I grabbed the pink and brown bag and rifled through it until I found a blanket and a baggie with frilly girly clothes in it, then held them out while Bethany helped Tiffany change. “I’ll put the groceries in my truck and take them to your house if you want to take her to the clinic,” I suggested.
Bethany looked at me with such a look of appreciation that I patted myself on the back for offering. “That would be amazing,” she said. “I want to get her fever checked; she was fine in the store.” She leaned into the car and buckled Tiffany in, then tucked the blanket all around her. “She was a little whiny, so I checked her forehead a couple of times and she was not feverish. It spiked fast.”
“Go,” I urged.
She handed me her house key. “If you park in the back, the stairs from the office go straight up into the kitchen.” She looked at me with wide eyes, then threw her arms around me and squeezed me for a heart-stopping second. Without another word, she ran around her car and within seconds she backed away and drove out of the parking lot, leaving me and my truck and a cart full of food.
The urgent care clinic was on the outskirts of town, just in the county. Bethany’s house was on the way, but by the time I loaded the truck up and returned the cart, she was long gone. I ran back toward the grocery store and grabbed their water hose on the side of the building, then hurried back to the dark spot on the pavement. I sprayed it until I saw no more chunks. It wouldn’t have been fair to have left that for some unsuspecting cart-pusher to have to clean.
After putting up the hose, I drove to Beth’s house. This time I parked all the way around back as she said. Using the key, I took a few bags and let myself into the silent downstairs. Walking into her home without her there felt like I was crossing a line of privacy, but I was still fascinated by it. Her office was one big room with two doors off of it. I looked around at the simple decor. Mostly there were pictures of Tiffany and who I assumed to be Bethany’s parents. A man featured in many photos with Bethany. Probably Kyle.
Over the desk was a little wooden plaque thing that read “Mom--Boss--CEO.” Cute. I didn’t want to pry, but I had to find the stairs. The first door I opened was a simple bathroom. It was spotless. She was definitely a neater person than me.
The second door was the stairwell. Carpeted stairs muffled my footsteps. I opened the door at the top and stepped out into a bright, cheery kitchen. The island in the middle of the room was empty, so I put the bags there until I got them all in, then looked around.
Pale yellow walls made me think of Beth’s happy personality, but the antique kitchen tools hanging up were a surprise. I stepped closer to look at the objects adorning the walls and recognized an old corn shucker, vegetable peeler, and biscuit cutter, among other things. Some were rusty, some looked new. None appeared to be used, just decor. It wasn’t what I would’ve expected from Beth, but I liked it a lot.
A clock chimed somewhere deeper in the house, startling me.
Just get the groceries unloaded so we can go check on our girls.
Oh, they were our girls now? Plural? The idea of them both being mine somehow made me feel centered. Settled. I didn’t take the time to study those emotions, just ran back downstairs and got as many bags as I could carry. It still took me two more trips to get it all.
The cold stuff was easy to put away. Freezer or fridge, not a lot of options. Going through Beth’s cabinets to try to put the dry goods away was a step too far, so I organized them by type on the island and put all the grocery bags into a single bag. I’d noticed she used grocery bags in her bathroom garbage can downstairs, so I didn’t trash them.
Once that was finished, staying at the house seemed again like going over my bounds, so I walked down the stairs, closing the doors behind me, then out to my truck. As I buckled my seatbelt, I heard the sound of a car on the road in front of Beth’s house.
Sure enough, about a minute later, Bethany’s car parked beside me. I jumped back out of the truck to help her, but there wasn’t much for me to do. She pulled a sleeping Tiffany out of the back seat. “That was fast,” I whispered.
“Miracle of miracles, there was nobody there when we went in.” She grinned at me, and I rushed around her to open the door. “The pharmacy is delivering the medicine. It was totally worth the extra five bucks,” she continued in a hushed tone as she walked through the office.
I went around her again and opened the door to the stairs. She smiled her thanks.
“What’s wrong with her?” I couldn’t get around her to open the top door, but I stayed close and when she got to it, I leaned in, pressing my front to her back.
Bethany’s scent invaded my senses. I breathed deeply while I had the chance.
Unfortunately, my nostrils were super-strong, thanks to Artemis, and I also inhaled a nose-load of leftover vomit stink. Choking back a cough, I pushed the door open and Bethany walked through.
“Double ear infection,” she said. “She got several her second year, and they talked about doing tubes, but then she stopped getting them. If the antibiotic shot doesn’t work, we may decide to do it this year.”
I
