Message Received (19 page)

“I’m sure they’re fine.  I suspect your
grandmother could take anybody who tried to mess with them.”

“Probably,” Amanda mused.

They sat quietly, lost to their thoughts.  When
someone knocked on the door about a half hour later, Amanda gave a sigh of
relief, until she remembered they’d ordered pizza.  Sure enough, it was the
pizza delivery guy rather than their grandparents.

Brady paid the delivery boy, gave him a generous
tip, and closed the door behind him.  Before he had time to drop the box onto
Amanda’s bed, she was listing the purchase in her notepad.  “Pizza, late, Brady
paid.”

He chuckled as he set it between them.  “It’s
commendable that you want to pay your way but…”

“But what?” she said, genuinely perplexed as to
what that qualifier meant.  It wasn’t his responsibility to pay for her, and
she darned well wasn’t going to let him.  “I will pay you back for everything,”
she assured him.

“You’re not like other girls,” he said, and then
burst out laughing.  “Oh, that sounded so lame.”

“Yeah, what grade are you in this year, Brady?”

He laughed again.  “No, I mean, I admire that
you’re so determined to pay your way, but you really don’t need to worry about
it.”

“Oh, you have so much spare cash, you can afford
to foot the bill, eh?”

“Just don’t worry about the money, okay?”  He
checked his watch again.  “Should I go looking for the grandparents?” he
wondered aloud.

“Sit down and enjoy your pizza.  I’ll call
Grandma.”  She hurriedly dialed, but Liz didn’t answer.

“I’ll try Granddad.”  Ike didn’t answer either.

To the relief of both, Amanda’s phone buzzed. 
She read the text. “We’re fine.  We won’t be long.”

“Yeah, I’ll see it to believe it,” Brady
grumbled, but picked up a slice of pizza.  He bit into the thick slice. 
“Pretty good,” he said.

Amanda took a bite.  “Not bad.”

The couple ate a few slices each and then
stacked the remaining slices on a paper plate and stored them in the small
refrigerator in the room.  Brady tidied up, throwing away their garbage, and
then sat down on the other bed.  He checked his watch, and then yawned.  “I
hope they get back here soon.  I’m beat.”

“Why don’t you go back to your room and go to
sleep?  I’ll wait up for the kids.”

He chuckled.  “I’ll just kick back here, if you
don’t mind.”

“I don’t, but it’s not necessary.  I’m wide
awake, so I can wait up for them.”

“This isn’t very considerate of them,” Brady
grumbled.  “Don’t they know we’re not going to be able to sleep until they’re
safely tucked into their beds?”

“Anything good on TV?” she asked.

“We’re about to find out,” he said with a
beleaguered sigh.

***

Amanda woke suddenly from what felt like a deep
sleep.  She sat up so quickly, she felt a wave of dizziness.  She took a shoring
breath and sat perfectly still, in order to center herself.  It seemed to stall
the vertigo and she slowly glanced around the room.

Brady was sprawled across the other bed, fast
sleep.  She saw the steady rise and fall of his chest, and wondered how long
he’d been sleeping.

It wasn’t until she spotted the sun streaming in
through the gap in the curtains that she realized it was morning.

Suddenly, she gave a cry of alarm. 
Where was
her grandmother
?

She rose from the bed and hurried over to
Brady.  Shaking his shoulder, she glanced around, trying to remember where
she’d put her phone.  “Brady, wake up!  Brady!”

He groaned and tried to shrug away from her, but
she wouldn’t be deterred.  “Brady!  Get up!  The grandparents are missing!”

“What?  What?”  He finally sat up, running a
hand through his already disheveled hair.

Hey, his hair grew, Amanda thought.  She gave a
shake of her head.  Her grandmother was missing and she was thinking about the
progress of Brady’s hair growth.  What was the matter with her?

“Where are they?” he mumbled.

“I don’t know.  I just woke up, expecting to see
Grandma in that bed, but obviously, she isn’t there?”

“Where is she?” he murmured sleepily.

