The Book Of Me & You

"Cause An Empty Room Can Be So Loud"

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"Got something you'd like to share?" Bunny inquired, not looking up from the clipboard in her hands as he passed by.

Ricky stopped in his tracks, swiping his phone screen for what felt like the 100th time that day, "What?"

Bunny motioned towards the device he was shoving back inside his jeans pocket quickly, "You keep hitting the ignore button on your phone." She raised an eyebrow to him, "trying to hide something?"

"It's Amy." He sighed, shaking his head at her accusatory stare, "She keeps calling me, and I keep ignoring her. "

"Is she okay?"

"Of course she's okay. She just wants me to come back upstairs and take care of the baby so she doesn't have to."

"And?"

"And I don't want to do that. I want to stay down here and work." He declared, sighing again as the vibration started in his pocket. Bunny kept staring at him as he once again swiped the screen, "What?"

"Oh, nothing" A half smile made its way on her face, even though her wide eyes told an entirely different expression as she clasped her hands together and shouted loudly throughout the store, "Ok, back to work!"

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"Why don't you just go up there and check on her?" Nora asked, trying to delicately wrap a large mass of shredded meat into the white paper on the table

With a flick of his hands, Ricky brought the roll of paper across the remainder of the table to cut for the next batch of meat sitting in the cooler by his left leg, "Because I don't think I should have to. Amy is an adult. She's perfectly capable of handling the kids by herself for one day."

She was about to say something, but his stare told her to tread carefully. Instead, she nodded, raising her left hand in surrender. "Ok, ok…So when do I get to meet my granddaughter?"

"You have met her,"

"I don't really classify watching her through a glass window, as meeting her. When can I actually go up and hold her?"

"Whenever you want. You can go up there now if you want, I'm sure Amy would love that."

"Maybe I will."

"I could use a hand over here!" Bunny shouted from behind the counter as a rush of more customers started making their way into the shop. Sprinting over to attend to them, Ricky took his place behind the counter next to her, waving over an elderly gentleman in a green hat.

Shaking her head at the influx of customers, Nora walked over to the red door, pushing it open to both take out the trash mounting next to it and to get a breath of fresh air. Coming back inside, she rubbed her hands against the white sleeves of her shirt, shivering slightly from the brisk nip in the February air. A sniffle caused her to look up towards the stairwell; the petite brunette leaning against it, concerning her. "Amy?" She called out to her, watching as her daughter in law stood against the door, with her back to it, "Amy, are you okay?"

Noticing the concerned quiver in her voice, Amy wiped at her face quickly, "I -" she tried to speak, but the words got trapped within her sobs, "I - just -"

Nora put her hand out, her eyes scanning the young mother sympathetically, "It's okay, I'll get him." Amy nodded as a response, swiping her eyes again.

"Here you go, sorry about the wait." Bringing over three white packaged bundles, he handed them to the customer.