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The following morning, when Maggie
got home from work, she was visibly upset when we told her what had
happened with Mikey the night before. She said she was going to call
Mikey's parents and talk to them. Mikey insisted that it wouldn't do
any good, but he should have known that when Maggie had her mind set on
something, there wasn't much that anyone could do to stop her. So I
told him to just relax and wait and see what happened.
It seemed like Maggie was on the phone with Mikey's parents for quite a
while, and since she had locked herself up in her room, we had no idea
how it was going. When she finally came out, though, she said that she
was going to take Mikey back home, and the four of them would sit down
and discuss some things. I wasn't too sure that sending Mikey home
right away was the best thing for him.
Could one phone call and a little chat with Maggie really change their
minds so easily? It didn't seem very likely to me. Then again, I
had been learning to trust Maggie more and more over the past several
months, so I didn't argue with her. Personally, I wouldn't have minded
if Mikey stayed with us for a while longer. Since Cody and Toby had
started dating, Mikey had pretty much become my best friend, next to
Ryan, of course.
After Maggie and Mikey left, I went to Toby's room to see how he was
doing. He seemed a little better than the day before, but he was still
obviously feeling really shitty from his treatments. I emptied the
"puke bucket" that was next to his bed and cleaned it out for him, then
spent the rest of the afternoon just sitting and talking with him. I
cuddled up with him and took a nap for a while as well. Ryan was in his
room doing his own thing, although I was pleased when he poked his head
in the door briefly to ask how we were doing. I knew I could take care
of Toby. I was starting to feel more concerned with what I was going to
do about Ryan, though. And then there was Mikey to worry about, too.