The highest function of love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being. ― Tom Robbins
Chapter 12 - Back to the Grindstone
Mason's POV:
"How was your day?" I ask Chandler after she put her purse down on my Uncle Michael's kitchen counter. He's invited me to stay with him, instead of staying with my parents. He thought this would be a good idea to let me stay close, but keep my distance while Addy settles in to a new routine.
"It was good. My grandma sends her love, and by the way, she's very happy for us." Her cheeks pink just a bit. "She kept telling me what a nice handsome man you are, and how she always thought we were such a cute couple."
I move out a seat for her beside me, but she stands behind me and puts her hands on my back. Slowly her fingers work the tense muscles of my neck and shoulders, drawing the out all of the stress of getting Addy settled. She begins to I tell me about her adventures with her grandmother. The normalcy of the conversation is a distraction for me, and I'm not willing to talk about my day, yet.
She tells me about her grandmother's quick wit and her assessment of the neighbors. The woman keeps us all in stitches when she is around, and at 73 years old, she's loosing her filter. Now, anything she thinks comes out of her mouth, and Chandler is relating every tidbit of their time together.
Before long the sound of Uncle Michael's garage door could be heard followed by the jingling and shutting of a door. We look toward the sound and find my uncle with eyes squeezed tight, facing us. "I have this memory." He says with a chuckle. "Sports gear, brown pony tail, lots of laughing." He opens his eyes. "You guys haven't changed much."
Uncle Michael has been a witness to many of Chandler's backrubs, and he was right, they usually occurred with one or both of us in sports gear. Where I think his mind is faulty is that it was usually me that was laughing - just like now.
"It's nice to see you, Chandler." He offers us something to drink, but we both decline. He nervously stirs around the kitchen. "How do you think today went?" He finally asks.
"Fair," I tell him. "Better than I expected considering how she was yesterday, but still not like it has been." Addy's psychologist told my mom to get her into a normal routine as soon as possible, it will help keep her stable during the transition home. One of the 'normal' routines for our family is Sunday lunch. Once a month or so my mom makes a huge party out of our Sunday, and everybody is welcome.
"Ok, so tell me. What happened?" Chandler says as she takes the stool next to me.
"It started out ok, before everyone arrived. She was excited about seeing everybody. My grandparents were the first to arrive, and that was good. Then, came Uncle Michael, and she talked to you for a while. Didn't she?" I turn to ask him.
"Yeah, she was telling me about how different it was to be home. She told me that she usually had this feeling she needed to get back to school, but now this is home, again. She called it weird."
"Little by little people came trickling in, and by the time Holden and Elliot showed up, she was a nervous wreck. Helen, for the most part, just sat with her and talked nonsense, to get her mind off of the growing crowd. And, of course, Elliot was his normal self." Chandler laughs; because I'm sure she's seen Elliot at his weirdest and knows what he is capable of. He's the polar opposite of his brother Holden.
"She did a good job, until..."
"Until, she got startled by movement and noise she wasn't expecting. She reacted like a scared rabbit."
Michael quickly changes the subject when he notices how uncomfortable I am talking about Addy's decline. "I heard you're headed out, tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but only for a day or two. Grandfather wants me back to go over some details about the merger." More like a buyout, but that's hard to explain, and definitely not important.
Chandler's hands stop moving down my arm, and I turn to see if she's ok. Taking her in my arms, I ask, "Would you like to go with me? I'd love for you to see my new home." She relaxes in my arms, as if she wasn't expecting me to want her with me.
Uncle Michael excuses himself quietly.
"Are you sure?"
"I wouldn't ask, if I wasn't. Chandler, I want you with me all the time. If I only have you for a week, I don't want to waste a minute." I capture her lips before she could reply, and spend a few minutes lost in her touch.
She wiggles out of my arms and resumes her place behind his shoulders. With soft warm kisses, her lips make a trail from the small patch of skin that peaks under my collar to my ear lobe.
