Free When It All Falls Apart (Book One) by Lucinda Berry Page A

the time you’re done with the doctors, Daddy will be back and he’ll have Puppy. How does that sound?”
    “No! I want Daddy! I want Daddy!” Her voice echoed throughout the hallway reverberating off the walls. I wanted to cover my ears.
    “Sweetie, don’t worry. Daddy is going to be back really quickly. I promise it’s going to be okay,” he said.
    She reached out to grab his arm, the wires getting tangled from her movements, sobbing. “Daddy, please, don’t leave me. Please.”
    We’d reached the room and the nurse was standing in the doorway expectantly. David turned to face me, shrugging his shoulders. Of course she wanted David. She always wanted him.
    “Okay, I guess I’ll go then.” I forced a smile.
    I kissed them both quickly on their cheeks and was gone. I fumed as I drove. She’d cried out for David in front of all the nurses and doctors. They’d all heard it and I knew what they were thinking. They were wondering what little girl wouldn’t want her mom to be with her when she was sick. I imagined they were behind their desks at the nurse’s station gossiping about it. I knew none of them would look at me the same again. Something similar had happened a few months ago when Emma and Rori were playing together and I knew Robin still hadn’t forgotten it even though she never brought it up. I was sure they’d look at me the way she had.
    It had happened during one of our weekend play dates. Emma and Rori loved to play together. Emma was only two months older than Rori so they’d known each other since they were infants. Robin and I had been thrilled to be pregnant at the same time and excited for them to grow up together. Most people who lived in Los Angeles were transplants and we were no different. My family was scattered across the country and all of Robin’s were in the Midwest. Emma and Rori were as comfortable with each other as siblings and recently they’d even started pretending they were. When we’d go out to dinner or take them for walks, they would giggle and tell people they were sisters even though they looked nothing alike. They couldn’t have been more opposite. Emma was a perfect combination of Trey and Robin’s genes. She had the blond hair of Robin and the green eyes of Trey. Her pale skin and defined bone structure coupled with pale skin made her look like an oversized doll. Unlike Emma’s ivory skin, Rori’s olive complexion mirrored mine just like her deep brown eyes. Whereas Emma was small and dainty, Rori was large boned and gangly—a body that would take years to grow into. No one ever believed their stories about being sisters, but people humored them with smiles and questions.
    Our families got together all of the time. A weekend rarely went by that we didn’t see each other at least once. We were as comfortable at each other’s houses as we were our own. Robin and I knew how lucky we were that our husbands got along so well since it was rare to find couples where both sides of the dyad liked each other.
    We’d been at Robin’s hanging out and grilling steaks on the barbecue. The men were hovered over the grill drinking beer and discussing which basketball team they thought was going to end up in the final four. They were already waging their bets. Trey was as big of a sports fanatic as David and the two never tired of talking about sports. Robin and I were off to the side, sipping red wine on their new patio furniture while we watched Emma and Rori zoom up and down the concrete slab leading up to Robin’s driveway. Emma was on her new Razor scooter while Rori struggled to ride Emma’s training wheel bike with the long flowing pink streamers coming out of the handlebars. Rori was clumsy like me and having a tough time coordinating the pedals with any productive movement so it was no surprise when she took a tumble. She crashed down onto the concrete and let out a wail when she saw blood coming out of her knee. She was tough when she got hurt except if blood