Chapter 3 #3
Sammy had eventually gone, but they had spent nearly an hour talking out by her car before she left. Just talking, and it felt really good, something Burton hadn’t done in a very long time.
As he got up the next morning and was putting on the coffeepot, his phone lit up with a text. He looked down and smiled. It was Sammy, asking how the night had been.
He responded immediately, saying the babies had slept through the night. She gave him a quick thumbs-up. Just starting work. Talk to you later. And, with that, she was gone, but the memory stayed with him for the whole day.
He already felt a bond with her, just from their interactions at the hospital. The fact that she had come through and had pinch-hit last night when they’d really needed it meant a lot. It also revealed an awful lot about the kind of person she was. For a guy like him, character was everything.
He’d known some terrific women in his time, but either it was not the right time or they were after very different things. But, for Sammy, she didn’t seem to necessarily want anything different, or maybe that was just him projecting. At any rate, it had been a great evening.
Hearing a noise behind him, he watched as Pamela walked into the kitchen and announced, “Well, this really sucks, but I’ve got to go home and get changed and head to work.”
He winced. “Sorry about that.”
“I should have brought a change of clothes,” she muttered. “Anyway, are you guys good here?”
“We’re good,” he replied, a grateful smile on his face. “Thanks for coming last night—and staying overnight.”
She smiled and waved and was gone within minutes.
Burton heard the shower upstairs, and, by the time Anderson showed up, tired but with a quiet happiness on his face, Burton felt great about it. “I’m really happy for you and Pamela,” he shared.
“Yeah, me too,” he replied. “Not exactly what I thought would happen out of all this.”
“I don’t think we thought that far ahead, did we?” he asked, with a wry smile.
“Nope. Neither one of us did,” Anderson noted, grinning.
“But at least you know I’m here now. … I still don’t know what the future holds,” he admitted. “That really gets to me.”
“Of course,” his buddy agreed, “but we have to trust that Talia’s coming back and that she’s able to handle this.”
He tilted his head, listening for sounds from the nursery. “I can’t believe the triplets are still asleep.”
“Must be the baby Tylenol. I did get up in the night and deal with one who was fussy, who ended up waking the other two,” he shared.
“Pamela came with me, and we put them back to sleep. It worked out, since they were due for another dose, which no doubt helped them sleep the rest of the night. We didn’t want to wake you, so we just handled it. ”
“I appreciate that,” Burton said, frowning, “but you could have.”
“And, if we needed you, we would have. The thing is, we had no reason to disturb you, so that seems to make a huge difference.”
“It does, doesn’t it? I mean, two adults is obviously better, but three, when you can, that’s absolutely fabulous.”
“We might have a few minutes.” Anderson poured two cups of coffee. “I can’t guarantee that, of course, but if we’re lucky, we have a few minutes, and then it’ll be time to get the babies up.”
“Exactly,” Burton agreed. He noted how Anderson hesitated, so Burton asked, “What’s the matter?”
“During the night,” Anderson began, raising his hands, “a vehicle was parked out front for quite a while. I would have woken you if I thought it was important. We definitely didn’t like the looks of it.
I tried hard to get some photos of it, but they left.
So, I don’t know if it was just someone visiting a neighbor or what. I just don’t know.”
“Did you get photos? What kind of vehicle?”
“I did,” he confirmed. “A small black truck.”
Burton stared at him. “Remember what I told you about the parking lot?”
“Yeah, I know, and neither of us got a chance to see it any closer. So, no point in waking you up if you couldn’t identify anything.”
“Yeah, but—”
“What good would that have done?” Anderson asked, with a note of humor. “Oh, I woke you up to let you know that the black truck that tried to run you down was just here and is now gone.”
He nodded. “Okay, good point.”
“Believe me, if I had a good reason to wake you, I would have in a heartbeat.”
Burton snorted. “I believe you on that point.”
The two friends laughed, and Anderson nodded. “So, it looks like they’re not giving up anytime soon, huh?”
“Looks like it.”
“Great, so it’s status quo as usual, with everybody staying safe, right?”
“Yep, that’s exactly where we’re at. And what about Leland? Did he—”
“He’s checked in. He’s looking for relief, if you’re up for it.”
“I got that one,” Burton confirmed. “No problem.”
“Good, and, in the meantime, we’ll have to keep a closer eye on the babies just because of the teething.”
Burton grimaced. “Of course both women are working, and both work the day shift—a long day shift.”
“Of course, but then we don’t need the women,” Anderson declared, with a big goofy grin on his face.
“We may not need the women, but it sure was good to have them.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Anderson nodded. “It was very good to have them.”