Next to Me (Triplets book 3)

Chapter 22

Elyse and Sawyer sat a moment longer at the table, staring at one another. It seemed that Sawyer wanted to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he stood up and began to gather the dirty dishes before carrying them into the kitchen, which was also a mess, and placed them in the sink.

"I love family, don't get me wrong, but I don't understand why my house is always their house." He shook his head as he turned on the water and shot dish liquid into the sink.
Elyse left to carry another load in from the dining room as he began to scrub.

"I thought a famous person such as yourself would have a maid to clean this all up," Elyse said as she dumped the last of the dishes on the counter. "Who cooked it all, by the way?"

"Phee does most of the cooking unless we're in L.A. Momma has a chef in L.A., and I do have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week to do the deep cleaning, but otherwise, I don't much care for strangers in my house." He had rolled up his sleeves, and Elyse was hypnotized by how his muscles flexed as he scrubbed.

Thankfully, before she started drooling, her phone rang. It was her sister.

"This is my sister. Do you mind if I take it?" she asked, holding up the phone.

"Why would I mind?" He frowned.

"I don't want you to think I have a secret bat signal that gets me out of dishes," Elyse joked, and Sawyer laughed.

"Wouldn't it be more like a Mr. Clean signal?" His eyebrow arched in question.

"Too dangerous. A bat in shadow is easily identified, a bald head, not so much." Elyse threw over her shoulder as she left to call her sister back.

Sawyer laughed at her comeback and then yelled for her to say 'hi' to her sister for him.

Fat chance. If Elyse even hinted that she was with him, her sister would... what? She wasn't sure how her sister would react. She liked Sawyer, so would she be glad or mad?

Elyse tapped her sister's name on the phone, and Bethany answered on the second ring.

"Where are you? Did you make it to New York safely? You were supposed to call me!"

"I'm in New York. Yes, I made it safely, and no news is good news." Elyse sat down on the couch in the living room and looked around, enjoying the peaceful comfort that surrounded her. This room was meant to be lived in, not a showplace.

"Did you figure out why you were sent to New York, and is it long-term?" Elyse could hear the concern in her sister's voice.

"I've been placed in the reserves." It still hurt a little to say. "I'm leaving in a few days to go somewhere in West Africa, I'm still not sure where, to be the Director of Transportation for a start-up non-profit that will build hospitals in the areas where they are needed most." Elyse waited for the questions to come fast and furious, but Bethany only asked one.

"Why?"

"The Coast Guard feels it would be a great chance for P.R., so they agreed." Elyse was keeping it simple.

"Why you, though? You're one of their best pilots." Bethany was frowning; Elyse could hear it in her voice.

"I was requested." Elyse prayed that her sister wouldn't ask any more questions, and she didn't.

"I'm guessing there's more to the story that you're not sharing and that it has to do with your friend Gene." Bethany hadn't used Sawyer's real name, meaning she was with someone else.

"I'll tell you everything when I know everything, all right?" Elyse stood.

"All right. You'll be careful?" Bethany begged.