Canon (Klein Brothers 2)

Kids these days just didn’t realize how easy they had it.

With the rest of the stuff I’d bought for Nemi still in the bag, I made my way up the stairs to the middle floor where the living room was, certain that’s where they’d be, watching television. At least that hadn’t changed since I was Nemi’s age—if you were sick, watching a movie on TV was the only way forward.

Just as I cleared the last step, I heard a whimper and stopped, trying to figure out if it’d come from Nemi or their ugly dog, Hooch.

“Please, God, don’t do it.”

Recognizing Canon’s voice, I moved more quickly until I got to the door of the living room, my eyes searching for a reason he’d be begging someone not to do something.

Nemi was lying out on some inflatable princess bed, looking comfortable and relaxed while she watched a cartoon. Behind her, curled in a ball on the couch, was Canon, his fist pressed against his mouth as he stared at something on the ground between him and Nemi.

Because the coffee table was blocking me from seeing what was so traumatizing for him, I carefully made my way around it and took in Hooch, lying on the floor, looking like he’d been flattened. This dog didn’t lie down like normal dogs did. No, he splayed his legs out, taking up as much space as his little chubby body could.

Heidi and Bond had told me that Nemi had a head cold and a sore throat, and the proof of the former was scattered around in the form of crumpled-up tissues. Some were in the trash can kindly provided, but some had missed it and were lying on the floor.

Not seeing any cause for distress, I dropped the bag on the coffee table and put my hands on my hips.

“What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering me verbally, Canon’s stomach visibly tensed as his upper body crunched over and a loud retching noise came out of him.

Ah, shit. Was I going to have to look after a sick man child, too? I hadn’t signed up for that level of pain and caring this weekend.

Tempted to reach for my phone to tell them to turn around and come right back, I squatted down next to the sick little girl and put my hand on her forehead. I honestly had no idea what I was doing, but Auntie Google had given me some hints and tips, and Mom used to do this to us when we were little.

“How are you feeling, munchkin?”

Watery red eyes moved from the TV to my face. “Like squished poop.”

This girl.

“I got you some stuff to make you feel better because I wasn’t sure what your mom had. Let me ask Uncle Canon when you last had something to drink and eat and your medicine, okay?”

Reaching for a tissue, Nemi nodded as she blew her nose and tossed it in the direction of the trash can, missing it and making me shudder. I needed to get some gloves to pick those up.

“Sorry,” she snuffled, snuggling deeper into the blanket covering her. It was February, and the thick fabric of the cover looked like heaven.

Poking the inflatable bed, I smiled down at her. “They didn’t do this in a Pirates of the Caribbean theme?”

The girl was obsessed with that franchise.

Giving me a half-hearted smile back and almost breaking my heart with it, she sighed. “Yeah, but Uncle Canon and Daddy over-inflated it ‘cause they were arguing. It popped, and Uncle Canon said we could ‘only get that shit online,’ so now we’re waiting for it to arrive.”

The way she’d repeated verbatim what the men had said almost had me laughing, but I didn’t want to encourage her.

Actually, that was a lie. She wasn’t my kid, so if Nemi repeated something like that in public, I was honest enough to say I’d find it amusing. If she’d been mine, though, not so much because people would then judge me and think I was a shit mom who swore and did terrible shit around my kid.

How they got that assumption from kids repeating what they’d probably heard before at school or even in the store, I didn’t know, but people were just like that. Plus, I liked Heidi and respected the hell out of her for raising Nemi the way she had before she’d gotten together with Bond, so I didn’t want people to think she had a mouth like a sewer around her daughter.

So, being the adult bitch I was, I opened my mouth to tell her she shouldn’t swear but was interrupted by more gagging noises from Canon.

“You’re gonna have to get it to stop,” he choked out, the most full-bodied retch coming out of him I’d heard in my life.

Hearing a husky giggle coming out of Nemi, I got to my feet. “What’s your problem? Did you get her bug?”