Chapter 4: New Freinds

Amber nods towards them "Hello, nice to meet you" she says politely.  "Amber? Amber Greenbank? Not Stacey Greenbank?" Grant asks her, Clive and his wife seem a little startled by him mentioning Stacey's name and move closer to Amber subconsciously.

"You knew my sister? I'm sorry she is no longer with us.  She was in a fatal car accident some years ago" Amber explains

"No longer here? She's dead? When did she die exactly?" Grant demands bit loudly.

"I was unwell at the time, but my mother said she died after coming to the city to visit an ungrateful man, just over 3 years ago, that might have caused her accident" Amber answers him.

Grant goes pale and sits down heavily on a chair.  Clive and his wife share a look and he shake’s his head a little so, she doesn’t say anything.

"Are you alright, Grant?" his friend Marcus asks him.

"Yes, but I don't feel too good so, if it's alright with you, I'd like to go home?" Grant asks

"Of course, if you're not feeling well, then you must go home.  Are you well enough to drive?" Clive asks him

Grant nods his head before getting up and thanking them, before leaving.  Amber feels terrible at delivering such news to them and spoiling the atmosphere.  She bites her lip worrying and then just decides to be straightforward.

"I'm sorry was that my fault? Should I have not mentioned my sister?" Amber enquires

"It was Grant that brought up your sister, you were only answering his question" Mary says wanting to protect her.

"He'll be fine, now whatever you have cooking smells wonderful" Nicki says wanting to help rescue the evening.

"Marcus here, wanted to meet the person that has been giving him a run for his money in the design business" Clive says laughing.

"How could I compare with you?  I just create the store front and some furniture that can help people find their way around the stores" Amber asks 

With that the evening is saved and they have a lively discussion about building design and what it takes now to make people hooked enough to show interest in the finished building.  Also, the advances in building materials and how its helped people with disabilities.  Amber surprises them with her knowledge of the new types of tech that are now used to create new and interesting materials, that make it easier for them to include them into their designs.

"I like the way you think, if you ever get tired of working on store fronts.  You can come and work for me.  I'll even help you get credited" Marcus says near the end of dinner.

"After listening to Amber, I tend to agree with you.  Amber you should really think about going back and finishing off your studies.  Then you could design anything your heart desires" Clive agrees.

"I'll think about it, I stopped once I knew I had to have surgery.  Then went back and did the bare minimum that would get me employed.  But I suppose I could think about it again" she admits smiling at Clive.

"I'm sorry to stop this lively debate, but we'll be getting woken early by the boys and its already after midnight" Mary says having realised the time.

"The time just flew by, it was a great night thank you.  The food was amazing as usual Mary, I don't know how you keep your figure Clive? I'd be huge" Marcus says shaking his head.

"I have two very active boys that keep me on my toes, plus my wife watches what I eat during the week" Clive answers honestly, hugging his wife.

"I told the boys to come and wake me up in the morning.  I told them we'd make you both breakfast, so you’ll have to stay in bed and wait for them to bring it up to you" Amber tells them. 

"You really are an angel, but don't let them get to rough with you.  They usually wrestle with their father first thing in the morning" Mary warns her.

Once they've said their farewells to Marcus and his girlfriend.  Marcus saying he's grateful to have met another good friend and exchanged phone numbers.  Amber helps put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher before heading up to bed herself.  She thinks briefly about the man that left earlier, what was his name? Grant?  She hopes he’s alright, before falling asleep.

The boys wake her up at 7am, she helps them wash and get dressed, as they talk happily about what they want to do.  Before taking them down to help make pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

"Can we have chocolate pancakes?" Nate asks

"Let me see if there is some chocolate chip’s we can put in them?" Amber says looking through the cupboards she finds some with the cake decorating things

"Oh, look we can make some heart shaped pancakes for your Mum and Dad" she says happily finding the metal cookie cutters.  “I want to make Dad dinosaur ones” Josh shouts excitedly.

The boys do what they can and she helps them carry the finished breakfast up to their parent’s room.  She knocks on the door and their Mum shouts come in.  

