Only Love

by Smith, Victoria H.

  “So, there’s something I didn’t mention yesterday when I invited you and it didn’t dawn on me until the middle of the night last night I should’ve,” Adam cut into my thoughts.

  He had another surprise? On top of the uniform? I braced myself.

  Something amused him as he readied himself to reveal this new information. “I won’t be serving with you, but um, my moms will.”

  I looked in Adam’s direction as he opened the passenger-side door for me. I plopped down in the seat and stared up at him. “Wait, I’m meeting your mom? I mean moms? Mom?” I amended, trailing off because I was unsure whether or not I’d heard him correctly.

  He chuckled while I stammered. “Moms. Well, my mother and her partner, Joan. They’ve been together for more than twenty years, though, so yeah. They’re both Mom to me.”

  I swallowed hard. Not that this news was an issue. It just took me by surprise. Not only would there be one mom to meet and not make a fool of myself in front of, there’d be two. “Okay,” I said casually, trying to hide the fact that I was kind of nervous about working so closely with his parents. When I gave Adam a reassuring smile, he closed the door and went around to the driver’s side.

  We left the parking lot of our building and headed down Mt. Elliott toward downtown. I looked at the sights of our neighborhood as we passed. I glanced at Adam and decided to find out a little more about him.

  “You from the city?” I asked, cocking my head when genuine curiosity set in. If I had to guess, he was from the suburbs.

  “Troy,” he answered, confirming my suspicion.

  I nodded. “That’s the only place you’ve lived other than here?”

  “Yup. All my life until now.”

  I turned to look out my window, wondering how his life led him to my neighborhood of all places. “So it’s safe to say you pissed somebody off pretty bad to get stuck with this assignment—stuck in our building.”

  The corner of Adam’s mouth lifted. “Believe it or not, I volunteered. The precinct is testing a new project out and I volunteered as a beta. There are about seven other cops spread out across the city, all doing pretty much the same thing I’m doing.”

  I turned to look at him and smiled. “Babysitting?” I asked coyly.

  He laughed again. “Is that really how everyone feels?” he asked, hanging a right at the corner.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Mostly. I mean, that is basically what you do, isn’t it? Walk the building, waiting for somebody to step out of line?”

  “I’m there because citizens have a tendency to feel like law enforcement doesn’t have a strong enough presence here in the city. The goal of the program is to fix that. It makes our job easier if the community actually trusts us,” he explained. Still, I had my reservations about how well this invasive approach would work, but he didn’t ask my opinion.

  We pulled into the lot of a local Presbyterian church and parked. When I reached to unlatch my door, Adam shot me a look, leaving me to wonder if he’d planned on doing that before I beat him to it. Either way, he said nothing.

  The walk to the door was awkward because I had no idea how to behave. While I knew this wasn’t a date, it couldn’t be, it definitely felt like more than hanging out with a friend. For one, Adam didn’t know me well enough to call me a friend. Therefore, this invitation had to have been based on something else. Likewise, my accepting had to be based on something else as well.

  I hung back when Adam opened the door of the church for me, stepping into a sizable dining hall right after. Brightly lit, the place was already crawling with tons of volunteers and some of the city’s less fortunate lined up and waiting for their plates to be filled. The thought of just jumping in, not knowing what task I’d be assigned, made my palms sweaty, but I tried to hide it.

  “Adam!” a raspy, female voice called out from a small window in the kitchen. Her tone hinted at a faint southern twang. My gaze shifted in that direction when Adam’s did. Both of our eyes came to rest on a blonde woman flailing her arms. “Come here!” she beckoned excitedly.

  “Oh, boy,” Adam said under his breath.

  I grinned up at him as he pushed his fingers through his dark hair. “I take it that’s one of your moms?”

  He pursed his lips into a thin line as he nodded. “Yeah, that’s Joan.”

