Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
ARLAND
A fter a day of clearing the slopes with a team and ironing out a few things with the engineers, I walked back into my office and shrugged out of my jacket. The last few days had been way harder than I’d let on, and I was relieved that there hadn’t been any sign of Mariam on my way in here.
I’d volunteered to join the slope team just so I could be outside more often, which naturally meant being further away from her. Seeing her every day had been too tempting, and I was getting frustrated with having to steer clear.
While I’d been expecting the chemistry between us to have started fading by now, it simply hadn’t happened. I was still as insanely drawn to her as I had been that first night—if not more so now that I was getting to see her in action.
I’d known she was intelligent from the get-go, but since I’d started working with her, I’d learned that she had an incredibly sharp mind and an uncanny eye for detail. At the office, she was focused and professional, she could hold her own among the contractors working on the property, and she had a way of keeping everyone and everything on track.
I was truly impressed with her so far, and of course, that made it all the more aggravating to keep my distance. There had been so many questions I’d wanted to ask her about why she’d done things a certain way or how she’d learned to do them, and yet, I’d kept my mouth shut, simmering quietly instead of letting anything out.
After I hung my jacket on the hook behind my door, I crossed my office to my desk, my gaze immediately zeroing in on a bright blue post-it note stuck to my keyboard. My heart catapulted itself into my throat, my feet immediately moving faster.
Mariam and I had taken to leaving these for each other, and my reaction was the same every time I saw one. It wasn’t nearly the contact I wanted with her, but at least it was something. Proof that I wasn’t hallucinating about her existence and that she’d been in here, in my space, not too long ago.
I dragged in a deep breath, disappointed that she hadn’t left even a trace of her scent behind. When I reached my desk, I picked up the note, quickly scanning it and instantly wishing that she hadn’t had to go.
But she was gone.
I didn’t know how long ago she’d left this in here for me, but I was sure she’d been on her way out when she’d popped in to leave it. Which meant she was probably at least at the airport already—if not on a plane to Texas just yet.
Blowing out a deep breath, I slid open my top drawer and dropped her note in with all the others, a colorful little collection I had no idea why I was keeping. I just hadn’t been able to bring myself to toss any of what she’d left in the garbage.
Finally sitting down, I checked my emails and quickly responded to those messages that required it. Then I logged off and headed out to meet Greg at the gym. For the next few days, that was how I spent my time.
Gabby and Elizabeth had also been given time off for Thanksgiving, but Brian and I made a point of going to Everwood every day. There was far too much left to be done to just stop, so we worked and then I went to the gym at night.
“Want to go grab a beer?” Greg asked one night after we were done with our workout. “Mara and the kids have gone to help decorate the community hall for the old people’s Thanksgiving dinner.”
“I didn’t know we were having Thanksgiving dinner at the community hall,” I joked. “You did say old people, right? The invitation must have included us, then.”
He laughed. “I’m pretty sure they would welcome you with open arms, but it’s for the folks who already have walkers. Not those of us who are still waiting for ours.”
“Ah.” I chuckled. “Tough luck. Maybe next year, but sure. Let’s go grab a beer. This has been a week .”
“Tell me about it.” He sighed, his head shaking as he collected his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
We’d both showered and dressed, and on our way to the bar, we texted the other guys to join us. When Donny and Matt agreed to meet us there, I decided to invite Brian as well, thinking that we might as well make it a full house.
I would be spending tomorrow shopping for Thanksgiving with my mother and the day after was the actual holiday, so I wouldn’t be seeing my friends then, either. I’d invited Brian to my family dinner for the day, but he’d already had plans.
Greg, Donny, and Matt would all be with their own families, which meant that we’d be missing our weekly drinks and appetizers this week. Greg seemed to be thinking of the same thing when we walked into our local bar.
“I hate breaking tradition,” he said. “It always feels like a bad omen. Maybe our families would understand if we just sneak away for an hour or two.”
I grimaced at him. “My family would be fine. Yours would hate you. I don’t like it either, but we’ll be back next week.”
