Page 55 of Against the Clock

“Mommy, I don’t feel well,” Rosie said, standing in the doorway rubbing her eyes.

I pushed past Mike and went to her, pulling her into me as I laid my hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

“You’re burning up again,” I confirmed, tilting my head to see her face.“Let’s get you a cold washcloth and some water.”

“Did the Tylenol not help?”Roman asked as he and Mike followed us into the living room.Mike hurried in to move the blankets off of the couch so she could sit down.

“It doesn’t seem like it.I gave it to her an hour ago.”

“What do you need?”Mike asked as we all headed into the kitchen while Rosie sat on the couch and curled into a ball.

I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to focus.I was exhausted.But I knew that we would need the basics—at minimum—and I didn’t have a way to go out to get them.On top of that, we were running low on clean clothes after she got sick again last night.My mom had a pile of clothes at her house that she was planning to wash for me today, but there wasn’t a way for me to run over there to get them.

“Um,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose while I thought about it.“I need stuff for Rosie—more children’s Tylenol, Gatorade, crackers, and maybe some soup.Unfortunately, I can’t think straight, so I have no idea what I’m missing.”

I looked between them, feeling loved and supported by how they were watching me.

“I’ll go to the store and grab some groceries plus the stuff you listed.Is there anything you want for yourself?”Roman asked.

“I’m fine but thank you.”

He furrowed his brow but didn’t fight me on it.

“I have some clothes at Mom’s that she was washing for me,” I said, turning to Mike.“I don’t know if you can grab them on your way home tonight or if it’s out of the—”

“I’ll get them, don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you.Both of you are tremendously helpful.”

Rosie started coughing, which pulled my attention away from the guys while I went to check on her.I grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge and offered it to her, hoping to get some fluid into her.

She took slow sips of water and then handed the bottle back to me.

“How are you feeling?”I asked, pressing the back of my hand to her forehead.She still felt warm but not as hot as she was a few minutes ago.

“I’m sleepy.”

“Why don’t you lay down and get some rest?I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

“Okay, mommy.”

She scooted down on the couch and curled into the pillow, her head barely touching it before her eyes fluttered closed.I snuck to the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer, then carefully scanned her head to get her temperature.99.2.

I sighed a breath of relief that it had come down some and was no longer sitting in the 100-101 range that it had been most of the night.I prayed that the Tylenol was working and that the rest would give her body what she needed to fight whatever this was.

When I went back to the kitchen, the guys were talking quietly while Roman wrote down whatever Mike was telling him.

“Be sure to get the ones in the red bag,” Mike said, pointing to something on the paper.

“What are you doing?”I asked, standing on my tiptoes to look over Roman’s shoulder.

“Just making a list,” he replied, turning away from me to keep me from seeing it.

“Anything else?”he asked Mike, completely ignoring me.

“I think that’s it.I’ll grab the other stuff on my way back.”

“Your way back?”My eyebrows raised off my forehead.

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