Chapter 34

"Sandy, for fuck's sake, put that down!" Paul scolded her gently when she picked up a box to move into the new house. It wasn't that heavy, and she could carry it easily.

"It's not heavy," she protested. "I can get it just fine."

"You aren't picking up or carrying anything. You might hurt the baby messing around like that."

"Paul, one light box is not going to hurt me. And I don't know what you are worried about as I'm not even that far along yet."

"All right," he sighed, "since there is no reasoning with you, take the light stuff only. Otherwise, I'm tying your ass to a chair where you'll stay while Tyler and I finish this shit."

"Oooooooooooh, tying me up, huh?" She was teasing him now.

"You know what I mean," he said, giving her a 'warning' look.

"Okay, okay, everything that's light," Sandy smiled at him reassuringly.

"That's my girl." He picked up a few boxes and went into the house.

"Gee, he isn't a worry wart or anything, is he?" Tyler asked lowly once Paul was out of earshot.

"It's his first child, sweetheart. Of course he's going to be worried."

"Yeah, but he worries more than you do, and you're the one having the kid."

"Trust me, Tyler, this is mild compared to what I went through with your father when I was having you. At least Paul lets me do something."

"Dad was that bad, huh?"

"Are you kidding? He wouldn't even let me work at your grandfather's vet office."

"I can see why there. Cat and dog shit are supposed to be bad for pregnant ladies or something like that."

"That was just the beginning," Sandy replied. "Daddy wouldn't even let me as much as run the vacuum cleaner either. He hired a maid the whole time I was pregnant. Thank goodness I'd gotten into art work on the side or I'd gone insane with boredom. I just hope Paul doesn't get any crazy ideas."

"I don't know, Mom; if he's having a spaz over you carrying one little box, who knows what he might do next. But at least he's letting me go to work…at least for now."

"Well, at least you're at the hospital already when it comes time to have the baby."

"Good point!" Sandy laughed. "Could you take in that big box over there?"

"Sure."

"You know, Ty," Paul said when he came back out, "if you worked as much as you bullshit, we may get done a bit quicker. I need some help setting up some stuff in there. Think you can get your ass in gear and help a bit?"

"Oh stop," Sandy scolded him. "It's Sunday; we have all afternoon."

"Yeah, but I'd like us to be in by tonight. We have to be out of our apartments by tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh….right. I almost forgot the notice is up tomorrow. Well, at least the new furniture is here so we can sleep on actual beds tonight."

"Speaking of which, what did you do with the furniture at your place before you guys came to crash with me?"

"Mother arranged to have it shipped back to Philadelphia to put in her storage space."

"Aha…very good."

"And what are you planning to do with yours?"

"Some I can put in the game room in the basement. The junk I can't use I'll rent storage and stick it in there. And in case Tyler over there was wondering, yes, the stereo came with me."

"Nice. He likes yours better than ours."

"No wonder; that thing of yours must be a hundred years old," Paul laughed.

Sandy punched his arm. "Hey, I will have you know Daddy gave me that for my twenty fifth birthday, and it still works perfectly fine. Some of us can't afford swanky toys like some others, you know."

"Geez," Paul said, rubbing his arm. "You aren't going to be one of those crabby pregnant chicks, are you?"

"Only if you make me crabby," Sandy replied, hiding a grin.

"How about I make you un-crabby tonight by initiating the new bed?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Only you would think of that," she laughed. "Come on; we need to go inside and help Tyler. He can't put a whole house together by himself, you know!"