Chapter Three

Empty Beds

Ed woke up the following morning with a massive headache and an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He quickly got out of bed and raced to the bathroom, barely making it in time before the contents of his stomach rushed out of his mouth. Sighing, he grabbed the towel from the towel bar and wiped his mouth, knowing that it was from the scotch. He walked back into his bedroom and laid down and without thinking, he reached for the phone and dialed a number.

"Hey," he said softly with a smile.

Sam smiled from her apartment as she held the phone to her ear. She had already been up a few hours getting Jasmine ready for school, "Hey yourself. Sleep okay last night?"

Ed merely grunted in response, which concerned Sam. "Ed, are you okay?"

He sighed as he looked up at the ceiling, studying the patterns the popcorn made. "Do you know I have glitter on my ceilings?"

The brunette blinked as she held the phone and looked at it and then placed it back to her ear, "Okay, Ed? I'm going to drop Jasmine off at school and then I'm going to come over, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," he said quietly, "Kiss the rugrat for me, tell her I love her and not to do anything stupid."

Sam laughed quietly, "I will. I'll talk to you in a bit."

She hung up the phone and downed the last swallow of her coffee. "Jasmine, come on! You are going to be late for school."

The girl bounded down the stairs, her massive chocolate curls framing her face. "I'm ready, Mommy." Sam glanced up at her daughter and got a look of horror on her face. Jasmine had gotten into Sam's makeup and, in typical fashion of a little girl, got it everywhere.

"Jasmine, what have you done?" She gasped as she quickly grabbed a wash cloth and put some warm water on it. "You know you aren't supposed to get into mommy's makeup."

The little girl pouted, "I only wanted to look pretty, Mommy, like you do."

Sam couldn't help but smile softly as she kissed the girl's nose. "Honey, you are very pretty, you don't need this stuff."

"That's what Daddy says about you."

Sam blushed for a moment and then finished wiping off the makeup. "Okay, peanut, you ready?"

She nodded as she took Sam's outstretched hand and the two walked out of the apartment. Sam stopped briefly to lock the door. "Can we have Daddy over for dinner tonight?"

Sam smiled, "We'll see, I'll ask him today if he wants to come out. Now come on, we don't want to be late for school."

She got her strapped in and soon was off towards the school.

"Man, I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful Friday afternoon than golfing at the Desert Pines Golf Course."

Danny grinned as he watched Mike line up his shot, "I was just thinking the same thing. You don't think Ed will have our asses in a sling for ditching work, do you?"

"Pshaw," Mike said as he swung, "It's practically the weekend anyway."

Danny chewed his bottom lip to keep from laughing when he saw that all Mike managed to do was chop some sand away. "Nice shot, Tiger" he remarked with a grin.

His friend just rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Just take the damn shot, Danny."

Danny stepped up with a smirk and was lining his shot up. Just as he was swinging, Mike coughed loudly, startling Danny and forcing him to screw his shot up. Danny sighed in frustration as he glared at Mike. "You did that on purpose!"

"I did not!" Mike feigned innocence. "I had a tickle."

"Tickle my ass!"

Mike's face screwed up, "Why don't you get Mary to do that?"

Danny narrowed his eyes and sighed, "Just knock it off, got it?"

Mike nodded quietly as he stepped up to take his shot. He stuck his finger in his mouth and held it out away from him. Danny just let out a deep sigh, "Mike, what in the hell are you doing?"

"Checking the wind direction."

"What difference does it make?"

"A big one." He said as he turned his body around in a full circle.

Danny just stood there dumbfounded. He was feeling the beginnings of a migraine come on and he really wished that he had just went into work instead of asking Mike to play hooky with him.

Ed was sitting on the bottom step of his staircase when Sam walked in. She couldn't help but laugh at him. He was sitting there with an ice pack duct taped to his shin, holding one to his head and moaning in obvious discomfort.

"Are you going to just sit there laughing at me, or are you going to help me?" he barked at her.

"Ooh, somebody's crabby this morning," she remarked as she closed the front door and walked over and sat next to him. "What happened?"

"I got drunk last night."

Sam stopped abruptly and looked at him, in surprise, "What? Why?"

Ed sighed, "Reason's on the counter in the kitchen."

The woman looked at him a moment before standing up and walking into the kitchen. She saw the envelope on the counter and reached for it and read it. Sighing deeply she let out a quiet, but profane, curse. "And to think you kiss your daughter with that mouth."