“Brady, focus!”  She gave a frustrated shake of
her head.  “
Wake up
!”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” 

Lord, he was handsome, with his sleepy eyes, and
unshaven face.  He looked great with facial hair, she decided, cocking her head
in order to assess whether she preferred him clean shaven or with a stubbled
jaw. 

Good grief, she was losing focus again!

He began to rise from the bed. 

Ah, heck, he wasn’t wearing a shirt.  He had a
torso like a Greek god…

“
Amanda, focus
!” she blurted out loud.

“What?” Brady asked, shaking his head
confusedly.  “Why are you talking to yourself?”

“The grandparents never came home!” she cried.

“What?”  She could almost see his eyes clear and
his brain switch on.  “They never made it home?”

She shrugged.  “Grandma isn’t here.  I don’t…”

Suddenly, they turned to the door.  Someone was
knocking.  Amanda hurried to answer it.  It was the police.  Coming to tell her
their grandparents were injured or dead.  She just knew it.  They never should
have let them go off alone.

She flung the door open.  Liz and Ike stood in
the doorway, smiling broadly.  “Well, hello!” Ike greeted her. 

“Where have you two been?” Brady demanded,
crossing the distance to the door.  “We were worried sick about you!”

“Yes, we could see that,” Liz said, biting back
a chuckle, “when we stopped by last night and found you both sleeping.”

“If you stopped by,” Amanda countered, “it was
early morning, rather than late last night.  I remember looking at the clock
and it was after two, and you certainly weren’t here.”  She folded her arms
across her chest and her eyes held a challenging gleam.

“Amanda’s right,” Brady said.  “I too looked at
the clock around two, and you were both conspicuously absent.”

“We went dancing,” Ike said, without apology. 
“Are you going to ask us in?”

They stepped aside, to allow them in, and it
wasn’t until they closed the door behind the couple that Brady and Amanda
noticed their matching t-shirts.  The shirts were neon orange, and each
featured a pointed arrow.  Ike’s read, “I’m with her,” and likewise, Liz’s
read, “I’m with him.”

Amanda turned to Brady, Brady turned to Amanda,
and they shook their heads, unsure how to respond to their grandparents’
current fashion statement.

Brady was first to find his voice.  “Where’d you
get the shirts?”

Ike grinned and draped an arm over Liz’s
shoulders.  He looked down, noted the arrows were pointing in the wrong
direction, made a surprised face, and immediately moved to Liz’s other side so
the shirts made sense.  “What do you think?” he asked cheerfully.

“Nice,” Amanda said, smiling.

“We got matching hats, too,” Ike informed.  “But
we left them back at the room.”

“We’ve gotten off track here,” Amanda muttered,
waving off talk of shirts and hats.  “So…  You stopped by here last night?” she
clarified.  “I mean,
early this morning.”

“We did,” Ike answered.  “And you both looked so
peaceful, sleeping, that we didn’t have the heart to wake you up.”

“Uh huh,” Brady said dubiously.

“Anyway…” Liz began, and turned to Amanda. 
“Honey, how are you feeling this morning?  Do you think you’re feeling up to
joining us for breakfast?”

She didn’t have the heart to tell them that she
wasn’t feeling especially well, probably because she’d stayed up so late
waiting for them.  But she nodded instead.  “Give me a half hour and I’ll be
ready to join you.”

Brady winced.  “Is it windy out there?” he
asked.  “I don’t know if I’m comfortable with her going outside if there’s any
breeze at all.”

None of the three missed the possessiveness of
his language.  Amanda gave him a questioning gaze.   Liz smiled serenely, and
Ike appeared downright giddy.

“Well, son,” Ike said, “I didn’t feel a breeze. 
I think if Amanda’s careful, maybe covers her ears, she should be fine.”

Brady turned to her.  “Are you sure you’re
feeling like going out?”  He took a step closer to her and checked her forehead
for fever.  He shook his head.  “I don’t know.  You feel a little warm.”

“I’m fine,” she told him, watching him as if he
were a space alien.  Since when had he become her boss?

