More to You ✔

Chapter 17 - Family (Tom)

Tom tidied his room for what felt like the tenth time as he waited for Maria. He had wine glasses out, snacks prepared, and not a blanket or pillow lay out of place. Fifteen minutes had never passed so slowly, so he let his mind wander.

Saturday evening, he had been flying high. The park adventure with Maria had gone better than he'd hoped, and they'd made concrete plans to video chat with his sister tonight, who after following Maria's cooking contest posts and hearing him rave about her, had talked him into meeting her. He'd been skeptical because Maria wanted to move at the pace of a retreating glacier which meant this could freak her out, but Susanna assured him she'd focus on gushing about Maria's cooking. In theory, tonight would be a cakewalk.

But after his park outing, Becca had stormed upstairs, drunk and ranting about Mitch. Not the usual rants, but one about his apology, which was the last thing Tom had expected.

"Why now? What does that bugger want from me?" Becca had moaned.

Had he struck out with Maria and thought he could manipulate Becca again? The man was a pig. "It's Mitch being a desperate asshole with no regard for anyone's feelings. He's pissed off Maria and runs back to you. The nerve of that guy. Does he think you're that naïve?"

"It's not that. I woulda understood. But he apologized, told me he wasn't there to hook up, then ran when I mentioned him bailing on meeting my family."

Why would he apologize without another motive? The only factor that had changed was that Maria found out. Tom's skin crawled. How could that man stoop so low to manipulate one woman's feelings to attract another?

A knock pulled Tom out of his reflections. He'd have to push that creep out of his mind. No need to ruin a pleasant evening with Maria over it. She'd looked awkward enough on Friday when Becca had grilled her about Mitch, and again when they'd discussed it on Saturday.

Maria stood at his door with a container of what appeared to be banana leaves.

"Hey, you weren't supposed to cook," Tom said.

"You gonna tell LeBron to stop scoring points during a game?" She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

LeBron, he played basketball, didn't he? Was Maria into basketball?

She laughed a little and patted him on the arm. "You can't invite me to boast about my cooking and expect me to come empty-handed."

"Fair enough."

Maria stepped inside and slipped off her sandals. "So what's your sister like?"

Tom tucked his hands in his pockets. "Very energetic, I guess, chasing around her two kids and still finding time to make her home and family look beautiful."

"She's a homemaker?"

"She does metalwork art, or she used to when she didn't have toddlers."

Maria laughed. "I imagine it's hard to put a playpen outside the garage and tell them to chill while mommy uses her blowtorch."

"Something like that."

Maria set her container on the coffee table and plunked down on the couch. "Must be nice."

"Metalworking?"

"Having the choice to stay home and raise your kids." Their eyes met, and he wanted to embrace her, but he held back. Her cautiousness around money left him thinking she hadn't grown up with much.

"Yeah, she's pretty lucky."

Maria tucked her feet under her. "So is she the oldest in your family or..."