Finding Abel

Chapter 20.

Opie

"He said what?!" Wendy yelled in shock as Erin proceeded to pound on a chicken breast. Crazy thing is, I'm pretty sure she said she was cooking beef tonight. "The nerve of him," Erin grumbled and added another whack to the dead bird. Jax was such a moron, his plans to one-up Erin just blew up in his face and now she was mad as hell.

I was holding a sleepy Henry in my arms as his mom continued to beat the hell out of that piece of poultry. With every whack, he would flutter his eyes open sleepily and I tried to withhold a laugh. "Erin," I said trying to get her attention.

"What?" she snapped, but then she immediately regretted it. She took a deep breath and put down the mallet, "I'm sorry Ope, I'm just so damn mad! He knows that Tara and Wendy's situation is not the same! Wendy wouldn't have let someone cut my baby's hair and not call me about it!" she added five more whacks to the meat and took a deep breath when she was done. The meat was practically mutilated by the time she was finished.

I didn't want to laugh so I turned my attention to Henry's hair. It was still pretty uneven, Jax didn't really do a good job at preventing the kid from looking like he was a rejected member of the Beatles. "I'm going to go lay him down while you take a pause from giving that bird a second death." Erin glared at me but I could see the sides of her lips twitch. I know she found what I said funny, but she didn't want to laugh.

When I returned she had started to cut the bird up into small pieces, realizing that it was far too damaged to do anything else. Wendy was trying to console her but Erin looked like she wanted to cry, but her pride wouldn't let her tears fall. "Erin, you didn't do anything wrong," Wendy smiled at her sympathetically.

"I know," she rubbed her face against her shoulder, "I'm just so mad that he said that. You're my friend Wendy and the reason that I even get to call Abel my son. You made a mistake and you have done everything right since; I just hate that he said that."

Erin tossed the rest of the meat into a bag and threw it into the freezer. She proceeded to clean the space and wash her hands. Wendy was quiet for a while and then she spoke up, "thanks."

Erin wiped her hands with a paper towel and looked at Wendy confused, "for what?"

"For having my back, I mean you could have easily left me out but you fought for me, that means a lot."

Erin smiled softly, "Wendy, Jax has no idea what we've been through, he can't, he won't tell me that you're not good for my boys. You are an important person to me, to Henry, and to Abel, you're not going anywhere."

Wendy looked down sheepishly, a red hue coming to her cheeks, "well, I guess I'll go call the old ball and chain about dinner. Unless you'd like her to bring you a live bird to decapitate..." Erin scolded Wendy and threw the balled-up piece of paper at her. Wendy laughed as she made her way outside to make her phone call.

I emerged from the hallway and landed my eyes on Erin. She sighed once she saw me and leaned down on the countertop, "is Lyla dropping the kids off for dinner?"

"Yeah, she's working late, told me to tell you to thank you again for doing this." Erin waved her hand dismissively; she had fed my kids dinner once or twice when Lyla had to work late. Things are still awkward between us but Erin is a huge advocate for communication and keeps urging me to talk to her. I honestly don't know what to say to Lyla, all we seem to do is fight, and when we're not, it's like we're strangers.

Bringing the kids around Erin gave them some stability, plus they really liked her and she liked them. But for now, I just enjoyed being around her, she was a good person, and had become a friend to me. She didn't expect much out of me and she didn't nag at me, all she asked is that I just told her the truth. I asked the same from her in return and talking with her was just as easy as breathing.