Page 37 of Caleb's Salvation
“Still sick. I’m pissed.”
“Shelby’s just coming out of it. But it was definitely a rough few days.”
I could see it there on his face. The anxiety, the fear. It was one thing to love someone. It was another thing to see that person sick, or in pain. To come face to face with the concept that life was fragile. And there was always risk.
Eve joined us while Zeke followed Junior who was walking around the small store on unsteady legs.
“Vivienne got it, too, huh?”
I nodded. “This guy, too, but he pulled out of it faster.”
“Well, we’re happy to take Sam for a few days. Give her a chance to recover without having to worry about him.”
Instinctively I felt my hold on the kid get a little tighter. Enough that he squirmed in my arms. I switched him from one side of my body to the other and shook my head. “I got him. Her, too.”
Eve exchanged a glance with Eli. I didn’t know what they were thinking. I didn’t care. I felt like I was in this now and I had to see it through.
“Okay, Cal. You need anything you know where we are,” Eve said.
When she left to rejoin Zeke, Eli hung around, silently debating, I knew, whether he should say whatever he was thinking.
“Out with it,” I said, thinking that the waiting was worse than the words.
“Are you sure you’re okay with him? I know…I know this is my fault in a lot of ways and I just hate…”
“You tongue-tied, Angel?”
“About this, yeah.”
I snorted. Then smiled when the kid repeated the sound I made. “I got it. Just helping out someone who needs it. It’s not like it means anything. I’ll be back at camp once Vivienne’s got her strength back.”
He didn’t believe me, I thought. And I knew that because I could see sympathy in his expression. Because now he knew what it was to love someone.
“Okay, Cal. Like Eve said, you need me for anything…”
“You got your hands full with Shelby.”
He nodded and his expression was dark. “It was bad…her fever got so high…but she’s okay now. Just gave me a scare.”
“It comes with the territory,” I told him. “Better get used it.”
“Fuck that,” he said, then winced as he realized the kid was listening to everything we said.
“Don’t worry about it. If Vivienne is going to raise this kid up here, he’ll be swearing soon enough. Go do what you need to do.”
Eli nodded and made his way to the basket of food he’d already picked out. I picked up my own basket and filled it with anything healthy I could find. Plus a bunch of cans of broth. I was no cook, but I could manage to heat up soup. We got to the limited fruit selection.
I picked up a banana. “You like these, kid?”
He vehemently shook his head. I grunted.
I picked up an apple, but it looked like it’d seen better days. “What about this?”
This time his whole body shook. He pointed and I followed his line of direction.
“You know what you’re pointing at?”
“Ahh!”
