Falling For Him

by Ali Parker

  After that, I’d made even more of a point to be present for dinner when I could. We’d always helped with the cleanup after anyway, but I’d also made more of a point of turning that into family fun time too.

  I usually stocked up on a few really corny jokes to break out while we mopped the floors, cleaned the counters, and did the dishes. I had a few whammies up my sleeve for this evening, but we’d only just sat down to dinner, so I had to wait a while before I’d get to break them out.

  In the meantime, I had to get through the eating portion of the evening without Mom drilling me about giving her grandchildren and Jordan taking her side. I still shuddered when I thought about our last family dinner. They’d really let me have it that night.

  “Della, no,” Jordan said, barely managing to grab the spoon before Della shoved a flaming hot bite of potato into her mouth. “You’ll burn yourself on that, baby. Be careful.”

  Della pouted, folding her thin little arms over her chest. “But cheesy potatoes are the best.”

  “Yeah, they are,” I agreed. “That’s why we have to leave them for last. Well that, and because burning your tongue on them makes them much less awesome. Trust me. I’ve done it enough to know.”

  “He has.” Mom smiled. “Uncle Noah could never wait to get started on them either. Take it from him, sweetheart. It’s best to start on the vegetables.”

  “Start on the chicken,” I stage-whispered, holding my hand in front of my mouth but far enough away that they would be able to see my mouth. “Never the vegetables.”

  Della nodded while Mom and Jordan cracked up laughing. Mom poked at her broccoli, her shoulders still shaking on her subsiding giggles. “I will never understand how you two turned out to be so strapping if it is true that a person needs vegetables for their muscles to grow strong.”

  “What, these?” Jordan flexed a bicep, eyes alight with laughter. “These aren’t muscles. They’re all fake. Implants Noah got us for our birthdays last year.”

  I scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  I winked at him, then gave him the backup I knew he wanted from me. “It was two years ago. That’s why Della can’t remember a time before we were this big.”

  Mom’s eyes flared, and she cleared her throat. “Of course. They were scrawny little babies because they wouldn’t eat their vegetables.”

  “I’m a big girl,” Della said and speared a piece of carrot, happily chewing on it before she swallowed. “See? I’m eating my vegetables.”

  “Good job, baby,” Jordan said, taking a few bites of his own.

  “So.” Mom looked at me. “We haven’t seen you much for dinner lately. How have things been going with you?”

  “Good.” I took a sip of my water. “Really good, just really busy.”

  Jordan snorted. “Yeah, busy with Maggie.”

  “Maggie Hampton?” I swore my mother’s eyes started to sparkle. “Have you been seeing her again? How is she? I loved that girl. Best girlfriend you ever had.”

  “Thanks for calling me out on that.” I shot a glare at Jordan, but his lips lifted in a satisfied smile as he shrugged. “I’m not seeing her again, Mom. We’re just friends.”

  She pursed her lips to keep her smile contained. “Now I know you’re seeing her again. That’s exactly what you used to say about her.”

  “It was true then, too.” Ramming my fork into my chicken, I cut a bite and chewed it for as long as I could in the hopes that they’d move on. No such luck.

  Mom, Jordan, and Della all kept eating, their eyes stuck on me. After I swallowed, I made peace with the fact that neither Mom nor Jordan was dropping this before they’d heard it all.

  Well, Jordan already had heard it all. I knew what he was up to, making me talk about her in front of Mom to see what I would say to her and if it was any different to what I’d said to him. Mom had a way of keeping us honest.

  “She came to an event with me last weekend. That’s all. We’ve been spending some time together, but it’s nothing serious.”

  Mom dropped her cutlery with a clatter to clap her hands. “This is wonderful news. I always wanted Maggie to be my daughter-in-law, but I thought for sure she was out of the running after you both moved away for college.”

  “She’s back,” Jordan said. “To stay, apparently.”

  Mom’s eyes didn’t just sparkle now. They turned into precious gems under showcasing lights. “Does this mean she’s back in the running to be my daughter-in-law? Nothing in the world could make me happier. You two were always meant to be together.”

  I tried, I really did, but my eyes rolled anyway. “We’re not getting married, Mom. We’re just spending time together.”

  “Considering that it’s the two of you, that’s enough for now,” Mom sang more than said. “You’ll see. Mothers are always right.”

  “I like Lydia’s mom,” Della chimed in. “If Uncle Noah marries her, Lydia will be family. I don’t have any cousins.”

  “That’s right.” Mom grinned. “She doesn’t have any cousins yet, Noah. Perhaps you should get on that.”

  “Jesus,” I muttered under my breath, quietly enough that she wouldn’t hear me. “Are you guys really ganging up on me about this?”

  “Yes,” Della said without a hint of shame. “I love Maggie. Grandma said she loves Maggie. Don’t you love Maggie?”

