Chapter Twenty-Three

Are you sure you want to do this, Mom?” Her daughter-in-law sounded doubtful on the phone.

Ginny smiled and nodded, even though Erica couldn’t see her. “I do. We have always had the twins’ birthday parties here. You know how tradition-minded Addy is. She wants it here and I don’t want to break the tradition. Besides, we have to help Andy.”

“Did Andy mention anything about birthdays when you were over here a couple days ago?”

Ginny replied, “No, but I did. I told him Addy wants it here, but it’s his birthday too. So I asked him to try, and if it’s just too much stress, we will move the whole birthday to their house, banner and all.”

“And he said…?”

“Nothing, really. He just shrugged. Addy and I have had plenty of deep talks about Fred and what happened so I know she is handling it. Is Andy talking with you or Sam?”

“Not really.” Erica sounded tired. “We need to force ourselves to talk about it. Dad’s dying brings back all the old experiences of death, pets and people, and too often we still fall apart.”

“So Andy is being left out.”

“By his choice,” Erica said. “He stones up when I try to talk with him and pretty much hides from me. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he shrugged and said, ‘Doesn’t matter.’ I know he is having nightmares but he won’t talk about that either.”

“Perhaps it’s time to bring in a counselor,” Ginny suggested. “Much as I hate to say it.”

“I thought of that. He and Addy can usually talk about the deep stuff but—”

“But Addy is here and he refuses to come,” Ginny finished the thought for her.

“Exactly. I can remember a line of yours, any excuse is a good excuse. Never did understand that but seems to apply here. He hides away with his guitar, and when I asked him what he was working on, he just shrugged. But I know he’s working on a song.”

“That’s good. I’ll see if I can get anything out of Addy. I know she’s worried about him. So often they talked best when they were down at the barn with the donkey and pony.”

“Thanks, Mom. We’ll take care of the food for the birthday. Neither of the kids has asked to or planned on inviting their friends so it will be just us. So hard to believe I have almost teenagers.”

And then an interesting thought struck Ginny. “Have they ever been out on a sailboat before?”

“I don’t think so, why?”

“Just trying to think of something unusual to do with them. Perhaps Roxie’s friend Rich would take them out on the lake. I’ll look into it. I know he already thinks Addy is pretty special.”

“From the UFO group?” Erica asked.

“Right.”

“All right, see you later. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Ginny sat tapping her cell phone against her chin. Oops, she forgot to tell her. She quickly called back. “I forgot to tell you, I ordered their ice cream cake.”