Chapter 8 Fever

• Three days later Bree was still dancing at Babes, she still takes home a good amount of money and she managed to pay another bill. But she was stacking another debt at Babes for her car, though Jojo mentioned that she has six months of an installment payment to which she can absolutely manage to cover with what she makes at the club and still pay her other bills on time.
• But she really wanted to be debt-free, she liked the thought of saving her money for Hazel instead of thinking about what bill to pay first each time she gathered enough money for payment.
• Hazel was doing better, her fever had gone down but Bree still worries. She knows she needed money and she knows Mrs. Mancini was good at what she does. Bree made a mental note to give her a bonus in the next couple of weeks. She really needs to thank her for all that she'd done for both of them.
• But that same day when she was taking a break and talking to Jojo in her corner little office, Bree checked on her phone and her body shuddered. Her hands were almost lifeless and she almost drop her phone. Thankfully Jojo caught it before it fell, cause Bree didn't want to have to fix her phone. Money was still tight.
• "Hey, Bree, what's the matter. Your phone, you almost dropped it."
• "Hazel, I got to... hospital, she's..."
• "Wait, let me get..." Jojo rushed to her side, looking at her panicked state she didn't want her to drive there by herself. And she was thankful when Gage stepped into her office and almost bumped into Bree in the process. The boss man holds her arms to steady Bree, her fright was obvious on her face.
• "Bree? is everything okay?" he rubbed his thumb on her upper arm trying to calm her down as he recognized her dread expression.
• "Yeah, I just..."
• "She just got a text, her daughter's in a hospital, Gage could you get someone to take her. I don't want her driving there." Jojo spilled out her words and Gage just cursed lowly and said, "I'll go, I'm the least one needed here." The older woman nodded and thanked him, telling him to be careful.
• "Hey, everything's going to be okay, Bree, look at me don't worry about anything. We take care of our people." Jojo reminded her once again, and she smiled weakly before she looked at Gage, she hated being fragile in front of a man. But Hazel was her only weakness, and there's nothing she wouldn't do for her.
• The boss man and Bree were on the road after Bree removed her heavy makeup and changed back into her clothes. Gage, took her outdated phone and look at the text for the name of the hospital. He changed gear swiftly as he pick up his speed to get there faster.
• It took them fifteen minutes to get there. He dropped her off at the lobby thinking it'll be faster, rather than if she waited while he tries to find a parking space.
• "Mommy?"
• "Hey sunshine, I'm here." She kissed her temple and hugged her kid warmly, her eyes were red, and Mrs. Mancini was to her side.
• "Hazel was having a hard time breathing, her fever had gone back up, so I decided to get her to the hospital. I tried calling your phone, you must've been working. So I texted you instead.
• "Thank you," Bree threw her arm to her shoulder and gave her a side hug, while her other hand was still holding on to Hazel's.
• Someone cleared his throat, she looked up and didn't think that Gage was going to come in to check on her. "Mrs. Mancini, this is my boss, Gage Huxley, he gave me a ride," Bree introduced them then Mrs. Mancini said that the nurse was waiting for her for the hospital administration. This means she needs to handle the billing arrangements.
• The car, the hospital, Bree needed to use one of the credit cards again while she wondered when was all going to stop.
• "I have already taken care of it, a nurse will come later for your signature. Look, why don't you spend some time with your kid while I treat Mrs. Mancini to a cup of coffee?" The neighbor-nanny looked relieved and she let him usher her out of the room.
• Gage offered to drive her back to their apartment since she told him that she took Hazel to the hospital by taxi. Mrs. Mancini was drinking her coffee in his car when she told him about her suspicion of what might've caused Hazel's sickness. The black mold on the Mackenzie living room ceiling.
• "Can you show me? I have a friend who knows about this stuff, maybe I can take a picture of it and hear what he might think."
• "You're a good person, Mr. Huxley." Mrs. Mancini stated putting her hand on his as a sign of her appreciation.
• "I'm just trying to help Bree, it seems that she has so much burden."
• "She had a terrible ex and an even more terrible lawyer. I told her to ditch her lawyer, but she kept on telling me that she had spent too much on him." Mrs. Mancini looked like she holds the deepest grudge toward Bree's lawyer.
• Whatever the neighbor-nanny thought about the mold, she was definitely on point. The whole building should be shut down for violation of tenant safety. But Gage knew Bree was threading between having a roof overhead, providing for her child, and reporting the violation to the building management.
• "You have that look, it's bad isn't it?"
• "I think so," Gage replied while he took pictures of the ceiling, he was downplaying it when he knows it was that bad. "Does your apartment have this too?"
• "Not this bad, mine just looked like a water stain. Anyway, thank you for the lift. I need to rest."
• "Yes, of course. I'm heading back to the hospital, um... do you think Bree wouldn't mind if you pack her overnight stuff for the hospital?" Gage didn't want Bree to go back and forth from the hospital.
• "I don't think so, let me just call her and ask what she needs."
• "Thank you, I'll just wait out here."
• It was another fifteen minutes before he was back on his way to the hospital with a small backpack. One of the straps was stitched, but he was sure that it was an original Prada. Gage has his suspicion about Bree, her shyness, manners, her words, and articulation. She wasn't just your typical girl next door. He thought she was really the girl next door who got married and became the perfect wife to the perfect husband. But in her case, she was failing in the perfect husband department.
• "Gage, thank you very much. You really don't need to do this."
• "Mommy, my teddy..." Hazel's voice cut their conversation, it was faint but she heard it clearly. Bree rushed to her side to pick up her teddy bear that had dropped to the floor.
• But then Hazel's gaze went to the man who was talking to her mom, when she continued, "are you mom's new friend?"
• Bree looked at Hazel then to Gage, then the man smiled at the little girl and came closer. "Yeah, we go to work at the same place."
• "The same bar?" Gage looked at Bree when she bit her lip looking a bit guilty but didn't correct her child.
• "Yeah, same bar." There was a hint of a smile in his answer and Bree looked embarrassed but stood still.
• "Tell me, how are you feeling?"
• "I'm better, thanks to my teddy. Mommy bought me with the money from the bar. We went to the toy store, then she got ice cream for herself too. She never buys one, she always buys me one. She loves strawberry ice cream." Hazel blurted out her words as if she wanted to tell Gage everything about her mom.
• After Gage and Mrs. Mancini left earlier, the nurse had moved them to a private room saying that it was already paid for by the gentleman. And when Bree looked at the receipt she saw Gage's name on it. She wanted to be angry with him, she didn't want to start piling up debt. First her car, now Hazel's private hospital room. Bree wanted her freedom. She suddenly felt suffocated, she told Hazel she was going to the bathroom. Bree tried to take deep breaths, calm herself down but it was all too intense and she finally broke down and cried, sobbing, sitting after putting the toilet lid seat down.
• Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. "Bree? are you okay?" the deep voice interrupted her pity party and she splashed her face with the tap water but her eyes were still red when she opened the bathroom door.
• Gage took one look at her and pulled her into his arms. "Hazel's asleep, ssh...everything is going to be okay." Bree stiffened in his hold, but when his warmth seeped in she started crying again. It has been a long time since she was held by a man and she didn't know how but Gage felt safe.
• Her gut said so.