Page 68 of The Last Thing
“Come on,” Sophia says, taking Hallie’s hand. “And I don’t care if you cry. Throwing up makes me cry too. It sucks.”
“Yeah, it does.”
Hallie gives me a thankful, emotion-filled look as Sophia leads her away.
I reach out and give her hand a tiny squeeze, the most I can do to reassure her right now.
Our hands slip apart slowly, and I savor every tiny touch before our contact is broken.
Now it’s time to clean up.
My poor little hellion. Luckily, once she gets it out, she usually feels okay for a while. She looked so panicked when it happened, but it’s just a little puke. I wouldn’t have survived Sophia’s early years if I hadn’t gotten used to cleaning up vomit.
If you’ve never caught your kid’s puke in your hands, are you even a real parent?
It’s not like it’s my favorite thing to deal with, but I’ve dealt with a lot worse.
I get it all cleaned up, then grab a couple of rags, cleaner, and some fresh water and quickly clean the spot on the floor, then rinse it.
It takes about twenty minutes all-in, and once I’ve washed my hands and put everything away, I aim for Sophia’s room. Depending on how awake she was, she might need another story or some music on her sound machine to help settle her in.
But what I find when I get there makes me stop in my tracks.
Hallie and Sophia are asleep in Sophia’s bed. Soph is curled up against Hallie, and Hallie’s arm is wrapped around Sophia.
Emotion grips me as I stare at my girls. And they are both mine. My whole world is right there in one tiny bed.
I want it to last. I want to keep this. I want to give Sophia the mother she deserves. I want us both to have the family we’ve needed. I want to wake up beside Hallie every day and worship her.
If only she’d let herself believe in how amazing we could be together.
She’ll get there, I tell myself. And I force myself to believe it. Because I’m not giving up hope that we can have it all.
I runmy hand gently over Hallie’s stomach and kiss her cheek.
“Time to wake up, Hellion.”
“Hm?” Her eyes flutter open, and she looks around, eyes landing on me kneeling beside Sophia’s bed. When she puts it all together, she covers her face with her hands and groans.
“Hey, none of that.” I pull her hands off her beautiful face.
“I threw up all over the floor. You had to clean it up. That’smortifying.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to associate me with throwing up.”
I stare at her for a second. Is she fucking serious?
“Hellion, that is never how I see you. That’s a thing that happened. Just a part of life.”
“It makes me feel very… not sexy.”
Again, I rub my hand over her stomach, firmly resting it there. “I don’t need you to be sexy all the time. I like your smile, your humor, and your vulnerability too. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I like all of you. Every version.”
She rests her hand on my cheek, eyes dropping to my lips.
“Where’s Sophia?”
