“Fuck … me …” I sighed after rolling onto my back, breathless and covered in sweat.
“Yeah …” Tatum chuckled, no longer displaying any signs of nerves. “That … definitely that.”
And after a few minutes of catching our breaths, we glanced over at each other, naked on top of the sheets. Our eyes made a mutual inspection of the other one before we grinned and shared a knowing look that said one thing.
“Let’s do it again!”
The next morning, we woke at nine-thirty—not a significant time to some people, but when you were used to getting up at five in the morning, and maybe six-thirty or seven on weekends, nine-thirty felt like noon.
“I’m starving.” Tatum rolled toward me, molding her body into my chest and scissoring her legs with mine.
“Long night.” I grinned.
She kissed my chest. “Mmm … I can’t remember the last time a long night involved something other than restless kids, vomit, nightmares, or years of marathon nursing and diaper changes.”
“I know. Whose idea was it to trade in marathon sex for marathon nursing?”
Tatum giggled, running her big toe along my instep. “Says the guy whose response to me being pregnant with Lucy was to usher me to the back of the RV and stick your dick in me as if you needed to make sure I was pregnant. As if you needed to make sure we would have marathon nursing instead of marathon sex … nightmares, vomit, dirty diapers … that’s on you, buddy.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Says the woman who called me home from work with an emergency, which ended up being you desperate for me to put my dick inside of you because you were ovulating. Nine months later … Austin.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “So we both agree that life is better with your big dick inside of me.”
“Yes.” I rolled on top of her and settled between her legs. “On that we do agree.”
Eventually, we made it out of the room and downstairs for breakfast, after all, it was a bed and breakfast. I think we would have been content with just the bed. The owner started us off with coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, and the local newspaper.
“Wow. I didn’t know physical newspapers were still a thing.” Tatum spread open the paper and thumbed through it. “Oh my god …”
“What?” I asked just before taking a swig of my orange juice.
“This mother went to work and forgot it was her morning to take their nine-month-old to daycare. Left the baby in the car and it died from the heat. Can you even imagine?”
I shook my head slowly. “No.”
She closed the newspaper, visibly shook by the story. “As a parent … how do you ever get past that? How do you go on living?”
“Maybe they have other kids.”
A frown stole Tatum’s lovely face. “But still … you never forget. It’s not like an accident that was out of your control. I mean … it was her fault. And their marriage. I just can’t imagine how a marriage would last after that. Her husband would never look at her the same way again.”
“It was an accident, not something she did maliciously.”
“True.” Tatum stirred creamer into her coffee. “But the mind does its own thing. I mean … you could go through counseling, therapy, whatever, but he will always look at her and think about their daughter who would still be alive had she been focused. Clearly she put the child in his car seat. What could have happened between home and her work? Where was her mind?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Like you said, the mind does its own thing. How many times have you walked from the kitchen to the bedroom to get something, but by the time you get there, it’s slipped your mind? And maybe it wasn’t her usual day to take the child to daycare. Maybe she wasn’t even the one who usually took the baby. I can see how something so out of your normal routine might be hard to remember since our brains probably get hardwired for our normal schedule.”
Tatum eyed me over her coffee cup. “You’re a good man, Emmett. You think the best of people, and you’re forgiving … possibly to a fault. I’m lucky to have you in my corner.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “And in your bed.”
She smirked. “That too.”
Everything was so perfect … until it wasn’t.
NOW
The neurologist confirms what Josh already predicted. We need to wait a few days to see if the medications decrease the swelling around her spinal cord. Then we’ll have a better idea of her prognosis. So our parents go home for the evening, but not before bringing Tatum and me dinner which neither one of us eats very well.
“I’m off now, but I can stay if …” Josh glances at me sitting in the other chair by Lucy on the opposite side of her bed as Tatum.