“True.” We strode in to find Matt already waiting and a pitcher of beer being delivered just as we sat down. I smacked my palm into our friend’s, greeting him before I started pouring the beer into glasses and Greg and Matt got caught up.
Not long after, Donny arrived with Brian hot on his heels, and I poured a beer for each of them too before I settled back against the booth. We shot the breeze for a while before Donny finally shattered the illusion of safety I’d had about my little secret.
“Hey, how did it go with that hot girl you met here the other night?” he asked.
My heart tripped over itself and Brian laughed. “I haven’t heard anything about a bar beauty. Who was she? Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
I shrugged. “It ended up being nothing. She was too young, so I went home alone.”
Sure, I was lying, but it was the only way to dodge this bullet. Thankfully, Greg had my back. “I told him we’d find him a nice lady at the old folks home.”
I laughed and the others joined in. Matt finally changed the subject once their laughter had subsided. We ordered chicken wings and fries, drank our beer, and no one brought up the bar beauty again, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Before I even knew it, the day before Thanksgiving arrived and I picked up my mother to go grocery shopping. In recent years, it had become our tradition for the two of us to go together. She and Dad used to do it, but he’d passed away a few years ago and I’d dutifully stepped in when our first Thanksgiving without him had arrived.
She smiled as she climbed into my car, seventy years old, but still sprightly and going strong. “How’s my boy doing?”
I turned to pull her into a hug, always surprised at the strength she possessed despite her age. Mom had always been skinny as a rake. She blamed it on her body type and often over the years had lamented how much she would’ve loved having curves.
As I hugged her now, I felt how bony she was under her lean, water-aerobics muscles, and worry stabbed through me. “I’m better than you. Are you eating?”
“Like a horse,” she assured me, bright green eyes sparkling with mirth as she released me.
She brought a hand up to cup my cheek, her head tilting as she looked at me like she knew there was something I was struggling with. Her face had aged gracefully, her beauty different now, but her features still striking and her gaze still sharp as a pin.
“Better than me, are you?” She arched a silver eyebrow. “I don’t think so. I know I don’t have that look in my eyes like something is troubling me. What’s going on? Is it the business?”
As she asked, she turned away from me and grabbed her seatbelt, fastening it. I made the turn in her driveway to head back to the main gates of my family’s estate. I didn’t know how my mother always seemed to know these things, but all it took for her was one look at any of us and somehow she just knew when something was up.
“How do you do that?” I asked incredulously. “And don’t tell me it’s Mama Magic. I’m in my forties. I know magic isn’t real.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart,” she said, adjusting her position on her seat to half face me. “Magic is real. Of course, it is. It’s just not all wands, sparks, and potions. If you’ve ever seen a snowflake or looked into the eyes of someone you love, you know just how real it is.”
I scoffed. “None of that answers my question.”
She let out a soft chuckle, her head shaking and her gaze studying my profile intently. “In your case, I know something is going on by the way you carry yourself. You think you’re good at hiding your emotions, but you’re not good enough to hide them from me. Whenever you’re worried or upset, your shoulders sit a little bit higher and your nostrils are wider.”
“My nostrils?” I gave my head a hard shake. “No way. I’m not buying that.”
“You don’t have to,” she said, completely matter of fact. “It’s still true. So what’s going on? What’s got my baby all stressed out?”
“I recently got into a bit of a pickle.” I put my foot down once we were on the road, not even having to ask to know which stores we were going to.
Mom only shopped for Thanksgiving goodies from very specific places, and we always went to them in the same order, leaving the fresh stuff for last so we could go straight home and get it in the fridge.
“A pickle?” she asked, brow furrowing. “What kind of pickle?”
I shrugged, gaze on the fairly open road ahead. There wasn’t much traffic from the estate into town this morning, but at least driving gave me an excuse not to look at her—although, apparently, it was my nostrils that gave me away instead of my eyes.
“It’s nothing serious, Ma,” I said as lightly as possible, not wanting her Spidey senses to start tingling. “It was just a little mistake, but I’m handling it.”
