Annie greeted Arnold with a tight hug and a quick kiss. “I'm so glad that you're home.” She said and then she sighed. “I'm also sorry that you're home and can't work in the lab like you should be.”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and gave her another quick kiss.

“I know how much you enjoyed that job.” Annie said and had him leave his suitcase and the large plastic container at the bottom of the stairs. “I've got a late supper ready for you.” She said and led him into the kitchen. “Don't worry. It's not too heavy and you'll have time to digest some of it before going to bed.”

The two of them sat down at the table and enjoyed their first meal together in a while. Annie made small talk and asked him how everyone reacted to him having to leave. When Arnold told her about him completing the huge project for the professor almost two weeks before it was due, she almost shouted in anger at the professor.

“I can't believe that he won't include you in it, even as an observer!” Annie spat. “Imagine! You did all that work and he has the gall to cut you out of it?” She made fists and closed her eyes, then took several deep breaths to calm down. She felt strong arms go around her from behind and that made her relax. She opened her hands and lifted them to hug her son's arms. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't get angry, especially since you were paid very well for working all summer.”

“It's okay. I wasn't going to see it anyway. Mandatory vacation applies to all the workers, not just me.”

“He's going to be there all week by himself?” Annie asked and Arnold nodded. “So, either he's going to have to do the work all alone or there's no work for him to complete.”

Arnold nodded again. “New students start in the fall semester and everyone has a week of orientation and specimen prep doesn't start until the next week.”

“That should give his other helpers enough time to do what they need to.” Annie said. She knew a lot more about the goings on there than she thought she should know; but, that usually happened when you were in constant contact with someone that was deeply involved in something. You always picked up on the things going on in their lives.

The two of them cleared the table and washed the dishes, then went to the living room. They settled down on the couch and Arnold assumed his position with his head on her lap. Annie turned on the television and her other hand rubbed his chest.

“I've got a few things planned for us to do this week.” Annie said and Arnold looked up at her. “I'm thinking we need to do a little bit of shopping for college student clothes.”

“Why?” Arnold asked.

“Wearing suits all the time made you stand out while you were working, and that was the point.” Annie said and smiled down at him. “Who wouldn't notice my smart little boy dressed up like that?”

Arnold raised his eyebrows slightly. It looked weird with him laying down and Annie chuckled.

“I think you can wear the shirt and suit pants occasionally, and that'll be okay. The coat and tie would make you stand out for a much different reason when you're a student.”

“It's bad?” Arnold asked.

“Not in the way you might think.” Annie said. “Being a student and wearing a tie is kind of...” She thought of a good way to say it. “...like violating social protocol.” She nodded. “Some of the ignorant people, namely people that don't know you, might brand you with teasing nicknames and might make fun of you.”

Arnold shrugged slightly and Annie chuckled again, because that looked funny laying down, too.

“I'll help you pick out a nice mix of clothes that will mitigate as much of that as possible, and they should all be interchangeable and can be worn with the suit pants or instead of the suit pants.” Annie said. “Once we have everything, I'll even do up a clothing schedule for you, just like I did for you in school.”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and puckered his lips.

Annie snorted a laugh and bent down to lightly kiss him. “I think I might be spoiling you.”

“Or I might be spoiling you.” Arnold countered and that made her laugh.

“I can't argue that, since I think we're both spoiling each other.” Annie said and rubbed his chest. “That's all right, though. I love you and being spoiled by you is one of the best things in the world.”

Arnold nodded his head and put a hand on hers.

Annie took a long slow breath and let it out. “With you here, this next week is going to be the best week ever.”

Arnold nodded again and let her hand go. They stared at each other for several moments, then they both looked at the television at the same time and started watching it. They didn't have to speak anymore and just kept each other company for several hours. They both started to doze off at the same time, so Annie called an end to their evening.

They went into the hallway and Arnold picked up his specimen container and his suitcase, then they went up the stairs together. Arnold put his things in his room and they both changed for bed. Neither Annie nor Arnold asked the other one if they wanted the other one to cuddle. They both assumed the other wanted it and they went into Annie's room. She had the much bigger bed and it was a lot more comfortable for two people to share.

The next morning, Arnold woke up at his usual time, even though he didn't have the alarm set. He moved and tried to take his hand from around his mother's waist.

