April 15, 1990

Easter Sunday morning was spent making blueberry pancakes, and decorating Easter eggs. Tom had boiled the eggs the day before, and I went out to get us paints and paint brushes. We did not have big plans for our day, so we were looking forward to be doing nothing.

After eating our breakfast, we sat at the table and we began painting our eggs in lovely pastel colors of stripes and polka dots. Swayze was sleeping lazily at our feet, and I could feel his warm belly pulsing against my foot when he breathed. I used my foot to pet his small back as I kept painting my egg. The radio was playing soft jazz music, and Tom and I were romanticizing the idea of grocery shopping that afternoon so we could make something delicious for dinner.

I stayed in my pajamas of a loose pastel pink shirt, white cotton shorts, and light pink slouchy socks. Tom kept his pajamas on too, flannel pants and a grey t-shirt. The only way I was planning on getting out of my comfortable clothes was if I was forced to leave the apartment. Otherwise, I was really looking forward to my day of nothing.

Tom wears reading glasses, but only at home. I always tell him how handsome he looks in them, but he feels too embarrassed to wear them in public. Sometimes he will wear them for a case, but rarely. He says it makes him feel like a grandpa. He only really needs to wear them when he's reading, or when he's participating in a meticulous task, like painting Easter eggs.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Tom looked at me over the frames of his glasses, both of us silently debating on if we should answer it or not. Tom finally gave in and slid out of his chair and walked to the phone. He put the receiver up to his ear and said, "it's Hanson." He paused for a moment and mouthed to me, "it's Fuller."

I left the table and snuck over to Tom and he moved the phone between us so I could hear him too.

"I called Gregg earlier and she didn't answer," Fuller said. I haven't had my old number in service ever since I moved into Tom's place. I hoped that he hasn't tried to call me before.

"Oh, she's right here. Want to talk to her?" Tom asked and I made gestures with my hands to pretend like I wasn't here.

"Great, she needs to come too," Fuller said. I silently groaned but Fuller continued, "I need you both to go undercover at the St. James Church because there were bomb threats for the service tonight."

"Hey, Fuller, what number did you call?" I asked, referring to earlier.

I heard a soft shuffle of papers from his end before he answered.

"That's my old number," I told him." I got rid of it."

"Oh. What's your current number?" He asked.

I told him Tom's number.

Fuller paused and stated, "that's Tom's number."

"Right."

Fuller was silent.

"Oh, we live together now," I told him.

"Oh," Fuller said. "All right, I'll update your information."

"Thanks," I said.

"I'll see you both tonight at the six o'clock service. I want all hands on deck," Fuller said.

"Okey-dokey," Tom said back. We hung up and Tom complained, "I'm getting real tired of getting called up on a whim."

"I hate it too," I said with a sigh.

"It sucks."

"I know."

"Let's run away together and just never look back. Let's just get up and go."

"I think that is a great idea."

We sat back at the table to finish painting our eggs because we had a few hours to kill before we had to go to work. We decided to post-pone our big Easter dinner for tomorrow night. I noticed Tom rubbing at his jaw, and I asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah... my tooth has been hurting though."

"Which one?" I asked.

"Back here," he said and touched his cheek.

"You should go to the dentist," I said.

"I will, I promise. I'll call and make an appointment."

"Do it," I told him casually as I focused on making straight blue lines around my egg.

"What?"

"Make the appointment, I'll wait," I said and looked up at him.

Tom hates going to the dentist. Even for cleanings. I always have to talk him into going, so I knew that if I didn't persuade him, he would never make that call and his tooth would bug him for the rest of his life.

"Fine, I will," he said and got up to use the phone. He flipped through his nearby phone book and dialed the dentist office and I heard him make his appointment. He hung up and sat down next to me and asked, "happy?"

"Put it on the calendar before you forget," I reminded him and brought my attention back to my egg.

"Yes, dear," he said and got up to do just that. He only calls me that to jokingly and subtly tell me that I'm being pushy.

As Tom walked over to the calendar, I loudly asked, "so, who did you talk to?"

"The lady," he responded vaguely.

"That's funny. I didn't know the dentist was open on a Sunday... on Easter," I stated.

Tom glanced over at me and I smirked at him, catching him on his little trick.

He said, "I'll call them tomorrow. I promise."

"Good. Or I'll call them for you."

A few hours later, we had a small dinner before getting ready for work at the church. We dined on bread I baked from scratch this morning, homemade butter, baked cheese, scalloped potatoes, ham, roasted green beans, and a little lemon raspberry cake for dessert.

Tom and I were in our room, starting to change our clothes to get ready for the case. Tom was only wearing his nice black slacks and he asked me, "where are my clean socks?"

"They're still in the dryer, I washed them this morning," I told him.

"Thank you," he said and he ran out of our room to grab his freshly-washed clothes.

I shimmied my pajamas off and put on a pair of jeans. I crossed my arms and grabbed a hold of the bottom of my shirt. I raised them up over my head and tossed my pajama shirt toward my pillow so I can wear it again tonight. I was fiddling around in my closet, trying to find a nice shirt to wear for the service but I looked back over my shoulder when I heard Tom come back into the room.

"Do you know where my wallet is?" He asked, but stopped himself when his eyes met mine. He still wasn't wearing his shirt, a dark blue button-down he picked out already. He sighed dramatically and said, "we should just call out. Fuller can't fire both of us."

I giggled and turned my attention back to my closet. "The faster we can get this case closed, the faster we can get back home and..."

Tom came up behind me and he wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my neck, and ran his warm hands along my skin. He mumbled softly, "and do what?"

"And go to bed." I smiled.

"I want to go to bed with you now. Right now." His voice was low and sleepy.

I grabbed a couple shirts to choose from and held the hangers in my hand, extending them out one at a time to see which ones I liked the most. I joked, "sounds like you have a crush on me."

"I have the biggest crush on you, Michelle."

"Which shirt should I wear?" I asked, going through my options again. Tom rested his chin on top of my head and pulled me closer to him, making me chuckle.

He hummed gently as I cycled through my options of either a soft pastel pink cardigan over a white shirt, a short sleeve blue floral shirt, or sage green knit sweater.

"I like the pink one," he said.

"You like the pink one?" I said softly as I put my other options back in the closet. I've never been the biggest fan of pink, but it's been growing on me.

"Yeah. You look real good in pink."

I blushed. "Thank you."

We finished getting ready for work together and before we left the door, Tom grabbed me by my hips and pulled me in for a kiss. Every time we kiss, I swear I could fly. I wished moments like these would last forever, because I loved it when my heart beat fast for him.

"What was that for?" I asked. When I grabbed my keys from the hook and his hands were still on my hips.

"Just for... being you," he said sweetly.

I beamed up at him and said, "let's go catch ourselves an Easter bomber."

Hope you enjoyed this lil chapter! 🥰💕 Next chapter is Tom coming home after the dentist! Don't forget to vote and comment ❤️