A Wall Between

Chapter 54

Mason and Ellie dedicated two full weeks of their lives to intensive house hunting, and then they heard through the local grapevine that a house on their street was about to go up for sale, and all other prospects were instantly forgotten. When they'd discovered that the house had a pool, Mason had immediately turned to Cooper and offered him a job as a pool boy, and then he'd gone and made an offer on the property.

Navigating the sale of Mason's old house and the move to the new one had been a whole ordeal, but fortunately Cooper's involvement in the whole thing was limited to helping Mason move in and reassemble his furniture.

The old owners of the house had left them a stock of pool chemicals and a list of very thorough instructions on how to use them, but Cooper and Mason had been sitting by the side of the pool for about half an hour trying to figure out what they needed to do. Sometimes the combined powers of their brains felt like two rocks they were hitting together in an attempt to make fire.

Cooper's phone binged, and he leapt at the opportunity to do anything that wasn't thinking. He reconsidered his enthusiasm when he saw 'mum' on the screen. She'd sent him a text message. Resigned, he opened it to find a candid picture of himself and Sasha at the wedding, sitting closely with their shoulders touching. Cooper was turned toward Sasha, a fond smile on his face.

I saw this picture and just wanted to tell you that you have a lovely smile! was the message Cooper's mother had left beneath the photo.

"Hm," Cooper found himself saying out loud.

"Hm?" echoed Mason, curious.

Cooper explained, "Before the whole childbirth adventure, I told mum she should text me when she had something, anything nice to say about me. She sent me this picture with a compliment about my smile. Mission accomplished, I guess."

"You know how there's a thing about compliments? How you should focus on things within someone's control rather than inherent physical traits, to avoid it being weird or creepy, or having HR get involved? Does that rule apply when it's your mom?"

Cooper considered this. "Well, I'm pretty sure she's not making a sexual advance, so there's that. I would've preferred a compliment on my personality or achievements, but a compliment is a compliment. We take those."

"Let's give her a C. Just barely a passing grade. Also, we should establish that this is a special school for challenged mothers, so the grading is a little generous."

Cooper laughed. "Okay, it wasn't that bad. I'm only being judgy about it at all because I don't expect to get another compliment from her any time soon."

"And that's fair. As a one and only compliment, it's undeniably mid."

Cooper sent back a quick, Thanks, mum! and saved the picture. It was a nice shot of himself and Sasha, if nothing else. Sasha was the one who really deserved credit for Cooper's smile.

Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Cooper's focus shifted back to the task at hand. "Alright, let's figure out these chemicals..."

They stumbled through another quarter hour of confusion, their brows furrowed over cryptic instructions and mysterious pool chemicals. Eventually, their patience worn thin, Cooper enlisted the help of a pool-owning neighbour. The neighbour's explanations initially floated over Cooper's head like aimless clouds, but when the man began demonstrating the proper measures and techniques, everything clicked into place. What had seemed like an arcane science suddenly became laughably simple.

After everything was settled with the move, Cooper and Mason drove down to visit their baby niece for the first time since her birth. The last time Cooper had seen her, she was more idea than individual, but now, as she gazed up at him with clear, curious eyes, he could tell that she was really seeing him. He even got her to smile at him and they spent a while making noises at one another.