“N-n-no.” Annie mumbled. “Don't leave.”

Arnold remembered this happening back at the dorm when he had to go to work. He didn't want his mother to cry, so he moved back in close and hugged her tightly. Annie shuddered and let out a happy sigh, then started to snore. It wasn't loud and Arnold peered around to see that her face was partially buried in the pillow. He didn't have a free hand to help her, so he used his nose to move her hair out of the way and kissed the back of her neck.

Annie let out a little giggle and shook her head slightly. The snoring stopped and Arnold saw she had her face uncovered now. He laid back down and closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept in and fell asleep before figuring it out. Almost four hours later, the alarm went off.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Annie sighed when her alarm went off, then she remembered why she had set it. “Arnold.”

The large warm presence behind her moved and she let the arm that she had a death grip on go. Arnold rolled away from her under the blanket and hit the alarm. She shivered at the loss of his warmth and she berated herself for being selfish. She rolled over in bed to apologize for using him like that and Arnold was already staring at her.

“Good morning.” Arnold said and leaned close to give her a quick kiss.

Annie couldn't apologize for something he apparently liked as well, or with his sincere face so close. “Good morning.” She said instead. “Do you want to shower first?”

Arnold nodded and he was up and out of the bed, then went to the bathroom. He was out fifteen minutes later in just a towel and grabbed a change of casual clothes from the suitcase in his room. Annie went into the bathroom next and Arnold dressed and went downstairs. While she showered, Arnold made breakfast for the two of them and it was ready by the time Annie came down to the kitchen.

“You didn't have to do that, Arnold.” Annie said and gave him a hug. She was very tempted to tell him that she had planned on doing everything for him all week, then thought better of it. With his expanded knowledge, 'everything' could now mean a lot of things, which included a few things that she was definitely not going to do with her son.

The two of them sat down and ate the food and Annie said they were going out shopping. Saturday mornings were usually the best time for shopping, with stores not too busy or crowded at the mall, and she was pretty sure that they could find almost anything that they needed. They left the house and she drove them to the mall. As soon as they stepped through the doors of the mall, Annie entered shopping mode.

“The first store we need is right over there.” Annie said and pointed. Being a dutiful son, Arnold followed her and let his mother handle everything, from picking out good clothing items to coordinating color schemes to make everything match in some capacity. Annie was happy that they were doing this, because Arnold had grown slightly during the three months he was working at the college.

That meant a lot of Arnold's old clothing, which had been close to being too short, now actually was. Plus, most of that had been ruined when the house was wrecked. Using some of the house insurance money to replace his clothing was something that gave Annie a sense of completeness and moving on from what happened.

Over the next several hours, Annie bought him several pairs of jeans in various colors from blue to black, pants of different fabrics and different colors, long and short sleeved shirts, long and short sleeved t-shirts, a muscle shirt or two, both thick and thin sweaters, jockey shorts, briefs, socks galore, a few belts as complimentary items, three pairs of sneakers, and several pairs of normal shorts and basketball shorts.

At one point, they had to find a shopping cart to help carry everything. By the time they were done shopping, it was practically overflowing with their purchases. They went to the food court and sat down to both rest and to get something to eat, because they had missed lunch. As they ate, they heard a womanly laugh as someone approached.

“Good lord, Annie! Are you buying out the whole mall?” Claire asked as she stopped at their table.

“Claire!” Annie almost yelled and stood up to give the other woman a hug. “It's been so long!”

“I know.” Claire said and managed, barely, to not stare at Arnold. “You could call me, you know.”

“Uh huh.” Annie said with a smirk and let her go. “That goes for you, too.”

Claire laughed again. “Touche.” She said. “It's so nice to run into you here.” She almost gushed, then she looked at Arnold. “Hello, Arnold.”

“Hello.” Arnold said.

“How is work?” Claire asked.

“Over.” Arnold said.

“Wh-what?” Claire looked from him to Annie. “But... there's another week before...”

“Vacation.” Annie said without fully explaining and sat back down to continue eating.

“Oh.” Claire said, a little sadly. “I was bringing Heather to the college this week to get her set up in the dorm and to tour the campus.” She reached out, almost against her will, and touched Arnold's shoulder. “I was looking forward to seeing where you worked and what you did all day.”

“I'm not working anywhere now.” Arnold said. “It was Building F in the large lab on the second floor.”