Amber keeps her head down so as not to see anything she shouldn't.  Once the trays are on the bed, she leaves them to enjoy the breakfast with their boys.  She herself has a yoghurt and some fruit as she is going to need the extra energy just to keep up with the boys today. Josh and Nate come back downstairs a little later, with chocolate around their mouths.  She helps them clean up and then they sit down watch some cartoons together.

Clive is the first one down carrying the tray of used dishes "that was a treat thank you, the boys however ate most of it.  We can see them actually growing sometimes, its a bit scary and they eat a though they have hollow legs" he jokes pulling a face and making Amber laugh.

"I know, every time I come to visit, they seemed to have grown by a couple of inches.  It's one of the reason’s, I don't ever try and buy clothes for them" she chuckles

"If its alright with you, I'll take Mary out for a late breakfast and we'll enjoy the rest of the day.  We'll be back early tomorrow morning?" Clive asks

"Of course, I think the boys might actually get upset if you made more breakfast to eat here.  I'm going to take them to the park and then we are coming back and I have some puzzle games I found online, I think they'll like" she agrees putting his mind at ease.

When Mary comes down, they say goodbye to the boys.  Josh and Nate say goodbye and once they leave ask if its time for them to go out and play at the park?

"Let's get your coats and shoes on, are we taking your bikes?" she asks

"I want to take my football too" Josh says

So, once they are all ready, they leave through the garage so they can get their bikes, football and helmets.  Amber has to run sometimes to keep up with them.  But they stop often to tell her different things and point out where their friends live or the shop they are now allowed to walk to together to get treats sometimes.

It takes just 15 minutes to get to the park.  Amber has some snacks and drinks in her bag in case they get hungry.  They play on the swings and slide for a bit.  Then they go to the field to kick around the ball.  Amber becomes the goal keeper and they try to score goals taking turns, to try and get one past her.  Which they do quite often.  She enjoys the fact that they don’t really compete against each other.  Rather against her to see how many goals they can score between them.  Giving each other high fives and fist pumps when they do score.

As the time is near 11:30 she realises, they've been out for a while.  She calls them over and gives them the drinks and snacks she's bought.  A squirrel sneaks up on them and tries to steal a potato chip.  Josh and Nate then enjoy feeding it some of their snacks, chuckling at the way he chews up the food offered.

Once all the snacks are finished, they ride back home.  Amber prepares some lunch and then they play the puzzle games online, she found.  Giving stickers and small gummies as rewards for the ones they get right.  They have pizza for dinner, which they enjoy making before devouring them all and getting ready for bed, then they all cozy up on the sofa and watch one of the latest animation movies out.

Nate falls to sleep just as the credits start and Josh is fighting sleep.  Amber carry's Nate up to bed and then goes back for a very tired Josh.  "Amber will I be able to fight like Jet?" he asks

"Do you want to be a soldier? Policeman?" she enquires 

"I want to be able to help people" he says simply 

"Then there are many things you can do that help people, but all of them require you to study hard and do well in school" she answers

Josh nods his head and then rests it back on her shoulder.  She takes him to his bed and lays him down.  "Night, night, big man" "night Amber" he smiles before letting sleep take him.

She smiles at them in their beds, and her smile turns into a big grin.  Their parents had prepared another bedroom for Nate, but the brothers are so close they wanted to share a room.  So, they have a playroom instead of another bedroom now and share a room with twin beds.  Last time she stayed over they made a fort and slept in that for one night.

She clears up before going up to bed herself. The time she spends with the boys is always healing for her.  As there are no sub plots or lies, as there is with adults sometimes. She can just be herself with them.  She finds it hard to remember her own childhood with her sister and often gets a headache if she tries to force it.  So, she has just accepted that her memory is a little lacking in that area and relied on her mother to tell her a little of it.

That night she dreams an odd dream, she is with a man, she can't see his face well.  But the feeling she has is one of love.  Which is odd in its self as she has never been in love.  So how would she know what that kind of love felt like?