Chapter 16 #2
Pamela laughed and shook her head. “Now she has, or at least if I give her a minute, she will.” She looked over at him and asked, “You need to go to the hospital, don’t you?”
“I do, but I won’t go just yet. I’m really hoping that Tim will show up there one more time.”
“He may be trying to get hold of Talia and talk to her.”
“Unless he’s trying to get hold of her and finish the job.” His face turned grim as he shared that. Pamela sucked in her breath and stared at him. He nodded. “I don’t know what he’s up to. Because I don’t know, it’s unnerving.”
“Of course it is,” she said. “So, it’s fine if you’re not leaving for a little bit. We can let these guys play and hopefully wear them down a bit before you go.”
He took a deep breath.
She sighed. “It’s fine, really.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Didn’t we already have this conversation?
It’s for a couple reasons,” she replied cheerfully, sending a smile in his direction.
“One, if this were me, I would want somebody to help. Two, your sister has already been through enough. She needs to know that everything is okay and that somebody is looking after her world.”
He nodded. “The thing is, it didn’t have to be you.”
“No, but, as things worked out, it is me, and that’s okay.”
He stared at her. “You know how much I appreciate this, right? And I don’t know how I’ll ever make it right with you.”
She looked over at him and nodded. “I do know that, and who knows? If I apply myself, maybe I’ll come up with something you can do in exchange,” she teased, with a big happy laugh. “But it’s really not an issue for me, so, no worries.”
“If you think of something I can do to help you, more power to you.” As he went to put one of the Lisas on the floor, he turned to Pamela. “I didn’t really know you back then, did I?”
“No, you didn’t. Then I blew up everything in your world when I told you about Angel,” she pointed out, with a laugh. “My life was never quite the same again, and maybe that’s what I get for interfering.”
“I did appreciate it.”
“Did you?” she asked, curiously eyeing him. “Because I didn’t hear from you ever again. Not that I expected to, though that’s what Angel accused me of.”
Leaving the bathroom, he turned around, gave her an odd look. “What do you mean?”
“I think Angel thought I was doing it so I would get you for myself,” she shared, with a smile. “And, if you had asked me out back then, I might’ve been interested. However, young and stupid only happens when you’re young and stupid.”
“Oh no, that’s not true,” he replied, shaking his head. “Young and stupid just ends up happening over and over and over again until you learn.”
“Hopefully I’ve learned,” she replied.
“Would you really have gone out with me back then?”
“Absolutely,” she declared, again with that smile.
“I was … I had no clue.”
“No, but that’s because you couldn’t see anybody but Angel. You were, as they say, smitten.”
“And yet it wasn’t reality. I don’t know who she is today, but back then she certainly wasn’t somebody whom I would notice now.”
“That’s pretty typical too.”
“She was trying to make her world work, and that’s not the easiest thing either,” he noted. “She was looking for somebody to take care of her, and that wasn’t me.”
“No, none of us wanted that back then,” she stated. “I don’t know if anybody really fell for that lovelorn thing. I mean, we were all looking to just fit in and yet to find our own way. I don’t think young people should ever marry, but I guess some make it work.”
“Some do,” he agreed, “but I’m not sure who or how.”
She laughed. “I hear you, but it’s not your problem.”
“If I would have known …” he began hesitantly.
She snorted. “You would have run like hell because you were just coming from Angel’s manipulations. You were not at all ready for another relationship.”
“I wasn’t ready for a long time,” he admitted, with a nod. “I was pretty bitter, which isn’t my normal style.”
“Do you have a normal style?” she asked, with a laugh.
“No,” he conceded, with a laugh of his own. “I guess I don’t.”
Pamela shrugged. “I may have thought twice about dating you because I was trying hard to get into college and to figure out what I wanted to do or to be in my life,” she added. “It wasn’t in the cards, so whatever. I wouldn’t have said no though.”
He nodded. “For the record, I would have been interested,” he shared, and then he left the room.
He thought a lot about what she’d said a bit later while he headed to the hospital, worrying about his sister and her care.
As soon as he got inside the hospital, he headed straight up to her room.
Burton sat outside the door of her ward, as always, not on his phone, his gaze ever intent as he assessed almost every person who came and went.
“I’d forgotten just how scary you look when you’re on duty. ” Anderson smirked.
“Scary?” Burton eyed him, surprised.
“Yeah, scary, as if you’re ready to take out anybody who gets in your way.”
