Amy pointed towards the door. “Good bye, Kyle.” Her cell phone rang again, and she waited until Kyle left before her answering her brother. “Nate, I told you that I was fine. Where are you?”
“The hospital. Dad is doing much better. They don’t see any reason why he can’t go home tomorrow.”
“That’s great news.”
“Yeah, it is. Amy, he wants to talk to both of us.”
“I’m busy.”
“Do you want to tell him that?”
“No, Nate. You can tell him. I’m done.” Amy sighed, “Nate?”
“Amy.”
“I need time. Okay?” She glanced up to see Sonny walk up to her office. “Mr. McDonald wants to see me, so I have to cut this short.”
“Amy, I love you.”
“Wow, you never say that.”
“I needed to say it. I’ll talk to you later.”
Amy placed the phone on her desk before Sonny stepped into the office and closed the door causing Amy to sit straighter in her chair.
“I just called the hospital,” Sonny informed her before standing in front of her desk.
“That was nice of you. I’ve just been updated.” Amy glanced at her phone as it vibrated from a text. “I’m going to see him after I leave here.”
“Good,” Sonny stepped around the desk and stood beside her. “I guess that I shouldn’t have to say you’ve been the main topic in the conversations that I’ve been having with Kyle lately.”
“You’re not going to start this again.” Amy arched her eyes. “Was that all?”
“No, I want you to take off tomorrow. A personal day.”
“You do?” Amy stood and walked towards the window. “Did Kyle’s visit have anything to do with your decision? You can be honest with me. Did he? Because if he did, I refuse. I need to work, to be busy.”
“As the owner and your boss, I’m not giving you a choice. I don’t want to see you here tomorrow. For once, take a day and do something for yourself. I mean that.”
“And if I come in any way?”
“Don’t push me. And as far as Kyle goes, I’m not going to answer one way or the other.” Sonny smiled. “No, wait. I am going to say something. I have never seen Kyle like this. I’m not saying that there haven’t been women in his life. There have been. But over a year ago, he just happened to lay eyes on you. . .”
“That’s creepy.”
“He changed, Amy.” Sonny smiled at her. “Started going to the gym and working out with your brother. He used to live at that restaurant, but that changed. He stopped living, breathing, and sleeping it.”
“I’m sure that I wasn’t the reason.”
“Did you know that his hair used to be long enough for him to put in a ponytail?”
“Sonny, it’s not going to happen.” Amy started packing her bag before she stared in his direction. “I promise that if I see him, I won’t mention you said a word about his hair.” Placing her bag’s strap over her shoulder, she turned towards the door. “I’m going to the hospital now.”
“I was serious when I said that I don’t want to see you tomorrow.”
“Yada, yada, yada,” Amy didn’t look back.
≠
Amy heard her brother’s voice coming from the room where Elaine would be staying while she glanced at the mail she had retrieved. She was shredding an envelope along with a credit card application when she heard her bother stomp out of the room.
Nate walked into the living room followed by Elaine. “Where were you?” Nate asked, leaning on the counter that separated the kitchen and living room.
“I had some errands to run.” Amy answered while maneuvering around the counter. “Dad looked great.”
“Oh, yeah? I didn’t think that you were going there.” Nate followed her and stopped beside Elaine.
“That was nice, Nate.” Elaine frowned, wondering if they should warn Amy that Kyle was still in her bedroom. Wincing, she heard what she could only assume was Kyle putting his tools into his metal box.
“Who else is here?” Amy glanced at Elaine and smiled. “Am I finally going to meet the guy that you’ve been dating?”
Elaine felt Nate tense from beside her and shook her head. “Nate asked Kyle to help.”
Amy sensed Kyle standing behind them before hearing the tool box being placed on the floor. Pivoting slowly, she tried not to focus on his bare chest before talking to him. “I only have two words for you. Butt out.”
Kyle sighed. “What did I do this time, Amy?”
“What didn’t you do? Sonny decided that I needed to take tomorrow off after your visit.” Amy snapped. “Do you mind getting dressed?”
