Page 73 of True Blue

“Come on, Teddy,” Lily adds, stepping farther into the room. “I wanted to show you more pictures from⁠—”

She reaches for his arm, and Teddy yanks it out of the way so fast she startles. He stands in front of me, physically blocking me from them.

“It’s Theo, Lily. Theo. And her name is Indie,” Teddy snaps, his voice short and sharp; the edge in his tone shocks me. I freeze, a dangerous hope rising.

Lily laughs awkwardly, “Theodore⁠—”

“I’ve told you both countless fucking times by now,” he says, voice hard. “Her name is Indie. Dr. Miller, if you can’t remember that.”

Dawn and Lily both gape at him, stunned into silence. I feel the corners of my mouth quirk upward before I can stop them.

“Did you hand her the wrong plate on purpose, Mom?”

Dawn’s jaw drops, and she looks genuinely offended at the question.

“Theodore, how could you even ask me that? I would never harm anyone like that. What kind of person do you think I am?”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Teddy throws his hand up, exasperated. “But look at Indie—the love of my life—look at her!”

Dawn’s eyes drift over me for only a second before she looks back to her son.

“Did you do this to her?” he hisses.

“Theodore James, I promise I did not give her the wrong plate. I think they may have gotten switched in the chaos of the day⁠—”

My stomach rebels again. I gag toward the toilet, and both Dawn and Lily jump back so fast it’d be funny if I didn’t feel like I was dying.

Teddy immediately comes to my side, pulling my hair back and barking at them over his shoulder.

“Get out!”

Dawn and Lily look stunned, staring at him in shock.

“Theodore James⁠—”

Teddy turns his head and roars, “Now!”

Dawn sends me a look; I return it with a small smile before my stomach rebels again. Teddy stays, rubbing my back and humming.

Teddy wipes my mouth after, his tender gaze trailing over my face. No doubt I look awful, and briefly wonder if I have vomit on my face, but Teddy still looks at me like I’m beautiful.

“Hi, honey,” he murmurs.

“Hey, Teddy bear,” I moan, giving him a small smile.

He grins and leans forward, kissing my forehead and breathing me in.

These are the moments that ruin me.

The ones that make me believe we’ll make it.

As Teddy supports me, pressing gentle kisses to my hair and promising comfort, I let myself believe again that we’re strong enough. Maybe these moments matter more than the bad.

That maybe, just maybe, we can still make it out of this.

14

INDIE