Page 140 of Timeless

“Amber. Stop.” I crossed my arms, while she kept standing in front of me panicking.

“Jack shouldn’t never have woken you. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Her eyes flickered to Jack and then back to me. She finally saw the expression I was giving her, and she stopped talking. So, at least my expression stopped her from saying the word sorry again.

“Jack and I were fine, Amber. And you and I need to talk about what you expect and what you don’t. Because I think we are at a disagreement when it comes to it.” I glanced at Jack, who was watching us. I don’t know if Will and Amber fought in front of him- and I sure as hell didn’t want to fight with Amber in front of him.

I never wanted him to think it was acceptable.

“Do you need a hand to get Jack breakfast?” I asked her, trying to change the subject. “Amber, breakfast, do you need a hand?” I repeated myself, this time speaking slower.

She was still staring at me. I was waiting for her to snap out of it. Jack was frowning at her, most likely wondering why his mom wasn’t talking or making him breakfast. Why was she so shocked that I had gotten up with Jack? It wasn’t a big deal. But right now, she was making it one.

“Jack, what do you want for breakfast?” Amber’s attention was off me now. “And it can’t be pie.”

“I wanted cereal.” Jack swung around on the chair in a circle. “But now I want pancakes.”

Amber was back in the kitchen, stepping over the broken glass. “We won’t have time to get pancakes before school.” She opened the pantry doors.

“I’m not going to school.”

“Jack, we aren’t arguing about this. I know you want to spend time with your Dad but you have to go to school.” Amber went up on her toes and pulled down cereal boxes.

I couldn’t help but notice how my t-shirt rode up as she reached for the cereal boxes. My eyes were glued to her body, and the glimpse of lace. I swallowed sharply. I don’t think it would matter if she was completely covered up, my mind would still be focused on getting her naked. Then she turned around I snapped my eyes off her and put my attention on Jack, who, for some reason, was nervously wiggling on the bar stool.

Amber put the boxes of cereal down. “Is there something you want to tell me Jack?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders and Amber sighed.

“What’s going on?” I asked them.

Amber kept her eyes on Jack. “Our son is keeping something from me.” She walked around the kitchen island and headed for the living room.

“Mom, don’t!” Jack spun around and went after her, just as Amber unzipped his bag and started emptying it on the couch. “Dad, tell her to stop!” Jack yelled at me.

Amber looked like a mad woman, emptying Jack’s school bag.

“Amber, what are you doing?” I asked her, coming to a stop at the back of the couch.

She ignored me and was going through the stuff on the couch.

“Dad, tell her to leave my stuff alone!” Jack stomped his feet. “Tell her to stop!”

I didn’t tell Amber to stop and she kept searching through his things. I don’t think she would have stopped even if I told her to. She seemed determined. I had forgotten how determined she can be.

Then she scoffed. “What do you know? A letter with my name on it.” She looked at Jack, rolling her eyes and abandoning the rest of Jack’s things. Seemed like she found what she was looking for.

I glanced at Jack. “Buddy, this isn’t looking good.” Why would he hide something from Amber?

Jack crossed his arms stubbornly. Something his mom would do when she was caught out. He wouldn’t look up from the ground and looked extremely guilty. Because he had been caught out.

I wondered how Amber could tell just by the way he spoke that he was keeping something from her. Could she do that to me? Just tell when I was keeping something from her? If so, I really was fucked. There were things I couldn’t tell her. Like the data base that I showed Jack this morning.

There were times when she was better off knowing things. But I knew that went both ways. She also would keep things from me, thinking I was better off not knowing. But that was a habit she was going to have to get out of. She couldn’t be keeping things from me now.

Not when it could affect our son. Like her dealing with the hit list on her own. She should have come to me. I know now but I almost knew it was because of her pride that she kept things from me, her thinking I was better off not knowing.

I watched Amber rip the envelope open. “Jack, did you steal this from the mail?” She was pulling out what looked like a letter.

“No, Mrs. Amy gave it to me,” Jack pouted, still upset he got caught.

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