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He tapped the screen to turn his phone on Cameron smiled back at him He’d snuck this photo of her one day when she hadn’t been expecting it But it made him happy every time he turned on his phone, so he’d put it on his home screen

If this situation surrounding his TDY showed hi, it was that he loved Ca them tore him up

He pressed a few buttons One ring, two, three… She finally picked up right as the fourth ring started “Uh, hello?”

“Cameron, thank God Mariana is sick Her face is flushed, she feels like she’s got a fever, and there are splotches on her face and arone it He needed to hear Cameron’s voice He hadn’t kno much But did he tell her that? No, he just blurted out as going on

“It’s all right, Alex Cal on her couch right now, or was she chasing after Boo with one of his many mishaps? Alex shook his head That wasn’t why he called “It sounds like she et the vaccine?”

“How in the heck am I supposed to know that? I just… Valentina handled everything about Mariana when she was little And then e after Valentina died” He was lucky he’d gotten Mariana’s ed stations He hadn’t even settled on a pediatrician Mariana had been healthy so it hadn’t been a priority

“What about Lizzie? I’irls spend so ether I’ll feel awful if Lizzie was sick”

“There’s no need to worry Lizzie got the vaccine before she started school And I had chicken pox as a child, so we’re both fine”

Thank God for that, at least “Whew I’uys won’t be infected”

“Aren’t you supposed to be leaving for your trip? What are you going to do with Mariana?”

He sank onto the couch Now that he knew for sure that Cameron and Lizzie were okay, he could deal with his current dileuez can’t take her because she ious And unfortunately, in the Army, familyon Caain She didn’t want that in her life anymore

Ca time She was too quiet Then, a few shaky words “Why, uh, why don’t you bring Mariana here? She can stay with us while you’re gone”

“I don’t know, Caood idea?” It was all he could do to stop hi “yes” the minute she offered He wanted to be with Cameron But she’d made her fears about his deployments clear, and their inevitable effect on her and Lizzie But he didn’t have a choice whether to travel or not This was an impasse he didn’t kno to resolve At least not in the next thirty minutes

“Don’t worry about what happened between us right now This is about Mariana I know you have to go”

“I can’t ask you to do that” Not that he had any clue what else he could do