'Looking for these?' the Taser gun was in the intruder's hand.
The voice! All the fear was gone and surprise took him over completely. He turned around. 'Ams! You freaked me out!' said a now relieved Nolan.
'Why didn't you pick up your phone?' Her face full of anger. There was no sign of happiness in her face.
'I couldn't have… Louise threw it out. Wait! You?' he pointed towards the door 'Is it go-ninja-on-Nolan's-things day?'
Her face remained expressionless. She stood straight with her arms crossed.
'Anyway. You? Here? Like this?' Nolan, now over his surprise, approached towards her. His eyes already moist with tears of joy. It's been moths since he last met her.
'Can I sleep in here?' She pointed towards the guest room cutting the moment short. Her face remained indifferent.
Nolan was completely taken aback with this. 'What is it Ams? What's wrong?'
'Can I sleep in here or not?' 8 months and she's still that bossy around Nolan.
'Of course you can. You don't need to ask'
'Good night Nolan!' She went in and closed the door in a flash of a moment leaving Nolan perplexed.
He pinched himself hard to understand if this was even real. 'Ouch!' It was real. He sat lazily for few minutes. Then got up, fixed the security and lock. He went to the door of the room where Amanda was sleeping. He put his ears on the door. No sound came in. He went to his room and called it a night.
It was 2'o clock at night. Jack sat by the pool at his house and drank. Amanda's words this noon still playing in his ears, making him feel sick. He thought of his own statements and it made him sicker.
His phone rang. It was Stevie. He disconnected it the first time. Second time too. But Stevie was third time lucky.
'What is it, Mom?'
'I've been calling and texting you all evening. I expected a call back after the shift at bar.'
'Sorry, I did not notice.'
'Jack, you sound low. What is it?'
'Nothing.'
'Don't tell me you fought with Amanda again.'
'I said there's nothing wrong. I'm just drunk.'
'Jack?'
'Ok yeah. I had another ugly fight.'
'Oh, Jack! Where's she?'
'I don't know.'
'What do you mean you don't know?'
'I mean she's not in home and I don't know where she is.'
'Jack! I always told you that this was a bad match. You did not pay heed. But now that you are in this, you got to try. You cannot just let it go. You should talk to her about this and solve this out…..'
Stevie went on and on. Jack put the phone aside without disconnecting. He was not in the mood. He cannot listen to Stevie's marriage advice which will occasionally be accompanied with 'why Amanda is a bad match for him', 'why he should have never married her' etc. etc. Despite everything, he really loves her and cannot believe that she is not for him. He has fought for this for 4 years. He has waited for this since he was a little boy. But the way things are going between them, he isn't sure how long he shall feel like this. He needed help. He definitely needed help. And he knew whose. He took his phone and booked his flight to Hamptons.
Nolan hardly slept that night. The abrupt arrival of Amanda and her strange behavior kept him up all night. He was worried. But knowing Emily, banging on her door wouldn't help much. So he waited for morning. It was finally around 5'o clock when he dozed off.
It was 7'o clock when he came out of his room, head full of bed hair. Surprisingly he saw Amanda already up and working in his kitchen.
'Ams?'
She turned around and found Nolan in his night suit. Memories of him staying at her house during her Revenge days came back to her. He still looks as huggable in his unmade hair as he looked back then.
'Oh God! How come this man is in his 40's' she murmured to herself. 'Good morning Nolan!' A big smile appeared on her face.
'Good morning!' Nolan's surprise due to her mood change was evident on his face. 'So what's my girl from the storm last night up to today?'
'Making you a good breakfast to start with' her reply prompt, happy. 'How about Bacons?'
His surprise got deeper. 'Cool,' he replied in a confused tone.
Amanda filled two plates with Bacon and put it in the dining table. 'Oh the juice!' she turned to bring the juice but Nolan stood in her way.
'What is it Ams? What's wrong?'
'Nothing Nolan. Let me get the juice.' She tried to pass Nolan, but he blocked her way again.
'Ams! You don't just travel all the way from Alabama, call on my house unannounced at midnight and behave all strange without anything gone wrong. What is it?'
She couldn't hide it anymore. She looked away from Nolan. But he could already feel her teary eyes. She sat in the chair and buried her face in her hands. Her sobbing made Nolan, even more, worried. He came and sat in front of her on the table. 'It's all wrong Nolan. I feel terrible. I'm saying these horrible things to Jack, I'm failing to take care of Carl properly, can't even make good Bacon Nolan.' She looked up at Nolan. 'I'm losing it, Nolan. I'm saying all these things to Jack, but I don't even mean those.' She continued sobbing.
'Ams' Nolan put his hand on her shoulder in a consoling gesture. 'Calm down. It's all fine. I know what it is. It'll be fine. Just calm down.'
'I can't Nolan.' She shook her head in denial.
'You can. You know what, you need a break.'
'Break from what?'
'Break from your daily life. Ok, let's go somewhere, spend the day, have some fun and then we'll talk about this.'
Amanda said nothing. She shook her head and kept sobbing.
'Ams, believe me.'
She looked up and her eyes met his. Yes, she believes this man. More than anyone. Maybe even more than herself. She remained mum. After a brief pause, 'Manhattan would be fine', her voice soft.
'Ok NYC it is. Let me cancel my appointments for today.'
'Nolan if there's anything important, we can drop it.'
'Has anything ever been more important than you?' he smiled and winked.
This almost killed her. How could he love and care for her this much? Did she even deserve this?
He took out his phone to make the call while having a bite from his plate. 'Oh and this is nice.' He said pointing to the food and left.
She blushed. She took a bite herself. It was really good. She blushed, even more, realizing how just the sight of this man started making things easy for her. Thoughts of her past with Nolan took her over and took away all her frustration from moments ago. Nolan surely knew magic when it came to handling his Ams.
Author's note: Ready to spend Mid-day in Manhattan with NEmily? ;) Keep your eyes on this space. Please tell me if you're liking it or not in the review section. It helps.
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