TSK
Chapter Twenty-one
Part 1
6:15 AM
Jamie King hurried out of bed and set a new record for getting ready. He was eager to get the day started, which meant breakfast and then some hiking and some swimming and a whole list of things to do.
He tried once to wake Phillip up, but his brother only grumbled and then pulled the blanket up over his head.
Choosing to ignore him, Jamie sped to the little kitchen area of the cabin and began whipping out the eggs and bread and bacon. He was hungry and he was ready to the start the day. He even started coffee for his father, chuckling to himself over the weird attraction to the stuff that both of his parents had.
He didn't understand it himself, but then, they were grownups. Even his grandmother and Lee and Carrie liked the stuff, although they all seemed to like it with different junk mixed in.
Chuckling over the differences between the adults who figured prominently in his life, he began humming as he pulled the slices of bacon apart.
"This day is gonna be awesome!"
TSK
Chapter Twenty-one
Part 2
Lee had gone back upstairs and into Amanda's bedroom. He set his coffee cup down on her nightstand and then reached down to place a hand on her forehead. She definitely felt warm to him.
Grabbing his toiletry bag and coffee cup, he walked quietly into the bathroom and turned the shower on.
Because it was their habit, when they were alone in Amanda's home like this, they had turned off the ringer on her bedside phone. With the bedroom door closed and the shower water running, Lee never heard the phone downstairs.
It rang until the answering machine picked it up.
The caller did not leave a message, deciding that he would wait for a little bit and try again. After all, if they weren't picking up the phone, he was going to take that as a good sign and pray that he wasn't interrupting something that he really didn't want to know about.
Then again, this was Lee and Amanda.
"Oh dear."
TSK
Chapter Twenty-one
Part 3
Phillip King was still rubbing his eyes as he made his way to the kitchen, the smell of food very tempting.
He found his brother serving up ample portions of breakfast onto the plates.
"You made enough to feed an army, worm head," Phillip told him.
"You're hungry, right?"
"Well, yeah," Phillip replied after he thought about it.
"So there. Eat, goofus."
Joe King had heard his boys out in the kitchen and he ventured out, cautiously, to see what they were up to. For some reason, the story that Amanda had told him about their adventure with a volcano sprang to mind and so, he was greatly relieved to find that nothing more than breakfast had happened. Although, as he looked at the plates, it would seem that they might need to learn a little something about portions. Then again, Amanda had jokingly said that they seemed to be on a mission to digest everything in sight the past few weeks.
Maybe his ex-wife hadn't been joking.
"Good morning," he told them.
"Morning Dad," both boys replied in unison.
"I made breakfast," Jamie said proudly.
"So I see," Joe nodded as he wondered if they could possibly eat all of this.
"Yeah, the bacon's really good. He didn't burn it this time," Phillip said.
"I don't burn the bacon," Jamie retorted. "That's grandma, or was that Mom?"
"Beats me," Philip shrugged as he began piling egg and bacon onto his toast.
Joe watched in amusement as the yellow yolk began dripping down his eldest son's chin after he took a bite.
"I made coffee too," Jamie said.
"Thank you," Joe told him. "That's just what I needed. So you guys ready for a big day of fun?"
"Yeah!" Phillip exclaimed.
"Ready when you are," Jamie added.
"Good," Joe said as he sat down at the table.
"Any more bacon?" Phillip asked.
"In the pan," Jamie said as he began to make his own egg sandwich.
Phillip got up from his chair, sneezing all the way as he headed to the stove for additional helpings.
TSK
Chapter Twenty-one
Part 4
6:30 AM
Billy Melrose glanced up from the folder that he was looking at when he heard the knock at his door. It was Cheryl.
"Come in," he called out to her.
"This just came in via courier, for Scarecrow," she told him.
Billy took the package from her and thanked her. She left promptly, which was something a lot of them never seemed to do, leaving him to inspect it.
"From TP – marked urgent, urgent."
Billy sat it down on his desk, then glanced at his watch. It was now just after six-thirty. He really hated to do this, acknowledging that most of his best agents never really got enough down time, but in this instance, the stakes were too high.
He was just about to pick the phone up again, when it rang.
"Melrose."
William sat quietly as he listened to the voice on the other end.
"I see," he responded quietly after the voice finished.
"Keep me updated," he informed the caller.
Slowly, he replaced the receiver and then, for the longest time he just sat there, staring out the windows of his office.