Chapter Twenty-five.
At six-thirty my alarm sounds and I quickly reach over to turn it off. Andy groans and rolls over pulling the pillow over his head.
I get out of bed and go to the bathroom. When I come back out he hasn't moved and I go out to the kitchen and leave him sleep for a bit. Max is up as usual and watching the cartoons but Lilly's still in bed.
I go into her room and gently wake her before going into the kitchen and making breakfast for them both. I pack their lunch boxes for them too and at seven-thirty I tell them both to get dressed before heading into the bedroom to wake Andy.
He is now lying on his back and I bend over and run my hand through his head.
"Andy, honey, time to get up" I say quietly. He stirs a little and grabs hold of my wrist and pulls me down on top of him.
I sit myself back up and shake his shoulder again. "Hey. Andy. You've got to get up. I've got to get the kids to the bus and get ready for work." I get no response so I leave him whilst I get dressed. When I come back out he's still asleep.
I decide to just leave him and go back out to the kids. Max asks me where Andy is and I tell him he's still asleep. We get the kids bags packed and out the door to the bus stop.
"So did you guys have fun last night?" I ask them both on the way there.
"Yeah, Bradie made us a sausage sizzle on the BBQ and it was yummy" says Lilly, full of adoration.
"And Tom showed me how to make paper aeroplanes" adds Max.
We get to the stop and the bus is pulling up. I kiss them both and wave goodbye before heading back home again.
Andy is stirring as I walk in and I say good morning to him as I bend and give him a quick kiss before heading into the bathroom to do my hair and makeup.
When I come back out he's sitting on the bed fully dressed. "Hey. You look nice" he says to me.
"Thanks. Look I hate to rush you but I have to leave for work."
"Okay, that's fine. I'll walk you out to your car then."
We both go out and he gives me a kiss before I jump in and head into work.
At about eleven I hear my phone go off in my bag and I quickly grab it to read the message.
Are you free for lunch?
It's from Bradie. I quickly type a reply.
I guess. I haven't heard from Andy at all so I'm guessing he's not comingWhat time?
Just before noon, I want you to meet my boss :)
I'll be there.
I put my phone back in my bag and concentrate on my work again.
At a quarter to twelve I hear the bell on the door to the shop go and slide my chair to the side to see who walked in. It's Bradie and he's looking around the place.
I quickly finish up what I'm doing and go out to where Sandra is standing. I can see her watching Bradie and I call him over. He gives us both a big smile and I introduce him to Sandra.
I tell her that he's Andy's brother and my neighbour and her eyebrows disappear under her fringe.
"Oh so you're the brother then" she says.
Bradie's eyes find mine and he says, "So you've been talking about me I see."
"Maybe just a little. Come on, let's go get lunch," I say to him dragging him out the door.
We cross the road to the deli and the girl behind the counter says hello to me by name. I come here often enough now and I discovered that she's about the same age as me. Her eyes go to Bradie and she asks him what he'd like with a smile. We both order then go sit at my usual table outside.
"So where's Andy today?" I ask him. I'm secretly a little disappointed that I haven't heard from him since he's leaving tomorrow for the week. I try not to let that show on my face though.
"He went back to bed when he came home and still hasn't gotten up yet. I left him at home by himself. So how are you today anyhow?"
"I'm fine. Going to miss you guys this week though. You looking forward to it?"
"Definitely. But I don't think we're going to get a lot of time for touristy things though. Which is a shame because I've heard it's a really beautiful place."
"I'm sure you'll get to see some of it though."
The girl brings out our lunch and we eat quietly.
"So everything okay with you and Andy?" he asks me.
"Yeah, I suppose. I haven't said anything to him about what we were discussing yesterday though. I don't really want to bog him down with that before you guys go away."
"You know the longer you hold it in the harder it's going to make it" says Bradie.
"I know. I just don't know exactly what I want yet anyhow. I think I need to just let it go for the time being and see how it plays out. I'll have to talk to him about it eventually, just not right now. I'm sure it will be fine, either way."
"If you say so. As long as you know I'm here to talk to if you need to okay?"
"Yeah, thanks. So are you excited about your birthday? The kids and I bought you a present the other day."
"Yeah they told me that."
"Oh shit, they didn't tell you what we bought did they?" I ask him.
"No, Lilly was going to but Max stop her before she said it. I nearly got it out of her though" he says with a grin.
"Don't ruin the surprise okay?"
"I won't, I promise," he says.
I hear my phone buzz and grab it from my bag. It's a message from Andy.
Is it too late for lunch with you?I look at the clock on my phone and see that my half hour is almost gone.
I quickly reply. Sorry, I'm about to go back to work. See you after though?
"Is that Andy?" asks Bradie.
"Yeah, he must have just got up. He wanted to know if I could have lunch with him."
My phone buzzes again. I'll be on your doorstep. X
See you then. X"He's coming over this afternoon instead," I tell Bradie.
"I guess I'd better let you get back to work then" he says to me.
I look at my watch again and grab my trash off the table. We stand and walk back to the store.
"Andy and I were thinking of maybe getting one of those jumping castles for Sunday that the Adults can play on. Does Lilly and Max like those things?"
"Yeah, they love those castles."
