Between the Lanterns(22)
August always felt a little shy when she talked during sex, so he usually just kept quiet. On the other hand, he absolutely loved it when she told him what to do. It turned him on in ways he never thought possible.
August reached down and kissed her passionately, nibbling on her lower lip as they pulled apart. They became lost in each other,; time and space frozen. Their bedroom was the only light in a dark galaxy. They made incredible love between the lanterns that hovered on either side of their bed.
“I want a baby, August,” she said suddenly, grabbing his face in her hands. “Give me a baby, please.”
The way she said please sounded like begging, and it made August feel wanted in a way he had never felt before.
“Oh God,” he said at hearing the urgency in her voice.
She gripped his arms tightly as August went wild, finishing almost instantly. After a few breaths of silence, Sam moaned in satisfaction. “Oh, I love you, sweets. That was… magnificent,” she said through labored breaths.
“I love you, too,” he said, kissing her the tip of her nose. “I mean I’d have to be the biggest idiot in the universe not to love someone as perfect as you are.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, sweets. And, God willing, we just created a life.” she sighed in return. “Our child will be so perfect and beautiful. Boy or girl, sweets?”
“Shoot, it don’t matter, Sam,” he said honestly. “If it’s a boy or a girl, I’m teaching them how to fix stuff. You’ll teach them how to make stuff. We’ll both teach them how to be kind.”
“You’re right. If it’s a boy, we’ll name him John. If it’s a girl, we’ll call her Cheryl. That is if you’re ok with those names,” Samantha said with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.
August held her head against his chest, his heartbeat pounding in her ear as he laughed,. “Yeah, I’m good with that. But here we are talkin’ like this one time is gonna do it. We don’t know, so let’s not get our hopes up.”
They held each other for a long time before drifting off to sleep. As August fell into his dreams, he could swear that he still smelled something burning. An hour later, they were both woken by the sound of their Home.Phone ringing.
Chapter 9
WHAT DO YOU CARE
Samantha wished they owned an AutoCar at that moment. Before then she had never had a desire to own one, especially after what had happened to John. They were just mindless machines that got a person to their destination without a driver, most of the time. You could take control of the wheel, but most people just got in and told the car where to go. Where was the enjoyment in that?
Samantha and August preferred to walk or ride their old-fashioned bicycles that he had fixed up for them. After finding them for sale in a scrap metal shop, he replaced the tires and brakes, buffed out the rust, painted them all nice, and put on some new seats. They were probably the only two real bicycles in all of Alabama, if not the United States of Earth.
But right now, Samantha would give anything to have an AutoCar that could get her to the diner faster.
“Oh sweets, I hope it’s not bad,” she said, her voice shaky with fear. “Dear Lord up above, please don’t let it be bad.”
August pedaled hard to keep up with Samantha. Her pace was frantic, and he was struggling to keep pace.
“Me, too, babe,” he said through heavy breaths, “I’m sure… everythin’ will be alright. No matter what… we’ll get through it… together.”
They reached out, despite the high speed of travel on their bikes, and touched hands for just a moment.
Samantha saw it first. The entire ride from the Westgate Park area down to West Main Street, they could see the smoke rising and could smell it, too. Samantha had held out hope that it was an office building across the street or a parking garage nearby. But it wasn’t.
August set his kickstand right next to Sam’s bike, which she had just let fall to the ground, as she covered her face with her hands and wept. He put his arms around her as he watched the Montek.Fire.Response Team work at putting out the flames that had all but decimated Cheryl’s Diner to ashes.
Only two walls were still standing and the roof was long gone. The tables and chairs were almost non-existent. Samantha peeked out from behind her hands and saw that the antique ovens, stove and everything else from the kitchen were nothing but charred remnants of her life as a cook.
She fell to her knees and went even deeper into a state of loss. Her stomach felt sick, and she began to dry -heave in the grass. August knelt beside his wife and stroked her hair in the shadows formed by the dying flames, as the firefighters finally seemed to stop the fiery tempest.
Everything she had ever worked for... all gone in one stupid evening. Samantha couldn’t even begin to comprehend it all. Most of the recipes were in there. Of course, she knew them by heart, but Cheryl had handwritten those cards. They weren’t just recipes; they were keepsakes… they were her heirlooms. She had planned on passing them down to her great -great -great-grandchildren.
The Montek.Fire.Response Chief walked over to the grieving couple and asked, “Are y’all the Lurie Family? The ones that own this diner?”
“Yessir, you called our home just a while back to let us know what was goin’ on. She is half -owner of the restaurant, and her partner is Ms. Tara White,” August explained, as his wife was in no fit state to carry on this conversation. “Have you called her, or will we need to do that, sir?”