Both Nicole and Lucy slept the rest of the night. I, on the other hand, got no sleep. If it wasn’t Lucy punching and kicking me in her sleep, it was the thought of Nicole down the hall.
Gently moving Lucy’s arm and leg off me, I move down the hall to see if Nicole is up yet. Lucy’s bedroom door is open, and the bed is empty. She must be in the bathroom.
I notice the door is closed, so I step up closer to it. Suddenly, I can hear Nicole crying from behind the door. What the hell?
Bracing myself against the door frame, I can’t help but speak up. “Nicole, are you OK?”
She quiets her crying but doesn’t answer me.
“Nicole, please talk to me. Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Suddenly, the bathroom door flies open. I’m shocked by what I see, and it must show because Nicole starts sobbing.
“Look at me, Daniel,” she yells. “You can play connect the dots on my face.”
Nicole brushes past me before I can even say anything. She runs back into Lucy’s bedroom and slams the door.
“Daddy?” I hear from my bedroom.
Fuck.
“Yeah, baby girl, I’m in the hall.”
Lucy comes out of my room dragging her blanket and T-rex. “I heard yelling. Are you mad?”
Lowering myself to the floor, I pull Lucy into my arms. “Happy Thanksgiving, sweets,” I say as I give her a kiss. “No, I’m not mad. Why don’t you go get back in bed? I’ll go make breakfast and bring it to you.”
“Pancakes that look like a turkey?”
“Yes, Lucy. I’ll make turkey pancakes.”
She hugs me and trots back off to bed. Now I have to check on the other sick woman in my life.
I knock on the door and open it at the same time. Not wanting to give her the chance to tell me to leave her alone, I walk in and sit down on the bed.
Nicole has her face buried in the pillow. Knowing I have to reassure her, I begin to rub her back.
“Daniel, I’m hideous. Just leave me alone in here until the chicken pox go away.”
I try to stifle my laugh, but I can’t. Nicole immediately whips her head around to me with a death glare.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” I say with a shrug.
“Ugh,” is all she can say as she reburies her face in her pillow.
Trying to take her mind off it, I play my trump card.
“Lucy is already up, looking for you. I’m going to make her pancakes in the shape of turkeys. Are you hungry?”
“You make pancakes that look like turkeys?” she asks with a muffled voice.
“Nicole, please take your face out of the pillow and let me look at you.”
She hesitates but then slowly lifts her head so I can see her.
“I can’t even scratch my face because I don’t want scars.”
Not saying anything, I go into the bathroom and grab the calamine lotion. When I walk back into Lucy’s room, I catch a glimpse of Nicole as she changes into a T-shirt and yoga pants. It stops me dead in my tracks because she’s not wearing a bra.
Clearing my throat, I catch her attention. She notices the lotion in my hand and reaches over to take it from me, but I shake my head.
“I’m going to put this on you, Nicole. I’ve had plenty of practice with Lucy.” I raise my chin, indicating she needs to take off her shirt.
“No way. You are not going to see my body this way. It’s bad enough you can see my face.”
At this point, I can see her trying to use the material of her shirt to scratch her back. This is ridiculous.
“I have seen you without your shirt, ya know.”
“Daniel, that was different. I wasn’t covered in chicken pox.”
Laying the bottle of lotion on the bed, I move toward her. She takes a step back, but she doesn’t have anywhere to go.
I reach over to touch her face, but she grabs my hand. Oh, hell no. “You know I still owe you the rest of your spanking,” I say with a raised eyebrow.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she says with a defiant voice.
“No, I won’t. At least not while you are covered in chicken pox. But you will let me apply this lotion at least to your back.”
She must realize that she can’t do it because she sits down on the bed and lifts the back of her shirt.
Jesus. She is freaking covered, but I lie to her. “That doesn’t look so bad.”
“Daniel Cooper, you are a terrible liar. I already looked in the bathroom mirror. Thank you for helping me with this, but if you utter one more word about it, I’m leaving.”
I laugh. “Fair enough, sweetheart.” I try to dab the lotion as lightly as I can. Lucy told me if I do it too hard, it makes it itch more.
Nicole moans, “God, that feels so good.”
Her moan isn’t meant to be sexy, but my dick stirs anyway. Keep it in check, Cooper.
Shifting in place, I hurry through the process of applying the calamine lotion. Even with Nicole covered in chicken pox, she is incredibly sexy to me.
“Daniel, what are you doing? You keep applying the lotion in the same spot.”
“Sorry, I, uh, got lost in thought, I guess.”
I pull the back of her shirt down gently so it doesn’t scratch or stick to the lotion.
“I’m gonna go wash up and then start on those pancakes. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in a few?”
“Sure, I think I’m going to take some ibuprofen. My fever is gone, but I don’t want it to come back.” She smiles, and it’s nice to see.
“I’ll let you get ready, then.”
My kitchen is pretty small, but it works for me. Lucy is already sitting at the table, drinking her juice. “Feeling better today?” I ask as I start to cook the pancakes.
“Yes and no, Daddy,” my chicken pox covered girl says.
Feeling her forehead, she doesn’t have a fever.
“I’m just scratchy.”
“I know, sweetheart. After breakfast, you can take that oatmeal bath, and that’ll make you feel better.”
Lucy scrunches up her nose. “I don’t like oatmeal. I like pancakes.”
This earns a laugh from me. “Well, you can’t take a bath in pancake batter. How would we eat them?”
Now she laughs. “I guess we’ll save the pancake batter for pancakes.” She pumps her arm in the air.
“Well, someone seems to be feeling better,” Nicole says as she sits down at the table.
Once Lucy gets a good look at her, she gasps.
I immediately worry that Nicole is going to run from the room crying, but she doesn’t.
“What?” Nicole shrugs at Lucy. “You and I are twins.”
Lucy stares at Nicole for a few seconds, then shrugs one shoulder back at her.
Nicole smirks at me. Shaking my head, I finish to plate the pancakes.
“These look great, Daniel.”
Lucy nods in agreement. “My daddy makes the best turkey pancakes.”
Nicole nudges Lucy’s elbow. “Happy Thanksgiving, Lucy.”
Suddenly, Lucy turns shy. She can’t quite look at Nicole. “Happy Thanksgiving, Miss Russell.”