Chapter 8: Week’s End

Posted: June 19, 2011 - 11:55:39 am

Amber stood at the door looking at Dexter. She tried not to let her tears show, but it was a hopeless cause.

Sniffling, she said, “It’s hard to believe the week is over.”

“I know,” Dexter said. He was standing two paces away from her shifting uneasily from one leg to the other.

“I’m going to miss you,” Amber said.

Dexter said, “Me too you. It’s going to be awful quiet around here, without you.”

“I think you’ll manage all right now,” Amber said.

“I hope so,” Dexter said.

“Do you need me to stay another week?” Amber asked.

“No. You’ve got a life to go to and ... well ... I’m just ... I’ll be fine,” Dexter said somewhat at a loss for words.

Amber asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve got my number?” Amber asked, although she knew he did. She had programmed it into his cell phone, herself.

“Yes,” Dexter said.

“You’ll give me a call if you have a problem?” Amber asked.

“I will,” Dexter said.

“I guess I better go,” Amber said.

Dexter said, “Okay.”

For a moment, she stood there looking at him. Then she turned and beat a hasty retreat from the apartment. The door slammed shut behind her. Dexter stood there staring at the door, and then looked down at the floor. He was going to miss her. He went to the study, to work, hoping that would take his mind off of her absence. He found that he couldn’t concentrate.

In the one week Amber had spent with him, she had become an integral part of his life. She had cooked, cleaned, run errands, chauffeured, and generally taken care of him. She had shared his bed at night. She had talked to him when things were quiet. She had rubbed his shoulders when he had worked too long at the computer. She nagged him to take his pills, and reminded him of things that he had to do. Except for never having had sex with him, she had been a perfect wife. She had even left him well provided for, for the next few weeks. There was a ton of frozen leftovers in the freezer, packaged in individual servings.

She had taken him to the airport to pick up a rental car, so he wasn’t stuck without transportation.

All of his clothes had been cleaned.

Living with her had been easy. She hadn’t batted an eye when he walked around the apartment without clothes. She didn’t intrude or disturb his concentration when he was working on an article. She quietly listened to music using earphones, so that he didn’t have to listen to her music. She hadn’t even filled his bathroom with feminine products.

The alarm on his cell phone went off. He picked it up and read the message. It was the alarm letting him know it was time to head over to the gym. That was another thing she had done. She had programmed a number of different alarms on his cell phone, to remind him to take his pills, eat, and go to the gym.

Dexter changed into his gym outfit. He grabbed the keys to the rental car, and headed out to the parking lot. He ran into Calvin who was kneeling down by his bike fiddling with something.

“Hey, Dexter. How’s it goin’?”

“I’m feeling much better,” Dexter answered.

Calvin said, “I noticed Amber leaving.”

“Today was her last day,” Dexter said.

“Bummer. You’re going to miss her,” Calvin said.

“I know, but like I said ... I’m feeling better,” Dexter said.

“If you talk to her, let her know I’m still interested,” Calvin said.

Dexter said, “I’ll tell her.”

Calvin said, “You’re wearing gym clothes. Going to work out?”

“Yes,” Dexter said.

“Where do you go?” Calvin asked.

Dexter answered, “I go to Sam’s Fitness Center.”

“Is it nice?” Calvin asked.

“Samantha, the woman who owns the place, is amazing. She’s got a degree in physical therapy, with a double minor in coaching and nutrition,” Dexter answered.

“I didn’t know you could minor in coaching,” Calvin said.

“Apparently you can,” Dexter said.

“I might check it out,” Calvin said, grunting while loosening a nut.

Dexter said, “You seem to be in pretty good shape, already.”

“I was reading your article about taking care of yourself. It got me to thinking that I’ve been getting a lot less active, lately. I might not be getting fat, but I’ve gained about fifteen pounds since I left college. It just kind of crept up on me,” Calvin said.

“It does that,” Dexter said.

Calvin said, “Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll talk to you later, I’m sure.”

“Take it easy,” Dexter said.

“Always do.”

Dexter got into his car and drove over to the gym. He pulled into the parking lot thinking it would be kind of strange to work out without having Amber to look at, on her stationary bike. He headed into the gym.

“Hello, Dexter.”

“Hello, Samantha.”

“You can call me ‘Sam’.”

“I like ‘Samantha’, better. It’s perky, like you,” Dexter said.

Samantha laughed. She noticed that he was there without Amber.

“Where’s Amber?”

“Today was her last day,” Dexter answered.