"Oh and Mum checked with the sitter and she said it's fine for them to come over Saturday night when we go out for my birthday dinner. Mum wanted me to ask you if it was okay if they stayed the night too. It's just that we don't know how late we're going to be and we might go clubbing afterwards. Mum and Dad will be going home early so she figured it'd be easier for you to leave them stay the night."
"Oh great, tell Sarah I said thank you so much. That'll make it a bit easier."
We enter the shop and Sandra looks up and smiles at us. "I wanted to ask you also, what do I get the kids for their birthdays?"
"You don't have to get them anything at all," I tell him.
"Yeah but I want to. Please? What do they like?" he says.
I show him a couple of the fairy figurines that Lilly had eyed off and I tell him about a new Ben-10 toy that Max had been mentioning lately. Bradie buys two of the fairies and I leave him with Sandra so I can get back to work. He puts his head in the office and says goodbye to me before he leaves.
The afternoon flies by as always and I'm heading home before I know it. I stop at the little corner store down the road and grab some things for dinner before making my way home.
Sure enough, Andy is camped on my doorstep when I arrive.
I get out of the car and walk toward him with my groceries. He gets up and takes the bag from me before giving me a kiss. "Hey good-looking. How was work?"
"Great. It goes so quickly every time," I reply as I unlock the front door and we go into the kitchen.
"Did Bradie come and see you today?" he asks me as I put the groceries away.
"Yeah, he called in and got a couple of presents for Lilly. I introduced him to Sandra and we grabbed some lunch while he was there," I tell him. "Did he tell you what he bought?" I ask him.
"No, I just recognised the wrapping on the presents. He didn't tell me he had lunch with you though."
"We were suppose to grab a coffee a week or so ago now and he messaged me this morning and asked if I wanted lunch. I hadn't heard from you so I said yes. Is that okay?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I didn't get up until lunch time anyway. I'm sorry I didn't think of that last night. We should have made plans for today. I have some stuff I have to do tonight and we have to leave for the airport at like four thirty in the morning so this afternoon is the only time I've got to see you. Like I said, I probably should have arranged to have lunch with you yesterday."
"It's okay, this afternoon is fine. You're only gone for a few days and you'll be that busy over there that you'll be home before you know it," I say to him.
"Yeah I guess."
"I'm going to go get changed and then we can walk down to the bus stop together okay?"
"Okay. I'll be out the front," he says to me.
I go and change out of my work clothes, grab my keys and go out the front. Andy stands up and we hold hands as we walk to the bus stop.
When we get there we sit down and wait. "So I don't know if I'm going to have any phone reception over there so I might not be able to text you but I'll ring you from the hotel we're staying at," he says to me.
"It's okay you know. You don't need to ring me at all. So long as I know you're going to be here on Friday when I get home from work, then I'm good."
"We get in early Friday morning I think so I'll definitely be here. So you don't want me to ring you?" he asks.
"I don't want you to think that you have to okay. I'll be fine whilst you're gone and I'm sure the last thing you're going to be thinking of is ringing your neighbour back home," I say with a wink.
"You're funny."
"I thought so," I say with a smile. " But honestly, I've got work this week and there's some other stuff I have to take care of for the kids birthday's. I'm going to be busy anyhow. The week will be over before you know it."
The bus turns into the street then and I stand up to wait for it. Andy stands behind me and we greet the kids as they get off the bus.
We all walk home and after I unpack their bags, Andy suggests that we all go next door so the kids can play with Chris. The kids agree and we all invade Andy's house instead. While the kids are playing Andy drags me to his room where I see he's returned to his messy-state.
"What happened in here?" I ask him.
"Oh, I'm trying to pack for tomorrow but I never know what to bring. Want to help me?" he asks.
"I don't know if I can. How can you find anything in here?" I ask him.
"I know where everything is. Just don't know what to pack."
I sit on the bed and for the next half hour I run through a mental list of things he might need to take. He's almost packed except for his toiletries and we go back out to the lounge room where Bradie's building a car out of Lego with the kids.
We sit on the couch and just relax for a while before I notice the time.
"Guys we have to get going," I say to the kids.
I stand up from the couch and Bradie and Andy stand too. "Say goodbye to Bradie and Andy you two, they're going away tomorrow and won't be home until Friday," I say to Max and Lilly.
Lilly gives them both a hug and Max fist bumps them both. It's so cute how they've formed this little ritual.
Bradie gives me a hug and I wish him a safe trip.
"I'll walk you guys home," Andy says to me.
We go back to my house and I get the kids inside and tell them to run a bath.
I stand on the front step and I'm eye level with Andy. I kiss him deeply and he holds me tight against his body.
"I'll see you Friday," he says as he lets me go and I say goodbye.
He walks home and I go inside to start dinner.
That night I have a restless sleep and I hear a car pull up in the early hours of daybreak. I climb out of bed and go to the front door to watch the boys next door climb into the car parked out front.
Bradie sees me standing there and points to me for Andy to see. I wave at them both and they both wave back. The car pulls away and I go into the kitchen and switch the jug on. I have no chance of getting any sleep now anyhow.
Just as I'm making breakfast for the kids I receive a text from Andy.
Miss you already. See you Friday. XI smile and put my phone down. I must remember to text him when I get the breakfast done.
As I'm waving goodbye to the kids on the bus I realise that I forgot to text Andy back.
Oh shit. I quickly pull out my phone and send him one.
Have a great time. Thinking of you. 3 days is too long. XI hope it gets to him before he flies out.