Shattered Girl (Emmy)

Chapter 139 "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 said, muting the phone. Mom wants you andto cfor 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 almost a week of sickness. My fever had taken three days 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 had madeso 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 and decided to set up date nights so everyone would have sone-on-one twith 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 tto myself, not to 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 not htonight?" "No, they had swork stuff to deal with. It's just us and Mom tonight," Patrick toldas he caround and helpedout of the car. Hand in hand, we made our way up to the house, where Shannon was waiting for us.

"Oh my dear sweet girl, I'm so glad to see you feeling better," Shannon huggedclose, 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 scold her son as she led us inside. We slipped our shoes off and left them next to the shoe rack.

"I sound a lot worse than I feel," I promised. Patrick hung up the jacket Josh had insisted I bring, then took my hand 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 ledto the table, kissingbefore returning to the kitchen to help his mom.

"Emmy, we have soda, or do you want water?" Shannon called from the kitchen... "Water is good," I called back. Shannon cout with the drinks, and Patrick followed behind her, carrying the Shepard Pie. He set the steaming dish in the center of the table before sitting next toand 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 srecipes and anything else you need." She continued. "Hey," Patrick complained. You never did that forwhen I moved out." "Because you will eat whatever is put in front of you, but you are welcto cwith Emmy if you want." She said affectionately It wasn't until we sat down with our coffee after finishing dessert that Shannon mentioned a 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.

"Don't look so scared, you two, Shannon said as she sipped her coffee. It will be painless, I promise, but I know how determined you all are to make Chapter 139 your relationship work, and I just wanted to share sof my experiences with you.

"Which experiences, Mom? There are definitely stopics 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 said 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 as will get envious if someone gets a little than Irene others, but we have all discussed expectations and our boundaries, more t "Just make sure you all keep talking, even if you think something protect each other from what you want will lead 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 ctogether 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. X