Claire gave his shoulder a light squeeze and let it go. “I'm sure Heather and I will check it out, even if you're not there.”

“MOM!” Heather yelled loudly and strode over to her mother. “You are not going to believe the sale that's on at...” She stopped talking when she saw who it was that her mother was talking to. “Arnold!” She gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“Shopping with mom.” Arnold said and pointed.

“Hi, Mrs. Strickland.” Heather said, a little embarrassed that she hadn't noticed her right away.

“It's... just Ms. Strickland.” Annie said, then she took in a breath and let it out as she straightened her back. “It's been almost six months since my husband died.”

Claire smiled and nodded at Annie's confidence. I'm glad you decided to move on. She thought. She would never say that out loud with their kids there. “Heather actually has a room in the newest dorm on the campus.”

“Yes! It's great!” Heather said. “The pictures online look a bit touched up, though.” She said with a laugh. “The room doesn't sparkle in the sunlight!”

Claire had to laugh at that. “The damn thing should sparkle! Ten grand a year for a single bed and a desk in a private room is a bit much!”

“It's twelve hundred dollars less for a shared room.” Arnold said, to their surprise. “Of course, you have a roommate as a trade off.” He looked at Heather. “You should have talked to Kelly.”

“What? Why?” Heather asked.

“She's not sharing Arnold's room at the dorm anymore.” Annie said and kept the sadness out of her voice. It had been her idea for Kelly to surprise him and stay over for the weekend. She never expected Kelly to surprise her instead and move out before she officially moved in.

Both Claire and Heather caught their breath at the news. They were silent for several moments as they thought about it.

“No.” Arnold said when he finished eating and all three women looked at him. “Heather can't move in with me.”

Heather's face flushed red. “I... um... wasn't...”

Claire put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. “It's all right to say it. I was thinking it, too.”

Heather sighed. “Okay. Yes. It was the first thing I thought of.”

“I've kissed too many girls for you to be happy as my roommate.” Arnold said to Heather and stood up as he gathered up the trash and tossed it in the garbage can. “You broke up with me and it was just a picture of a goodbye kiss. What would you do if I kissed a girl in front of you?”

Heather opened her mouth to respond that she would be okay with that, even though she wouldn't be.

“Where's Eric?” Arnold asked and interrupted her. “What would he say if you did move in with me?”

Heather's mouth snapped closed, because she hadn't been thinking about Eric for the last few minutes while talking with Arnold. Eric hadn't crossed her mind at all.

Arnold didn't say anything else as he walked around Claire and Heather and stood at the back of the shopping cart. Annie took the cue and tossed her garbage into the trash and stood.

“Well, this was...” Annie started to say.

“...awkward.” Claire said and sighed. “Really awkward.”

Annie nodded and touched her arm for a brief moment, then she and Arnold left.

Claire watched them for a few moments, then turned to her daughter. “He's on vacation for a week.”

“That figures.” Heather shook her head. “I finally get the chance to let him show me around the campus before classes start and he won't even be there to do it.”

Claire put an arm over her shoulder. “I'm just as disappointed as you are.”

Heather nodded, because she knew how much her mother liked having Arnold around. She could dress how she wanted and he never took it the wrong way. In fact, Heather herself had liked that about him. When she tried to strut around her room in just her bra and panties with Eric there, he practically tore them off of her. It had been fun; but, also disappointing.

Heather knew that Eric would always see that as an invitation for sex. That meant she couldn't really relax around him, which meant that her mother couldn't really relax around him, either. That underlying tension was always there and it wasn't a good environment for her mother... or her. The problem was, that would always be the case with every other guy on the planet... except for Arnold.

“What was it you were saying about not believing a sale?” Claire asked. She saw that her daughter had been thinking hard about something and wanted to distract her.

“Oh!” Heather snapped out of her thoughts. “It's over that way.” She said and pointed. “It's the cutest little...” She droned on about something and led her mother over to the store.

Claire stopped herself from sighing. They were walking in the opposite direction of where Annie and Arnold went. She fought very hard to not turn around and see where Arnold had gone. She just hoped that they were still going to be there shopping and she would run into them later. Maybe then she could somehow get Arnold alone to talk to him.

She was disappointed an hour later when she and Heather left the mall and hadn't seen a trace of him.