A Summer To Amend

Hospital

Justin's POV
I felt awful as I sat in the hospital. How could I forget that she was allergic to Shrimp. I was there the first time she had a reaction when she was two. My rule that she had to try everything, take one bite, before she could tell me she didn't like something.

She was refusing to eat the shrimp. So she got spanked and forced to eat it and the reaction started that quick which at first I thought she was having a tantrum but then it turned out to her that she couldn't breath.

I sat watching her in the bed. She was still covered in hives and she was so pale. She has been knocked out since they administered the first epi pen. Which it took two he get her throat open.

"Hi, I'm the doctor that was assigned to Sophia." He said shaking my hand.

"Sophia had a severe allergic reaction to shrimp. She went into anaphylactic shock." He said reading her file. "Are you her father?" He asked making me feel like the worst father in the world.

"Yes I forgot that she was allergic when I ordered the soup for her" I said honestly.

"You may want to call her mother and review if she is allergic to anything else. She should also carry an epi pen with her everywhere." He said writing notes.

He went over to her and opened her mouth. "Her throat is completely open, but I would like to leave her over night to monitor her." He said covering her up with a blanket. He left the room and I continued to watch Sophia.

She started to toss and turn and finally woke up. "Hi Sophia." I said softly rubbing the hair out of her face.

"Dad I'm allergic to shrimp." She said actually making me chuckle out loud.

"Yeah kid I remember now." I say rubbing her head.

"I'm hungry." She said sitting up in bed.

"I'll go find a nurse to see if you can eat something." I say walking out of the room.

"Hi sorry to bother you, but my daughter is hungry." I say to the nurse at the nurses station.

"I'm sorry but the cafeteria is closed." She said without looking up. "You can leave to get her food."

"I'm not leaving her alone. She's 11." I said annoyed with her attitude.

"Sir I don't know what to tell you." I rolled my eyes and went back to the room. Sophia was just laying still in bed.

I called my dad and he didn't answer. It was 11 at night, he probably went to bed by now. So I called Jasper.

"Hello?" He answered with the tv blaring in the background.

"Is there anyway you could bring Sophia something to eat?" I asked quietly.

"Everything is probably closed by now and what do you even want me to bring her? Obviously not shrimp Mr. dad of the year." He spat out. She scared Jasper enough that even he was mad at me.

"Just find something." I said deciding to ignore the last part. He hung up and I went and sat back down on the chair beside her bed.

"I hurt." She said while tearing up. Her skin was still covered in hives. I'm sure she was itching and burning.

"I'm really sorry Sophia. I don't know how I forgot that you were allergic." I said truly feeling bad.

"I want my mom." She whispered out next. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I don't know how in 11 years I managed to make my own little girl hate me, but I succeeded.

I didn't say anything and she didn't say anything after that. I got a phone call and pulled it out of my pocket and answered it.

"Hello this is Justin." I said not bothering to look at who it was. I was use to taking work calls at all hours of the night.

"Why has my child not answered any of my calls and texts." Aria said into the phone extremely angry.

"She got her phone taken away." I said quietly.

"Really Justin? You've had her for 8 hours and you're already taking things away. That's not going to work with me, I need to be able to talk to my child." She was already angry and she doesn't even know that Sophia is sleeping in a hospital bed next to me.

"Yes Aria, her attitude was awful. She needs consequences for it." I said trying to defend my choices.

"Justin she's almost a teenager, she's going to be mouthy sometimes. Also, she barely knows you. She doesn't know how to even take you." She said going into a long rant of how little I visit my daughter. 

"Aria there is something I need to tell you. Something that happened tonight." I said going into the long story and at the end. Aria was silent which is never a good sign. It is never good when women are silent.

"I don't even know what to say to you. I'm so angry. How do you forgot that your child is allergic to shrimp?" He ask basically screaming.

"Well there is no reason why she doesn't carry her epi pen around." I say next which I knew was a big mistake.

"She knows she allergic to shrimp!" She said raising her voice. "You took her to some fancy restaurant and she was so scared of you that she didn't dare to ask for help. Why don't I just come and get here. I don't know what your trying to succeed with her, but I'm not going to sit here while my kid is miserable."

"Aria she's staying right here. I have her for the summer." I say hanging up not wanting to deal with her dramatics either. I knew where my child got it from.

Jasper walked through the bag with McDonald's. "Before you complain it's the only thing that was opened." He said annoyed I put my hands up in surrender. I really didn't want her to eat that garbage but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Sophia wake up." I said lightly rubbing the top of her head.

She opened her eyes and I moved the tray so it was across her bed. Jasper got chicken nuggets and fries out and set them on the tray. He ruffled her hair and then left without saying anything else.

"Can I have my phone back?" She asked.

"No." I simply said. She needed it taken away for  longer than 10 hours.

She completely went quiet after that. She ate and then turned on her side away from me. She was quiet and still so I figured she went to sleep.