"I'm glad you feel that way, because I brought my clothes, and I plan on taking you up on those promises you made yesterday." She informs me. The promises of making love to her and taking my time.
In an instant I spin around in my chair, pinning her between my knees and planting my hands firmly on her sweet little ass. "Oh, you are, now?" She takes my mouth to heaven with the slow heated movement of her lips. "Let's see what I can do about that."
Turning off the lights and grabbing her bag, I pull her close as we walk to my room. Chandler always has a way to help me forget my worries. Giving over to the promises I had made to explore her body, I am lost to everything but her. Slowly capturing her sounds, eliciting new ones, we fall asleep wrapped together.
Chandler is draped across my chest when the phone wakes me. Tonya leaves a message to let me know that Grandfather is expecting me for a 2:30 meeting with Senator McHutchins. So, a lazy morning in Chandler's arms is out of the question.
My hand traces her hair down to the middle if her back, pulling her even closer as I do so. "Morning," Chandler says sleepily as I nuzzle her neck. "Hmmmm," is the response to my kisses and roaming hands. The sound of accelerated breathing fills the room as my body is joined with hers, setting a gentle pace, taking my time to love her the way she deserves.
After a few phone calls and a quick shower, we are at my mom's house for a late breakfast. I just need to check on Addy before I leave for a few days. She needs to know I'm not abandoning her the first chance I get - I would never, and Chandler wouldn't let me.
The flight was short. In actuality it isn't, but considering I spent the entire time wrapped up with Chandler, it was short. It's not that we have to be touching when we are together, but it's nice when we have nothing else consuming our time except for each other.
Thomas greets us as we exit the plane. "Home or office?" He asks.
I turn to Chandler. She's dressed in a casual dress and light sweater, but looks every bit the confident professional she is. "It's up to you."
"Well, I'd like to see Tonya and Deena. I also could check on progress with the FCC, if you need me to," she offers.
"This is a vacation for you."
"No, this is me spending time with you. If you are in a meeting with your grandfather and Sen. McHutchins, then I can get a little work done while I'm here."
"God, you're wonderful." I say before connecting quickly with her lips. "Thank you. At least now I know you won't be bored waiting for me, because I'm not sure how long this meeting will last. McHuntchins heads the subcommittee on Communication Technology and Commerce. I'm sure this is Grandfather lobbying a bill or smoothing out the path for the merger or something."
I show her to my office, saying hello to everyone we pass. I think they are just surprised, not expecting my back so soon. Deena grabs both my arms and stands far enough away to study my face. "You look good. Happy and good." With her release she glances at Chandler and welcomes her to P. Cahill Industries, before leaving us to find our way to my office.
"Nice." Chandler says upon first impressions of my office. "So, this is the inner sanctum?"
"Hardly." She travels across the wide expanse of the room, running her fingers of the cream leather sofa. The office has been decorated in tones of blue and cream but with a more masculine quality than the outer offices' business feel. I watch as she steps over to the window, taking in the view of the city and the harbor beyond.
"This is so lovely. How do you get any work done with a view like this?" She says, not turning away from the window.
"That's why my desk is over here. It's too tempting to slack off and just watch the boats."
She visibly shakes herself out of her thoughts and walks back to me. Wrapping her hands around my shoulders, "So, where can I set up? We don't have much time before you're meeting with your grandfather."
I pull her closer and capture her lips before telling her, "You can use my desk. Deena will help you with anything you need. There's also a conference room next door. I know how you like to spread out while you think."
"I'll see you in a few hours. Or less."
She opens for me as I try to silently tell her I will miss her. "I love you," I whisper against her lips.
"I love you, too. I'll be here waiting." We break away, and I can feel her watch me as I leave. At the door, I turn and wink and elicit the sweetest little giggle from her at being caught staring. "Yeah, yeah. I think you're hot. Now go."
