Chapter Thirteen
Two weeks into JJ’s summer break, it was usually Maddox who dropped her off at June’s and picked her up in the afternoon from Eliza’s. With their rainy season upon them, sometimes Hank ran late getting home when the crew had to stop working for a rain or lightning delay, but the short duration of the storm meant they could continue once it abated.
JJ had spent the weekend mostly lounging on the couch and watching TV, acting like she wasn’t feeling very good, like she was tired, but she wasn’t running a fever. At least she was staying hydrated. It seemed every time he turned around she was drinking water. It was a weird weekend, though, because Hank’s boss asked him to work Saturday and Sunday to help another crew finish a job that’d gotten delayed due to weather, and he’d make overtime for it.
Maddox had sent him out the door to do it with full assurances he’d take care of JJ. He knew damn well Hank would feel guilty as fuck if he turned down the opportunity to earn extra money, even at the expense of his days off.
In fact, Hank had already left for work on Monday morning when Maddox realized JJ had fallen asleep on the couch where she’d ended up after breakfast. “Sweetie, we need to get ready to go.”
With school out, he didn’t have to get up quite as early as he’d had to when he had to drive her to school, so that meant he was usually lying there in bed watching Hank quietly get dressed in the morning and staying out of his way.
And trying to hide his own erection over the view, since Hank didn’t bother acting bashful while getting dressed.
Why would Hank feel he needed to?
Bonus for Maddox.
“I’m tired, Uncle Dox.”
“I know, sweetheart, but you need to go to Aunt May’s. Maybe Aunt June will let you take a nap in her office again.” She’d done that twice last week. It wasn’t uncommon for the extra exercise to do that to new students at first, they’d assured him. And she was the youngest student in their day camp.
He finally got her out to his car and in her car seat, where she promptly fell asleep again. But by the time they’d arrived at the gym, she seemed more awake and nearly normal.
Instead of just letting her get out and watching her go inside, he parked and walked her in.
June was manning the front counter. He hugged JJ good-bye and sent her on while he stopped to talk to June. “She’s acting a little tired this morning. She’ll probably need a nap.”
“You know she drinks a lot of water, right?” June asked.
“Yeah. Hank’s always on her to make sure she doesn’t get dehydrated. Haven’t even had to remind her lately. He’s always worried about it because of the heat. He has to watch out for it because of work.”
“Yeah, but she’s not working on a roof in a Florida summer,” June said. “And she’s been a little moodier than normal for her.”
“Do you think there’s a problem?”
“I’m not a doctor. But if she’s not herself in a day or so, you might want to drop by her pediatrician and have her checked out.”
“Okay.” He knew Hank had a pediatrician for her, and Maddox even had the info stored on his phone, just in case. Except she’d been healthy ever since they’d moved down, as far as he knew.
He headed to work and decided not to stress Hank out by relaying the information. He’d handle it. If it turned out she was just being a moody kid, he didn’t want Hank freaking out over nothing, especially when he was already stressing enough. He didn’t have health insurance for them yet, but he’d insisted that Maddox start taking a hundred a week from him to help with expenses.
The only reason Maddox accepted it was because he knew trying to fight Hank on this point any longer would only heap more stress and guilt on the man’s plate. For now, he tucked it into his savings account.
He’d just finished lunch when his cell phone rang with a call from June, which was unusual and disturbed him before he even answered it.
“Hey, what’s up.”
“I hate to do this, but you really should come pick JJ up and take her to the doctor.”
His pulse spiked. “Why? Did she get hurt?”
“No, but she threw up a few minutes ago. She’s not running a fever, but you really need to get her seen today. My gut’s telling me there’s something wrong. I called Eliza after you left to ask her if she’d noticed anything, and she said JJ’s been drinking a lot of water, and hitting the bathroom a lot.”
“Well, yeah, if she drinks she’s going to pee.”
“No,” June insisted. “Not in a normal kid way.”
“What do you think’s wrong?” He stood and started gathering his things so he could work from home after getting her seen at the doctor’s office.
