Chapter 37

"Yes, I know how important support is, and I'm willing to lend you some of mine, if you're willing to accept."

"I think I'd like that, Mr. Roberts."

"Call me Bud and just tell me what time to be here tomorrow and we can do this together."

"He should start around l0:00 AM," responded the doctor.

"Then I'll come a little early, how's that, Andrew?"

"Super. Thanks, Bud."

"Yes, young man, thank you very much for helping my son. It means a lot to our family."

"I know, Ma'am, I've been where Andrew is right now," he replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to get home to my family." Bud left the room smiling; Andrew was going to be just fine.

The next day was her normal run with AJ, and Tami wanted to tell him of the change in attitude that Andrew had seemed to undergo. She was so pleased that it was the first thing out of her mouth when they met on the trail for their warm-up.

"I'm glad, Tami. I have been calling the hospital everyday for updates on him…"

Realizing that AJ had been so concerned and that she should have been the one giving him those updates, she interrupted him, "Oh, AJ, I'm so sorry! I should have called to let you know how he was doing!"

"No, I understand how busy you were with visiting him and caring for things," AJ told her, even though he had thought that it would have been nice if she had called at least once, since they had missed their Tuesday run.

"That's just it, until yesterday, I hadn't been visiting him! He wouldn't let Sheena or me up to see him until you had Bud and Harriett visit him and put a few things straight in his head. There is no way I can thank you enough for that!" she told him.

"It was nothing. I remember what Bud went through when he lost his leg and thought that it might help to talk to someone that had been there. And as for Harriett, well she just always seems to know the right thing to say in any situation," he smiled slightly at her, still hurt that she had not turned to him, herself when all this was going on. He would have been there for her!

"We also talked about me starting to date, and he thinks that I should date Brad's old partner Mike Adkins. However, I told him that you were the only one that I was interested in dating."

"What did he say to that, Tami?"

"I think that in time they will agree to let me start dating you. Will you give me the time, AJ?"

They had begun their run by this time and AJ was quiet for a while thinking about the situation. It hurt him to be with her as just a friend at this stage. He wanted to be there for her as she went through this with Andrew. But the possibility of them dating kept being dangled before him as a temptation and it was causing heartache for him.

Tami allowed him the time to think that he seemed to need as they ran and was a bit startled when he stopped and faced her. They were almost on the exact spot where they had met all those weeks ago, when he turned to her and said, "Tami, I don't think that I can give you that time. I want to take our relationship to the next level and continuing to see you without being able to do that is difficult for me. I will be there if you need to talk, you can always call me if you like, but I think that for my own peace of mind I need to stop running with you."

Stunned at the conclusion that he had come to, she just stood there and stared at him. She had no idea what to say! Tami had really thought that he would give her the time that she needed to convince Andrew to let her date AJ.

"AJ, I can see us having a future together."

"I can too, Tami, the problem is, I don't want to wait for that future to start. At my age I'm very aware of how fragile life is and I feel it would be a crime to waste it. You can always count on me to be there for you as a friend, but right now I need some space to try and get my feelings for you under control."

To be continued…