“Well, you can talk to her about her relationship some other time.As it stands, her fiancé is pretty great, and his security team is also good, but…”
“Let me stop you there, son.I ain’t never asked you to come down.”
“No, I know you haven’t.But with the way things are, you shouldn’t have to ask.There’s no shame in needing help, Mamma.No shame at all.And it isn’t even help, not really.”
“Not help?You want some nosy busybody living in my house, getting under my feet, eating my food, and snitching on every little thing I do to you?You think that’s something I want?Does that sound like something I need?”
“No, course not.But I don’t want you to think of her as being a nurse.”
“What?Just a guardian?If you get one who looks like Chris Pratt, then I might reconsider.”
He snorted.“Mama, I just need to figure out a way to keeping you safe, not know about your crushes.”
A hand pressed gently to the bottom of his back, and recognizing her touch, he turned and saw El standing there, a confused and concerned look on her face.
“It’s okay,” he mouthed silently.
She frowned, shook her head, then beckoned with her hand the phone.
Nodding, he murmured, “El wants to talk to you.Two seconds, okay?”
“Cindy, how are you?”
When he switched the phone over, he’d knocked it on to speaker so he heard the pleasure in his mamma’s voice when she realized she was talking to El.“Girly, it’s great to hear from you.It’s been far too long.”
“You’re not wrong, Cindy.It has been too long.But this guy here keeps your number on lockdown.Mr.Protective.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Cindy said with a grunt.“He says you’re getting hitched!Why am I the last to hear about this?”
El grinned at him—the pout in Cindy’s voice came across loud and clear.“Oversight on my part, Cindy.I forgot to ask Shawn to call you so I could let you know.”
She huffed.“Is he a nice boy?Nice as my Shawn?”
Shawn rolled his eyes again.Cindy wasn’t quiet about her desire to matchmake for the pair of them.
“No, but he’s nice in his own way,” El replied calmly, taking no offense at his mamma’s rude question.
“Well, as long as you’re happy, dearie, that’s all that matters.Have you heard what the fool boy wants me to do?”Before El could even hazard a guess, Cindy blurted out, “Only wants me to invite some stranger into the house to watch over me like I’m some ‘wet behind the ears’ idiot.”
El snorted.“We both know that’s rubbish, Cindy.This fool boy knows his mamma is no fool even if he is,” El tacked on, grinning at the bawdy laugh that spilled from Cindy at her teasing.“What’s happened this week, Cindy?Something bad?Otherwise he wouldn’t be looking all concerned over here.”
While his mamma hemmed and hawed, blustering her way out of an answer, El pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him.“You should have told me,” she mouthed under her breath, glaring at him all the while until to his mother, she said, “Cindy.”
The authoritative tone surprised him.In fact, it did more than surprise him.It stunned the shit out of him.Cindy too, by the sound of the swift intake of breath that whistled down the line.
“Well, you know how I get sometimes.I just, well, had a couple panic attacks.Nothing new.That boy of mine needs to keep his nose out from where it ain’t wanted.”
“By the sounds of it, his nose is exactly where it needs to be.There’s no shame in needing help.Hell, Shawn is my help.Do you think badly of me for needing him?”
“No!Of course not.Not like you want him snitching into your days though, is it?But you don’t have a choice.I do.You’re in danger.I’m not.”
“Danger doesn’t just have to come from bad guys, Cindy.If those panic attacks of yours are bad enough for Shawn to be worried, then I really think you should help his peace of mind by letting him find somebody who can be there for you.”Before Cindy could argue, she swiftly continued, “And it’s not like you won’t have a say in who comes into your house.You can go through as many applicants as you want.”
“I don’t want strangers in my house,” came the mutinous retort.
“Doesn’t need to be a stranger.Surely you know somebody who is willing to be a companion?It’s an old-fashioned term but my grandmother has one.Yes, sheistrained in CPR and first aid, and does have nursing certificates, but yours doesn’t have to.She can just be a friend at first, then Shawn can pay for her to learn those skills.”
Silence came, somehow managing to sound louder than Cindy’s bluster of before.He eyed El, wondering why he hadn’t come up with that idea.He would have preferred a fully trained professional, and El knew that, but the issue was his mamma would never have agreed to have a stranger in the house.This was a compromise that swung heavily in her favor and not his, but he was willing to take it with both hands.He’d inherited his stubbornness from his mother, and he knew what her silence represented: she was strategizing.
