20. Declan Foster
20
DECLAN FOSTER
Where the hell is he?
I sped through the thin traffic, both hands gripping the wheel tight while my palms grew slick with sweat. I tapped the Bluetooth phone button on the wheel and barked, “Call Parker,” but I didn’t have high hopes. As expected, the phone rang several times before going to voice mail.
Something was wrong.
Panic twisted in my stomach. I shouldn’t have gone in to work today. This was what happened when things were going too smoothly. Parker and I had been dating for two weeks. He and Joy had been living with me for a month. Joy was crawling. Well, it was a wiggle-scoot-crawl, but she was getting much faster. And Parker was making plans for the new mural in my office at home.
See? Perfect. Everything was perfect.
Except this morning Joy was fussy and not eating. Parker noticed she had a low-grade fever but thought it might be teething. Her first tooth had poked through last week, and it looked like there was a second one ready to break through.
What he said made sense, but something in my gut had argued that it was more. That I should take a personal day and stay home. At the very least, I could have worked from home so I could help keep an eye on things.
But no. Parker had laughed and brushed a kiss to my cheek, saying that I was worrying too much.
And I’d believed him.
Fuck . Why the hell wasn’t he answering his phone? I’d been calling off and on for the past two hours, but he wasn’t picking up. I’d gotten a hold of Franks more than an hour ago and he’d said that Parker had rushed Joy to the pediatrician.
Not taken.
Rushed.
They’d rushed to the doctor. Something was very wrong, and for reasons I couldn’t understand, Parker wasn’t responding to my demands for information. Fucking thoughtless!
Early afternoon traffic remained light the entire way from the office to my home. As I hurried out of the office, I’d snapped an order to my assistant to cancel my meetings and inform Sebastian that I’d left because of a personal emergency. I’d explain to him after I’d gotten the full story from Parker.
Tires barked and squealed as I whipped the car into the driveway and roared toward the house. I didn’t even bother putting the car in the garage. It was faster to go in through the front door. If Joy was sick and they were home, it was likely Parker had her in her room, which was on the second floor. If not, I’d track down Franks and find out what the hell was going on.
I jumped out of the car as soon as I killed the engine and raced into the house. My heavy footsteps pounded across the marble floor and echoed along the stairs as I ran upstairs. As I turned into the hall with Parker’s and Joy’s bedrooms, Parker stepped out of his bedroom.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I roared. “I’ve spent half the day calling you and you couldn’t be bothered to return a single one of my calls! ”
Shock widened his eyes for a heartbeat, but fury replaced it instantly. He charged at me and grabbed my wrist, tugging me to my bedroom. “Fucking asshole,” he hissed. “If you wake her up with your shouting, I swear to God I will strangle you. I just got her to sleep.” This was all said between clenched teeth as we walked briskly to my room.
When we reached my room, Parker left the door open, likely so he could hear if Joy started crying. He released my arm and glared at me. “Keep your goddamn voice down.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? Why haven’t you called me? I’ve been worried sick all morning and afternoon. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called you and gotten your voice mail?”
“Called me?” Parker repeated, looking flabbergasted as he patted the pockets of his ragged jeans. “Fuck. My phone. It’s still on the damn charger.”
“I’ve called you twenty-three times,” I enunciated. Shoving my hands through my hair, I paced away from him, muttering to myself. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to you this morning and left. I should have stayed here, but I trusted you to be thoughtful enough to keep me updated on Joy’s condition. Do you think I don’t care about her?” I held out my hands to Parker so he could see how badly they were shaking. “No one. No one has ever made me so furious and frightened at the same time. Do my feelings mean so little to you?”
“What? No!” Parker snapped, his voice jumping above a whisper. He groaned and rocked on his heels as he shoved his hands into his messy hair.
Now that I’d let all that out, I took a good look at him. His complexion was pale, and the top half of his hair was pulled back in this short ponytail. He wore a stained T-shirt and jeans. He looked like hell, and I’d just spent the past minute shouting at him like a fucking lunatic. God, I was an ass. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d lost my temper, but Parker sent all my emotions to extremes .
“Fuck.” Parker groaned. “I’m sorry. Right after you left for the office, Joy started puking. And then there was all this diarrhea. It was a real shit show. Literally. I spent the first couple of hours talking to the pediatrician’s office and cleaning her up. The second she was clean, she’d either puke or fill her diaper or both. I couldn’t figure out where it was all coming from. She was crying and her fever spiked. By the time I got the pediatrician to sneak me in for an appointment, my phone was dead. I put it on the charger while I got her ready to go, but forgot it there when I left the house.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Virus,” Parker announced with a heavy sigh. “There’s a bug going around right now. Lasts twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but it’s pure hell. People can’t keep anything in their bodies. But it’s particularly dangerous for very young kids because they get dehydrated so easily. The doctor gave me a prescription and instructions to help, but also gave me warning signs to look for in case I need to take her to the emergency room.”
“But how did she…” I shook my head, words failing me. This didn’t make any sense. Franks always did such an amazing job of making sure the house remained spotless. The maid service that came twice a week cleaned and sterilized everything and Franks did some light touch-up the rest of the time. Could I have brought it into the house from the office that made her sick?
“It’s probably from daycare.”
Shit . I’d forgotten that Parker was putting her in daycare three or four days a week, so he had time to work and she had a chance to socialize.
