Chapter 22
“Thanks for taking care of the dog today.” Amy sat at the table where they’d eaten their wedding supper. It had been food that their mother had given them from the stash that people had been bringing to her.
But they didn’t mind leftovers. It was nice to not have to cook.
“You knew I’d do it. No problem. It’s my job.”
“I know. You never even questioned me.”
“Because it’s you, Amy. You’re special.”
He knew she knew that, or at least he thought he did, but he wanted her to be sure of it. He might be kind to other people, but it wasn’t the same. Amy held a special place in his life, as well as his heart. He would do anything for her, anything at all. And that made her different from his other friends.
It was late, after nine. They’d wanted the dog to be stable and awake from surgery before they left him.
They might even get up in the middle of the night and go check, or just leave early in the morning. Jones hadn’t decided yet.
It might depend on the ice storm too.
“I hope you can get to the clinic in the morning.”
“If I can’t, the couple I’m renting the garage from said they would go out and check. Also, they told me that they had an offer on their house. They said that if they accepted it, closing would be in sixty days.”
“Wow. That’s...February. ”
“I know. I don’t know if we can get another clinic set up in that amount of time or not. If not, I might have to shut down for a little bit. That might be a good time for us to go on a honeymoon.”
“You’re set on this honeymoon idea,” she said as she stood, gathering up the plates and taking them to the kitchen. Which was only a step and a half away. She looked tired, weary, her dress sad and dirty, but she was still beautiful in his eyes. He couldn’t believe it, his best friend. He was married to her.
“You know what your house is lacking,” he said as he looked around before carrying the casserole dish to the counter and grabbing the aluminum foil and putting some over the top of it.
“Tell me. What is my house lacking?” she said with a little bit of sarcasm in her voice like she knew it was lacking a lot.
“It’s lacking a Christmas tree. And any Christmas decorations. If I came into this house and I didn’t know you, I would think you were some kind of Scrooge.”
“Wow. That’s harsh,” she said, pretending to shudder.
“It’s the truth. I think first thing tomorrow, or actually, when the roads are passable and it’s not dangerous to drive, you and I need to go get a Christmas tree.”
“I can’t believe the Secret Saint didn’t give us one. Didn’t he know that I didn’t have one?”
“Maybe he didn’t think you were needy enough. Or maybe he thought you have a man who’s supposed to provide for you and should provide you with a Christmas tree.”
“Now there’s a thought,” she said, smiling.
“I’m serious. We need to get a tree.”
“All right. I’m down for that.” Amy spoke easily like it didn’t matter to her whether they got a tree or not, or more likely, she was willing to go along with it because he thought of it.
“What about tomorrow?”
“Isn’t that a little bit hypocritical?” she asked as she ran some water in the sink to wash dishes .
He grabbed a tea towel as he shrugged a shoulder. “How so?”
“If you close your clinic because of the storm, then you drive to get a Christmas tree, wouldn’t that look...bad?”
“I’m closing the clinic for people so they don’t feel like they have to get there and have an accident on the way. It’s for them, not me.”
That seemed perfectly reasonable, but Amy snorted, and he figured she probably knew he was being slightly sarcastic.
“All right. That’s a decent explanation. We’ll go get a tree tomorrow.”
She handed him a plate, and their fingers brushed.
He caught his breath. What was wrong with him? He’d touched Amy plenty of times before. But he found himself staring at her, as she turned nonchalantly back to the sink like she didn’t feel a thing.
It was an awkward few seconds before he remembered he was supposed to be drying the plate, and started to rub it with his tea towel. What had they been talking about?
He couldn’t remember, but he wanted to talk about something completely different. Like what they were going to be doing tonight. They’d had that conversation about dividing the bed in two so each of them got a side, but they also said that they wanted to have a real marriage. Was she thinking they would have a real marriage tonight?
The idea sent a sliver of excitement down his spine, and something sweet and warm chimed in his stomach. He castigated himself for wanting to focus on that, but they were married, and that was the natural progression of things.
She was finished washing the next plate before he was done drying the first one, and she waited, plate in hand, giving him a concerned glance.
