His One Request

Chapter 12 - Back to the Grindstone

The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being. ― Tom Robbins

Chapter 12 - Back to the Grindstone

Mason's POV:

"How was your day?" I ask Chandler after she put her purse down on my Uncle Michael's kitchen counter. He's invited me to stay with him, instead of staying with my parents. He thought this would be a good idea to let me stay close, but keep my distance while Addy settles in to a new routine.

"It was good. My grandma sends her love, and by the way, she's very happy for us." Her cheeks pink just a bit. "She kept telling me what a nice handsome man you are, and how she always thought we were such a cute couple."

I move out a seat for her beside me, but she stands behind me and puts her hands on my back. Slowly her fingers work the tense muscles of my neck and shoulders, drawing the out all of the stress of getting Addy settled. She begins to I tell me about her adventures with her grandmother. The normalcy of the conversation is a distraction for me, and I'm not willing to talk about my day, yet.

She tells me about her grandmother's quick wit and her assessment of the neighbors. The woman keeps us all in stitches when she is around, and at 73 years old, she's loosing her filter. Now, anything she thinks comes out of her mouth, and Chandler is relating every tidbit of their time together.

Before long the sound of Uncle Michael's garage door could be heard followed by the jingling and shutting of a door. We look toward the sound and find my uncle with eyes squeezed tight, facing us. "I have this memory." He says with a chuckle. "Sports gear, brown pony tail, lots of laughing." He opens his eyes. "You guys haven't changed much."

Uncle Michael has been a witness to many of Chandler's backrubs, and he was right, they usually occurred with one or both of us in sports gear. Where I think his mind is faulty is that it was usually me that was laughing - just like now.

"It's nice to see you, Chandler." He offers us something to drink, but we both decline. He nervously stirs around the kitchen. "How do you think today went?" He finally asks.

"Fair," I tell him. "Better than I expected considering how she was yesterday, but still not like it has been." Addy's psychologist told my mom to get her into a normal routine as soon as possible, it will help keep her stable during the transition home. One of the 'normal' routines for our family is Sunday lunch. Once a month or so my mom makes a huge party out of our Sunday, and everybody is welcome.

"Ok, so tell me. What happened?" Chandler says as she takes the stool next to me.

"It started out ok, before everyone arrived. She was excited about seeing everybody. My grandparents were the first to arrive, and that was good. Then, came Uncle Michael, and she talked to you for a while. Didn't she?" I turn to ask him.

"Yeah, she was telling me about how different it was to be home. She told me that she usually had this feeling she needed to get back to school, but now this is home, again. She called it weird."

"Little by little people came trickling in, and by the time Holden and Elliot showed up, she was a nervous wreck. Helen, for the most part, just sat with her and talked nonsense, to get her mind off of the growing crowd. And, of course, Elliot was his normal self." Chandler laughs; because I'm sure she's seen Elliot at his weirdest and knows what he is capable of. He's the polar opposite of his brother Holden.

"She did a good job, until..."

"Until, she got startled by movement and noise she wasn't expecting. She reacted like a scared rabbit."