“Of course, she could have picked it up on our weekend excursions,” he continued. “It’s how things go. I’m sorry I missed your calls and that you were worried.”
“No, I’m sorry that I lost my temper. I?—”
My words cut off when I saw Parker’s eyes go impossibly wide. He straightened from his slouch and slapped his hand over his mouth. Before I could even ask him what was wrong, Parker bolted into the bathroom attached to the master bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
What the…
I walked toward the bathroom and raised my hand to knock on the door. Violent retching echoed through the tiled room and seeped under the door, stopping my hand. Parker was sick.
“Parker?”
A low moan echoed through the room and just as I was reaching for the doorknob, he said, “Don’t come in!” Which was followed by more retching.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No.”
My heart squeezed. He sounded so miserable.
“Are you sure? I can get you a damp cloth. Rub your back,” I offered.
“No, don’t come in. I’m disgusting.”
“That’s doesn’t matter. I’m worried.”
There was a long silence where I could only hear his heavy breathing and maybe some dry heaving.
“Can you…can you get me a change of clean clothes? I need to borrow your shower. And can you watch Joy until I’m out?”
“Got it! Don’t worry!” I ran as quietly as I could to Parker’s room and dug through his drawers, locating a clean pair of briefs, a T-shirt, and the softest pair of sleep pants he owned. Since he was sick, he was going to need to be as comfortable as possible. And if he needed to go to the doctor, they would have to deal with him being in pajamas.
Clothes in hand, I jogged to the bathroom and put my ear to the door, but heard nothing. “Parker, I’ve got your clothes. Are you okay?”
“I wanna die,” he moaned. His voice had a weird echo to it, like his face was in the toilet. “My poor baby. My poor baby has this, and she must be so miserable.”
“Honey, it’s okay. Franks and I will take care of Joy. She’s still sleeping. Do you need help getting into the shower or washing?”
“No. But try to keep Franks and Donovan away from Joy. I don’t want them catching this too. I’m sorry to expose you. It’s not fair. If you wanna leave…”
My heart was breaking. Apparently, when Parker was sick, he turned weepy and sad. All I wanted to do was charge into the bathroom and hold him, but I had a feeling if I went in there while he was a mess, I’d only make him feel more miserable.
“I’m not leaving you. Don’t worry about me. I’m putting your clothes outside the bathroom door. You get cleaned up. I’ll go check on Joy.”
“Mmkay…” Parker mumbled.
Before heading to Joy’s room, I darted into my closet long enough to change out of my suit and into a T-shirt and shorts I saved for my workouts. They were comfortable, and I didn’t mind ruining them. As I passed the bathroom door, it sounded like Parker was at least moving around. The toilet flushed and the water for the shower turned on.
In Joy’s room, everything was still peaceful. She was asleep in her bed, but her round cheeks seemed extra flushed. Laying my hand on her forehead, I found she was warm, but not horribly so. Maybe the medicine was already helping.
Except I didn’t know what medicine she needed, how much, or how often.
And did I need to get medicine for Parker?
I stayed with Joy for several minutes and then tiptoed down the hall to find Parker sitting on my bed with the sleep pants on and the T-shirt in his hands. He hung his head and looked as if he were trying to get the energy together to finish getting dressed .
“Joy is still asleep,” I murmured.
“Good.” Parker sighed and dragged his shirt over his head. He fought with it for a second and got it settled on his body.
“You need to do the same.”
“No. I’ll be fine.”
All it took was for me to give his shoulder a push and he fell, his head landing on a pillow. He fought to keep his eyes open. Taking a shower had drained what strength he had left. He’d nearly knocked himself out taking care of Joy, and now he was sick as well.
“I can handle things. Just tell me what instructions the doctor gave, and is there medicine I can get for you?”
Parker shook his head, his eyes still closed. “Nothing for me. It’ll all come back up. In a few hours, I can try a sip of water or Gatorade.” He then listed detailed instructions for Joy about fluids, medicine, and what to watch for if her condition worsened.
“Let me close my eyes for a minute. My whole body feels horrible. It’s like my stomach turned itself inside out.”
“What you need is rest,” I admonished. I lifted his bare feet and placed them on the bed so that he was lying on his side facing the bathroom in case he needed to run again. Once he was settled, I grabbed a spare blanket out of the hall closet, lightly draped it over him, and turned out the lights.
I stepped out into the hall and frowned. Joy was sick and Parker was sick. Both of them needed to stay in bed, receive medicine, and get as much rest as possible. Neither one of them was going to agree to such a thing. I was going to need help.
Briefly, I thought about seeing if I could hire a nurse to assist me, but I couldn’t imagine that Parker would want a total stranger seeing him like this, even if they were a health professional. He’d be anxious and on edge the entire time. He wouldn’t be able to heal if he wasn’t relaxed and comfortable. No, there was only one person I could think of whom I could call for advice.
I marched into Parker’s room and found his phone plugged in on the nightstand just as he said. Thankfully, he’d told me his password, allowing me access to it. After a second of scrolling, I located the person I was looking for and called the number.
“Hi, sweetheart! I was thinking of you and was going to call.” Lenore Cain’s voice rang through the line, bright and chipper.
“Hello, Mrs. Cain. My name is Declan Foster. I’m Parker’s boyfriend. I hoped you might help me with something.”