Page 37 of His Vivacious Angel
A whine works its way up my throat. “If you want me to take the damn pill, then hand them over.”
For a second, I think there’s a chance he’s going to refuse. How silly of me.
Forest blows out a long breath before he finally drops the keys in my hand.
Right.
My phone chimes with a notification as soon as I hop in Forest’s SUV.BigDawg12kn sent $46.78.Included is the pill emoji.
My stomach clenches. I’m sure it has to do with the fact that not only do I have to drive in the dark, but I also have to do so in a gargantuan vehicle I’m unfamiliar with. Even worse, I need to adjust the seat all the way forward, lifting it as high as it will go so that I can see over the steering wheel. And still, I can barely see over the hood.Surely, it would be better to wait until the morning, right?The answer, unfortunately, is no, because the longer we wait, the less likely it is that the pill will work. Inhaling deeply, I put the SUV in?—
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I drop my forehead against the steering wheel and bang it several times before jumping down from the driver’s seat and slamming the door shut. Forest opens the front door before I can knock. “Why didn’t you tell me it’s a stick shift? I can’t drive stick.”
He scrubs a palm down his tired face with a sigh. “You stay here, and I’ll run to the store.”
I hand Forest the keys as I take Benjamin, cradling his head against my chest and begin to hum. He really is the cutest, sweetest little baby. Maybe even cuter than all my nieces and nephews combined.
Forest is almost out the door when Josephine screams bloody murder from her room. We both race inside, finding her in tears, standing on her bed in the farthest corner.
She points to something above her bedroom door. “Spider! Spider!”
I shriek and do a running jump onto her bed, cowering in the corner with her, locking my arms tighter around Benjamin to protect him, as full-body shivers wrack my body. “Oh my god, kill it, kill it!”
Forest looks up. “It’s just a little jumping spider,” he says calmly. “Nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t care! Kill it!” Josephine and I both scream. And because we’re screaming, Sebastian does too. He comes running into the room, climbing onto the bed to hug my legs.
After tossing his keys onto Josephine’s desk, Forest spends the next thirty minutes chasing the spider across two walls, eventually trapping it under a plastic Tupperware container. When he tries to slide a piece of paper under the container to transfer the spider outside, the spider jumps out and lands somewhere on the carpet near the bed. The kids and I scream and leap off the bed, running for our lives out of the room. Then Forest spends another hour trying to reassure Josephinethat he did indeed find the spider and has taken it outside, so she’s safe to sleep in her bed.
I know the truth though—there wasn’t a damn thing in that container when Forest waltzed past us and stepped out into the backyard. Josephine knows it too. And that’s how I end up sleeping on the couch with her while Forest tries to get the boys to bed after one, the late nap, and two, all the ruckus Josephine and I stirred up.
Just before dawn, Forest wakes me and whispers past a yawn, “I’ll pick up the pill on the way to work.”
“Good morning to you too,” I grumble and slip from the couch without jostling Josephine. “Try not to drop it this time,” I tell him with a curl of my upper lip, then book it across the street to sneak into my house, crossing my fingers and toes that Dad isn’t up yet.
Chapter Twelve
Forest
“What do you mean ‘denied’. I have plenty in my account,” I tell the cashier when my debit card isn’t approved after she rings up the emergency contraceptive.
“Try a different card,” she says with a shrug, looking bored, popping her bubble gum as she drums her fingernails on the counter.
I do. Then a third when my credit card is denied as well. “I’ll just call my bank,” I mumble, embarrassed as a few other customers sigh and shift with annoyance as the line grows longer behind me. I’m on hold with my bank for so long that I eventually have to leave the store, and I show up at work twenty minutes late.
“Long night?” Sherman asks when I bump into him in the hallway.
I grip the strap of my laptop bag tighter and hang up on the bank, with which I’m still on hold. I find I can’t quite meet Sherman’s eyes when I tell him, “Yeah, she—the kids had a hard time falling asleep.”
Sherman hums. “That would explain why Autumn didn’t come home ‘til early this morning. Bet those kids had her running ragged.” He cracks a smile. “I miss my girls runningmeragged when they were little. Now they’re all grown up.” With misty eyes, he says wistfully, “Time flies, so enjoy it while it lasts.”
“Don’t think I’ll miss the sleep-deprivation any time soon,” I say.
“You will. Trust me. There’s nothing better than snuggling your baby close while the rest of the house is asleep.”
Well, crap, now I’m getting all misty-eyed, too. Those days are almost over for me, since Benjamin typically only wakes up once a night now. I treasure those moments alone, getting to know my new son.
Sherman lifts a brow. “Guess you won’t need Autumn’s help much longer, huh?”
