Angel /Eddie Munson\

Chapter Ten.

Eddie asked for space.

It was when he parked in my driveway after leaving Wayne's, he spoke up.

"I need to be alone tonight." He had mumbled out so softly I almost didn't catch it.

I wanted to fight him on it. I wanted him here with me. Here where we could go hide in the confines of my room. Where I could wrap him up in my arms and hold him close enough that maybe the stress eating away at him would bleed into me and I could somehow take all his worries away. But after looking at him, and taking in his broken stature, I saw it.

His mind was a mess and he wanted to be alone to untangle his thoughts and gain his footing again. His face read only utter turmoil. He looked as if he had aged 10 years in the last few hours.

So, being his Angel I did what Angels do best. I graced him with understanding and let him have his space.

He came inside long enough to grab his things and give me a few parting kisses.

One for goodbye.

One for Good Night.

One for Good Morning.

And then he was off.

That was Sunday, it was now Wednesday.

We had only spoke briefly Monday night when he explained he just wanted time with Ozzy. It was almost like he was already giving in to the fact he would lose him.

He hadn't answered my calls since. So I respected his space.

He hadn't been to work at all this week. He had called in and claimed he was sick. Uncle Paul was a little annoyed he was taking so much time off, but after I explained a very diluted version of what Eddie was dealing with, he was more than willing to give Eddie the time he needed. He promised he would still give Eddie a full week's paycheck and just dock it from his vacation time.

To help both my uncle and Eddie out, I took over working on Eddie's share of the cars that came through while juggling answering the phone as well. Murph, Roger, and Carl the other mechanics at the shop didn't mind one bit. In fact they let me handle more of the easier work. Oil changes, tire rotation, putting new belts on, and the occasional brake pad replacement. And maybe I bribed them a bit my bringing in a few crock pot lunches for them to give me said jobs. Easily swayed bunch they are.

The day was winding down. Roger, and Carl had already clocked out. Uncle Paul had left earlier in the day for a doctors appointment, so it was just me and Murph.

I was under a Lincoln trying to remove an oil filter when Murph yanked my creeper out from under the car.

I jumped and nearly smacking my head on the underside of the car as he did. His wrinkled face stared back at me with a grin.

"Jesus Murph, you almost made me bust my nose on the exhaust." I grumbled.

"I'm glad you held yourself back. Would be a shame to bust up such a cute face." He chuckled. "The phone rang, I grabbed it for ya. There's a man on the line for you." Go take it and I'll finish up this and we can both get outta here." He winked helping me up off the creeper.

"Thanks Murph. I think you'll need some channel locks. That bitch is really on there." I chuckled grabbing my rag from my pocket, wiping my hands as I made my way to the phone.

"You've been hanging around Carl too much with that mouth!" he snickered as he grabbed some channel locked and made himself comfy on the creeper.

I winked at him and ducked around the front desk and picked up the phone.