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“I don’t know. I just have this feeling. I’ve had it for an hour now, and I can’t shake it. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something is.”
“Is it safe for me to get up and check, or should you do it?”
“Luke!” She slapped at his chest, then slipped her hand behind his neck, and lifted her cheek to press hers against his.
He nuzzled her neck. “Do you think whatever’s wrong can wait for a little while? I can think of a few things I’d like to do before I get up.”
“How about we put them on hold and do those things after you come back.”
“Promise?”
“You know I do.”
He smiled. He didn’t have to talk her into anything. Oftentimes, it was her talking him into them. “All right. But if anything happens to me, just know that I wanted to do everything before I got up. Not after.”
“It’s not you. It’s something else. I don’t know what.”
“Did you hear Bruno bark?”
“No. I didn’t hear anything.”
Bruno was their dog, and he always slept with their youngest daughter, Rita. The adoption of the girls had been final just the week before. Expedited through the state because of someone his mother knew who was in a position to make it go through.
Both of the girls had seemed to be fine with the adoption. They still fought with each other, and his older daughter, Becky, was a little jealous of Rita’s dog, Bruno.
Still, they settled in as well as he could expect them to.
“Do you think it’s the girls?” he asked as he rolled over and put his feet on the floor, running a hand down his face before he tried to remember where he put his pants.
“It might be.” Kristin spoke like she was thinking about it.
“Could it be the old ladies?”
“Maybe. I... I don’t think so. But I guess it could be.”
Her grandma had started treatments for cancer, and the treatments had been coming along just fine. The doctors thought a few more months of them and she might be in remission, since the cancer had been responding well.
Because of her age, they had been giving her the lowest dose they possibly could. They had to find a balance between quality of life and extending her life. That’s what they’d said anyway.
Maybe her gram had some kind of reaction to the treatment that she’d just taken that day.
He found his pants and shoved one foot in at a time, trying to think of what he should do. Check on the girls first? The old ladies?
“You think I can just open the ladies’ doors and check in on them? I can’t just stick my head in their room.” He didn’t want to knock on their door and wake them up if there was no problem, either.
“Maybe I should get up too?”
“If we’re going to check the rooms, you probably should.”
He could stick his head in the girls’ rooms, but even that felt a little bit awkward. Becky was a teenager, and he wouldn’t go into her room without knocking. Not while she was awake.
He felt a lot better when he heard the sheets rustle and saw Kristin’s shadowy form rise from the bed.
He stuck his arms into his T-shirt and padded to the door on bare feet.
By the time he had it open, Kristin had her hand on his back, sliding it around his waist and peeking over his shoulder.
“You ready?”
