More to You ✔

Chapter 52 - Seventh falls (Tom)

Tom didn't stop until he reached the stunning turquoise pool of the seventh waterfall. Maria wouldn't chase him this far. He wished he could keep running back to Canada, but even there, she'd eventually be nearby. Another reminder of his failures.

How did he fall into this trap again? Believing a woman who longed to be anywhere but in his arms? Stressing about what he said, did, and looked like for nothing. It didn't matter what continent he was on. Once a better-looking and smoother guy arrived, women would leave Tom. It was a curse.

Except for Prae, but even she had spent the night at Mitch's doing God knows what. Whatever feelings she had for him would be long gone.

And he deserved that after taking advantage of her kindness. He was no better than Maria. Good thing he'd be moving at the end of the school year. He'd escape this mess behind and start over somewhere new. Maybe in China or South Korea, or he could backpack around Europe, letting old architecture and cultures numb him. As long as he avoided Paris, or maybe France as a whole, and cooking or fine cuisine. Damn it, everything was connected to her.

Rushed footsteps came in his direction, slowing as they grew closer. He groaned. Couldn't Maria and her problematic conscience leave him in peace?

"Tom," a voice he wasn't expecting called out.

Their eyes met, and Prae approached as if he were a rare bird she would startle.

"Can I sit with you?" she asked meekly.

"I'm not in a great mood. Approach at your own risk."

She sat down on the rock beside him, farther than she'd been yesterday. "I heard that you and Maria broke up."

Of course, pity brought her here. "I was right all along." He kicked at the ground, dislodging the brown dirt and catching some in his sandal. "I'm never enough for the women I date."

"What happened?"

"Another man, just like last time." A bug with several legs crawled out from the moist soil near his feet.

"That doesn't take away from your wonderful qualities. Your kindness, your good nature, your delightful sense of adventure."

Her words were sweet, but she was too good a person to see someone in pain and not try to comfort them. She couldn't mean them. Maria had said plenty of nice lies to him too. Believing them had gotten him here.

"It leaves me single and heartbroken."

"Not forever."

"Until the next woman fools me." Another insect dislodged itself from the soil and joined the other one, the two abandoning Tom. He must emit some kind of repellant to all living things.

"I doubt Maria set out to fool you. She cared about you."

There it was. Loyalty to that deceitful woman.

"Yeah, cared enough to hook up with Mitch."

"What?" Prae exclaimed, both eyebrows raised. "Are you sure?"

She only worried because of her recent infatuation with that man. Perhaps she'd be brighter than Maria and walk away sooner. Either way, she deserved the truth.

"Last weekend, she admitted she spent the night at his place. She says they only slept, but that's what people say to make themselves less of a villain."

Prae averted her gaze and ran her hand over her hair. "I've talked to him since then and, from the impression I received, nothing happened between them."

Tom wished he had that much naïve faith in people, but life had taught him otherwise. That Prae believed Mitch over him was just another blow. "That could mean they're both lying about it."