Page 31 of My One

“I guess life is weird that way. The whole experience brought Av and me closer, and maybe that was the reason we knew we wanted to be together and get married?”

“Probably.”

I handed her the large salad bowl to clean and then put the dishes that fit into the dishwasher.

“Brooke!” Cheyenne shouted as I heard her door open. “Can you take me—” She stopped talking as she turned the corner into the kitchen and saw me standing there. “Oh, hi, Aunt Nicole.”

“Hey, C,” I replied. “Everything okay?”

Cheyenne’s light blue gaze flicked to Brooke. “Can you take me to the mall tomorrow and drop me off—”

“No,” Brooke simply replied.

“No?” Cheyenne whined. “Why not?”

“Do you think your father would approve of that?” Brooke questioned as she dried her hands on a dishtowel.

“Don’t tell him,” Cheyenne countered.

Brooke chuckled. “Right. Where do you want me to tell him you are?”

Cheyenne shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You know,” I spoke up. “I need to go to the mall. What if you come with us, and then just meet us somewhere when it’s time to leave?” I looked over at Brooke, and she nodded slightly in agreement.

Cheyenne puffed out a breath. “Fiiiiine.”

When Brooke and I were growing up, the mall was the place to hang out, and our parents would drop us off. But, times were different and scarier. I knew that Easton wouldn’t be okay with Brooke just dropping Cheyenne off, and it would be good for Brooke to get out of the house.

Plus, retail therapy was always needed.

Ifelt off, and I didn’t know why. For the past week, I felt as though something was wrong. Everything with Nic seemed to be fine. Everything with Halo was the way it should be, and I felt healthy.

Maybe I wasn’t.

I couldn’t pinpoint what I was feeling. It was just a weird sensation in my body that something wasn’t right.

“I think I need to go to the doctor,” I stated to Easton as we lifted at the gym.

“You’re sick?”

I shrugged. “Just don’t feel like me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.” I blew out a breath and did my remaining reps before putting the incline bench down. “I feel like a shoe is going to drop or something.”

Easton arched a brow. “What shoe?”

“I don’t know,” I replied as we switched places. “It’s just a feeling I have.”

“And you think you need to go to the doctor?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Maybe I’m coming down with something?”

He did his reps and set the weight down to the resting position. “Maybe just take a few days off. You’ve been working non-stop for almost two years.”

Easton was right. I hadn’t been on a vacation since my honeymoon, and that was because of everything that happened with Brooke. I wasn’t faulting him at all. I was happy to cover for him while he took care of her, but he was right. It had been a long time since I’d had a break. Maybe it was also stress. The summer was always busy for us, and I felt like I needed a week away with my wife. Plus, since the night on the roof last week, I’d been trying to think of ways to put more romance into our marriage.