“Then that’s a good thing because I am.” He asked him, “Did you speak to the doctor?”
“No, I’m supposed to get in touch with them when they’re done with their morning rounds.”
Burton shook his head. “I know these guys are busy, but, man, constantly having to wait to get information is so frustrating.”
“It is, indeed,” Anderson confirmed.
“And, after telling me how Tim had another relationship, I just want to kill him myself.”
“You and me both,” Anderson muttered. “I’ll have to really work on making sure I don’t overstep the bounds here.”
“You’ll be fine,” Burton replied, “because you know that, if anything happens to you, your sister will have nobody in her corner.”
It was the stabilizing comment he would expect from Burton. “It’s not that I’m ready to kill Tim,” Anderson explained, “but, you know, I’m ready to kill him.”
“Of course you are. We all are. Nobody should be playing those games. Talia’s amazing, but she must have been completely overwhelmed taking care of triplets with little or no help.”
“Yeah, and now we have a pretty good understanding of just what that looks like, don’t we?” he noted, with a laugh.
“Yep, you’re not kidding.”
After a quick visit, Burton got up and stretched. “I’ll leave this to you. I’ll go grab some shut-eye, as in solid shut-eye. Are you okay if I go back to the house?”
“Of course I am,” he said. “Go straight up to your room, and then, if there’s a problem, you’ll be right there near the triplets.”
“That’s what I figured,” Burton replied. “Let’s hope there’s no problem because, when I go to sleep this time, I’m likely to tap out.”
“No, you won’t,” he told his friend. “I’ve been on too many missions with you. You always say that, but I know better. The next thing you know, we’re very, very busy, and you’re right in the middle of it.”
“I don’t want to miss out on anything,” Burton quipped.
“No, of course not,” Anderson replied. “Go take care of a good night’s sleep, and let me know when you’re awake again. I’ll be here.”
“Will do. And, if anything happens, I’ll let you know,” he stated.
He watched as Burton walked away, then Anderson took a seat at Talia’s side.
It wasn’t long before a nurse came by. She frowned at him. He frowned right back, and she asked, “Where’s Burton?”
He looked at her, and his lips twitched as he realized Burton had a fan, and the very thought lit up his face. “He’s just gone to get some sleep.”
“Oh, okay.” He noted that she had a cup of coffee in her hand, maybe for Burton? The nurse added, “He was pretty done in, since he’s been here all day. I just don’t really see that it’s necessary.”
“Maybe not, and yet her husband has tried twice now to get into Talia’s room.”
“You would think they would at least let him in to see his wife. I don’t understand that part because somebody beat her up. Yet I’m sure the police would have been more involved if there was a continuing problem.”
“Her husband is avoiding everybody.”
“Ah, so what then? You think he’s the main suspect?”
“I don’t know if he’s the main suspect or not, but what I do know is that he hasn’t shown up and talked to the police. He also refuses to return any of my phone calls.”
“I can understand avoiding the cops,” she noted. “He probably figures he’ll be tagged as the bad guy.”
“Plus, I just found out something new. Talia’s husband, Tim, has got a lady friend.”
Her face hardened. “In that case, this asshole should get brought in for questioning,” she snapped.
He smiled. “That’s exactly why Burton’s been here.”
“I’ll check back later and see how he’s doing. Tell him I dropped by.” With a bright smile, she disappeared.
He immediately texted Burton, who, he knew would not be asleep yet. “So, Sammy was just here. It seems you’ve got a fan.”
Burton replied with an unforgettable comment that made Anderson laugh. Yet it was so very typical of Burton, who collected women like other people collected souvenirs.
Women appeared to just love something about his imposing presence and can-do attitude.
And that brought Anderson back around to the conversation he’d had with Pamela earlier.
He did remember her from back then, and he’d been working hard on trying to figure out what that had looked like, but he still came up blank.
He remembered Pamela being there in their group, remembered seeing her.
She would go out with him and Angel sometimes, but he’d been so enamored with Angel.
Apparently Anderson had no room in his psyche to see anybody else but Angel, which was damn foolish because obviously Pamela had an awful lot to offer too. But, once he’d been burned, he’d basically taken off and not come back. He only ever returned for his sister’s sake.
And those memories of that time in his life when he was so torn up was something he wasn’t sure he could deal with right now. Yet Pamela was obviously a keeper, the kind of woman who pitched in to help when you needed help. She didn’t ask questions; she just showed up.