Chapter Ten – Amber

“How come you never called me back last night?” Katy commented as she and Amber talked over their shared lunch of a large oriental chicken salad at the café on the bottom floor of the observatory. It had been Katy’s treat, just one more thing that Amber was mentally keeping track of that she would have to pay her friend back for.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry.” Amber apologized between bites of the delicious salad all the while wondering if she could figure out the recipe to the dressing. “I had to work a little over last night and I was simply exhausted when I got home. I was already in bed when my mum gave me the message, but she said it wasn’t important that I call you back that night.”

“I heard about that.” Katy commented, referring to Amber’s overtime. “You know, Amber, you’ve really got to stop letting them take advantage of you. I’m sure it’s barely legal what they’re making you do. But who cares about the legal issues, it’s just plain insane. You work far too much than is healthy for you.”

“I can’t afford to work any less, Katy.” Amber sighed, her spirits dropping. Earlier she had almost managed to work herself into a good mood, but by the mere mention of money her heart plummeted again. She had spent half the night agonizing over money, or rather the lack of it. There was absolutely no way Amber could come up with half of the rent without getting another full time job.

“Yes you can, Amber. You’re running yourself ragged. I don’t think I’ve seen you out of your uniform in three months. If you keep pushing yourself like this you’re going to have a nervous breakdown. Believe me, I know.” Katy nodded her head empathically as she drained the last of her Diet Pepsi.

“I know Katy, but I’ve got to provide for Bray. Besides, his birthday is coming up and—“

“Yeah, I heard all your excuses yesterday Amber, but that’s all they are, excuses.” Katy cut her off, though not rudely. “Trust me, the kid is going to have a much better birthday if he actually gets to see his Mummy on his special day than if he gets that super duper Hot Wheels set he’s been dreaming of.”

“I really wish it was that easy, Katy, but it’s not.” Amber shook her head, not wanting to pour out all her problems to her friend and yet not being able to stop herself. “Last night my mum told me I needed to start paying rent on the apartment. She expects me to come up with at least half starting the first of February.”

Katy’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened at Amber’s statement. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Half? But that’s gotta be more than what you make here in a month. You can’t afford to do that.”

“Tell me about it.” Amber bit back a groan. “I spent hours last night pouring over my finances trying to figure out which corners I can cut. Problem is, I’ve cut so many corners for so long my finances are a circle – a big fat zero.”

“Wow. I can’t believe she’s actually making you do that.” Katy breathed out, stabbing the salad with her fork and shoveling another bit inside her mouth, proving that tiny girls do indeed have the largest mouths of all. “One would think she would have a least a little but of sympathy for your situation. She was only a kid when she had you, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, but she married my father.” Amber pointed out. “She thinks that I should have married Bray’s father, whoever in the heck he is. I just didn’t feel comfortable letting a guy I barely knew into my son’s life, ya know?”

Katy slowly nodded, her brows knitted together in deep thought. “You know,” She stated at last, after Amber had taken another bite of salad. “I have an idea, but I don’t know if you’d want to do it or not.”

“Trust me, I’m open to suggestions right now.” Amber spread her hands wide on the table. “I’m running out of options.”

“Well,” Katy stated carefully, obviously still making calculations in her mind. “My roommates and I were talking about maybe taking on another girl in the apartment, you know, to sort of cut down on rent. It’s a three bedroom and pretty big, plus the rent is pretty cheap even divided between the three of us. I can talk to the girls this afternoon after I get off, but I’m positive they’d go for it, that is if you want to.”

“Want to what? Live with you?” Amber felt her heart give a sudden leap of joy, still not quite able to believe her ears. “Seriously?”

“Well, sure yeah.” Katy nodded, growing more confident in her suggestion as the seconds ticked by. “In fact, I bet the girls would love to watch Bray for you while you’re at work. That way you wouldn’t even have to deal with your mother if you didn’t want to.”

“But don’t the work?”

