I sent a text to Nikki to see if she wanted me to meet her at our pediatrician’s office or at home. She was still in the waiting room, so I drove to the children’s clinic to wait with her.
“Hey,” I put my arm around her when I sat beside her. I noticed Everett had finally fallen asleep.
“Thanks for coming,” she said more to the wall than to me.
I deserved that. I knew she was worried. I had helped my parents with my younger siblings enough to know that Everett’s cold wasn’t anything to be super concerned about. Nikki was a first time mom, though, and I knew a hundred worse than worst case scenarios were running through her head. I still had the same thoughts about Taylor and Zac from time to time. I rubbed her back as we waited. After several minutes, I finally felt her tension subside just a bit.
Not long after, a nurse called us to the back. “Ok, Mom, let’s put little man on the scale and see how much he weighs.”
Nikki gently placed Everette on the scale, and the nurse put a small sensor on his finger. “This will record his temperature and pulse,” she explained. When the sensor beeped, she recorded the numbers on her chart. “We’ll go ahead and get you back to an exam room, the doctor should be in shortly.”
“Thank you,” Nikki told her as we followed her into a small room. I held Everett while Nikki sat. He started to stir and fuss a bit.
“Shhh,” I started singing to him softly, hoping the sound of my voice would calm him down.
It wasn’t long before the doctor came in. “How are we today?” he asked.
“He’s been up all night crying, he’s congested and has a small fever, I think.”
“Alright, we’ll see what we can do about that. If you’ll lay him down right here so I can listen to his heart,” the doctor pointed to a spot right in the middle of the exam table, which had low railings like a crib.
“His chest is a little congested, but nothing to be concerned about. Allergies tend to be bad in Tulsa this time of year. Give him half a dose of children’s Claritin once a day for a few days. That should take care of it, but if he gets worse, bring him back in immediately. You can give him Children’s Tylenol for his fever, and that should help him sleep as well.”
Nikki looked relieved. “Thank you.”
“I’ll have my nurse call to follow up with you tomorrow,” he said, typing notes into his computer.
We carried Everette out to the car and I helped her get him settled into his car seat. “Why don’t you go home and get some rest and I will stop by the store and get his medicine?” I told her.
“That would be great. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“I’ll be as fast as I can,” I promised.
I called Taylor on my way to the store. “What did Avery say?” I said, as soon as he picked up the phone.
“She said the pictures weren’t of her.”
“I know what our sister looks like, Tay.”
“If she said they weren’t of her, then they weren’t. We can only go by what she says.”
“What if the fans find out?”
“I have no idea. Maybe we can get Zac to change the subject with one of his nonsense answers.”
“Well, that’s worked before. They are going to figure out that we are dodging questions soon or later, though.”
“I think they already have, Ike. But, we have a right to our private lives, too. The family members that aren’t in the band even more so.”
“I guess you have a point. We’ll just have to see how this all plays out.”
“That’s all we can really do. What did the doctor say about Everette?”
“He thinks it’s just allergies. I’m going to pick up his medicine now. I’ll try to come into the office for a little bit tomorrow, though.”
“Don’t worry about it. Stay home with your family. It won’t be too much longer before we leave for south by.”
“Alright. Call me if anything comes up, though.”
“I will. Take care.”
“Bye.”
I had a sudden rush of inspiration to pick up something easy that I could make for dinner while I was at the store. I thought it would be a nice surprise for Nikki, and would allow her to rest. As I put the pasta noodles in the cart, I remembered cooking for Zac the first time I noticed something was off about him. I still felt an overwhelming responsibility to make him better, but I had no idea how. It was frustrating that he wouldn’t take care of himself or let anyone help him, that’s why I got so mad at him. I would be just as mad at anyone that mistreated him or any of my family.
I thought about calling Avery on the drive back to the house, but I turned on the radio instead, hoping some good music would untangle my thoughts. So much for any of that on the radio these days, though. I turned it off and drove the rest of the way to our house with only my thoughts as company.
“That was fast. What else did you buy?” Nikki came into the kitchen with Everett on her shoulder.
“I brought something for me to cook tonight.”
“You are cooking? Well, Mr. Hanson, I never knew you had it in you.”
“I can be domestic on occasion. You are just so much better at cooking than me, so I usually leave you to it.”
She rolled her eyes, “Okay, Mr. Smooth. Did you bring the medicine for our son?”
“It’s right here. Half a dose, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll give it to him, why don’t you go try to take a nap and I’ll stay with Everette for a bit?”
“I just want to make sure the medicine works okay, but I might try to make it an early night.”
“He’s lucky to have you.”
“He’s lucky to have us,” she said, watching me measure the medicine out.
I kissed her, then gently took Everette in my arms. He was almost asleep, so he didn’t make a fuss about taking his medicine, but he did wrinkle his nose a bit.
Nikki let out a soft giggle. “That look was all Isaac Hanson.”
“What can I say? Our genes are strong.”
“Right,” She took my hand and led me over to our sofa. “Can we just sit for a bit? I feel like it’s been forever since either of us had time to sit.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” I told her. I held Everette in one arm and put my other around her. She curled up against me and feel asleep within five minutes.
I must have fallen asleep as well and woke to Everette crying softly. I stood up, trying to avoid disturbing Nikki as much as I could. I gave him a little bit more medicine and put in him in the bassinet so I could watch him while I cooked.
I brought my laptop to the kitchen table so I could check my 3CG email while I waited for the water to boil. I couldn’t help but check the fan forum to see if the mods had responded to my request to take the pictures down. They were still up, so I started to draft another, much more strongly worded email to them. Of course, I didn’t use my real name, I sent it from the Webguru email address. We had several complaints from fans about how rude he was, little did they know all those emails actually came from me. Sometimes good manners just don’t get stuff done.
“What are you working on? Tour stuff?” Nikki came up behind me and put her arms around me and kissed my cheek.
“Actually, I’m trying to get these pictures of Avery taken down. She says they aren’t of her, but I’ve seen her wear that dress before.”
“Well, stores do usually sell more than one of the same dress,”
“Nikki, look at this picture and tell me that’s not Avery.”
“Looks like her.”
“Well?”
“I’m sure your parents wouldn’t be very happy to find out she was in a bar, but she’s almost 18.”
“Anything else?”
“Her girlfriend is pretty.”
I turned full around to look at her. “What? You mean you approve?”
“I don’t approve of those pictures being posted online, but I think that she should be able to date whomever she wants. The world is changing, Isaac. Would you rather her date men to save face, even if that made her unhappy?”
I didn’t say anything. I honestly didn’t know. It would be much easier for the family dynamic if she did. The fix for Taylor and my indiscretions was to marry our girlfriends before they started to show. But Avery dating another woman? There was no fix for that. They wouldn’t even be allowed to legally marry in Oklahoma.
“Okay, seems like you need some more time to think about it. You need to help her find out who she is. I know that you work with gay people all the time, maybe you can talk to them about what to say to her. And how to bring it up to your parents.”
“Hmm, maybe. You are so smart, darling.”
She kissed the top of my head. “Almost as smart as you.”