Page 43 of Coast

“To grab her some medicine, a syringe. She’s freaking out. Better to not make her stop at the store.”

“Okay. Don’t bill her, okay?” I asked.

“Teddy’s donations can cover—”

“No. Bill me.”

“Bill you,” she repeated, head tipping to the side. “Wait. Is that the baby Jade and Sass were talking about? The one in the clubhouse?”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

“You don’t see nothing,” I countered. “She doesn’t have the money. The last thing she needs is to worry about a bill when the baby is sick.”

“Alright then,” Ama said, but the little smile that toyed with her lips said she didn’t believe me before she walked off.

Sighing, knowing I was only getting the gossip mills turning all the more, I made my way back into the exam room.

“She’s awake,” Zoe said, giving me a tentative smile.

“Hey there, Lil’ Bit,” I said, walking over to rub the back of her head. “You scared the shit out of your mom, you know.”

“I probably overreacted.”

“Fevers can be scary,” I said, shrugging. “Especially when they’re this little. And it was your first fever.”

“Brooke did seem a little less freaked out than I was about it.”

“Brooke?”

“She lives a few doors down. I just met her the other day. She has three littles. So I guess she knows all about fevers. She was the one who gave me the card for the clinic.”

“You’ll become an old hat when it comes to sickness. Babies and kids catch and spread everything.”

“And I drag her around everywhere.”

“Oh, don’t go blaming yourself. She’d get sick even if you were a complete germaphobe.”

“I’m surprised I’m not sick.”

“Careful. You’re gonna jinx yourself.”

“I don’t have time to be sick.”

No one ever did. Especially single moms. But experience told me that it was coming. Her immune system just had more fight in it than her baby’s did.

“She already seems to be more alert,” Zoe said a few minutes later as I heard Ama’s heels on the floor in the hall.

“Yeah,” I agreed, reaching out to touch her head. She was still sweaty, but didn’t feel quite as hot.

“What happened to you?” she asked, glancing up at me.

“Some dick at a bar.”

“He just… hit you?”

“I may have been goading him on.”

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