Chapter 2.4 - Surprise

“Good morning!”

“Ugh, I don't know how you're so cheerful in the morning.” Tara sat down blearily and stirred her coffee.

“What can I say? I'm a morning person.” Dylan placed a plate of waffles in front of her. “Are you coming over after work tonight?”

She sighed as she ate. “I really need to go back to my apartment. I haven't been there for a week, and I need to clean out the fridge.”

“Why don't you just move in here?” The question was asked casually, as he continued to eat.

Tara nearly choked on her waffles. “Really? That's how you're going to ask?”

He looked up at her. “You should know by now that I'm not romantic. But really, you should move in with me. It doesn't make any sense for you to keep an apartment you never use.”

“How about I think about it?”

Dylan assessed her face. She did look thoughtful. “As long as you promise to really consider it.”

“I promise. Now, you should probably get going if you don't want to be late.”

He nodded. Then he kissed her softly. “See you tomorrow.”

She smiled at the back of his head. “See you.”

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“Did anything eventful happen overnight?” Dylan walked into the station right on time, as always. As always, the night shift people updated him on events before they left.

“Surprisingly, yes. They caught someone fleeing from the site of a robbery about an hour ago. Not any of the usual suspects, either. I think they’re interrogating him now, if you want to go check it out.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.”

Officer Keaton was handling the interrogation today.

“If you tell us who hired you to steal those files, we can see about reducing your sentence. But first you have to talk.”

“Come on! I have kids, you know? How am I supposed to support them if I’m locked up?”

“Mr. Barker, your wife is the primary breadwinner in your house. The little money you bring in is spent on luxuries.”

“You’re calling Evelyn’s ballet lessons luxuries? She lives for those things!”

“We’re not negotiating until you tell us who your employer is.”

The man slumped, defeated. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I’ve never met him.”

“What do you mean, you’ve never met him?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. I’ve never met him. My orders were all relayed through a man called Avery. Big guy. Older. Broken nose.”

Dylan had been watching avidly. Now he paused. Avery? So the man who’d gone to the warehouse was the one who gave the underlings orders, but not the boss.

“What about your colleagues? Who works with you?”

“Most of them aren’t from around here. There’s one woman, I think her name is Becky, but the rest of them definitely aren’t local.” He shook his head emphatically. “They made me get a tattoo!”

“A tattoo? What kind of tattoo?”

“An abstract dragon-looking thing. It’s ridiculous.”

As much as she tried, Officer Keaton couldn't get any more information out of the man, but Dylan kept circling back to his last remark. A dragon tattoo. Why did that sound so familiar?

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He received another surprise when he arrived home.

“Tara? I thought you weren't coming tonight.”

She turned towards him. “I wasn't going to. But I got a little surprise today…”

A surprise indeed.

Author's Note: Because I can't possibly make it five chapters into a generation without babies. 

Thanks to everyone who donated sims! My town now has a total of twenty or so households, with something like 85 residents. They are also breeding like mad. I've never had a town that produced more children than this one. I have between two and four babies born on any given day. My old Sunset produced two to four babies per week.

Felix Barker and his wife and kids are some of the only sims that I made in this new town. He's a mess, but he's a lot of fun to play with.