As expected, the kids crashed early. About halfway through watching a movie, they fell asleep on the mounds of blankets I’d spread out for them on the living room floor. I wasn’t going to be far behind. My exhaustion was bone-deep, to the point my whole body ached, especially my head. No doubt, the drama from the last few weeks was finally taking its toll. A decent night’s sleep was all I needed to be right as rain. At least that’s what I told myself.
Our bedroom was pitch-black, except for a speck of light creeping in from the hallway. I was sitting in the middle of the bed, massaging my temples, when Duncan came in from locking up the house, with Ralph on his heels. Being mindful not to jostle the mattress too much, he climbed behind me, cradling my hips between his thick thighs. The pup wasn’t nearly as considerate in his attempts to join us on the bed. It took him three tries before he finally made it up. Thankfully, he plopped down near the foot.
His fingers replaced mine, simultaneously massaging both sides of my head and the base of my skull. “Headache?”
“I’ll be okay.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ve got a migraine.”
“I hate when you’re in pain. What can I do?”
“There’s a bottle of peppermint oil in my nightstand. Can you get it?”
“Peppermint oil?”
“Yeah. It’s about the size of a tube of chapstick.”
He stretched across the bed, quickly rooting through the drawer before returning with the little glass bottle. The essential oil was my go-to whenever a migraine reared its ugly head. It didn’t get rid of the pain completely, just made it more manageable.
“Okay. What next?”
“Dab a little behind my ears and across the back of my neck.”
“Like this?” he asked, swiping his thumb back and forth, spreading the oil a half an inch below my hair line.
“Mmm. That’s perfect.”
“Is there anything else that’ll help?”
“Sleep.” I yawned. “It’ll be gone by morning.”
“Then close your eyes, Sunshine.” He eased us down onto the bed. “I’ve got you.”
Positioning me on my side, his large body cradled me from behind, with one arm underneath my head, the other rounding my belly. As I started to drift off, I couldn’t help but think how different our lives might’ve been if we hadn’t been torn apart back then. Would our love have survived the lies and deceit or would we have crashed and burned tragically? There was no point in dwelling on the would-haves. We were in the here and now, moving toward our forever. Sometimes it felt like a dream. If it was, I never wanted to wake up.
10GRUMPY FUCKER
Duncan
Sleepless nights were a thing of the past since Sloane came back into my life. Nightmares of the crash didn’t control my dreams when she was sleeping peacefully at my side. Yet, there I was, awake, at o’ dark thirty and not by choice. Something had woken me up. Opening my eyes, I let them adjust to the darkness while I listened to the sounds around me. Was it one of the kids? Were they up? Then I heard it. A whimper.
“Dammit, Ralph,” I muttered under my breath.
I’d caved, letting the pup sleep with us for the last couple of nights since the kids’ party, but I was done. We’d bought a ridiculously large dog bed for a reason, not so it could sit empty on our bedroom floor. It was time for him to learn his place.
Tossing off the covers, I sat up, expecting to find him cowering at the foot of the bed, only that’s not where he was. Sometime in the night, Sloane had rolled away from me. She was on her back with Ralph on her other side, his big head propped on her thigh. Rolling my eyes, I moved toget up when her body shook and he whimpered again. It only took a second for me to realize he wasn’t being a pain in the ass, he was picking up on her distress.
Given our recent problems between her mother and our past, I should’ve known our real-life trauma would’ve followed her into sleep. Reaching for her arm, I kept a bit of distance in case she woke up swinging. I’d done the same on more than one occasion, grateful no one was there to witness my blunder. Only instead of encountering sweat-soaked skin from a nightmare, heat radiated from her body like an inferno.
Reaching over, I flipped on the bedside lamp, the sudden brightness sending black spots across my vision. Blinking a few times, they cleared, letting me see her face clearly. Sloane’s cheeks were flushed cherry red against her paler-than-usual complexion. I laid my hand across her forehead, not surprised at what I felt. She was burning up.
“Shit.” No longer caring if I got punched, I gently shook her shoulders. “Sunshine, wake up.”
She let out a pain-filled groan, but didn’t move a muscle. Bolting out of bed, I ran to the bathroom and rummaged through the medicine cabinet until I found the thermometer. Next, I ran a washcloth under cold water in the sink, wringing out the excess, then returned to her side where Ralph continued his watch.
“Good job, boy”––I nudged the pup––“but you gotta get out of my way.”