“Are you okay?”
This time when he took the plate from her, he was careful not to brush her fingers. He wasn’t sure what was going to be going on, but it had to be nothing, and he ought to at least try to control himself. That would be easier to do if he wasn’t touching her. Crazy. Since this was Amy, his best friend.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Why?” he finally said, noticing that he sounded breathless. The idea that Amy might not notice was laughable.
“You sound funny,” she said, turning back to the sink and burying her hands in the water.
He was making everything awkward, and he hated that.
“Did I make you feel guilty for not being at the clinic? Because, I’m not upset about that at all. I was just teasing you.”
“I know you were. And no. I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel guilty about that or about spending time with my new bride.”
She laughed. The forks clanked as she used the rag to wipe them off. “That’s crazy isn’t it? Who would’ve ever thought?”
“I think there are a lot of people who thought you and I were just a little slow on the uptake.”
“Well, we speeded up quite nicely in the last few weeks, even if I do say so myself.”
“That we did.” He wanted to keep going fast, but he didn’t want to say that and push her into something she wasn’t ready for. But how did he ask her if she was ready? If she wanted to be more than friends with him? Maybe she wasn’t thinking any such thing. Maybe she was thinking about the money.
That’s probably what he should be thinking about, and getting it as soon as he could just so she could get out of debt and breathe a little easier.
“So do you or don’t you want to do the Christmas tree tomorrow?” he asked, finally deciding that he’d just change the subject. He tried to stop thinking about kissing her, and not make it so awkward that they had trouble remembering that they were supposed to be friends, friends who were married, and he could let things take their natural course. When Amy was ready, she’d make a move. It was probably better for him to wait for her .
“I do. I’m kind of excited about it. And it would be nice to have some Christmas cheer, not that our wedding wasn’t a happy time, but if we have the house decorated after the funeral, it will be nice to come back to.”
“Agreed.”
He’d kind of forgotten about the funeral. Amy was right. It would be nice to have a cheerful home to come back to, after the sadness of putting a mother of young children and the wife of someone he considered family to rest. Even if she was celebrating in heaven. That must be what Amy was thinking about, and here he was thinking about other things, unable to focus on the needs of others or being considerate because he was so busy thinking about what he wanted.
Maybe he should cut himself a little bit of slack, because he was hardly the first bridegroom to spend his wedding day thinking about that.
The water swished as she pulled the plug out of the drain, and brought out the rag she had used.
“I’m exhausted,” she said as she set the rag down on the counter. “Sorry I’m not very good company.”
“I wanted to tell you that you should go to bed. You look tired and it’s my job to take care of you.”
There. That marked the change in their relationship. They took care of each other before. But, in marriage, the man was supposed to be the protector. He wanted to be someone she could depend on to take care of her.
“All right. Then I’ll shower first?” She turned and looked at him, and he couldn’t read anything in her eyes. He thought she had mentioned taking a bath earlier, and it seemed odd that she would take a shower the same day, although after taking care of the dog, with all the blood...maybe she just felt like she needed it. Maybe he shouldn’t be reading anything into it at all .
“Sure. You shower, and I’ll wipe the table and think about where we can put the Christmas tree.”
“There aren’t too many places. You’ll have to get a little one.”
“Last time I picked out a tree with you for your mother, it took three hours until you found the tree that you wanted. Maybe I should reconsider what I want to do tomorrow.”
“You had a good time,” she said, lifting a brow at him, and putting one hand on her hip.
“I thought you were showering.” He made shooing motions with his hands, but she shook her head. “You’re not fooling me. You had a good time and now you don’t want to admit it.”
“I did. That’s what we do. I always have a good time with you.”
Maybe he wasn’t supposed to be serious. Maybe they were supposed to continue their bantering, but he meant that with all his heart. It didn’t matter what they were doing, if he was doing it with Amy, he knew he would enjoy himself.
“Whether it’s fixing up a dog, on our wedding day no less, or picking out a Christmas tree, or even standing in front of my parents having the most awkward conversation ever. It’s always better when it’s with you.”
“I’m the same,” she said. And he was a little disappointed, but then she continued. “Everything’s better when I’m with you.”
