If he did, that might mean she’d call up my mother to try and get her to pressure me. I sighed, then swallowed. Amelia Hawkins might already be talking to Mama. They were probably already planning the wedding together.
I quickly dialed, my heart pounding while I waited for Mama to pick up.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Mama?”
“Yes, Emily?”
A few seconds ticked by. If she’d talked to Amelia, she would have probably already asked me questions, so now the whole call seemed pointless.
“Just wanted to let you know that Juniper’s sick.”
“Oh, no. Poor girl. Cold?”
“Strep throat.”
Mama sighed. “Did you take her to the doctor?”
“Yes. I’ve already got antibiotics. I’m working from home for the week.”
“That’s sad, but that’s children for you. So many germs, especially at school.” Another long pause followed. “It pains me to say it, but you should probably let your no-good ex-husband know in case he might have caught it. I don’t mind the idea of him being a little sick, but it wouldn’t be very Christian not to warn him.”
“You’re right, Mama,” I mumbled. “I’ll give him a call here in a bit.”
“So.”
“So?” My heart kicked up. Even without Amelia Hawkins, Mama knew where I was. She had her own expectations.
“How did the trip go?”
“It was fun.”
“Just fun?”
I glared at the phone. “I saw some nice places. I bought some nice things. Logan took me to a sushi restaurant. It was nice. He even bought the building for the guy to keep him in business during a rough patch.”
Mama laughed softly. “Oh, now that’s lovely of him, supporting the local businesses even when he’s overseas.”
That was one way to look at it, I supposed.
“Well, I won’t bother you more other than to say you should build on whatever happened there,” Mama said.
“Mama, please—”
“A man doesn’t take a woman on a cross-world trip unless he’s interested in a lot more than a little fun.”
I rolled my eyes even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “Okay, I’m going to let you go. I should give Lionel a call while Juniper is still asleep.”
“Okay, Emily. Just think about what I said.”
“I will, Mama. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I took several deep breaths. What happened in Tokyo needed to stay in Tokyo. Juniper getting sick proved that more than anything. She was fine before I left, and suddenly, she was sick. Lionel hadn’t done a good job of watching her, I suspected.
There was no point in even bothering to ask him about it because he wouldn’t have even noticed a problem anyway. That didn’t do much for the anger burning inside me.