“We’ll leave you both so you can get ready. 
We’ll be in our room,” Ike said.

“
Your room
?” Amanda said, mouth agape. 
She glanced over at Brady.  He wore a stricken expression on his face. 

“You two shared a room?” he asked, watching his
grandfather intently.

“Well, you were sleeping in Liz’s bed, so she
took your bed.”

“Oh, okay.  I guess that makes sense,” Amanda
said, tamping down the urge to bolt across the courtyard to assure both those
beds showed signs of having been slept in.  But then, it wasn’t her place, and
Liz was a grown woman.  She couldn’t tell her what to do, anymore than Brady
had the right to tell her what to do.

“Hurry up!” Ike urged, and gave Liz a
conspiratorial glance.  “We’re starving.”  He took Liz’s hand, paused to assure
they were on the appropriate sides of one another for their shirts to make
sense, and then they strolled out of the room.

“Shouldn’t they be exhausted?” Amanda asked,
watching after them.  She hadn’t noticed when the couple was in the room with
them, but both were wearing denim shorts and matching, neon green flip-flops,
in addition to the coordinating t-shirts.

“I wonder why they’re not wearing shirts that
say, ‘I’m a Tourist, mug me’?” Brady wondered aloud.

“I’m just glad they didn’t buy us shirts,”
Amanda said, making a face.  She turned and strode into the bathroom to get
ready for the day.

“Well, what do you think, Brady?  Do you like
it?” Liz asked eagerly.

“Yeah, Amanda, isn’t yours great?” Ike prompted.

They were at breakfast, at one of the
restaurants nearby their resort.  Amanda and Brady were holding up the t-shirts
that Ike and Liz had apparently purchased for them the evening before. 
Amanda’s read, “Sandy feet, salty kisses,” while Brady’s featured the acronym,
“FBI” on the front of the shirt.

“Well, Amanda, do you like the t-shirt?” Ike
prompted.

“Uh, yeah, I … love it,” she said.  “I’m afraid
my feet haven’t had an opportunity to get sandy yet, but…”

“Hopefully, you’ll soon be feeling well enough
to get down on that beautiful beach,” he said, patting her on the arm, and then
turned to Brady and chuckled.  “What do you think, son?  Do you like the
shirt?  Remember when you were a kid, how you always said you were going to
join the FBI?”

“I remember,” he said.

Amanda raised a clarifying finger.  She took the
shirt from him and turned it around so they all could see the back of it.  “Did
Brady ever mention wanting to be a ‘Female Body Inspector’?” she asked, biting
back a chuckle.

Ike’s eyes widened in surprise and Liz gasped.

Brady cocked his head in contemplation. 
“Actually, during my teen years, I may have mentioned that a time or two.”

Liz, whose hand had flown to her mouth in
surprise, suddenly burst out in nervous laughter.  “Oh, Ike, we should have
turned that shirt around.  Here, Brady, give it to me.  I’m going to return it
and get you something different.”

“Oh, no, you’re not!” he declared, clutching the
shirt to his chest.  “I’m keeping this one.”

Ike laughed at his grandson and the group
settled in to enjoy their food.  Once done, they left the restaurant and headed
for Brady and Amanda’s rental car.  Inside, Ike asked cheerfully, “Where to?”

“I’m afraid it’s a little too windy for Amanda
to be out of doors,” Brady observed, noting the sway of the shrubbery and trees
as they drove past.  Clearly, the wind was blowing.

“It is a little windy,” Liz said worriedly.

Amanda gave a dismissive wave.  “I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think so,” Brady said.  “I think you
should head back to the hotel and stay inside.  You know what the doctor said,
Amanda.  Today is your first day off of bed rest.  You don’t want to overdo
it.”

She gave him a dirty look.  He was being so
bossy.  “What did you two have planned for the day?” she asked their
grandparents. 

Liz glanced over at Ike, a frown marring her
brow.  “Well, we’d planned to…”  She waved off her words.  “Actually, I think
I’ll spend the day with Amanda, in our room.”  She gave Ike an apologetic
glance.