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“Sorry about that, Alice. You ready to have dinner?”
She agreed and I followed her back to the dining room. I was filled with dread, and I hoped that it was just me being silly. I didn’t want to think of anything else as an option. It was going to be fine. It’s not like Frank wanted to have anything to do with me romantically, and Tommy was only here for a second. I knew I wouldn’t mention it and hoped that Alice wouldn’t either. I really did want to keep this job and Tommy was threatening it.
16
Frank
Igot home late, and Amber was sleeping on the couch. I’d told her before that she could go back to the pool house after Alice went to bed, but she didn’t want her to wake up in the middle of the night scared, so she was convinced that she needed to stay up with her. It was sweet and I knew that it was because Amber cared for my daughter. She cared for me too, just not in the way that I had hoped, that I had figured she did.
Work had me drained, but it didn’t stop me from looking at her sleep for a while. I didn’t want to wake her up, she seemed too peaceful, but I knew that I had to. Amber wouldn’t want to sleep there for the night and get a crook in her neck. She would rather go back to her own bed and sleep there.
I kneeled down and gently shook her a little bit. I heard a sound of fright and then Amber jerked up. She had been dreaming, and I asked her if she was dreaming about the accident again.
“No, I have plenty before then to have nightmares about. It’s the good old haunts that keep me going.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Amber said some things sometimes, that I wasn’t sure what to say back. She had lived an extraordinary life and it seemed like she was so nonchalant about it all, because she had seen it all. I didn’t know if that was true or not, but I knew that she didn’t seem fazed about much of anything. Even me, unfortunately.
I ignored that last thought and asked her if she was okay.
“Yeah, sorry. I don’t know how I dozed off. What time is it?”
I told her and she cursed low, apologizing again, and I asked her what was wrong.
“You got a hot date or something?”
The way she looked at me, I knew what that meant. She did have a hot date and I was the one that was putting my foot in my mouth about it. What was I thinking, saying something so stupid?
“Sorry, your business. I will see you in the morning, Amber.”
“It’s already morning, Frank. I will see you in a few hours. Looks like you need it to sleep.”
I smiled and nodded, watching her leave and wondering if she was going to go see her boyfriend. If she was, I wanted to see who he was, but I never had. It was a secret, like most everything else about her. I shouldn’t have woken her up. If she was still sleeping, then she wouldn’t have been able to run off to see her lover. That was the only thing that mattered to me.
She left though, not long after I woke her up. She walked to the front of the house, down the driveway, and then to the road. I had a feeling that I was going to lose the chance with Amber, if I didn’t tell her what I was really feeling. We had said that we wouldn’t talk about what happened between us, the kiss, but that didn’t mean that I was never going to want to talk about it. I wanted to know. I didn’t want her to leave.
* * *
The next morning,Amber hadn’t come over by the time I got up. I was dressed and ready to go, but I never heard her come home last night, so I wasn’t even sure if she was there. I had to check before I left. She was usually up and at it earlier than I was.
When I got to the pool house, I could hear music playing and while I didn’t want to be too nosy, I knocked, but no one answered. It was probably because she couldn’t hear me over the music, so I popped the door open and called out her name. To be fair, I wasn’t being too loud, because I didn’t want to startle her.
“Amber?”
There was no one there, the bed was unmade like she’d just gotten up. The pool house wasn’t that big, but I didn’t hear the door on the other side of me opening. Amber was coming out completely naked, her towel that was supposed to be covering her in her hands, drying off her long black hair. I got to see all of her then, every single inch of her, and it was different than seeing her in the hospital. Amber was all woman as she stood there in front of me and the more I tried to look away, which was what I should have been doing, the more I stared at her.
“What are you doing here, Frank!”
She covered her body up but it was too late. I’d seen too much.
“Nothing, I was coming to get you and apparently, I wanted to make it so I never sleep again.”
I slipped out the door and headed to work. I didn’t want to stick around for the awkward conversation that was going to ensue.
Fuck! I really should have never stopped that kiss. Biggest mistake ever!
17
Amber
