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“Yeah? Are you cleaning their house or something?”
I wrinkled up my nose and agreed that it was something like that. I didn’t care for cleaning and wouldn’t do it for a job if I didn’t have to.
“It’s a really nice house. They got anything good in there?”
I felt an immediate feeling of alarm go through me. I was suddenly wishing I hadn’t given Tommy the address. He was asking for reasons that I didn’t want to think about. He wasn’t just asking to make conversation; he was already running scenarios in his mind of how he could break in and get what he wanted. I knew that I needed to say something before he did something that he would regret.
“No, not really. Guy kept the house in the divorce, but I am pretty sure the wife got everything else. I just take care of his kid. That’s it.”
He seemed to think that it wasn’t going to be worth talking about then. Tommy didn’t know that I cared about Frank too. He didn’t know that I was trying to get him into my bed just a few hours before. Tommy didn’t need to know any of it. If he thought that it was a waste of time, he wouldn’t even attempt anything. I didn’t want to bring that sort of problem to Frank’s house and family. They’d both been through enough.
“So, where do you want to go, Amber?”
I smiled in his direction. “You know, the park sounds good.”
The park was a place we used to go to when we needed a quickie and didn’t have any place else to go. Tommy immediately understood what I was talking about, and I could see his mind churning. He was simple, but he definitely wasn’t dumb. Tommy was going to give me just what I needed.
14
Frank
Amber took off and I didn’t even get to say anything to her. I had come home with something on my mind, her. I wanted to talk; maybe go back on the chance that I had squandered before. In my mind, I wasn’t going to squander it again. I was going to make use of it. All she had to do was tell me that she still wanted it.
Then the call, then she was gone. I knew she had left to see a man and it sounded like a man that she knew quite well. Had I chased her into the arms of another man? Was I that easily replaced?
It was silly, because I had done the same thing, but it didn’t feel the same. I had just seen to my needs with Jackie because it would give me a clear head that I desperately needed. I didn’t know why that was different, but the idea of another man’s hands on her and her being with another man, made me sick to my stomach. Jealousy wasn’t something that I felt often, but it was hard to breathe it was coming at me so fast.
Amber didn’t get back to the pool house until late into the night. I tried to sleep, really I did, but instead all I could do was pace, pretend to read charts that I was trying to get to, and look out the window.
When she finally came back, I felt relief, but it wasn’t very long standing. The relief was gone when I thought about where she had been and who she had been with. I couldn’t even fathom what they were doing. I didn’t want to imagine it in my head, but that was exactly what I would do, all night.
I wanted an excuse to go out there, pick up on how she was acting, what she was up to. I knew that it was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help but wonder. I knew that there was something going on, but what? I had another night of fitful sleep ahead of me and I laid down. Even now, I still had only one thing on my mind. Amber.
* * *
“Good morning,Frank. I wasn’t sure if I should be here this morning. Is Alice going to be around soon, or do you know what time she is coming back?”
Amber had the sweetest grin on her face, and it hurt me to see her looking at me like that. She was looking at me like everything was fine, but it’s not, at all. It wasn’t ever going to be fine, if Amber was off with another guy, while I stayed here and pined away for her. It made me feel pathetic.
“I think they will be back in the afternoon. You will stay around though, just in case she comes back early, right?”
She agreed and I bit my tongue hard, wanting to ask her where she was the night before. It could have been somewhere innocent, but by the relaxed state of her, I didn’t think it was innocent at all. Someone had made her feel better when it should have been me.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
“Are you okay, Frank? You look like you’re not getting any sleep.”
“Just heard noises last night late. I couldn’t see anything, but I could have sworn there was someone walking around outside in the middle of the night.”
Amber pressed her lips together. “Sorry about that. I was out last night, and I tried to be as quiet as I possibly could when I came back in. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Oh, it’s no problem. I just am not used to it, I guess. I am sure I will be soon enough. It’s good having you here, Amber, and I just want you to feel welcome.”
She thanked me and said that she had no plans for the day. “I will just hang around here and see what time she comes home. Whatever time it is, I will be here, okay?”
She wanted me to trust her, and I did. Her going off in the middle of the night was none of my concern. I was the one that had told her to take some time off. I just didn’t think that it would include her going out with some guy. Or wherever she went.
“Thanks, Amber. You don’t know how good it is to know that my daughter is safe with you while I am away. I never thought that I would find someone who she liked and made me feel so secure. I’m glad it’s you.”