“Yeah, they do, but Mozaline works at a bar just down the street and only works evenings. Danni works during the day sometimes, but usually just afternoons and evenings. I’m sure if you talk to the super they can swing is so you only have morning shifts, that is if you want to…”

Amber bit down hard on her lower lip, trying to control the urge to cry tears of joy. “Oh Katy.” She breathed out. “You don’t know how much this means to me. I really didn’t know what Bray and I were going to do. I thought I might have to call up my Dad, go live with him or something, though I doubt he would want anything to do with me. Katy, thank you so much. You’re amazing.”

“Yeah, I know.” Katy titled her head back and let out a happy titter. “I’m positive the girls would love to have you live with us. Danni is an absolute dear, young, even younger than you, but still a darling. Moz, well, she’s a bit testy from time to time, but once you figure her out she’s easy to get along with. Just don’t bother her in the morning. You might just loose an arm.”

Amber chuckled, already trying to picture the adorable three bedroom apartment that Katy had told her about on numerous occasions. If she remembered correctly there was even a little playground in the complex where Bray could play. He adored sandboxes and Amber found she just didn’t have the time anymore to take him to a playground all the time.

“Oh wait…” Amber suddenly stopped, remembering the most important factor. “How much is your rent? I might not be able to aff—“

“Hey, if I can afford it, you can afford it. Right now with three of us we each pay $200 a month, so with you added it would just be $150. Do you think you can manage that?”

Amber quickly did the calculations, nodding her head as she did so. “Yeah, it would be a little tight, but my mum was wanting me to pay $600.”

“Oh geeze.” Katy shuddered. “Half her rent is as much as our entire apartment, but I guess that’s location for you. Our neighborhood isn’t the greatest, but its safe enough. You just have to make sure you lock your car at night.”

“Trust me.” Amber grinned, picturing her beat up old car, “I don’t think I could pay someone to take my car.”

“Are you kidding me? You drive that old Nova, right?” Katy laughed. “That car has power. Well, once its fixed up that is. My ex-boyfriend always wanted to buy an old Nova and fix it up, turn it into a speed demon, he just never had the follow through to actually do something like that. You have a pretty sweet car, Amber. It just needs a little work.”

“Well, I don’t have the time or money to put any work into it.” Amber laughed. “But honestly, I’d rather trade it in for a non-sweet car that runs all the time. Every day as I come up the hill I wonder if I’m going to have to call the tow truck to take me home.”

Katy laughed, shaking her head as she plopped the last bite of salad into her mouth. She then glanced down at her watch and her smile suddenly faded. “Oh shoot, Amber. I’m going to be late! I didn’t realize what time it was. I have a tour group right now.”

“Me too.” Amber winced, already mentally preparing herself to be bombarded with questions from the second grade class that she would be taking around the observatory in about fifteen minutes. “I’ll see you on the floor?”

“That you will.” Katy nodded already rising to her feet. “That you will.”

~*~*~

Amber kept her well-practiced smile on her face as she lead the group of second grade students down the long corridor, pointing out interesting facts along the way. She recognized the student’s teacher from somewhere, but didn’t think much of it. It was quite possible that the teacher had brought a different class of students six months ago when Amber first started at the observatory.

“And now I will take you to the control room, where all the really important stuff takes place.” Amber grinned down at the enthusiastic students, her smile a bit bigger and brighter than usual, partly because she was dealing with seven and eight year olds and partly because she wanted to mask the unease she felt as they drew closer to the large, spacious room.

The students obediently followed Amber through the corridor and towards the control center, Amber’s heart tightening in her chest as she walked. Her commute to the observatory had not been that frightening that morning, but the unease and deep pitted feeling of terror as they drew close to the room was worse than ever before.

“In this room,” Amber continued with her memorized speech that had been adapted for the younger children, “Some of the top scientists in the world work studying the stars and planets. They have a huge telescope and lots of computers that help them keep track of everything, including some of the satellites that we’ve launched over the years. Can anyone tell me what a satellite is?”

A girl in the front of the group immediately shot her hand up, her dark eyes shining with intelligence and for some reason, though the girl looked nothing like herself, she reminded Amber of how she had been at the age. “Yes, sweetie? Can you tell us what a satellite is?”

