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“Yep, that’s me, and I have cookies.”
“Let the man in, Dad.” Easton was pushed aside, and Tru beamed. “I’ll help you with those.”
I snorted and accepted her offer to take the boxes. I stepped into the room and my gaze immediately landed on Milo, who was staring out the window from his bed.
“Cookie delivery!” I moved over to him and squeezed his leg. “I made three different kinds.”
He turned to look at me and I saw dried tear tracks on his cheeks, and his happiness was lackluster.
“Thanks, Finch.” Gone was the happy and laughing kid from this morning. In his place lay a sad, defeated boy.
“This just won’t do.” I went to the table where Tru had put the boxes. “In my life the saddest or angriest of people couldn’t help but to be happy as they bit into my cookies. What’ll it be: peanut butter, chocolate chip, or snickerdoodle?”
Easton’s hands were shoved into his pockets, and he leaned against the wall, eyes flickering between Milo and me.
“Um…chocolate chip, I guess.” Milo shrugged.
“A classic.” I opened the box, grabbed a napkin and a cookie, and brought it over.
In the fae realm, nature was vital for everything. My mother once showed me how a sprinkle of lavender and good intentions magic tossed into a batch of cookie dough was the recipe to lift spirits. I’d seen it work on fae, but never humans, so I was crossing my fingers as I watched him bring the cookie to his mouth and bite down.
He swallowed, furrowed his brow as he gawked at the cookie, then took a bigger bite. This one brought on a grin.
“See?” I motioned toward Milo and glanced at Easton. “Cookies make everything better.”
“These are so freaking good.” His eyes widened. “Dad, try one.”
That did the trick. Within seconds there were three happy Koopers and the sound of laughter. My mother would be proud.
I wasn’t going to bring anything up about the IVIG or the bone marrow biopsy. I figured if Milo wanted to, it was up to him to do so.
Sure enough, after about a half an hour of sugar and jokes, he mentioned it.
“Doctors said they need to take my bone marrow for tests.”
I nodded and sat beside his bed. “I bet it sounds scary to you, huh?”
“Yeah…it’s gonna hurt.”
“Nah, I mean…the IVIG, that’s gonna give you superpower platelets.” I tapped his IV. “It’ll go in here, you’ll get sleepy, that’s it.”
“But tomorrow, that’ll hurt.”
I wanted to tell him I’d make sure it didn’t, that I’d take it all away from him so he didn’t have to worry about such things. I couldn’t, though. Remembering Arachnis was all I needed to squash down that outburst.
“Well, I can talk to the doctors and see if they’ll let me in for the biopsy.” No way Dr. Perry would say no. I’d helped with them a few times, and she had a soft spot for the Kooper family.
“Oh, wow. Really?”
“Now wait a sec,” Easton interrupted. “Maybe first see if that’s a possibility, and then you can promise.”
Oh, Dad didn’t like that—he thought I was getting Milo’s hopes up…which was fair.
“I’ll be a minute.”
I left the room but not before shooting Easton my best don’t-worry face.
I texted Dr. Perry asking if it was okay, and sure enough, not only did she say yes, she thanked me for doing it on my day off and said she’d make sure I got overtime for it.
