Double Pop by Jamie Bennett

Author:Jamie Bennett [Bennett, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-13T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“Mama.”

Nola sat up, pushing off the towels, and both Raffaella and I turned to her. “My throat hurts.” Her cheeks looked flushed and her eyes were a little glassy.

I felt her forehead again, and she did seem hot. “Poor Noles,” I told her and took her in my arms. “You’re not feeling good?”

She shook her head and burrowed. “I feel bad.”

“Let’s go home and get some medicine for you,” I said, and reached for our clothes.

“You can come back,” Raffaella told Nola. “Anytime. I’ll go get Luca.” She glided away and I got us dressed.

Luca came in with his mom a moment later and looked at Nola’s sad face. “Heading home, topolina? We can swim more another day. And go for a bike ride together with your new bike.” He hesitated. “Can I carry you? I think your mama’s foot still hurts.”

She hesitated too, but then she reached out her arms to him, and just for a moment, my breath caught and my heart stuttered. Luca settled my daughter against him and she put her hot cheek on his shoulder.

“Jolie?” he asked.

I nodded at him and found my voice. “Thank you for letting us come swim,” I told Raffaella. “It was nice to meet you.”

She put her hand briefly on Nola’s shoulder, her face concerned. “Of course. We’re happy to have you.” I walked with Luca up to my car, as he patted Nola’s back. He talked to her quietly about swimming and about a pink bike, and I saw her nod a few times.

“Let me know how she’s doing,” Luca said after he placed Nola in her car seat. He shook his head. “Not at all how I thought this would turn out.” He squinted up at the house.

“Unfortunately, things with kids rarely go according to plan. Thank you so much for inviting us down here, and swimming with Nola. It means a lot to me.”

Luca looked into my eyes. “Are you all right?”

Because I was getting close to tears. Seeing him with Nola…it made my heart melt. It also made me realize how much she was missing because of my poor choices, because Ty was her father. “I’m fine. Maybe I’m coming down with something, too.” I was, a bad case of the guilts. “I’ll talk to you soon.” And he kissed my cheek, lingering there for a moment.

“I’ll be here tonight, if you want to call. I would love the company.”

Nola and I drove home in silence, her asleep, me thinking. We stumbled across the parking lot from our assigned spot. I carried all our gear and Nola too, because I didn’t want to leave her to run the two flights back down from our apartment. “Can you hold the door?” I called to the man going into the building ahead of us.

He turned, scowling, and I saw that it was the laundry jerk, the guy who dumped out the loads onto the floor. He deliberately pulled the door closed when I was a few steps away and stood just inside the glass, smirking.

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