“And she is asleep,”Hue said out loud to himself. Looking over at her, he smiled. She was a sleeper. Once things got a little boring, she was out. It probably had something to do with her nursing career. Being able to sleep when you could was ingrained into her.
It sounded funny to say he had slept with her many times. It was true, but it wasn’t the sleeping people got excited to talk about. Every time she watched a sporting event on TV, she slept through most of it, and sometimes he would sleep during the game also. Right there, on the couch.
Since she had moved in across the hall from him just under a year ago, they would get together and watch games when neither had anywhere else to go or anything else to do. So, he had spent many hours cheering in silence so he wouldn’t wake her up. Only to have her naturally wake up when there was five minutes left on the clock, so she could enjoy the last few minutes and claim she had watched the entire game—adamantly denying that she slept at all.
She always said she was a sports fan, but in reality, she only knew the players because she was able to retain information easily. Amanda had always been smart; smart enough she should have been the doctor he teased her about being. She had been the valedictorian and had breezed through college. After that, he had mostly lost touch with her as he had moved away for a dozen years, only to return to Landstad, hoping being back where he and Krystal had grown up would save what was left of their marriage. It had not, and she had gone back to Fargo and was married again. Happy again, with someone else.
But over the years, he had heard this and that about Amanda: married, divorced, great nurse. He had even seen her plenty over the years—Math’s wedding, the kids’ baptisms, birthdays, and some holidays. She had always made time for her family, and he had been lucky enough to have been invited to many of the family events.
Throughout those years, he had not spent much time with the adult Amanda, not until she moved in across from him. Before that, she had been there, but they hadn’t spoken much. There had always been too many people around.
Now that they saw each other often, she was like an older sister who teased and taunted him. Then made sure he did the things he needed to, like family did. Except they weren’t family, and she wasn’t his sister. Because you aren’t supposed to lust after your older sister.
With her asleep, he was able to look without her noticing. Her blonde hair was cut in a weird style that was long on top, but ended at her ears, and it was always styled nicely, even after a nap. Those blue eyes captivated him with their brightness.
Math had once told him that she thought she was short and fat, but she was only short compared to her sisters. And her curves made him want to run his hands over every one of them. He had always been into skinny girls until last year, when Amanda had moved in across from him. That was when everything changed.
His only issue with her was that she never saw him as more than anything but her brother’s friend. No matter how many times he teased her about sex, she never caught on that he wanted it with her. She just took it as a joke.
Earlier today, he would have jumped at the chance to take her home. A long drive with them alone? Yes, please. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen with her parents there since they would drive her home.
Until he saw the pain in her eyes in that hospital room. He didn’t know how no one in her family saw it. It was as plain as her blue eyes that she was in agony. If it had been needed, he would have carried her out of the hospital. Instead, he had pushed her until she almost fell over in his rush to get her out of there.
In reality, he wanted out just as bad. It had bothered him to see his friend with another baby. It always bothered him to see others with a kid. He had wanted one for so long and had nothing to show for it. Never would.
Steadying her had been the easy part; letting her go had been twice as hard. He had wanted to pull her closer, to give her a hug to take away her pain. Take away the pain he was feeling. Instead, he had let her go, grabbing her hand as a consolation prize and holding on to it.
Once she had told him why the baby had bothered her so much, he completely understood. Who wouldn’t feel emotional pain from that? But what had bothered him was that she had been around babies all the time. A year ago, she worked in the very same hospital they had just left, in the OB department. Why was it bothering her now suddenly and so much?
Reaching over, he lightly ran his hand over her smooth hair so as not to wake her. It never had before, so it wouldn’t today either. It hadn’t taken long in the pickup for her to get past the pain and turn back into the Amanda he knew. Once he had her laughing, he knew she was feeling better.
As they crossed the county line, Amanda started to stir. Must be the five-minute mark. Sitting up, she blinked a few times and looked around. “Where are we?”
“Right there is where I stopped you for speeding.” He pointed to the exact spot.
Being a cop in a small town was mostly boring, until a lead-footed nurse practitioner flew past him. Then the nights got better. A lot more exciting.
“Which time?” She looked to where he was pointing. Only Amanda would admit that she had a lead foot. He had written the tickets that proved it.
“I think around four months ago?” He couldn’t remember the exact date.
“Four and a half,” she responded more to herself than to him since she said it so quietly.
Nodding at her answer, he said, “Could be. How many have I given you on this stretch?”
“No more than three,” she said and then looked at him. “Possibly four.”
“I should get your license taken away,” he said, just wanting to rile her up a bit.
“Don’t you dare, Hue. I have been good for a long time.”
“You’re right. I haven’t seen that little gray, nondescript roadster speed through these parts lately.” It wasn’t like he had been looking, but he had been looking. There had only been four tickets, but far more warnings than anyone deserved.
“It’s a Buick… they are not roadsters,” she argued.
He loved that her chest heaved when she got riled up. “They are with your little foot on the pedals.” He winked at her.
“I don’t have little feet.” Which was a lie; he had seen those feet many times over the years.