The ringing of the cell phone refocused me on the present. I shook my head, concentrating for a moment before realizing the phone was on the floor next to Aspyn’s pants. I reached down and picked it up, looking at the caller ID.
MOM.
My brain almost broke trying to process that until I took a closer look at the phone. I didn’t have a pink sparkly case around mine. It was Aspyn’s phone.
I spared her a quick glance before I decided to go ahead and answer it. I wasn’t even sure why. Maybe I felt like I was staking a claim to Aspyn that way.
I didn’t think it was some big secret that we were sleeping together again, but proving she stayed over at my place and was sleeping right next to me was a whole other level.
“Hello,” I said.
“Alex?” her mama said, sounding confused.
“Yeah.”
“This is Aspyn’s phone, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I take it that since you have her phone, she’s still over there, then?”
She sounded more amused than anything. The relief that swept through me was a surprise. I hadn’t realized I craved her approval so much.
“Yeah,” I said, “but she’s still asleep.”
Her mama laughed quietly and then sighed. “Well, Kadie’s not feeling well, and she’s got a fever. I wanted to ask my daughter if she planned to pick her up or if she was planning to go to work. I can watch her if she really needs me to, but I don’t want to risk the other kids getting sick. If she’s not gonna pick her up, then I need to start calling parents so they can make other arrangements.”
I frowned. Kadie was sick. That was something that I couldn’t blow off.
“I’ll talk to her, and we’ll figure something out.”
“Okay, make it quick, Lover Boy.” With that, she hung up.
Her joke convinced me Kadie wasn’t too sick. After all, her grandmother wouldn’t act that casually if she thought her granddaughter was bad off. Still, we needed to do something about it and the sooner, the better.
I smirked to myself for a moment before gently shaking Aspyn awake. She blinked her eyes open. Something about the dark brown of her eyes at that moment looked so beautiful.
“W-what?” she said, brushing some hair out of her face.
“Do you have to work today?” I said.
Aspyn stared at me for a second as if trying to figure why I’d ask that question. “Yeah, it’s Thursday, right? Why wouldn’t I? I can’t stay and just have fun all day.” She batted at me. “No matter how much I want to.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “It’s not about that.”
“Then why?”
“Your mama called. Kadie’s got a fever, and she wants to know if you’re gonna pick her up. If not, she’s got to start calling the parents of the other kids she watches. She’s worried about getting them sick, you see.”
Aspyn groaned and sat up. “I don’t know if I can duck out again, especially after I blew off work to …” She winced.
I raised a brow. “To hide from me?”
“Yeah, to hide from you.” Her cheeks reddened. “Not only was I mean to you, but now I’ve made things tough for Mama.” She sighed and shook her head.
It’s not often you could be a hero without much effort, but such a situation was staring me in the face.
“I got a simple solution,” I said.