At Home

Chapter Twenty Eight

AJ rings the doorbell, and a shorter brunette woman opens the door. She is smiling from ear to ear and holds her arms out to hug AJ. "Atlas, I'm so happy you're here." He hugs her back and it's a little funny to see how his hug consumes her small frame. "Hey Cind." He says, and I can feel the warmth and love in his voice. She pats his back before turning turning her attention towards me.

"Come here honey." She says holding her arms out toward me and taking a step. She keeps a smile on her face, but I can see the sadness in her eyes. I am normally not a huge hugger but, I find myself stepping into her arms. She hugs me tightly. "I'm so happy you're safe." She says, sincerity in her voice. We stay hugging for a while, and I wait until she lets go first. I feel like she needs it more than me, and her hug makes me feel safe. After a while, she releases me and steps back, looking up at my face. She places her hand on my cheek. I can see her holding back tears. My heart aches for her, so I lean my cheek into her hand.

"Hey, how do I get one of those?" I hear Maya say. Cind, short for Cindy?, and I laugh. Maya always knows how to lighten the mood. Cind turns towards Maya and holds out her arms. Maya steps into them and they share an embrace. Blue jumps on them, clearly feeling left out. We all laugh. "Looks like he wants one too." Cind says "You must be Blue. Well aren't you a handsome boy." She pets his head and the sadness is gone from her eyes. "You like chicken boy?" Blue goes ape shit at the word "chicken". My bad. He bolts past her into the house. She laughs harder "Guess that's a yes."

She ushers us inside. I see Ryan hard at work on something on his laptop. "Hey Ryan." I say, feeling horrible for ever thinking he kidnapped me. He looks up from his laptop to me and smiles, "Hey. How are you doing?" I don't get to respond before I notice his eyes snap to Maya. I look towards Maya and she's staring back at him, cheeks flushed. I look back and fourth between them, and see AJ has noticed as well. AJ and I make eye contact and I can tell we're thinking the same thing. Do they know each other?

"Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes." I hear Cind call from somewhere else in the house, presumably the kitchen. Maya and Ryan are still just watching each other and I start feeling weird. I clear my throat, "Uhm, I'm gonna go see if Ryan's mom needs help." I realize I don't know where the kitchen is, but it can't be that hard to find. Anything to get away from the awkwardness in the room right now. "Ok gorgeous." AJ says. Then he turns his attention to Ryan. "Hey Ry, you find out anything about the Mustang?" I exit the room before I can tell if Ryan heard him or not.

It doesn't take me any time at all to find the kitchen. Cind is standing at the stove stirring something, and I notice Blue laying at her feet. He really just loves everyone. Or thinks she will drop something for him to eat. "Hey," I say gently, "Need any help?" Cind turns towards me with a smile. "I'd love that! Can you grab me the Italian seasoning? It's in the cabinet next to the fridge." She point towards the fridge, and I take the couple steps towards it. I open the cabinet next to it and spot the Italian seasoning immediately. I grab it before walking over and handing it to her. "Thanks Honey." She says, before adding some to the pot of red sauce on the stove. I see pasta boiling on the stove as well. Mmm spaghetti. "So," I hesitate for a moment, "Is Cind short for Cindy?" I feel stupid as soon as I ask. "Actually," Cind stops stirring and faces me, "It's short for Cinder Block." I feel like it's a joke, but her face looks dead serious. "Oh, uhm." I stutter. She burst out into laughter, and I feel dumb again. "I'm just kidding Honey. Yes, it's short for Cindy. But you can call me whatever you want." I smile at her and then find myself laughing too. I already love this woman. "So, how did you know it was me when we got here?" I ask. I realized that we never met, but she knew who I was right away. "Atlas may have mentioned you a few times." She says with a soft smile. "That, and I saw you too playing tonsil hockey in the driveway. I would hope Altas wouldn't make out with his cousin like that. I made an educated guess" she shrugs. I feel the heat in my cheeks, "Ah. Uhm. Sorry." I say embarrassed. She laughs some more, before returning to stirring the sauce on the stove.

"He loves you, you know." Cindy's words catch me by surprise. "What?" I say shocked. "He does talk about you. A lot. I feel like I already know you." She says, continuing to stir. I don't know what to say, so I just stand there like an idiot. She turns off the burner with the pasta and grabs the pot. She pours the pasta into the strainer in the sink, before returning the pasta to the pot. She turns toward me, "Ah. So you love him too." She says like it's a fact. She waits for my response but I have no clue what to say. She's right. Cindy gently moves me out of the way of the oven. She opens the oven door, bends down, and pulls out a tray of meatballs. I feel my mouth water. I love meatballs. But, do I really love Atlas? She places the tray of meatballs on the stove. "Word of advice Honey," she says, placing her hand on my shoulder and looking into my eyes, "Life is too short and too precious to waste it. Tell him how you feel." This woman holds nothing back. I admire it. "And then go break his pelvis" she says with a laugh and I feel like I just got the wind knocked out of me. Cindy is Maya in the future. 100% That's why I love her. She adds the sauce and meatballs to the pasta, and stirs it up. "Dinner's Ready!" She yells, and we hear 3 pairs of feet shuffle towards the kitchen.

She walks around me to the refrigerator and pulls out some plain shredded chicken breast. Blue spots it and jumps up. He could break someones knee cap with how fast his tail is wagging. He has the biggest smile on his face. "Don't worry boy, I didn't forget about your dinner" Cindy says with a smile. She grabs 2 metal bowls out of the lower cabinet, filling one with the chicken, and the other with water. She walks them into the attached dining room and places them on the floor in the far corner. Blue wastes no time, and immediately digs in. She chuckles and looks at me, "He's so cute. If you ever need someone to puppy sit, let me know."