Page 40 of Making the Save

Late That Night

Wyatt

It was the shouting that woke me up. At first, I thought it was a continuation of my dream. I was arm wrestling Nick, and if I won, he had to come to family Christmas. If I lost, we never contacted him again. Liam was shouting at me to win.

But then there was the sound of someone’s fist banging against glass, and I bolted out of bed.

I bolted out of bed and ran into the living room.

A security light must have come on, because the back deck was lit up. A man stood on the other side of the glass. It was his voice I’d heard. If he was trying to break in quietly, he was doing a shit job of it.

What I didn’t expect was Syd, wearing a tiny pair of sleep shorts and baggy t-shirt, trying to shush him through the glass.

“Shhh, you’ll wake him up,” she said.

“Who?” the man trying to break in cried. He didn’t seem like a thief. He wore khaki pants and glasses. “Your husband? I don’tcare! Tell him to come out here and explain himself! How could you do this to me? I love you! You know I love you!”

“Barry,” Syd tried again, her voice barely above a whisper, but she had her mouth pressed up close to the glass. “You know that’s not true.”

“It is true!” he cried. “I. LOVE. YOU. I don’t care if he finds out about us.”

“The fuck?” I finally said.

Sydney whirled around to face me, and I could see the fact that I was dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs caught her off guard. She stuttered for a second, blinked a few times, then shook her head and looked directly at my feet.

“I’ve got this,” she said.

“Got what?” I said, stepping around the couch towards the door. I wasn’t sure if I should be jealous. She asked me not to see anyone else, but she had some guy trying to sneak in at night?

“It’s not what you think,” she said, still whispering.

“It is what you think!” Barry wailed from the porch. “We’re in love!”

Closer to the door, I got a better look at her would be lover. He didn’t look like a thief or like any of her other boyfriends. He looked like…a high school science teacher. A little nerdy. A lot older. He pulled off his hat and the light from the motion sensor made his balding head glow blue.

This wasn’t a lover. Nope. He didn’t have a key and she wasn’t letting him in.

“Sydney,” I said, jerking my thumb at the guy on the deck. “Who is this guy?”

“It’s Barry,” she sighed. “He…he comes around. He doesn’t mean any harm, really.”

“Is Barry astalker?”

“They only call it stalking if the love is not reciprocated, and Sydney loves me!” Barry shouted through the glass.

I turned to face him directly.

“Barry, you’re going to get quiet real fast or I’m going to come out there and mess you up.”

“You think I can’t take you?” he asked, very bravely, with thick glass doors between us.

I lowered my eyebrows and barked at him.

“Oh my god,” Syd sighed. “Did you just…”

“Yeah. Cause it works.”

Barry got quiet.

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