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“He was already dating,” Amanda told them.
“Hardly. He went out with that woman once, and she said he was barely there for that date,” Tess explained since it was her who had set them up. “Mathias thought he was lonely. I didn’t know anything about you, just that Kit wasn’t interested. You could have said something, anything.”
Amanda yawned. “No next time. Can you guys just talk about me for a while? I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.”
As book club said their goodbyes, she was already hovering so close to sleep, she didn’t notice their words. Her mind drifted to her son down the hall and the man who wanted to be his dad. Tomorrow, she would have to decide what she wanted to do about them.
Tomorrow would come too quickly, especially if she slept. But she had to sleep; there was nothing she could do to stop it now. The book club ended the call, but Amanda was already sleeping when they did.
CHAPTER21
Hue checked his phone again.Amanda had given him permission to call Math. In fact, she almost said that if he didn’t call, Tess would tell him soon, anyway. He checked it one more time to make sure he had read it right, and he had.
The drive was a lot slower going back to Landstad than leaving it today and would take the entire two hours it usually took. It was fully dark now and even colder than before. He was alone in the truck with only the memory of Amanda still in pain.
“Hey, boss, sorry to wake you,” Hue said to his boss.
“Good thing you didn’t, Hue, since it isn’t even 9:00 p.m. yet,” Sheriff Sadie Martin said with a chuckle. It was only then that he looked at the time, and though it felt like the middle of the night, it was still early.
“I just wanted to tell you I wouldn’t be in to work this next week,” he said. He hated to leave the department in a lurch, but he wasn’t leaving Amanda’s side until he knew she was okay.
“A week? An entire week? You do know that you have to put in more notice than a few hours.” Sadie turned all business on him in a heartbeat.
“I’m sorry for the short notice, but Amanda went into early labor today, and I want to be with her,” he said, hoping the woman would understand.
“Congratulations, Hue. When did she go into labor? How far along was she? Boy or girl? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?” Sadie asked in rapid fire like she usually did when asking questions. They always seemed to just bubble out of her.
“It’s a boy, and they are both fine. Well, both in the hospital, but fine.” He shrugged. Did he even know if they were really fine?
“I don’t remember you dating anyone, but then again, I probably didn’t ask. Well then, stop by the office when you get time. I have some papers you will need to fill out.” He could hear her shuffling papers.
“Am I fired? For wanting time off?” he asked in confusion.
“Fired? Why? No, paternity leave. You get six to twelve weeks. But the paperwork has to be filled out,” she said. “Oh, and insurance. You’ll probably have to take a look at that also.”
“I’ll fill everything out as soon as possible.”
“Good. See you tomorrow.”
“I, um, was hoping for time off,” he stammered. Was he going to have to tell her again?
“Come in for the paperwork. To fill out the paperwork.”
“We’re not in Landstad.”
“Then I will mail it to you. Would that work? Just take care of mama and baby, and don’t worry about us. Oh, but we want pictures. Well, the guys probably don’t want them, but I do. I love babies.” Her voice was higher than he had ever heard from her before.
“I will soon. Thanks, Sheriff,” he said, relieved he had gotten the time off.
“Anytime, Hue.” She hung up on him.
Since moving to town, he had grown to respect the woman more and more. Even if she had mostly inherited the job from her father when he passed away, she was capable and competent.
It was after hanging up with her that he had noticed the text and had debated on just letting the man’s girlfriend tell him that his best friend and sister had a kid. Or whatever Amanda told her friends.
But thirty years of friendship had him making the call himself. He owed the man that much. Hue hit the button that would connect him to Amanda’s brother and his best friend. He had no idea what the man would actually say to him. If he would be mad or happy or a little of both.
“Hue, nice of you to have the balls to call me. After you left the baptism without telling anyone. Before we even ate. I would be pissed at you if my own sister hadn’t pulled the same disappearing act,” Math laid into him immediately.