  Again, the woman waved her arms, prompting Adam to head that way, but not before he placed his hand at the small of my back, ushering me in that direction as well. His fingers splayed over the material of my shirt and I shivered. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

  The feel of his hand on me was new. We hadn’t touched before this. Not for real. Not unless you count the brief moment I brushed against him on my way out the door or when he shook my hand the night before. And of course, that embarrassing moment when I wiped his hands down at breakfast. That of course didn’t count. This, his touch now, made my feet feel heavy as we made our way across the room. He was so comfortable with the contact that I glanced up at him a few times just to see his expression. It was cool, calm, and collected every time, as if we’d done this a thousand times. Touched, I mean.

  We reached the doorway to the kitchen and his hand remained in place. I was almost more concentrated on that than the two blonde women rushing over toward us, one wiping her hands profusely on her apron, both wearing broad grins.

  “I’m so glad to,” Joan paused midsentence to plant a kiss right in the middle of Adam’s forehead, pulling his face down to her height so she could reach. “… see you,” she finished. Her eyes shifted to me next. “You must be Aubrey!”

  My heart skipped a beat when she said my name. Wait… he told them I’d be here? Thought I was worth mentioning?

  I turned to Adam when he swiped his hand nervously across the back of his neck a few times. “Yeah, I um, I told them you’d be here when I talked to them this morning,” he clarified, maybe not wanting me to think it strange that he was talking about me to his mothers. He had no idea that I was actually flattered beyond words.

  “I am,” I said, returning the woman’s warm greeting. “It’s nice to meet you.” I extended my hand, but she bypassed it and went in for a hug.

  “We’re a hugging family, dear. Handshakes are for stuffy, old, rich folks who’re afraid to touch. And we’re none of those things.” She pulled away and smiled again. There was definitely a Southern accent buried beneath the Midwestern one she’d apparently picked up from living here for a while. Still, it wasn’t completely hidden.

  The other woman, the one with the more natural hue of blonde, Adam’s biological mother I assumed, ran her thumb across the fuchsia lipstick print Joan left behind on Adam’s skin. She embraced her son, patting him on the back when she did.

  “Ready to work?” she asked, leaning away from Adam to flash a familiar smile his way. He truly did bear a striking resemblance to her. The only thing that set them apart was his dark hair. But everything else—his blue eyes, perfect nose, and shapely lips were all courtesy of his mother. She really was a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman with a gorgeous son. Even though I only admitted that in my head, it still made me uncomfortable.

  “Aubrey, is it?” The woman asked.

  “Yes. Aubrey Phillips,” I added, unsure why I thought she needed to know my last name after I gave it. Feeling awkward, I cleared my throat.

  “Well, nice to meet you Aubrey Phillips. Cynthia Holloway,” she teased with a smile. “But you can call me Cindy.” Next, she leaned in and hugged me just like Joan had.

  “All right, I need to get to my post,” Adam cut in. He only now moved his hand from my back, touching my arm briefly when he spoke and met my gaze. “They’ll take care of you, but I’ll be right over at the far entrance if you need me for anything.”

  For a second, I got lost in his eyes, framed in dark lashes. All I could do was nod in response.

  “Okay… Mom, Joan, she’s all yours. Please don’t scare her too bad,” he said before glancing at me for a second.
/>   “Oh, stop it,” Cindy said, shooing her son from the kitchen.

  I watched until Adam was gone, only to find both his mothers watching me when I turned to face them again, smiles plastered across their faces. Busted. Whatever they were thinking, whatever they assumed when they caught me watching their son, they never said it aloud.

  Thank God.

  “You know your way around a kitchen, sweetheart?” Joan asked in her slight drawl.

  I nodded. “My grandmother taught me everything she knew.”

  Apparently pleased by my answer, she replied with a grin. “My kind of girl.”

  I’d never peeled so many potatoes in my life. Like, I’d literally never peeled that many in all my years combined. It was for an excellent cause, though. We fed so many hungry men, women, and children that I’d gladly do it all over again if it meant more people wouldn’t go hungry for the night. The reward definitely made the cost seem inconsequential.

