Better on our own - English

Towns Meeting

When my parents had indicated that they wanted to go out to dinner with us that evening, they hadn't mentioned that my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother, as well as my two embarrassing aunts and their families, would also be there. I really believed that they would only come to our house in the afternoon to have coffee and that I could avoid the meeting by going sightseeing so that Sarah wouldn't be put off by getting to know my whole cranky family straight away.

I had almost expected that after dinner she would rush off on the next night train to Newtown, but to my surprise she have had a great time and stayed with me. Ellie was probably right after all: the Jones got along well with everyone.

We had made a quick stop at Newtown Hospital on the way back on Sunday and brought Sarah's uncle a book. It wasn't of much use to him anymore since he would going home tomorrow, but at least he could pass the time with it for one evening. All in all, he was doing well and the doctors probably didn't find anything else. He had no external or internal injuries, apart from the scratch on his cheek, and his damaged eardrum would heal on its own in a few weeks. That was good news at least.

Since we were almost half an hour early, we stopped at my place again to unload my things and promptly ran into Cody while Penny stood in the hallway massaging her temples.

"Hey Shorty!" I greeted him with a grin, knowing that he didn't like it when I called him that, but I couldn't help it - it was too funny every time he made a face at me for that."Are you okay, Penny?" I called to his mother across the hallway when I saw that she still hadn't stopped massaging her temples - was she in pain?

"Hey, Niall. Hey Sarah. Everything's fine. I just wanted to be on my way, but Cody's dawdling again," she replied with a tired smile and I would swear that wasn't all.

"I'm not dawdling! I'm looking for my sneakers."

"Just take any Cody. You have 8 pairs of shoes. There will be something suitable!" Penny demanded with a groan and leaned heavily against the wall again. You didn't see her like that often. Did the upcoming visit to Mr. Jones make her nervous? - Oh no, Sam it was! I should actually call him Sam now, as he had just warned me in the hospital.

"But they're not my Sunday shoes!" Cody shouted and I turned to see where he was because his voice sounded so muffled. He was halfway under my bed. How did he even think that his shoes could be under my bed?!

"My God, who did you get that from?" Penny muttered embarrassedly and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Certainly not from Uncle Sam. He somehow always wore the same shoes when he was out and about!" Sarah said with a grin, who was leaning in the doorway next to me, and at least she got an amused grin from Penny, while Cody squeezed between me and Sarah.

"You can only wear one pair at a time anyway," Penny added and looked down at Cody, who was now crouching next to her on the floor in the hallway and rummaging through the shoe cupboard. "Come on Cody, I want to go to the pharmacy first as well," Penny sighed, now almost frustrated. What was wrong with her?

"You can save yourself the money. I have some tablets for headaches. I'd be happy to give you some," I offered her, hoping that I hadn't misunderstood her gesture too much. Her surprised look just made me very unsettled. Had I once again been too quick with my loose mouth?

"What makes you think I could have a headache?" Penny asked me, surprised.

"Because you just massaged your temples," I explained to her confused. Why else would you do something like that?

"Oh, I do that sometimes. But I don't have a headache. Thanks anyway, Niall," she simply replied to me and suddenly seemed a little more nervous as she almost ran up the stairs. I gave Sarah a questioning look, but she also just shrugged her shoulders.