Tracy

077:

077:

She lay in bed at three o'clock in the morning and couldn't sleep. She was too keyed up, too suddenly happy. She had Steven on one arm, her lip swollen and a bit sore from his sucking, but he'd unlatched and was asleep now. She lay on her side, the light from the kitchen sending a slight shadow into her room. She could just make out the baby's flawless skin and his darling dimples. Danny twitched. His rump was against her back and his blankets were kicked off.

But she couldn't sleep.

She eased Steven off her arm, waited a few seconds and then eased herself off the bed to sit on the edge waiting for one of them to squirm. Danny still had the t-shirt on that she'd bought him at the concert. It read Eagles Concert Tour.

She smiled, looking down at her own shirt. Her hair covered it partially, and she moved it aside, still grinning in remembrance. She pulled on oversized gray sweats and tiptoed to the door.

Of course, Richard would be standing at the sink.

Both arms were planted firmly on either side of the counter, an empty glass laying testimony to his own sleeplessness, he stared out the window at the dark gray ocean. He didn't hear her approach, even though she wasn't trying to cover her tracks.

Tracy sidled up to him, not touching him and suddenly poked his sides.

Richard jumped a mile, and his breath left him with the swooshing sound as he almost cried out, but she clapped a hand over his mouth, her eyes sparkling, until his heartbeat returned to normal. She had to suppress her own giggles.

"Holy Cow! You scared the tar out of me!"

"Holy Cow, are you from the south, now? Shhhh!"

"Sorry." He held a hand to his heart to still the thunderous beating, as he faced her, dressed in his own gray sweats and a white wife beater type undershirt.

"Can't sleep?" She stated the obvious, reaching for his glass, she filled it with water. "I had the most fun tonight ever. I can't believe how much fun that was! I loved it. Loooo---ved it! I want to go again!"

He was pleased. "You like that, huh?"

"I've always wanted to see the Eagles. All that amazing five part tenor harmony. I still can't believe it." She was hissing, but Richard could see her in chest rising and falling in the dim shadows. He turned his back and leaned against the sink.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. You were incredible. I think you knew every song!" He chuckled in recollection, wiping his nose with his fingers.

She thought about her excitement, her first real concert not performing. The electric feeling of being surrounded by people, the huge speakers above them, the adulation, the provocative way the people around her writhed and screamed. It was intoxicating, more so and in a very different way than being on stage.

"So, now we're both here. A little early and unprecedented...." Richard drew a deep breath and blew it out, eyeing her in the foggy light, the one dim interior lamp above her making her glisten like an angel.

"Like being up in the night is new to us?" She laughed and pushed herself up on the counter top, her legs dangling as she sipped her water, still feeling the high from the concert.

"Right." He ran his hand through unruly hair, not looking at her.

"So, you meant early like we aren't supposed to be here now today? And unprecedented, like we've never just been us without Austin?"

"Yeah, like all of that." He mimicked her Valley Girl talk.

"Right." She deadpanned his mock favorite word.