Page 37 of The Rough Ride

“Toiyets are too big for me. Daddy promised he’d put in a short one. I hope it’s soon. This is ‘barrassing, Mr. Nick.”

“Sorry, kid. Your dad’s a busy man. I’m sure he’ll get to it.”

“I asked Daddy to put a short one in the kid’s bathroom, but Linzee fussed ‘bout it. I like the house in Texas. All the poddies are short. Sometimes Mommy cries ‘cause she misses home. And Precious puts her paws on Mommy’s shoulders and licks her face when she cries.”

And she was off and running in her usual tell-all-leave-nothing-unsaid manner. He’d heard the stories from Derek. Life in the big house from a child’s perspective. Mommy and Daddy swimming in the dark at night, Daddy putting Precious in her crate so he could kiss Mommy. The pool company needing to sanitize the pool after Ollie’s playmates pooped in it.

“Help me down, Mr. Nick.”

He went in and helped her off the toilet, looking the other way as she adjusted her clothes.

“Ready to go?” He looked at his watch. This bathroom break had taken five minutes.

“No. I have to wash my hands. Mommy says not washing is ‘izgusting.”

“Use the stool there.”

“Can’t. I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“I fell off and got a boo-boo.” She held up an elbow with a large black and yellow bruise and pinned him with huge blue eyes.

One quick glance proved her point. The bathroom held nothing but granite, marble, tile, and porcelain. How many times had his father almost knocked him senseless in a bathroom? Fear washed over him, and his throat dried. There couldn’t be any boo-boos on his watch. How would he explain that to Angie?

Natalie put her arms up again.

Okay, then.He straddled the stool and held her up while she turned on the water, adjusted it for warmth, soaped up, rinsed, soaped up and rinsed again. Somewhere in there, she bent low and rinsed her face. He moved her close to the hanging hand towel while she dried her hands and patted her face. Then he set her down and turned off the light.

Another look at his watch. Eight minutes.

Boyshadto be easier than girls.

Natalie ran for the kitchen.“I’m starving, Mr. Nick. Let’s make bekfast.”

He took a deep breath and hoped this wouldn’t involve testing his culinary skills or lack thereof. He had to pull it together. Evenhecould scramble an egg on request. His phone rang, an unknown number, as Natalie pulled a box ofPop Tarts from a lower cabinet. As a kid, he’d have chosen the same thing. They probably weren’t on Angie’s list of preferred eats, but desperate times and all that. He answered the phone as Natalie handed him the package to open.

“This is Nick.”

“Mr. Flannery, you are the boss, yes?”

“Yes. Who’s this?” He opened a bunch of different cabinets and finally found a plate for the Pop Tarts. The guy on the phone had some kind of Slavic accent. Russian, maybe?

“I am Edward, Hilde’s husband. We are at emergency room.”

Oh, shit.Nick slumped against the refrigerator. “What happened?”

Natalie yanked on his pants pocket while holding a little cup in her hand.A drink?He opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice. She shook her head and pointed at the chocolate milk.

“Hilde’s car had trouble this morning, so I say I drive her in my car. No work for me this weekend due to holiday. She no tell me how bad she’s been feeling. We work opposite shifts and mostly see each other on weekends. Then she double over in car as I drive and cry out in pain. I say, ‘Hilde, why you go to work when you so sick?’ She say, ‘the senator and his wife have to travel this weekend and she got to go for the children.’ She loves those kids.”

Nick set the cup of chocolate milk on the table as Natalie scrambled onto a chair, grabbed the remote, and turned on cartoons. He slipped into the laundry room to get away from the sudden noise.

“Okay. So, how’d you end up in emergency?” He ran a hand through his hair and paced.

“I drive couple more miles, and the pain no go away. Shecries out every time it comes to her. Then I know she’s hurt real bad ‘cause my Hilde is tough woman. How you say? She’s no wimp. I say, ‘Hilde, you my life. You no go to work. I take you to doctor. Hilde say no. I say yes, right now.’ I see sign for hospital and bring her in. They take her back real quick and say her color no good. Her white count very bad. Then she gets sick on nurse and faint.”

Nick could relate. The blender in his stomach had turned into a Magic Bullet at high speed. “Is she going to be alright?”

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