Chapter 26

"What's up with your mother lately?" Paul asked after Sandy had gone to lie down in her bedroom. "One minute, she's jumping down my throat, and the next, she's trying to seduce me."

"Dunno," Tyler shrugged. "Maybe it is her being tired and not feeling good. She'd been barfing a lot while you were gone too."

"Well, she did mention a stomach bug she had about a week ago before you fucked up your ankle."

"Yeah, and she had gone to work like that too. Geez, you'd think somebody that worked at a hospital wouldn't want to spread their own germs there."

"Some people like to work through their pains, I guess," Paul replied, thinking about his own situation.

"Dude, what's with your foot? It looks all puffy and stuff," Tyler wondered.

"Guess I'd been on it too much sooner than I should have been."

"You better get a cold pack and prop it up like I have to. Otherwise, it's going to be really nasty."

"Tyler, are you going to start riding my ass too? I just got a bunch of shit from your mother about this."

"Yeah, women fuss about stuff."

"You aren't kidding there," Paul agreed.

"You're still marrying her, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, dude. Why wouldn't I?"

"I was thinking after she'd nagged you and stuff, you'd be changing your mind," Tyler grinned.

"Ty, if that was the only reason people didn't get married, there would be a lot more single people in the world, trust me."

"Man, I'm glad. Mom is really into you though she says she wonders about you being so goofy at times."

"Hey, my being a goofball is part of the package."

"I think we figured that out already," Tyler laughed.

"Speaking of packages, I think I may have found a house. Of course, I didn't really have time to go look at it until earlier today, which is one reason I got back late and wanted to drop by."

"Yeah? Mom know about this yet?"

"Obviously not. I'd like to have her rested up first."

"Okay. So where is it?"

"About a couple of miles from here. And if you're worried about changing schools again, don't. We would still be in the same district."

"Thank God for that. Starting down here when Mom and I came from Philadelphia was bad enough. Is the house nice?"

"Very. Three bedrooms, a kitchen your mother could play baseball in, and a whole yard for barbecuing and all your buddies to kill each other. Maybe we can put in a pool there too."

"Cool, but what's the deal with three bedrooms? It's just going to be me, you and Mom and I'd have to be a total dork not to know you and Mom will be sharing a room."

"One, it's a good price, and two, an extra room is always good when your grandmother visits or something."

"Oh yeah! Then she wouldn't have to go to a hotel. I could deal with that."

Paul nodded. "I was thinking of taking Mom down tomorrow to look at it and put in my final offer since she has a couple of days off." He gestured at his leg. "And it looks like I may be laid up myself for a week or two, so I may as well make myself useful."

"Wow, a house," Tyler grinned. "This is going to be great. I hope Mom likes the idea as much as we do."