Chapter 137: Chapter 139

Chapter “Mom, she’s been sick, I overheard Patrick on the phone. Curious, I wandered over to him to see what was going on. I sat beside him on the couch, giving him a questioning look.

“Hold on a second, Mom, Patrick , muting the phone. Mom wants you and me to come for dinner when you feel better,” he told me.

“Sounds good to me,” I told him, kissing him and then picking up one of the many books I had spread across the house.

I was finally feeling better after a week of sickness. My fever had taken three to break, and when it finally did, I slept like the dead. None of the guys had gotten sick, and while I was happy I hadn’t spread the cold around, I was grumpy that they weren’t suffering like I was Drew felt this cold made me so sick because of all the stress I had been under, and even though I didn’t want to admit it…he was probably right.

Patrick and I headed to his parent’s house for dinner with his mom the following evening. The e six of us had a long talk yesterday decided to set up date nights so everyone would have some one–on–one time with me. I also brought up that while I knew they all wanted to help and fix things for mic, there were times I tried to handle things myself without them taking over, and that if I said I needed time to myself, not argue with me. Josh had grumbled over the last part but agreed, and I promised that if something got too stressful, I would let them know and ask for help.

When Patrick parked in the driveway of his parent’s house, I noticed several of their cars were missing.

“Are your dads home tonight?”

“No, they had work stuff to deal with. It’s just us Mom tonight,” Patrick told me as he came around and helped me out of the car. Hand in hand, we made our way up to the house, where Shannon was waiting for us.

“Oh my sweet girl, I’m so glad to see you feeling better,” Shannon hugged me close, and I fought the urge to melt into her. She gave the best mom hugs.

“Patrick, we could have rescheduled. You didn’t need to drag Emmy out if she wasn’t feeling up to it.” I giggled as Shannon continued to “I sound a lot worse than I feel,” I promised. Patrick hung up the jacket Josh insisted I bring, then took my and followed Shannon into the kitchen.

“Smells good, Mom,” Patrick said.

“Good. I made Shepard pie. It should be ready in about five minutes, so why don’t you kids go sit down, and I will be right there?

Patrick led me to the table, kissing me before returning to the kitchen to help his mom.

“Emmy, we have soda, or do you want water?” Shannon from the kitchen…

“Water is good,” I called back.

Shannon came out with the drinks, and Patrick followed behind , carrying the Shepard Pie. He set the steaming dish the center of the table before sitting next to me wrapping his arm around me.

“I haven’t had Shepard Pie in forever. I forgot how much I loved it.” I admitted as I took the plate; Patrick passed it to me.

Shannon promised me, “I will make sure you have the recipe before you move into your new place. When you’re feeling better, I want to review some recipes and anything else you need.” She continued.

“Hey,” Patrick complained. You never did that for me when I moved out.”

“Because you will whatever is put in front of , but you are welcome with Emmy if you want.” She said affectionately It wasn’t until we sat down with our coffee after finishing dessert that Shannon mentioned significant topic change.

“I wanted to talk to you about something I wish I knew when your fathers and I married ”

Patrick and I both froze.

“

look so scared, you two, Shannon as she sipped her coffee. It will be painless, I promise, but I know how determined you all are to make your relationship work, and I just wanted to share some of my experiences with you.

“Which experiences, Mom? There are definitely some topics I don’t want to discuss with you, and I would prefer you didn’t discuss them with our I girlfriend.”

“Oh, Patrick, it’s nothing like that,” Shannon with a smile. It’s just that unconventional relationships are as much work, if not more, than conventional ones. It’s hard enough with two people’s needs, but it is even more challenging the more people you add.

“That’s very true, I said as I shifted to lean against Patrick. He wrapped his arm around me, kissing the side of my head.

“We are always talking and working on figuring things out, being honest with each other, I told Shannon.

“That’s great to hear, Shannon told me. “Communication will save you all a lot of stress, but there are also things like jealousy, expectations, and boundaries.”

“I think we have dealt with the jealousy,” Patrick told her. I know it can still happen, or one of us get envious if someone gets a little than others, but we have all discussed expectations and our boundaries, more time “Just make you all keep talking, even if you think something protect each other from what you want will to resentment and spoil your relationship. That’s why communication is so important. Fixing a small g isn’t a big deal or you don’t want to make someone feel bad. Trying too hard to problem is much easier than a big one.” She looked at Patrick. “Did your fathers ever tell you that we broke up for a while before you were bom? She asked him.

Patrick looked shocked and shook his head. “No, they never said anything.”

“We learned the hard way about what happens when we allow little things to build without talking about them, but as you come together and work it out,” she said, nodding toward Patrick, who blushed.

Patrick kissed my forehead and then looked over at his mom. “Thanks, Mom,”

you can see, we were able to “You’re welconse, love, and Emmy; if you ever need to vent, you can call me, even in the middle of the night. I have lots of experience dealing with n and you can even complain about my son.”

“Hey, Patrick grumbled. But I was already across the room hugging Shannon, and Patrick was grinning as he watched us.