“It’s a space ship that goes around the earth.” The girl beamed with pride as she gave her answer.

“Good job.” Amber praised the younger girl. “A satellite does orbit around the earth, taking lots of pictures and sending them back to the scientists down here. But that’s not all they do, they also…” Amber trailed off suddenly, her heart seizing up in her throat as her eyes suddenly found the face of one of the young scientists roaming about the control center. He was staring straight at her, freezing her tongue instantly.

The scientist, seeing that Amber’s peculiar reaction, walked forward, a wide smile on his face. He turned to the students and finished Amber’s speech on satellites as well as continued to explain several of the other things in the control room in terms the children could understand. As he spoke Amber gradually relaxed and felt her tongue slowly regain movement.

After the young man had told the students to walk around and ask the different scientists questions about what they were working on, he turned to Amber, a broad smile on his face. “Hi there.” He grinned, sticking out his hand. “I hope you don’t mind me jumping in on you there, you looked like you were about to faint.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Amber managed a weak smile, desperately trying to regain control of herself. “I don’t know what came over me. I just sort of blanked. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t stepped up right then. Thank you.”

“Anything for a damsel in distress.” He chuckled, his hazely-green eyes twinkling with delight. “My name is Tom Ram, but please just call me Ram. Tom is my father’s name and I always forget that people are talking to me, not him.” He chuckled.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ram.” Amber smiled sweetly at him. “I’m Amber Stevens. Have you just started working here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” She commented, feeling it was quiet impolite to comment that he seemed awfully young to be one of the scientists on staff, one of the senior scientists at that.

Ram nodded his head slowly. “I transferred here from Hope Island just last week. The commute to and from the island was getting really rather tedious so I asked to be moved here.”

“Interesting.” Amber furrowed her brow, once again having to bite her tongue to keep from asking him why he had come to Eagle Mountain. She had been under the impression that all the important research and studies had been moved to Hope Island, that the Eagle Mountain Observatory was obsolete and all that was done up on the mountain now was maintaining of the satellites.

“Yeah.” Ram quickly agreed. “I’ve always loved the mountains so much more than the beach. When I heard they were looking to bring some more scientists on board I leaped at the opportunity.”

“Well, Eagle Mountain certainly is a great place to work.” Amber nodded her head, self-consciously running her fingers through her hair that she had worn down today instead of her traditional style of a low ponytail. “I’ve been here for the past six months and loved ever minute of it.”

Ram flashed her a flirtatious smile and commented, his voice lowering to a conspirators whisper. “Somehow I’m going to love every minute of working here as well, knowing that you work here.”

Amber giggled, her cheeks flushing with color, realizing that Ram was flirting with her. It had been quite awhile since she actually realized someone was flirting with her, and she found that she had missed the feeling. “I’ll try and make the experience somewhat tolerable.”

“Knowing that I’ll get to see your smiling face every day, I’m sure my days working here will be much more than tolerable.” He winked, then smoothly added, “Listen, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to have dinner with me sometime this week. Say Friday?”

“I’d love to.” Amber replied without hesitation, her heart leaping wildly in her chest. She had not been on an actual date since shortly after Bray had been born, and that had been a terrible blind date her mother had set up for her. Since then Amber had sworn off from men until Bray was older, but suddenly that resolution seemed far less important now than it had at the time.

“Wonderful.” Ram’s smile deepened. “I’ll talk to you the next time you bring a group through here, alright? Right now I think the other scientists are about ready to kill me for setting these second graders loose on them.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll forgive you.” Amber chuckled.

“Yeah, but not until after I suffer through a little hazing.” Ram joined her in her laughter. “I’ll talk to you later, Amber. It was a real pleasure meeting you.”

“Same here.” Amber agreed before she turned back to her tour group who had gathered around one scientist who was showing them something on the computer. She quickly regained their attention and led them out of the room, well aware of Tom Ram’s eyes on her the entire time.