“One, I didn’t have anything to do with the decision to give you the day off. It wasn’t my idea this morning or today. I just happened to have been the messenger. As for putting on a shirt, I might consider it after I finish helping Elaine and Nate. This would’ve gone a lot quicker if you had decided to stay and help. Does it bother you that I’m not wearing a shirt? It’s not the first time that I’ve been shirtless around you.”
“What bothers me, Kyle, is that you seem to be everywhere. My dinners, my meetings, my office. Do I really need to continue?” Amy scowled when she realized that he was blocking her path to her bedroom. “And yes, it bothers me that you’re walking around here like this is your place.”
“That’s it?” Kyle asked with amusement before moving the hair from her face. “Hey, if it’s bothering you to be human, I think that I want to utilize that for a moment. I had a very enlightening conversation with Kenny before I left Pop.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Maybe, your brother would be interested then.”
“You’re an ass.” Amy narrowed her eyes.
“An ass that spent the night here to make sure that you rested. An ass that offered to fix you breakfast this morning. Excuse me, but this ass happens to be very concerned that you’ve placed yourself in a dangerous situation.”
“I didn’t do anything of the kind.” Amy turned away from him and waited for him to move out of her way. “Kenny. . .”
“No, this isn’t about Kenny anymore. Tell me about the relationship you told him about this morning. Tell your brother how you met whatever his name was.”
“Randy,” Elaine mumbled the name while studying Amy. “What is Kyle talking about here, Amy?”
“Kyle needs to mind his own business and leave.” Amy frowned and turned back towards Kyle. “And I’m serious about the leaving, Kyle. You and your concern can stay away from me.”
Nate shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans before locking stares with Elaine. “Do you know anything?”
“Should I? I was the one that wasn’t here. Yes, Amy mentioned that she had been in a relationship with somebody, but it hadn’t been serious on her part.”
“I’m right here,” Amy reminded them. Her nerves were going haywire while Kyle remained where he had been. She noticed the dress shirt placed on the arm on her chair and grabbed it, narrowing her eyes when she saw the boxed test kit that had been hidden underneath it. Picking up the box, she tossed both of them at Kyle. “Get out now!” She hissed under her breath.
“I’m not leaving until you start to deal with this mess.” Kyle slid into the shirt, ignoring the buttons. “I guess you can make that choice. Deal or no deal?”
“No deal, Kyle.” Amy closed her eyes before darting around him and hastily walking to her room.
Nate stared at Kyle. “You did try.”
“It doesn’t matter if I didn’t get through to her.” Kyle frowned. “Randy was somebody she met on-line. If she had. . .”
“On-line?” Elaine chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I know several couples that I’ve met, and they had fallen madly in love with each other because of on-line dating.”
“Okay, wait a minute. Both of you are telling me that my sister had been involved with somebody. Why didn’t I meet him?” Nate stared at Elaine and Kyle.
Kyl
e stared at Elaine, full of questions, but decided that he didn’t want to know. “I should leave now.”
Nate stepped behind Kyle and turned him to where he was facing the hall. “She needs you.”
“You heard her, Nate. She told me to butt out. A person can’t get any clearer.” Kyle started to button his shirt while turning. “Later.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Elaine mumbled. “She’s never been one that lets anyone really close to her, and you’ve managed to get closer than most. She wasn’t serious about Randy. I haven’t heard all of the details, but you can bet that if Nate had never met him. . .”
“Maybe she didn’t want to get into the details of how they met.” Kyle snapped. “You know, Stephanie met someone on one of those services. She ended up with a kid, and the father can’t be found. Hunter will never know his father.”
“That could’ve happened in any relationship.” Elaine argued. “So what? Amy met Randy in a way you don’t approve. You can’t give up over something like that.”
“Who said that I was giving up?”
Nate laughed, “I do, for one. I think that Elaine will agree.”
“I met a guy that I dated from an on-line dating site.” Elaine raised her eyes when Nate turned on her. “What?”