  I lifted my apron over my head and tossed it in the designated bin as Cindy approached. She looked just as exhausted as I felt.

  “Are there always this many people?” I asked.

  She nodded, looking at the last few stragglers. “Always. There are so many people in need; it’d take a thousand nights like tonight to care for them all. There’s only so much a group this size can do, though,” she said in reference to the thirty-something volunteers in charge of the function.

  “Did you enjoy yourself?” she asked as Joan closed in on us.

  I was dog-tired, my feet hurt, and I didn’t think I’d ever eat another dish containing potatoes for the foreseeable future, but still, it felt great to be a part of something that had such a positive impact on so many people. “I honestly did,” I said, answering her question.

  “Well, if you’re interested in coming out next time, we try to do this every six months or so. I’m sure Adam will remember to tell you about it.”

  I nodded, appreciating the invitation.

  “And I promise next time there won’t be any potatoes involved,” Joan added with a smirk that I returned just as Adam walked up.

  His eyes locked with mine. “They didn’t give you too hard of a time, did they?” he asked.

  Laughing, I shook my head. “Nope, not at all. I enjoyed getting to work with them.”

  “Good,” he replied, seemingly pleased that the initial introduction went so well.

  “Ha-ha-ha,” Joan said playfully. “Very funny. You’re gonna give this poor girl a bad impression of us. We were only hard on you because your head is as hard as titanium and you drove your mother and me to the brink of insanity while you were growing up.”

  Adam draped his arm around Joan’s shoulders as he laughed, pulling her into his side, maybe remembering some of the hell he’d put them through as a teen.

  “I wasn’t that bad,” he rebutted, to which both women leveled a glare at him. A hint of softness touched Adam’s expression while he interacted with the two people who’d raised him. He loved them as much as they loved him from what I could tell. In fact, watching them all together, a rush of warmth filled me from head to toe. There was just so much love between them all. I hadn’t had that since losing my grandparents.

  “Ready to eat?” Adam asked. His mothers walked off toward the food, and I assumed they were headed to do just that themselves.

  I nodded and then Adam led the way to the line where he stood behind me.

  “I’m not keeping you out too late, am I? I mean, I know you need to get home to Rissa, so we can skip this part if—”

  I shook my head, interrupting him. “It’s fine. I’m not in a rush.”

  Clearly, that was the answer he was hoping for.

  I stepped up to the line and served myself while Adam trailed behind, doing the same. We found a table not too far from his moms, but far enough away where we had a little privacy. Adam took the seat across from me and went in on his plate so quickly it was hard to miss how hungry he was. When he noticed me trying to hold back from laughing, he slowed down.

  “Sorry. Things were busier than usual today. Lunch was basically a bottle of water and one of Gabby’s candy bars.”

  I nodded and buttered the roll on my napkin. “Yeah, she told me you confiscated her things before school yesterday.”

  He laughed a little. “Was she upset with me?”

  It seemed like he genuinely cared what she thought of him. “No. She wasn’t.”

  Satisfied, Adam went back to eating.

  There was something I wanted to make sure he understood about Gabby, though. Yeah, she was a little rough around the edges, but she was still a great kid. “She only sells the candy to help her mom with bills. She’s not just spending the money on stupid stuff. I mean, she wouldn’t even be doing it if—”

  Adam’s eyes lifted to mine and then softened a bit, causing me to break midsentence. He set down his fork and gave his full attention. “Aubrey, anyone with eyes can see from a mile away that Gabby has a good head on her shoulders. Yeah, sure, I know she isn’t supposed to be selling her stuff without permits, but I’d never dream of getting her in trouble over it.” His gaze shifted down to the table. “I meant it when I said I’m not living there to create problems for anybody. I get that the residents have hard lives. It’s not my goal to nail them to the cross for every minor offense. I’m only there to help,” he explained gently, understanding this was a very sensitive subject for me. I froze when he reached across the table and clasped my hand in his for a second to reassure me, and then released it. In that instant, whatever doubts and reservations I had about Adam’s intentions in our building faded away.

