Page 69 of Perfect Chemistry

The rest of the trip was filled with small pockets of joy and laughter with equal parts of crying. Avery cried when she failed to mine a diamond from a bucket of rocks at a tourist trap.

Aiden cried when he thought he forgot a stuffed animal at a hotel. Two days later, Andie confirmed with her parents the precious dinosaur had never left little Aiden’s bedroom. We had endured two days of tears, only for them to abruptly stop and turn into a giggle.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot he didn’t come. Sorry, mommy.”

At least he knew enough to apologize. Andie just jutted her chin, and added this to the list of things she hoped her future grandchildren would do to her children. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as she muttered under her breath about Aiden’s nonsense, while Aiden cackled retelling the events and discussions that led up to the dinosaur staying home.

Jonas moved Aiden to his car, and said it was so they could have male bonding. I bit my lip and put my head in my lap to keep from laughing even harder.

“Shut up, Katie!” Andie muttered as we got back on the road.

We had about six hours left to drive and we all agreed to just push through unless we found something to explore along the way.

“Avery, how is school?” I asked her.

Her eyes rolled, and I wasn’t sure what kind of response I was going to get from her. Then the flood gates opened. I heard about her teachers, her classmates, her classes (ranked best to worst), and how ‘oh sooooo gross’ she thought boys were.

She told me how a kid had asked her to go out, and she in turn had lectured him on his ‘priortees.’ She had apparently dragged the poor boy by the ear back to his desk and stood over him while he completed his schoolwork. When he was done, he asked if she would go out with him then…

“But I tole him, ‘no’, cause I need someone who is jes’ as smart as me, and can do their own work,” she explained.

“Then what happened?” I asked, now invested in this mini drama.

“He asked Stella out instead,” she huffed.

“Oh! I’m sorry sweetie,” I said, but she threw up a hand and stopped me.

“I was so happy he stopped following me. They can go be dumb together. I had my own math sheets to do, Miss Katie!” she explained, sounding relieved.

My jaw dropped and I looked over to see Andie’s reaction. She was biting her lip and struggling not to laugh. I thanked Avery for sharing so so much with me.

“You’re welcome, Miss Katie!” she smiled.

I didn’t have words. “You made that,” I whispered to Andie.

She nodded. “I know. And I should be correcting her, but I just can’t cause I’m so fucking proud!” She whispered back, trying to stifle her giggles.

* * *

“You must be Katie! It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’m Mandy,” a petite woman with a southern accent greeted me. She looked like she was barely out of college with the messy bun on top of her head, and the cut-off overalls. She was wiping paint off of her hands so that she could offer to shake with me.

I introduced Andie, Jonas and the kids, before Mandy insisted we get situated for the night. The “quaint” mother-in-law suite was a full sized apartment built over a three car garage. “This is so much space…” I gasped as we walked in.

“Lucas an’ I were livin’ up here for a bit while we built the rest of our dream home. That was so many years ago - Excuse me,” she stopped, and pulled a water bottle from her back pocket and spit in it.

It was then I realized she had a cheek half stuffed with dip. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling as she went through the list of things they did to spruce the place up for me. It was so much more than I could have hoped for.

“If there’s anything, I mean anything, you need, you let me know an’ we can go out tagether an’ pick it up,” she offered.

We stood there talking for a good twenty minutes before Mandy suddenly looked like someone lit her tail on fire. “Shoot! I’m supposed to have supper on the table! I have to run. Don’t be shy!”

After she ran out the door, Andie and Jonas stared at me with their mouths agape. Mandy looked like she was barely 18, but I knew from her letters that she and Lucas had been married for more than 20 years already. She had the sweetest southern draw, and then spit a mouthful of chew into a water bottle. There were so many contradictions.

“I think I love that woman,” Andie admitted, fanning herself.

“I think I may have developed my first girl crush,” I laughed.

Jonas just shook his head and went to check on the kids playing quietly in the living room. From the pink on the tips of his ears, I think it was safe to say we all thought Mandy was too damn cute.

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