Amanda woke up
twice, thinking that she was in a different room that wasn't her apartment or
her old Bedroom.
A few times she got
up to touch the wall in her dream state logic, to see outside. The window to
the outside was only a few feet from where she stood. She would then become
fully awake, realize what she was doing, groan then go back to bed.
When she woke up the
third time, the sun was above the window. She could smell eggs and bacon
wafting into the kitchen.
"Oh wow,"
Amanda said, "how late is it?" She saw that Todd was already awake,
talking to Michael. Margret was dressed up in slacks and a blouse.
Amanda paused for a
moment to be sure that she wasn't hallucinating. Margret was wearing makeup.
The makeup was very subtle, so if someone weren't paying attention, or didn't
know old Margret, they wouldn't have noticed it at all - Except that she looked
good for someone who's past 60.
"It's almost
nine thirty," Margret said, "We figured you would want to sleep in
today."
In spite of the
obvious changes the two went through, Amanda was still surprised at this. Her
foster parents were sticklers on getting up early every morning, even on
Saturdays. No excuses.
Margret put a
covered pan of already cooked eggs and bacon on the island.
"Go ahead and
serve yourself. Just be sure to put the dishes in the dishwasher," Margret
waved at the food, "Dad and I are off to the farmer's market in town, and
we'll be out doing errands until about two o'clock. There's food in the fridge
for lunch. Todd has the Wifi password, so if you want to go online, you'll have
to ask him for it."
With that, Margret
walked over to the table, grabbed her purse and headed out the door with her
husband.
"Well,"
Todd said after they left, "They certainly are a lovely couple."
"Have I
described to you how they were before?" Amanda asked.
"Well, you did
say they were rather conservative," Todd said, "They seem alright to
me."
"They were
'ultra' conservative before," Amanda said, "She always hounded me
about sleeping later than six thirty and the internet was evil. I mean, they're
not entirely wrong if you go into the NSFW on 4chan, but it was difficult
writing that first book. I had to do it at the library."
"Oh, that kind
of conservative," Todd said.
"And she was
wearing makeup," Amanda said and trailed off.
"She was
wearing makeup?" Todd said and looked over his shoulder at the door.
"Well, you
haven't seen her without -" Realizing how bad that sounded, Amanda
stopped.
Todd snickered.
"Open mouth,
insert foot," Amanda said laughing.
After they had
calmed down, Amanda said, "So we are going to the lake today?"
Todd sighed,
"I've had problems with transportation. For some reason, we got lost in
the system, and the rental that was supposed to be here didn't show up. So I
have to sort that out." Todd saw the frustration on Amanda's face and
added, "Stanley can't take us back for a few days. So we can go
tomorrow."
"I just want to
get it over with," Amanda said sullenly.
"I know, it's
just as frustrating to me, but look at it this way," Todd said,
"You'll get to spend a little more time with your family." He walked
up to her and took her hands in his, "This may be the last time you will
see them in a while. They are selling, and they will be traveling, and by what
Michael said, it looks like they have quite a few stops to make before they can
come to California."
Amanda nodded.
"Now I need to
see if I can get our ride. If I can get it soon enough, we can go out for lunch
instead of raiding your parent's fridge."
"I'm going to
go for a walk," Amanda said. "There's a short private trail behind
their house. I can check to see if there are any blackberries left we can have
with breakfast."
"Oh, bring me
some, please," Todd said, "I never had fresh blackberries
before." He then pulled out his phone.
Amanda nodded and
went out the back door. As she walked down the steps of the deck, she noticed a
figure in the woods. It looked like a woman, and she looked frightened. Amanda
blinked, and she was gone.