“Nothing, Elaine.” Nate stormed towards the door of his sister’s apartment. “I just thought you were better than that. That what we had meant something.”
“It did mean something,” Elaine stepped to the couch and sat. “To me.”
“Are you saying that it didn’t mean anything to me?”
“I’m saying that you burned me twice, Nate. It was time for a change.”
“How did I burn you, Elaine? Can you at least tell me that much?” Nate walked over to her and knelt. “Don’t you know I how I felt? How I feel?”
“You’re not starting this, Nate. You’re the reason why it didn’t work out for us.” Elaine felt the tears and turned away so that he didn’t see. “Don’t ask me if I knew how you felt, because it didn’t matter how I felt.”
“It did matter; Elaine, but you wouldn’t say anything.”
Kyle stared at them, silently chuckling at his friend. “Sounds to me like the both of you need to sit down and hash this out. Elaine, Nate has talked about you a lot. I think that I’ll leave now.”
“No, Kyle, don’t you dare. Go talk to Amy, explain why it’s so important why she deals with what’s happening.” Nate angled so that he could see his friend. “Just because I blew it, doesn’t mean that you have to follow my lead. You and Amy remind me of the way it used to be for. . .”
“The two of you?” Kyle asked. “I’ll make you both a deal. I’ll talk to Amy if and when you two work out your troubled relationship.”
Nate glanced at Elaine before he stood. “I screwed up, Kyle. Elaine met somebody that is obviously making her happy, and I won’t mess with that. You have a chance to get through to my sister.”
“That’s a boatload of crap, my friend. You love Elaine. Maybe it’s time you tell her instead of the rest of us. You do that, and I’ll go see Amy. That’s the deal.”
“And I won’t make a deal knowing that my sister is fighting everything about you or what you might be in her life. The only thing that I want, that I need, is to see Amy happy. How can she be if she’s being bullheaded about what, or what not, might be wrong with her life? You bought that test because you want her to know. You want to know.”
“Elaine?”
“Maybe I need to hear what Nate has been keeping to himself.” Elaine sighed. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll be willing to get back together with him.”
“What are you doing, Elaine?” Nate stared at her.
“Well, Nate, if we had talked then maybe we wouldn’t be tiptoeing around each other trying to avoid one another. It is upsetting to your sister that she can’t be with both of us instead of one or the other.” Elaine mumbled. “It might make it easier for her.”
“So you think that part of the problem might be us?”
“I don’t think, Nate. I know. She’s hinted at it a few times.” Elaine answered. “It seems that Kyle has run out of excuses.”
Kyle slapped Nate on the back. “I hafta see this, pal.”
Nate stepped back to Elaine and sat beside her, frowning when he glanced at Kyle. “I think that I’d prefer to bare my heart privately.”
“Okay,” Kyle grinned and walked down the hall, knocking on the door before entering into the bedroom where Amy was sitting at her desk. “I guess that I should apologize.”
“Done, so out the door you go,” Amy snapped before closing the lid of her laptop and looking in his direction.
“Yeah, can’t go out there yet.” Kyle lowered himself to her bed and grinned. “I sort of bribed your brother to talk to Elaine.”
“Talk to Elaine as in how?”
“Well, it seems that your brother doesn’t have the same problem I have. He fumbles with his emotions towards your friend.”
“And you just so happened to walk the wrong way and through the wrong door?” Amy asked grabbing a sketch book. “The bribe?”
“The deal was I had to talk to you in order for him to talk to her.” Kyle smirked. “Funny. I wanted to work things out with you and end up pushing your brother in the right direction because I get it. I do.”
“You get that he loves her. He always has, but why did you have to talk to me for them to patch up things?”
“You already know, Amy.” Kyle waited until she sat at her desk again. “Do you really think that what happened to you is enough to scare me away? I have waited a year just to talk to you. Now we can use that test kit that I bought and find out for sure if there is a result, or we can ignore it like you’ve chosen to do and not know one way or the other. There are points in our lives where we have to deal. This is your time.”
