"Tina, please," Bob begged as he walked his two year old daughter back and forth in the hallway. "I need to go open the restaurant."
It was clear that he himself hadn't gotten much sleep in the past couple of days. His face was unshaven, heavy bags beneath his eyes. Tina had a cold and had been crying for the majority of the past two days. And it didn't help that Linda wasn't feeling well herself. She seemed to have the flu.
Two out of three people being sick in one household only meant one thing, that Bob was next. He wasn't even upset, he knew that it would happen. The most he could do was hope and pray that it didn't get to him until after memorial day weekend. All he needed was to be able to keep the restaurant open long enough for the tourists to move through the town and then he could take off a couple of days.
Tina clung onto her father with her tiny hands. It was frustrating being so tired but unable to sleep. Her head was hot with a slight fever, nose clogged.
"Okay," she softly replied with a sniffle. She didn't really catch what he said, but it was a response she used for everything she didn't understand.
Her tears were beginning to subside, the motion calming her. Sleep began to take over, as it was getting hard for her to even keep her eyes open any more.
Bob could feel as she rested her head on his shoulder. He began to smile as he let out a small sigh of relief. He was just hoping that she would remain asleep for a few hours. She needed the rest, and it wasn't as though Linda could really afford to take care of her, she was worse off than the toddler. If anything she would just cause Tina to get even more sick.
"Tina?" He gently called, checking to see if she were heavily sleeping.
Getting no answer, he took her to her room and set her in her crib. "Good night," he whispered, taking a second to watch her and make sure she was okay. Once he was sure that she was sleeping soundly, he carefully stepped away from the crib and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Next, it was time to check up on his wife and make sure she was all right before he left until lunch was done.
Bob slowly opened the door, poking his head into the darkened room. "Lin?" He called, but there was no answer. He could see that there was no one in the bed and it concerned him. He knew exactly where she was though, the same place that she had been the last few mornings.
"Oh my God," he stated once he reached the bathroom entrance.
Before him he saw his wife sitting on the floor before the toilet. Her arms were folded on the edge of the seat, working as a pillow for her to rest her forehead onto.
"Are you okay?" He questioned, walking over and sitting on the edge of the tub.
"Fine," she answered, her voice muffled.
She was the opposite of fine right now. The room was spinning, she was done vomiting almost an hour ago and was onto dry heaving, her head was throbbing. All she wanted was to be able to go back to bed and sleep through this. As soon as she would manage to get comfortable, she knew that Tina would begin crying and Bob would already be busy down in the restaurant.
"Are you sure about that?" He inquired, growing more concerned as he leaned forward and rested his hand on her back. "You look worse than you did after Ginger's bachelorette party."
He took hold of her shoulder and pried her back from the toilet as he examined her face. "I'm seriously considering taking you to the hospital."
Linda definitely saw where this was coming from, but she did not want to go sit in the waiting room right now. Sitting there with all those sick people, needing to lie down and not being able too. It sounded like torture.
"All I need is some sleep," she told him before she forced herself to get to her feet.
Bob rushed to stand and steady her by grabbing her shoulders. The last thing she needed was to fall and hurt herself.
"At least let me help you to bed," he implored.
Linda silently accepted the help, appreciating it as they made the short distance from the bathroom to the bedroom.
"Thank you," she said as he pulled back the covers and guided her to sit down.
"Just stay here, I'll go get some tylenol to take care of your fever," he mentioned.
"I'm not running a fever," she told him.
At the mention of the absence of the fever, both of them paused. Linda, sitting up in bed and staring wide eyed at the wall before her. Bob slowly turning back around to face her, eyes widened.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
Linda turned, seeing the fear in his eyes. She wasn't sure why, but it struck a nerve in her. It came across to her as though he didn't want another baby.
"Of course I'm sure!" She snapped.
Bob was about to say something to try and comfort her, but as he stood there with his mouth agape, Tina began to cry, calling out for both parents.
"I'll be right back," he quickly said as he turned and headed towards Tina's room.
