Page 16 of Second Chance Fate

“Your inhaler isin the front zipper pouch of your backpack,” Taylor reminded Owen as they sat in the drop-off line at Hope Falls Middle School.

“I know, Mom.”

“And so is your nasal spray.”

Owen’s jaw ticked as he stared out the window. He didn’t verbally acknowledge what she’d said, but she knew he heard her. She didn’t take his attitude personally.

The Baqsimi Glucagon Nasal Spray was for break-glass-in-case-of-emergency, most-dire-circumstance use only when Owen’s blood sugar dropped to dangerous, fatal levels. The side effects were a laundry list of awful, but Taylor insisted he carry it because he’d had to use it on two occasions. The doctors couldn’t say for certain that it saved his life, but they also couldn’t say it hadn’t.

The SUV ahead of her pulled forward, and she took its place. When they came to a stop again, she reached into her purse, which was on the console between them, and pulled out a few individual packs of Skittles and Gummy Bears. She always keptcandy there in case Owen’s blood sugar dropped while they were out.

“Here, make sure you have these in your pockets when you go out for recess or in P.E.” She handed the packages to Owen. “And you have your lunch?”

“Yeah.”

He’d insisted on packing his own lunch, and the therapist they both had seen since coming to California told her she needed to loosen the reins, or her actions could stunt his development. She explained that Taylor was a caretaker by nature, and Owen’s health issues caused that tendency to go into overdrive. It took her from what would be classified as helicopter parenting to lawnmower or snowplow parenting. Taylor hadn’t been familiar with any of those terms, but she’d done some research and found out that it did pretty much describe her to a tee. She wanted to remove every obstacle to prevent Owen from experiencing any setbacks or challenges and intervene to obstruct any failure or discomfort.

In her defense, his setbacks could be life or death.

“Did you pack any fruit?” Fruit was better than candy, but she couldn’t have him walking around with fruit in his pocket.

“No, but I brought the cake,” he explained as the SUV’s taillights came on once more as it pulled up.

“Okay, good.” Taylor nodded, doing her best to disguise the panic she was feeling at the thought of him attending school again.

The only tell was her knuckles, which were bright white because she was gripping the steering wheel so hard. She let her foot off the brake and rolled forward before coming to a stop right in front of the school.

Owen opened the door just as the information he’d just given her registered in her head. She reached over and grabbed hisarm as he was climbing out of the front seat. “Wait, cake? What cake?!”

He looked over his shoulder. “The cake from Mr. Santino’s birthday party.”

After answering, he started to get out of the car again, but she didn’t let his arm go.

“We didn’t go to Mr. Santino’s birthday party.”

The car behind her honked, but she didn’t care. She needed to know where he’d gotten the cake from.

“The pastor guy dropped it off when you were in the shower.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Owen shrugged as the car behind them honked again.

“Mom, I have to go.” He pulled his arm out of her grasp.

“What did he say? The pastor?!”

“Nothing. He just dropped off the cake.”

“He didn’t sayanything?”

Owen’s face scrunched as if he was trying to remember. “I mean, I guess he asked if you were there.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I said you were in the shower. It wasn’t a big deal. Why are you being so weird?”

The car honked again, and Owen pulled his arm away and got out of the car. He grabbed his backpack and adjusted the strap on his shoulder before shutting the door.

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