Sam spun around on her heel and looked at Ed who was leaning against the door jamb. "Ed, I'm so sorry," she said as she went over to hug him, "Are you okay?"

He nodded as he hugged her back and sighed deeply. "I'm fine, honey. It just really threw me for a loop."

Sam nodded sympathetically and then gestured at his leg, "What happened there?"

Ed couldn't help but grin a little, "Jillian always said I had the grace of an elephant when I was drunk."

She chuckled quietly. "Alright, let's go in the bathroom and get it cleaned up."

As they walked up the staircase, Ed casually reached for her hand, "How was Jasmine this morning?"

"She was good," Sam said with a deep sigh, "She got into my makeup this morning and so I was worried she was going to be late for school, but we got it cleaned up and she was there in time."

He laughed softly and nodded, "Yep. Little girls do that. Jillian had to keep all her empty containers and stuff for Delinda to play with just to get her to keep out of her good stuff."

Sam laughed softly and then Ed stopped at looked at her, "I'm sorry, it must make you feel uncomfortable when I talk about her, doesn't it?"

She smiled, "Ed, she was your wife. You love her very much. It's completely fine that you talk about her. It'll help you."

Ed smiled softly and leaned in and kissed her cheek, "You are a hell of a woman, Samantha Jane."

She blushed a little as they walked into his bedroom. "Where do you keep the first aid kit, Ed?"

"Master bath," he said as he sat down on the bed and watched Sam. It was the first time anybody else had been up in his bedroom since his wife died and, oddly enough, it didn't look or feel weird for him. He knew that wherever she was, Jillian had blessed whatever came out of the relationship.

Sam walked into the master bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. She was struck at how empty it was and then she noticed a second one. Quickly peeking out into the bedroom to see what Ed was doing, she quickly dashed over and opened the second one and found it empty as well.

He had thrown out all her medications.

She smiled softly, knowing what a big step it was for him and she grabbed the first aid kit and walked out into the bedroom. "Okay, pull up your pant leg."

"Getting fresh with me, Marquez?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "You want me to help you or not?"

Ed laughed quietly as he lifted the pant leg of his sweatpants and Sam knelt down on the floor. "Eww, Ed, you have a nasty cut here," she said as she grabbed the bottle of peroxide and carefully dabbed it onto the cut to clean it. Without thinking, Sam leaned in and blew a cool stream of air onto it to take the sting away before bandaging it up. As she stood up, she noticed Ed just watching her with amusement in his eyes. "Sorry," she said quietly, "Jasmine hates peroxide and I guess I just forgot that I was dealing with an adult and not a six year old."

He smiled, waving it off as he stood up, "Don't worry about it, thanks for cleaning it up, but you didn't have to."

Sam shrugged as she began to clean up the mess, "It wasn't a big deal. Listen, how about I go downstairs and you shower and get dressed and we can grab a bite before we head into work."

Ed nodded, "Sounds good."

"Good," she said, handing him back the first aid kit, "I'll let you put this away then."

Sam gave him a smile as she headed out of his bedroom and walked downstairs.

"Mike."

"Quiet."

Danny sighed, "Mike."

Mike turned around and looked at him, "What, Danny?"

Frustration building up, Danny exploded, "Make the damn shot already!"

The two had been standing there for almost twenty minutes while Mike tried to figure out which way the wind was blowing. After giving Danny an elaborate explination about humidity and air, Danny finally gave up in defeat, but his patience was wearing thin. Mike walked up and glanced out towards the green and swung his club hard, hitting the ball. The ball flew through the air and landed some five feet away. "What the hell," he said, confused. "I planned that perfectly, it should have went at least another two hundred feet."

Danny laughed, "You are scary, you know that?"

"Whatever, it's your turn, pretty boy." Mike stepped back as Danny stepped up.

Danny dropped his ball and glanced at the green and then back at his ball. Quickly turning around, he gave his friend a stern look, "No tickles."

Mike held his hands up in innocence as Danny concentrated. Just as Danny was swinging his ball, Mike blurted out, "I think Sam and Ed are sleeping together."

Totally missing the ball, Danny turned and glared at Mike who had a boyish grin on his face, "Oops. Wrong time to mention that?"

"You know what?" Danny began, "You are so dead." He dropped his club on the ground and took off after Mike who bolted a few seconds prior.