Opening the door, he saw Tina sitting there, tears streaming down her little red cheeks. "Monner," she whined.
Bob sighed, knowing exactly what that meant - she had a nightmare about a monster. It was something that happened whenever she was sick. And now he felt bad for leaving her alone.
"You're safe now," he told her, going to the crib and scooping her up into his arms. "Come here."
The toddler clung onto him, nuzzling her head into the nook of his neck. She finally felt safe in his arms. "No monner?" She asked, sniffling, her voice somewhat muffled.
"No monster," he replied as he walked her out into the kitchen. "But we do need to get your mother some water before she passes out."
"Here," he said, grabbing her little glasses off the spot on the counter where they kept them. "I have a feeling that you're going to be up for a while."
Tina lifted her head and grabbed the glasses, already knowing how to correctly wear them. She actually enjoyed them, they made things look so much clearer. In a way she wondered why her father never wore any. Her mom did.
"Water," she said pointing towards the sink.
"You want some too?" He offered, grabbing a glass for his wife. He looked down to see her just nodding. At that indication, he filled the glass and set it down and then grabbed one of Tina's baby bottles and filled it with water for her.
"You," she said as she happily took the bottle from him. She had a hard time saying thank so she skipped it.
"You're welcome," he responded as he took the glass and slowly began walking back down the hall.
As he walked, he noticed that Tina was chugging down her water pretty quickly. "Wow," he stated, looked down to her. "I feel like this should be concerning," he remarked, figuring that she must have been pretty thirsty.
Walking back into the bedroom and sat down beside Linda, handing the glass to her. "Try and keep this down," he instructed.
"Thank you," she quietly responded as she took the cup and sipped from it.
She looked up to him, smiling at the site of him and Tina together. He was good with her, really good. And he was terrified when she told him she was pregnant with her.
"You gonna be okay if it's what I think it is?" She asked, as enthusiastically as she could muster.
Tina dropped the empty bottle, pulling Bob's attention before he could answer. "Done," she announced before cuddling back up to him.
"We should teach the next one better manners," he commented, hoping that was somewhat of a good answer.
Linda forced a small laugh as she returned to staring down towards her lap. It was nerve wracking, the thought of having another baby. They were barely scraping by as it was with one child. This wasn't going to be easy, at all.
It wasn't easy with Tina either, and they managed it. They paid for all the bills, well, most. They paid for the important ones. They managed to clothe her, feed her, provide enough diapers. And maybe if they were lucky this one could be a girl too and take all of Tina's hand me downs.
"You okay with this?" She inquired, not bothering to even turn her attention back to him. Something told her that he looked as though he was about to freak out, and that wasn't something she wanted to see right now. It would do nothing to help her.
"Well we don't know for sure yet," he stated. "But I would be okay," he assured her. It would take a lot of adjusting and a lot of working overtime somewhere else for a while on the side. It would take a lot of sleepless nights and giving things up they didn't need.
"No yeah, I'm pretty sure," she argued with him. "It makes sense."
"Are you, are you just saying that because you want to have a baby? Or are you actually sure?" He asked.
Linda looked up to him. "A little bit of both," she honestly told him.
"I guess we should really focus on getting you better then," he mentioned with a sigh. "Drink that and I'll be back with some food. Is there anything you think you could keep down right now?"
Linda smiled at his willingness to try and nurse her back to health. It was cute. "I could try some toast," she told him. "Just don't put anything on it. And use a smaller slice of bread."
"I'm pretty sure they're all about the same size, Lin," he dryly responded.
"No they're not Bobby. The other day I tried to make a sandwich and I got jelly all over my hands because one piece didn't fully cover the other. It was a sticky mess."
"Fine, I'll look for the smallest one," he assured her as he stood. "Just let me know if you need anything, alright?"
"I think I'll be okay," she told him.
"In that case, I'm gonna go show Tina how to use the toaster."
Linda laid back into the pillows as she watched Bob leave, closing the door behind him. It would only be a few days before she would find out that she was right and she would be excited while Bob would be quietly excited.