"And this couldn't wait until tomorrow? Jesus Allie, its two o'clock in the morning." Tommy replied after Allie explained why she had called. That she kept thinking of him, that she kept wondering how he was doing, if he was happy. She had taken extreme care to leave out the part about the dream she had been having, but decided she would tell him later.
"I'm sorry Tommy. I'm all alone right now." She replied.
"Noah's not…?" he asked and she noticed his tone was filled with hopeful questioning.
Allie caught the tone and awkwardly replied, "No I mean, we're together still, but he's in New York for a few more days and I just woke up. I can't sleep. So I thought I would call you, for old time's sake. I wanted to see how you were doing."
"Oh," replied Tommy, "well I would've had to get up in a few hours anyway. I've got to be to Laggins's at six o'clock. Burt would kill me if I were to ever sleep in."
Allie cringed. Burt Laggins was the most crude, irresponsible and useless man she had ever met. He was the second in command at his father's steel factory, giving orders as well as taking them from his brother, Mac. To say that Burt enjoyed being ordered around and referred to as "little brother" would be a tremendous overstatement. So to compensate for this, he treated his shipment crew as though they were worthless animals. Tommy could easily find a better job, Allie knew it. He just didn't know it.
"You're still working there? It's been twelve years hasn't it? And you still haven't been promoted any farther."
Tommy sighed. He had worked at Laggins's since he was fourteen and he had done the same work the whole time. This same argument had left both he and Allie in heated fights in the past and he could not, would not let it come into this unexpected phone conversation. He still loved her and was determined to enjoy her voice while he could.
"Allie, we both know where this is going, so let's just change the subject. I'm too happy that you called to argue about that ape and his father's factory. So what about you? How have you been?" He asked.
"Well like I said, Noah's been gone a lot lately, orders and such. I think when we finally get married, maybe he'll settle down on the traveling so much."
Tommy's heart stopped.
"You're not married yet? I thought you would have been carrying his son by now." Allie's sweet laugh echoed over the phone.
"No, I want a daughter. If he thinks he's getting a son, he's getting his hopes up. And no, we haven't had a wedding yet. We decided to wait until he can organize all the finances from his woodwork. I think he feels insecure about giving me a modest wedding, probably because Lonne and I were to have ours at The Watchtower. I tried telling him that I don't need a private club wedding, but he still isn't willing to settle for anything less than excellent."
Tommy tried to fight a smile down, but ended up grinning ear to ear. Instead he falsed sympathy. "I'm sorry. You must be so anxious." She surprised him with her question.
"You know, we haven't seen each other in so long. Would you join me for a picnic tomorrow? I'll fix lunch if you will."
His heart jumped into his throat now. Just say yes, he thought to himself. "Ye-yeah. I would really like that. How about at eleven thirty? I'll be taking a two hour break at that time." He heard her pause, probably thinking of changing her mind, he thought.
"Yes, that sounds good. I'll see you then. Goodnight Tommy."
He heard a soft click and he had to catch his breath. Tomorrow at eleven thirty, he would get to see her. For the first time in eight years, he would actually see her face.
"Good night Allie," he whispered and turned out the light.