Tied

Chapter 24

Instead of dropping Jade off she went home with Grant and Mia so she could help with teaching Matt to cook. She called and Jasmine was meeting them at Gavin and Matt's house. Grant parked in his garage and said, "Jade you can head on down to their house I want to talk with Mia for a few minutes." Jade nodded and got out of the car.

Grant looked at Mia and said, "Are you OK?" Mia smiled and said, "Yes, I did not expect an apology, and I was able to forgive her, so I am at peace with it." Grant smiled and said, "You are one of a kind." Mia shook her head and said, "No, I just learned that everyone handles challenges in their life differently. I may have been as bitter as she is if my I hated my life as much as she did." Grant shook his head and said, "No you hated your life when you lived at home, and it never made you bitter."

Mia thought for a moment and said, "I did, but I knew I was getting out when I turned eighteen, she did not see a way out for herself. Will I suddenly become great friends with all my siblings, most likely not, but I did at least get a brother out of all of this, and that is a good thing. I am guessing the other three probably not, but who knows."

Grant nodded and said, "Let me grab Gunner and we will walk to Gavin's. It will allow Gunner to release some energy." Mia nodded and got out of the car and walked down the driveway. As she was waiting, she realized she needed to pack up and move back to her apartment, Beverly was never leaving the hospital, so there was no risk in her living there again. Thinking about moving back to her apartment made Mia sad, but she knew she had to do it.

When Grant came out with Gunner, Gunner ran up and rubbed against her legs until she bent down and petted him. Mia laughed and said, "Gunner I am going to miss you when I move back to my apartment." Grant heard that and part of him wanted to yell no, but he knew she had only come to his house because of Beverly. He had to think of a way to get her to stay, but for now he put his arm around her waist and walked with her down the street.

Entering Gavin's house, they heard voices coming from the kitchen and headed in that direction. Gunner bounded in first and went to each person to get his pets, and then flopped down on the floor. Grace and Jade were with Matt going over a notepad, but they were the only ones in the kitchen. Grant asked, "Where is everyone else?" Grace replied, "They are downstairs measuring for the playroom. Gavin's contractor friend is going to build it tomorrow. He was here earlier and said it was just a one-day job. Which made Gavin very happy." Grant nodded and headed down to the den/playroom area.

Mia joined the cooking group asking what they had accomplished so far. Grace explained they had gotten all the ingredients for three meals, and were dividing the ingredients by recipe, but were trying to figure out how to keep them together. Mia said, "I bet we could get some small bins, and put the fridge stuff for one recipe in a bin, and the pantry in another bin. We could use erasable labels to note recipe name on the bins." The others agreed it was a good idea and Jade said, "I can ask Jasmine to stop on her way over and pick up what we need. How many bins do you want?"

They all discussed it and decided to get ten bins, which would let Matt kit up five days of cooking and that would probably be the max Matt would do in a week. Jade called Jasmine and then Mia asked, "What about dinner tonight, seems silly to order out after working to prep for cooking at home." Grace nodded and said, "That is covered. We got everything for burgers on the grill. And Glenn already bought them a grill as a housewarming gift, and it is downstairs. He cheated and bought the floor model, so it was already assembled."

While waiting for Jasmine the group decided to work on a menu for the next week and a grocery list to give Matt a head start. They also decided that next Sunday they would all come back, except for Grace and make a couple of freezable things like spaghetti sauce, barbecue chicken and ground beef with onions and garlic. Mia looked at Matt and said, "Matt walk with down to Grant's house, I have an idea for dessert, but you don't have the ingredients." Matt agreed and the two headed out the door.

Outside Mia asked, "Are you getting overwhelmed, we can slow it down if you need us to do so." Matt hugged her and said, "No I am enjoying it. I always wanted to learn to cook, and everyone is taking the time to make sure I understand everything." Mia smiled and said, "That is great, I think once you have the basics, you will be able to do so much. Do you know what Gavin said to me this morning?" Matt shook his head and said, "I have no idea." Mia smiled and said, "he told me to tell you that he loves that you want to learn to cook, but you should also know that he would love you even if you could not boil water. And if he told you that, you would think he was cheesy, but by having me tell you, you would know he meant it."

Tears came to Matt's eyes, and he said, "God I love that man." Mia smiled at him and said, "Let's go get what we need for dessert." The two walked together to Grant's house and Mia went into the pantry and pulled out what she needed and had Matt get the bowls they would need. As they worked together Matt asked, "How was the visit?" Mia shrugged and said, "About what I expected. No declarations of love, but I was able to forgive her and that was what I needed to do." Matt hugged her and then said, "I am so glad you are going to be living just a few houses away."

Mia shook her head and said, "No I am going to move back to my apartment. I will stay here tonight because of Grace and Glenn, but then I am packing tomorrow night and going back to my apartment." Matt looked at her and asked, "Why?" Mia looked down and said, "Grant only invited me here because he was concerned about my safety and Beverly is no longer a threat." Matt shook his head and said, "I think you are wrong. I think Grant wants you here." Mia smiled and said, "I think he wants to protect me, which is vastly different than wanting to live with me. And it is OK, I get it."

Once they had mixed dessert up, Mia said it just needed to go into the fridge for a while and they could do that at Matt's house. So, they took the dessert and headed back to his house. When they got to the house, the men were back upstairs, and Jasmine had arrived. Everyone was discussing how the downstairs den should be furnished, and there were two sides. One said new furniture and the other said move the living room furniture downstairs and buy new living room furniture. Mia noticed that Gavin was not voicing his opinion and said, "Everyone but Gavin and Matt seem to have an opinion, isn't that the wrong way this should be decided?"

Gavin smiled and said, "I love their input, but you are right, it is for Matt and me to decide. And we will once everyone has gone home." Everyone laughed and it was decided it was time to start dinner, so everyone started working on different things to get dinner ready. Dinner was a happy time, but Mia could feel everyone was keeping a lid on things to protect her. After dinner everyone headed out to let Gavin and Matt have some time to themselves in their new home.

Grant, Mia, Gunner, Grace and Glenn walked back to Grant's house and once inside Glenn said he wanted to watch the ballgame. Grant agreed and Mia said, "I think I am just going to take a shower and go to bed; it has been a long day." Everyone else nodded as she walked away. Grace looked at Grant and said, "She is going to have a rough time until her mom dies and most likely even afterwards." Grant nodded and said, "I plan on taking good care of her.