Her eyes narrowed for a beat, but then she smoothed her designer dress and leaned back in her seat, lowering her huge black sunglasses over her eyes. I loved spending time with my mother, especially because she knew instinctively when to push and when to ease up.
Leaving me to my thoughts, she watched the landscape roll by for a few minutes before finally turning back to me. “Will we be having a plus-one for Thanksgiving this year?”
“Nope. Although, for a minute there, I thought maybe I would.”
“The pickle,” she concluded almost immediately, proving once again that nothing got past her. “You know you can share anything with me if you’d like.”
I groaned, but Mom tended to give me a different perspective on things sometimes. Talking to her about this might not be the worst idea in the world, provided I left out the parts I wouldn’t want my mother to hear about.
“I met someone a couple weeks ago,” I said. “For the first time in a long time, I felt like I’d found someone I actually wanted to spend more time with. She was younger. It turns out that she’s twenty-eight, and here’s the kicker, she’s Brian’s sister.”
To my surprise, my mother didn’t react at all like I’d expected her to. “What’s wrong with her being twenty-eight?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that I was a senior in high school the year she was born. Also, did you miss the part where I said she was Brian’s sister?”
“Is she immature? Did she annoy you with her twenty-eightness?”
“What? No.” I grimaced. “Why would you even ask me that?”
“Because I’m trying to understand why her age is an issue,” she said flippantly. “In my experience, love doesn’t care about age. And it’s not like you’re robbing the cradle.”
“Whoa.” I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. “No one said anything about love .”
“Perhaps not, but I know you, and none of this would’ve been bothering you if you didn’t feel like she was someone you could love. Tell me about her.”
I glanced at my mom, noticing the serene expression on what was visible of her features despite the sunglasses. None of what I’d said so far was causing her any kind of distress.
“She’s surprisingly insightful for her age,” I started, thinking back on some of the things she’d said that had given me pause. “I think she’s an old soul, you know? She strikes me as one of those who was probably reading a college textbook for fun when she was fifteen, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, that certainly sounds familiar,” she mused, sending me a small smile. “You were very much the same. Although you managed to fit in your fair share of partying too. It just didn’t hold your attention for very long before you’d be back to exploring potential business opportunities.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough. That’s one of the things that gets me about her, actually. I feel like despite her age, we’ve got a lot in common. She loves to travel, but she’s focused on the job at hand when there is one to be focused on. She’s just sold her half of a successful company she started with a friend in order to explore more of what the world has to offer, but at the same time, she even seems to be approaching that like someone is going to pop out and give her a quiz about it.”
Mom smiled. “I think I would like this girl.”
I ran a hand through my hair. Resting my head back against my seat, I imagined seeing the two of them together. “I think she’d like you too, but again, she’s Brian’s sister, so it’s never going to happen.”
“Brian would understand,” she said suddenly. “If you like this girl, you should go after her, son. I know men get all caveman-like about their sisters. It’s ridiculous, if anyone asks me, but since no one has, I’ll simply tell you that he might not like it at first, but he will get over it. They always do because, eventually, they realize that their sisters are women in their own right and can make their own decisions without their big, bad brothers having to do it for them.”
Stunned, I turned into the parking area of the first store Mom wanted to visit. Her words ricocheted around my brain. I parked, shutting off the engine, but not able to get out of the car quite yet.
“What if I risk it and she turns out to be as flighty as any typical twenty-eight-old? Not to mention the judgment our family would face if it gets out that I took up with a girl nearly half my age.”
Mom scoffed. “Our family’s reputation is untouchable. Not even Smith’s atrocious behavior made our name any less powerful around here, darling. I know the age gap is a big one, but I want you to be happy, and from what you’ve told me about her, it doesn’t sound like your girl is the average twenty-eight-year-old. Now are we shopping, or are we brooding?”
I laughed, my head shaking, and I followed her out of my car. Yep. I really, really love spending time with my mom and I’m willing to bet that she and Mariam are going to get along well.