Page 38 of The Rough Ride

“They call it dicey fifty-fifty. They think her appendix real bad. All of a sudden, they cut her clothes, run with bed down hallway to surgery, bring me papers to sign. I worried for my little flower, she everything to me. We no have children. She love the senator’s family so much. I try to reach Mrs. Angie, but no answer on her phone. You say a prayer for my Hilde, Mr. Flannery. She no be at work for a while.”

“Of course. They’ll take good care of her. Don’t worry about calling Mrs. Richardson. I’ll handle it. You just concentrate on Hilde and yourself. And call me Nick.”

“Thank you, Mr. Nick. I call my sister now—she come sit with me.”

“Can you send a text later and let me know how Hilde’s doing, please?”

“I no text. How you say? Wrong generation. I am older than Hilde. My sister, she do everything on phone. I tell her to text you.”

“Thank you. Take care. Give Hilde our best.”

Back in the kitchen, Nick lowered the volume on the cartoons. SpongeBob and that annoying song. Who was Angie’s back-up plan for babysitters? He didn’t remember clearing anyone to take Hilde’s place in the event of an emergency. Angie had a sister somewhere, but he couldn’t put hisfinger on where she lived. He sent Angie a quick text asking her to call him ASAP.

He thought a minute and sent another. Just so she didn’t get upset.

Kids are fine.

He was the one freaking out.

22

Natalie popped out of her SpongeBob trance and said, “Uh-oh,” She leaped off the chair and grabbed his hand, Precious at her side.

“Ollie’s awake, Mr. Nick.”

He listened a second. She was right. The faint sound of baby chatter came from the monitor. The security scan was almost complete.

“Okay, let me finish this, and we’ll go get him.”

“Nooo, Mr. Nick. Now. Ollie climbs up his crib and falls down ‘cause he wants to get out. Mommy says she needs to make his crib a big-boy bed soon. He gets a bloody lip when he falls.”

What?Nick broke into a run, taking the stairs two at a time, passing Natalie on the way.Which bedroom? Which bedroom? Closest to the master.

He caught the kid with two hands as Ollie swung his second leg over the crib rail. It was too close for his comfort.Hell.The boy was solid as a brick and had some weight to him.

Natalie climbed on a little stool in front of a table. Nick couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t afraid ofthatstool. He tossed the little blanket and pillow from the floor into the crib and headed out the door, Ollie in his arms.

“Mr. Nick, come back. We gotta change his diaper.”

Nick stuck his head back into the room.Oh, the table.He laid the little linebacker down and searched for buttons or whatever kept the kid’s pajamas on, unsnapped the crotch, and wrangled the gurgling, happy, surprisingly fast-moving baby.

Natalie stood on the stool next to him, peeled back the little tabs, pulled out a new diaper from a shelf underneath, and set it to the side.

You can do this. How hard could it be? Like wrapping a hot dog.

Nick pulled the diaper back, slid it from under Ollie’s butt and dropped it into a garbage can nearby, keeping a firm hand on the kid’s wiggling torso. A steady stream of pee shot out. Natalie screamed and ducked out of the way as pee soaked his shirt and new tie. There was no way to stop it. It just kept coming.

Natalie ran out of the room yelling, “Linzee, Ollie’s peeing on Mr. Nick, and there aren’t any peepee-teepees, Linzee—.” The rest was a blur. Nick dodged right and the left side of his shirt got soaked, he dodged left and the right side got soaked. How could one little kid pee that much?

Lindsay stumbled into the room and tossed a wad of tissues over the offending member during the last blasts and dribbles. She bent over with laughter, still half-asleep, her eyes alight with humor.

“You ever do this before, Mr. Nick?” Another giggle lit her face.

“Never in my life.”

“No brothers or sisters?”

“Nope.”

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