Greeting Grandfather's secretary as I exit the elevator, I'm ushered toward the boardroom. "Warning. He's been expecting for you for an hour. He didn't let me know he wanted you early, or I would have sent for you."
I've known this woman for ten years, and she is constantly apologizing for my grandfather's lack of foresight. "Pamela, if he wanted me early, he should have told me when he called. Don't you let him intimidate you? He's a big boy." She laughs at the idea I called my grandfather a boy.
"There he is,," Grandfather says as I enter the room. He waves for me to sit down, and I don't miss the irritation in the way he looks at me. "Patrick, this is Senator McHutchins. Geoffrey, this is the next generation Cahill."
My grandfather refuses to call me by my given name. I constantly have to correct it when I meet his contacts. "Mason," I extend my hand to the well-tailored man in his mid-fifties. "Nice to meet you."
"Geoffrey McHutchins." He stands and shakes my hand.
I take in the small entourage he has with him. My grandfather has his personal assistant, Steven, but the senator has two women and three men with him. He introduces his executive assistant, legislative assistant, and press secretary. The two assistants say a quick hello before turning their attention back on the senator. The press secretary is more charming; I'm sure looking for a way to spin this meeting in a way to show the senator in the best light.
The other two men sit in the background and listen in as we begin to discuss a few communications bills that are before congress along with some other issues on my grandfather's agenda.
I would have to say, I'm proud of my grandfather. This is the first time I've met with a legislator that did not involve a daughter, niece, or granddaughter for me to meet.
Almost three hours later, one of the assistants informs the Senator that we need to wrap up to make his next appointment, which happens to be dinner with our governor.
"Well, Patrick, what did you think of Rachel." My grandfather asks as Steven escorts the senator and his staff to the elevators.
My mind whirls around trying to remember anyone named Rachel. I'm visually going through my mind at all of the different young ladies that have been flaunted in front of me in the past three months. I guess my time away with Addy has taken a toll on my memory.
"I'm not sure who Rachel is, and I have no opinion."
"The senator's daughter, the press secretary. Why else do you think she was here? We don't need a press secretary at a meeting like this. I know the last few girls didn't have a brain between them. When I found that Geoffrey's daughter was a staffer, I knew you would appreciate that more. She's not much of a looker, but she's not exactly a plain Jane either."
"Grandfather, I'm with someone. I don't need you trying to set me up. I'm happy." Just thinking of Chandler brings a smile to my face, and I don't hide how I feel.
"Well, that's good." He slaps me on the back. "I'm glad you have somebody to help you get your rocks off, but I'm talking about your future. You need someone by your side that can help you in this business."
I gather my things and head to the door, "I already have," I say and leave the room.
Stalking down the hall from the elevator to my office, I find Chandler on my sofa with papers spread out on a small table in front of her. Short steps have her in my arms, and I devour her with my mouth. She peels my jacket off of me and runs her fingers up my back.
"That bad?" She asks as we finally break away.
"No, that thankful." She laughs at my reply and hangs my jacket on a hook. "So, what do you have here?"
"It looks like we may have some issues with the FCC. Two of your stations overlap, if the merger goes through. You will need to think of other programming. Have you ever thought about starting your own cable channel? Like TNT or FX, something?"
"No."
"You may want to look into that. I've found a few incentives to developing your own station. It is costly upfront, but if you're going to branch farther into media, you may want to look into that as an investment." She smiles, handing me a small packet of information. "It could be an answer to a few of your problems."
Laying the information down, with the promise to look at it later, I say, "The only problem I'm aware of is that we're not alone."
"That's a problem?"
"It is in my book." My lips travel up her neck to her ear, and I whisper. "How about a quick tour of the city, early dinner, and an even earlier night?"
"Sounds wonderful."
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Ok, I'm back finally writing for Mason and Chandler again, and still working on Holden and Helen. I gave you only a glimpse of Cahill, Sr. He's not exactly like the other people in Mason's life.