Right now, she still liked him… he was pretty sure. If they got together and things crashed and burned, she might not like him at all anymore.
But what if it doesn’t crash and burn?
Then… they’d be together. Stay together. Marriage?
For the first time, the thought didn’t give him an itchy feeling that made him want to rub calamine lotion all over himself—which was disturbing all on its own. Shouldn’t he still feel itchy and uncomfortable? What was so different about Domi?
“It’s kinda slow in here today, don’t you think?” Jane asked, coming up next to where he was standing at the computer, entering butt-stuff guy’s details. Mitch winced. Jane was their new intern, fresh out of medical school, and she’d only been there a week.
“Shh, don’t say that!” Dr. Brady, who was running the room that morning, glared at her. Despite only being five feet tall and one of the warmest, friendliest people Mitch had ever met, she could also be fierce as hell. Especially if someone jinxed them like Jane had just done.
“Sorry!” Jane clapped her hands over her mouth. When Dr. Brady turned away, Jane leaned in toward Mitch. “She’s really superstitious, huh?”
“For good reason,” Mitch said, shaking his head. “You’ll learn, newbie.”
Less than five minutes later, they were all running their feet off as victims of a multi-vehicle car crash were wheeled in. Jane looked sick to her stomach, but she followed along quickly enough when Mitch hurried toward the stretchers, along with the other nurses. Yeah, she’d learn.
Domi
Watching Ana prancing around in her Elsa dress, Domi had to grin at the enthusiastic hand waving going on. It didn’t matter the weather was warm or her name actually matched Elsa’s sister—as far as Ana was concerned, she was the snow queen. She had a great imagination.
“Queen Elsa, I request permission to return to the house,” Domi said finally, getting her daughter’s attention. She was still sitting on the chair Ana had directed her to before doing her snow queen thing. “I have work to finish.”
Ana’s face fell, but she nodded. Domi’s chest tightened. She hated disappointing her daughter, but she couldn’t play all afternoon, as much as she might want to. Part of her was a little exasperated. It wasn’t like Ana had included her anyway, but she knew Ana still liked having her there, even if Domi was only watching from her chair.
Then Ana brightened again.
“When the new baby gets here, she can be Anna!”
Domi had to laugh. Thankfully, Ana was very excited about becoming a big sister, just like Elsa. She hadn’t even been bothered when Julia’s morning sickness had become so bad, Marcus had asked if Ana could come back to Domi’s early. Poor Julia had started throwing up almost constantly on Monday, and even though she was now on anti-nausea medication, Marcus wanted her to get a few days' total rest while she recovered from what had been a truly awful few days.
“It’ll be a bit before the baby is able to play like that, but eventually, yes.”
“I can’t wait!” Ana spun around, throwing her arms out wide. Her happy grin was infectious, and Domi found herself grinning, too, her guilt fading in the face of her daughter’s joy.
“Rae will be home soon,” she reminded Ana. “Maybe she can play with you when she gets here.”
It wasn’t really throwing Rae under the bus. After sitting in front of a computer screen, working with numbers all day, she loved playing with Ana, and Ana brightened even more at the reminder.
“I’m going to pretend my new sister is here playing with me until Aunt Rae gets home.” Ana nodded her head decisively, and Domi laughed.
“Okay, have fun, sweetie.”
Smiling, Domi turned and headed back into the house just as her neighbors, Karen and Jordan, were coming outside. They didn’t have a fence between their yards, just flowerbeds, but thankfully they all got along really well. Jordan waved, and Karen nodded her greeting since she was carrying a tray full of drinks and snacks. They often sat in the backyard on nice days, enjoying the weather, so Domi wasn’t too surprised to see them out today.
“Afternoon!” Jordan called out, smiling widely and brushing some of their grey hair out of their face. Jordan was the first non-binary person Ana and Domi had met, but both of them had learned how to use their pronouns quickly. “Isn’t it a gorgeous day?”
“Gorgeous,” Domi agreed, smiling.
“Hey, Elsa, looking good,” Karen said, putting down the tray she was carrying and giving Ana a thumbs up. Ana smiled back and twirled, prompting a smattering of applause from their neighbors.
Feeling a little better now that Ana wouldn’t be totally on her own for playtime, Domi headed into the house and sat down to get to work. Being an inpatient medical coder wasn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but it was important. One missed code or forgotten rule could end up costing a hospital tens of thousands of dollars, which should have been covered by either insurance or the government. Domi liked knowing she was helping people who needed it by making sure every ‘t’ was crossed and every ‘i’ dotted, which meant she needed complete focus on what she was doing.
Which was why it took her a moment to realize the sudden, loud sound she was hearing was screaming.
“Domi! Domi!” Jordan’s voice was only slightly muffled as they banged on the back door.
Scrambling out of her chair, Domi accidentally knocked it over, her heart already pounding as she ran for the back of the house.
Ana. Something happened to my baby.
The high-pitched wail of pain had to be her daughter. Her airway constricted, making it hard to breathe, and the only thing
