Page 95 of The Gathered Fragments of Us
"Who? Jessica?" Mom asked, but I was already declining the call and texting David again.
Me:She called again. Declined again. Is there a way to block these?
David:You can ask the facility to put you on a no-contact list, but given she's Macy's mother, that might complicate things. Might be better to just decline for now and document each attempt. Meanwhile, I'll add this to the list of things for our next hearing.
"Caden?" Mom's voice pulled me back. "What's going on?"
"Jessica's trying to call from prison." I showed her the declined call log. "This is the second attempt in ten minutes." I turned my phone back towards myself and said, "hang on a sec, mom. I just want to make sure to give Felicity a heads-up." At this, I texted her. While she was just upstairs, I wanted to be discreet so I didn't upset Macy, and I know that Felicity reading her messages would give her a few minutes to process instead of being bombarded by issues.
Me (to Felicity): Sweetheart, Jessica has tried to call multiple times this morning. Comes from unknown number. I know you're still upstairs with Macy, but didn't want you blindsided. Maybe ignore her calls if she gets through to you, for now. Let's talk later when alone.
I put my phone down and turned back to my mom, whose expression had hardened. "That woman has some nerve. After what she put Macy through, and what she did to your company—"
"I know, Ma. Trust me, I know." I pocketed the phone. "But I need to handle this carefully.
Footsteps on the stairs announced Felicity and Macy's return. Macy's shoulders now had a light coating of what looked like Felicity's homemade aloe cream, and she seemed much more comfortable.
"Better?" I asked.
"So much better. Felicity's magic cream works on everything," Macy said, settling at the kitchen table. "Can we have those egg sandwiches now? I'm starving."
"About that..." I glanced at the cleaned griddle. "I may have had a small cooking incident while you were upstairs. How do you feel about cereal?"
"Dad!" Macy laughed. "Who burns egg sandwiches?"
"Apparently your dad!" Felicity said with a grin, but I caught the slight tension around her eyes. She'd gotten my text. "Good thing your grandma brought enough food to feed an army. How about some of whatever's in these containers?"
We unpacked Mom's care package—leftover fried chicken, pasta salad, and what appeared to be homemade brownies—and set about to dig in.
I didn’t respond right away. My gaze stayed on Felicity’s hand resting lightly on Macy’s back. They were both leaning over their plates, giggling about something. That image was everything—and I'd do anything to keep my girls happy and safe.
Chapter 38: A Salve For The Burn
~Felicity~
Seeing Macy with her dad, sporting that sunburn, brought about my tendency to nurture. I held out my arm for her to walk into it, "Come on, love, let's go upstairs and I'll see what I can do. You're going to have quite a lot of skin peeling soon enough. Maybe we can save you from too bad of a peel, but I'm not really sure."
Letting Macy go first, I fell into step behind her as we climbed the stairs.
"It doesn't hurt that much," she said, though I could see her wince slightly when the fabric of her shirt shifted against her sunburned skin.
"I know, but trust me—in a few hours when that heat really sets in, you'll be grateful we took care of it now." We approached my bathroom, where I kept my collection of homemade remedies. "Your dad thinks I'm crazy for making most of my own skincare stuff, but days like this prove it's worth it."
"What's in it?" Macy asked, settling on the edge of the bathtub while I gathered supplies from the linen closet.
"Hmmm. Well, the green stuff here is just plain organic aloe." I showed her the glass jar filled with the slightly green gel. "I buy the leaves from this little market downtown and extract the gel myself. Much better than the store-bought stuff that's loaded with all kinds of chemicals and unnecessary additives—many of them would just dry your skin out more."
Then I handed her a separate glass jar that has a white whipped-cream texture body butter. "This is my recent batch of body butter that I made for summer. It has mango butter, coconut oil, some beeswax, sweet almond oil, a little shea, and a couple other secrets in it. It's like magic for sun damage."
"Will you show me how to make all this?"
"Sure! Started a few years ago when I got tired of spending ridiculous amounts of money on lotions that didn't work as well as what I could make in my kitchen." I sat down on the small bench across from where she sat on the bathtub edge. "Okay, let's see the damage."
Macy lifted her over shirt off—it was large and off a shoulder, but was still bulky enough that it was hard to tell how far the burn reached. Sitting in her tank top, I could see the sunburn was worse than I'd initially thought—angry red patches mixed with areas that were even brighter. Shit this was going to be really painful for her in the next couple days.
"Oh, honey," I murmured, gently touching an unburned spot on her shoulder blade. "This is definitely going to peel. But we can make sure it heals well."
"Will it scar?"
