Work Hard, Love Harder

He dug his phone out of his pocket to call his insurer. His coverage was pretty comprehensive, and he needed to know if he could get Zoe on it. That way it would just be him looking after his baby, his responsibilities, and she couldn’t complain. Also, she could use the money she swiped from him to pay her brother’s bills.

Win-win.

The insurance lady issued her congratulations on his upcoming baby and told him that yes, he could get maternity coverage for the mother at an additional fee, which she would be happy to expedite for him. He thanked her kindly and then asked for referrals for hospitals in Nashville since he had no clue where they were. She promised to email him a list right away and they hung up.

“Excellent. Now what?” he asked as he pulled up to Whole Foods.

*****

Zack was looking much better now that he was clean again; he was a little more alert after Zoe fed him some water spoonful by painstaking spoonful.

“When was the last time you ate?” she asked him around the lump in her throat.

Zack shrugged. “Not sure. Some time this week though.”

“Did the money run out or what?”

“Nah, it’s just… I wasn’t feeling well, and I had to tell Mom about the account so she could go get some cash to take me to the doc.”

Zoe waited for him to continue, but he just sat there, swallowing the water.

“And?” she prompted.

Zack shrugged. “She didn’t come back for three days. She was pretty high when she got here. I think she blew the money on crack. Anyway, I was pretty out of it by then, so I’m not sure.”

Zoe’s hands fisted in their own volition. She was glad her mother had gotten the hell out of dodge because if she was still around, Zoe wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have killed her.

“Fucking drug addict,” she growled out. Zack just shrugged again.

“It was my fault. I shoulda waited for Phillip to call or something.”

“You must have been feeling pretty bad, huh?”

Zack just shrugged again and didn’t say a word, so Zoe knew that it had been pretty goddamned bad. Bad enough for him to spill about the bank account and hope that when she was done feeding her demons, she would remember that her son was sick and needed a hospital.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you to the hospital just as soon as Femi gets back with the car. And I’m never leaving you again, okay?”

Zack smiled sweetly and didn’t protest, which was so disturbing that Zoe couldn’t even bear to think about what he’d been through.

“How’s the baby? Still kicking?” he asked, clearly changing the subject.

“He’s still with us, stubborn ass. The way I’ve been treating him-” Zoe cut herself off when the lump in her throat got too big to talk around. Her vision went blurry with tears, but she would not let them fall. Zack reached for her hand, squeezing it weakly.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered even as his eyes closed. Zoe sat on the floor next to the couch as her body shook with silent sobs.

*****

“I bought one of everything since I didn’t know what you usually get,” Femi said, stepping into the house with three enormous bags.

From Whole Foods.

Zoe had never even stepped in Whole Foods in her life. Not when Wal-Mart and the 99 cent store existed.

“I’m sorry,” she said abruptly.

“For what?” he asked in surprise.

“For…everything. Stealing from you. Running away. Behaving like a goddamned bratty child.”

Femi smiled. “Forgiven. Now come and show me where to put all this stuff.”

Zoe could feel the tears threatening again, so she just lurched up and flung her arms around Femi’s neck, kissing him like her life depended on it. He froze for all of thirty seconds before getting with the program, dropping the bags and grabbing onto her ass so he could pull her closer.

“Mmm, missed this,” he murmured into her mouth. Zoe just kissed him harder.