you walked away from me without a single regret.”
“You’re wrong. I had a lot of regrets.”
She parked a hand on her hip. “Oh, really? I guess that’s why you called me so much. Oh, wait. You didn’t.”
“That’s why you don’t trust me? Because I left? Because I didn’t call? I wanted to call but I was afraid it would make things worse. That it would just make me miss you more.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure.”
“I told you if I’d known you were pregnant, I’d never have left you.”
“I didn’t want a man who was only with me out of obligation.”
“I’ve never felt like you were an obligation.”
“Of course you didn’t. But I wasn’t pregnant with your child then.”
“A child is the responsibility of both parents, not just the mother.”
“We never talked much about our families,” she said. “I know you’re an only child and your father was army. But that’s about all I know.”
“Not much else to know. My father’s still alive, but my mom passed several years ago.”
“Do you see him?”
“Not often. We’re not that close.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Nothing bad. We just don’t talk that often. He’s retired. He remarried a few years after my mom died. He and his wife live in a gated community that’s heavy with retired military. He does a lot with his friends there. Golf, poker, crap like that.”
“Is he happy?”
“Seems to be. But I’d rather talk about you.”
I wouldn’t, she thought.