  After watching him for a few seconds more, I tore off a piece of ham. When my mind drifted to Rissa, I instinctively picked my phone up from beside me and checked for any missed calls. Nothing.

  Adam chuckled. “I’ll get you home soon. I know you miss her.”

  I smiled a bit. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Maybe a little,” he reasoned. “You’re a parent, though. You’re probably almost always thinking about your kid.”

  He was right about that. Anything I’d done since the day Marissa came into the world was done with her best interest in mind. “Just hope she isn’t giving Gabby a hard time.”

  Adam took a swig from his drink. “Her teeth have still been bothering her?”

  I shook my head. “No, not since I started using the trick you taught me. I’m just worrying because that’s kind of what I do when it comes to her.”

  “Because you’re a good mom,” he replied. “Hell, mine spent most of their waking hours worried about me when I was a kid. Still do,” he chuckled.

  God, I love that smile of his.

  I forced my eyes away and ate some more before he could catch me staring. “Where’d you learn that washcloth thing anyway?” I asked simply to give myself an excuse to stare his way while I waited for an answer.

  He swallowed hard and took another drink before answering, never looking up when he did. “I’ve just… picked things up from some of the people I’ve been around. Doing what I do, I see a lot. Learn a lot. I guess that just stuck with me.”

  I nodded, but didn’t say anything back. In fact, Adam didn’t say much more after that either. We ate the rest of our dinner and then I waited at the table while he went up to get “dessert”, a brick-like cookie that I was afraid I’d chip a tooth on. I held it between my fingers and stared. Adam’s soft chuckle across the table drew my attention.

  “Yeah, I’m not eating this,” he announced, dropping it down to his plate.

  “Are these…” I paused and leaned in to whisper, not wanting anyone around us to hear. “… dog biscuits?” I added, seriously considering the fact that someone bought the wrong thing, not realizing it was meant for dogs. Even the shape of them was off.

  Adam burst out laughing, drawing all the attention I was trying to avoid. The sound of it was infectious, and I cracked up too, although I was dead serious when I asked.

 
; “Let me go ask my mom; she’s the one who made them,” he replied.

  My face fell slack and my cheeks burned with embarrassment. My hand shot to my mouth, thinking I may have offended him. “I’m sooooo sorry.”

  He laughed even harder. “Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the one who slaved over a hot oven baking these cookies.”

  I had to look away. Open mouth, insert foot.

  The feel of Adam’s warm hand on mine for the second time in the last ten minutes made me stare at him again.

  “Aubrey, relax. I’m kidding. I have no clue who made these. It was a joke,” he revealed, trying his hardest to fight an oncoming laugh, a tint of red staining his cheeks.

  I snatched my hand away playfully. “Not funny.”

  Cracking up, it was clear Adam disagreed. Again, his amusement got the best of me.

  “What’d we miss?” Joan asked as she and Cindy approached our table, looking back and forth between Adam and me.

  I shook my head when he explained. “Oh, Aubrey just hates your cookies. That’s all,” he joked.

  I nudged his foot beneath the table.

  “Oh, please. I wouldn’t even use these things as a doorstop. If I ever made anything this horrible, have me committed,” Joan added, clearing my and Adam’s plates from the table while she talked.

  “You don’t have to do that,” I said, not wanting her to clean up after me.

  She shot me a gentle look that quickly put me in my place—a look only a mom could give and get away with it.

  “Honey, you were a godsend tonight. The least I can do is toss your plate in the trash,” she replied.

  These two, Adam’s moms, were amazing. I could tell that after being around them for only a short time. I conceded and allowed her to wait on me, as if she’d given me a choice.

  “I don’t want you all to worry about sticking around to clean, either. There are enough of us here to handle it. Adam, honey, I know you’ve got to be at the station early. And Aubrey, I know you’re wanting to get home to that baby girl,” Cindy added.

  My heart warmed at the realization that Adam mentioned Rissa, too.