She turned and walked into the bedroom, while he grabbed the rag to go wipe the table. By the time he was done with his shower she had gotten some pillows and put them down the middle of the bed. She lay on her side of the bed, looking up at him with worried eyes.
“Is this okay?” she asked, jerking her head and indicating the pillows that split the bed in two.
“That’s what we said we were going to do,” he said easily. Reminding himself of what he had said earlier — that he was going to let Amy take the lead and he would follow her .
“All right. I tried to make it so that your side was a little bit bigger, since you're bigger than I am.”
“I can fit just fine. I want you to be comfortable,” he said, pausing at the light switch. “Is it okay if I shut it off?”
“Yeah. I should have a lamp beside my bed, but I guess I never felt like this was a place I was going to stay at forever and I just did the minimum.”
He flipped the light off, careful to keep his face neutral until the room was plunged into darkness. He didn’t want her to know that he was disappointed.
“That’s perfectly fine. It’s not that hard to shut the light off and get in bed.”
“Normally it’s me, and I hate that you had to do it.”
“Not that big a deal, I promise.” He sat down on the bed, and then lifted the blankets, carefully stretching out on his side, and not touching pillows at all.
There was less room than what it looked like there was going to be. The bed would be cozy if they were sharing it together.
He had been encouraged as she left the kitchen that they both agreed that everything they did was better if they did it together. But, he supposed that wasn’t romantic in any way. It was just talking about good friends.
“Thanks a lot for today.” Amy’s voice came out of the darkness.
“For the dog? It’s my job; you know I love that kind of stuff.”
“And for marrying me. It wasn’t very...romantic. Do men dream about their weddings?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Just the wedding night.”
She laughed a little, and he wished he wouldn’t have said that. It was way too close to what he was thinking about right now.
“You know you’ve always been a good example to me.” Her voice was soft, almost as though she were thinking.
He wasn’t the slightest bit sleepy, and welcomed a conversation .
“I thought it was the other way around. After all, you share your family. You taught me how to be a good sibling, even though I didn’t have any. Then you showed me, by letting me see your parents, what a mom and dad should really be like.”
“No. I meant you. Being selfless. Just always thinking about others. We were laughing a little earlier about you closing your clinic for other people so they didn’t get hurt, rather than you, but that’s really true. That’s the kind of person you are. You put others first the way Jesus did. It’s inspiring.”
He hadn’t realized she thought that. They’d never even spoken about it before, and he had no idea that she’d been watching him.
“You do the same thing. Although, I suppose you do it with animals.”
“Maybe I treat animals better than I treat people?” She mused thoughtfully.
“Is there a problem with that?”
“The Bible doesn’t really tell us how we have to treat animals other than regarding their life. But it is people who are made in the image of God. I don’t know whether animals go to heaven, or what happens to them, and the Bible doesn’t really tell us, but it’s very clear about people. That’s who Jesus came to save. That’s who we’re supposed to be reaching. Animals are just... I don’t know.”
“Companions. Something to make us smile. The way God gave us beautiful sunshine after a rainstorm, or rainbows, or the way the trees start to change color in the fall and we just can’t help but look at them all and smile. Only, animals can be a companion too. They help our loneliness, help people feel better, give us something to snuggle with and something that doesn’t judge us. Maybe when people get to be too much, you always have an animal around to try to make you feel better.”
“Yeah. But maybe sometimes I elevate them into something that they shouldn’t be. And I lose sight of what’s really important. Even though your job is to take care of animals. You never lose sight of what’s really the most important.”
He didn’t say anything, because he supposed she was probably right. He became a veterinarian because he loved animals. He and Amy both did. And they talked often when they were younger about how they wanted to work together, her as a vet tech, and him as the veterinarian. Not that she couldn’t have been a veterinarian if she wanted to, she just hated to go to school.
It wasn’t his favorite either, but he’d loved the idea of him and Amy being together.
“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that.” Amy shifted, and he thought she was turning on her side. Soon he heard her deep, regular breathing, and he figured she was asleep.
It was a long time before he was able to do the same.