“Because I haven’t suffered enough. It’s okay, Kyle. I don’t want to know.”
“That picture I saw in your office- was it just for show? Wouldn’t you want something like that for your own?” Kyle asked. “It was so happy.”
“That was the way my family used to be. Nate, my parents, and my sis. . .”
Kyle tilted his head. “You have a sister.”
“She had been my twin. My other half.” Amy mumbled. “Andie.”
“Was?”
“She had a birth defect.” Amy hadn’t realized what she had sketched until she glanced down at the paper. “She, um, surprised a lot of the doctors.”
Kyle glanced at the sheet after he stood and walked over to her. “But she didn’t make it?”
“She slipped away when we were four; Mom said that we had been hugging each other. Sleeping in the same bed. I never felt her leave me.” Amy sighed and closed the book. “Every once in a while, I feel her standing next to me.”
“Now?”
“Now? No. Do you think they’ve finished talking?” Amy stood again and started pacing. “Kyle, the conversation that you had with Kenny about the campaign that I’m working on now, it was work.”
“Elaine took up for you, Amy. I think that I might be a little old fashioned, and. . .”
“A little?”
“Okay, maybe a lot. You never know who you’re going to meet.” Kyle answered. “I guess that when I saw you, things just started making sense.” Stepping over to where she was pacing, he placed a hand on her arm. “I’m not going to weird you out, Amy. I’m just saying that I feel that being here, with you, is right.”
“Even though I refuse to take that stupid test.”
“Not necessarily refuse, it’s more like you’re scared that it might be positive. I don’t blame you, because it could be. At the same time, it could come back negative and that’s it. You can live a normal life.”
“I guess it would be nice not to worry about it.”
“You guess,” Kyle smiled and glanced down into her eyes. “The answer is twenty minutes away, Amy. You have plenty of people here to support
you whether it’s negative or positive. Do it for yourself. A swab of the gums and it’s done.”
Amy found herself studying his eyes and nodding. “Okay.”
“You’re not just saying that to get me out of your room- are you?”
“No, of course not. I’m saying that because if it’s positive, you’ll leave me alone.” Amy answered walking over to her door and stepping out in the hall.
“Amy, wait.” Kyle followed her out and pulled her back into the room. “Those two might not be through making up.”
“And where is the test?” Amy asked, fighting the nerves that he had awakened again.
“Exactly where you left it,” Kyle informed her. “You seem a little urgent now. Why is that?”
“Because I need for you to leave, and if taking the test is the only way for that to happen, I’m all for running in and getting the test. Elaine and Nate can make up later.” Amy smirked after seeing Nate glance over at them. “Carry on, Nate. Don’t mind us.”
“Yes, Nate, please do carry on.” Elaine chuckled after watching her friend. “We can continue to pretend that I give a crap.” Elaine added after Amy had left again.
Kyle overheard Elaine and stared at her. Stepping closer to them, he glanced down at them. “I don’t know what happened to the two of you, but when I told Amy that you were talking things out, her eyes lit up. Sparkled. Please, figure this out. I’m begging you. For Amy.” He turned and walked towards Amy’s room for the second time.
Amy was reading the directions when he stepped into her room. “Did you that know twenty minutes can go on forever and ever?”
“I’m sure we can find something to do to make the time fly.” Kyle leaned against the wall and watched her stare at the swab and test tube. “Do you need some help?”
“No.” Amy snapped. “You could just leave and let me handle this.”
“I think that I would feel better if I were here.”
“Of course, because it’s all about you,” Amy fumed.
“No,” Kyle straightened and stared at her. “It’s about you. You’re going to go stir crazy while you wait. I just think it will be better if you have somebody with you.”
“Then let’s do this,” Amy grabbed the swab and tube, stood and walked out of the room, slamming the bathroom door after she entered. She followed the instructions, inserted the swab into the tube, and sat the timer on her cell phone.
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