  The question came way out of left field, and I wasn’t prepared for it. Going on the defensive, I pointedly ignored her. I’d learned that it was the only way to defend myself against this five-year-old.

  “I’m thinking about helping her start her business. She’s always wanted to be a designer, but she needs a capital injection to be able to get it up and running. What do you think?”

  Jordan smirked. “I think she’s going to leave you as soon as she gets what she needs from you. She’s way too smart to stick around after that.”

  Mom hit Jordan behind the head, a deep frown etched between her eyebrows. “Maggie is not like that.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Okay.” He threw his hands up in surrender and laughed, then reached up to rub the spot on his head. “Ow, by the way. That was unnecessary.”

  “So was that comment,” she argued.

  I was only vaguely aware of the exchange. It felt like the whole money thing kept coming up. Almost like the universe itself and everyone in it were trying to warn me about her. I’d been so convinced that she wasn’t after me for my money that I’d never seriously stopped and considered whether she might be.

  Maggie hadn’t been like that at all back in high school, but we weren’t in high school anymore. We had lives, expenses. She had a child and an unfulfilled dream. It wasn’t like we were still having dinners that could be paid for by quarters or lifestyles that could be upheld with lawnmowing money.

  Things had changed. I’d assumed Maggie hadn’t, at least not in that way. It was possible that I was wrong, though. If I wasn’t, why would it have kept coming up?

  In all the years since the product had started turning a profit, through all the times I’d been used and disappointed by the people who had done the using, I’d never wished to be poor. I’d never wondered if there was some way I could give the money away, even if just for a little while, to test whether someone would still be talking to me.

  I wished for it now, though. So damn hard.

  Maggie had always been the one real person in my life, and I’d thought she still was. I’d been so sure of it, in fact, that I’d never once questioned her motives for getting involved with me again.

  Sure, she hadn’t made it easy, but I supposed playing hard to get could have been part of her plan. I barely tasted the rest of my dinner, finishing it quietly and sipping my water as my family chatted around me.

  Mom and Jordan kept giving me questioning looks, but I shook my head and smiled like everything was fine. After dinner, I helped them clean up without cracking any of my jokes and said good night.

  I needed time to think about this, to figure out how to tell if Maggi
e would still be talking to me if not for my money. I really didn’t want to believe she was like that, but what if I gave her the money for her business and then she left me just like Jordan had said?

  That would kill me, I thought. Or maybe not kill but maim. Definitely maim.

  Although I had been through it more times than I could count, I didn’t know if I could take that same disappointment from Maggie. I knew I was being a hypocrite, considering all the ways I’d hurt her in the past.

  But finding out that the only person I’d ever really thought knew and wanted me for me only wanted my money would crush me. Without a freaking doubt, it would obliterate me. I’d make a comeback eventually, I was sure, but not as me. As just another dickhead with a bunch of money who would only ever be loved for it.

  What a fuck-up. I seriously wondered if getting rid of the money wasn’t worth finding out if she’d still talk to me. But then, when it was all said and done, what exactly would I be left with?

  Nothing, probably. Not if Jordan, Carter, and the universe are right.

  Chapter 30

  Maggie

  “What are you doing, sweetheart?” Mom asked, walking into the dining room where I had my sketchbook open in front of me. I’d collected more scraps from her sewing room, visited a local shop downtown to get some specific fabrics I was looking for, and got the rest from Addie’s stash of random buttons and strips of material.

  With my tongue stuck out between my teeth, I taped a big sparkly button next to my drawing of a coat and smiled when I was done. “I’m working on my portfolio.”

  Her nostrils flared with surprise. “You’re designing? Why?”

  She pulled out a chair and sat down with me, picking up one of the discarded buttons and studying it. “Don’t get me wrong. I know you love it and went to school for it and everything, but you seem really determined right now.”

  “I am.” I turned to the next page of my sketchbook, heart pitter-pattering in my chest when I realized I had the exact fabric I wanted the dress to be made of. Lifting things as I looked for it, I spotted it lying next to my mother’s free hand. “Pass me that, would you?”

  “Sure.” She pushed it across the table, a small frown playing on her features as she watched me tape it over the paper. “May I ask why you’re suddenly so determined, honey? Has Addie decided to start making clothes now, too? She’s wonderful at alterations, but I’m not sure if you two should be thinking about expanding right now.”

  “We’re not.” I sighed and finally looked up at her, noticing how dark her eyes were with worry. “Noah might want to invest in my business. We talked about it over the weekend, and he offered. I had Angie and Addie have a look at my designs, and they think I could really sell around here.”

  She folded her hands on the table and scooted forward on her chair, a sure sign that she meant business. “Wait a second. Noah, your Noah, as in Noah Sims wants to get into business with you?”

  “He’s not my Noah,” I protested. “He’s not my anything, except my potential business partner.”

  Mom released a long sigh, shaking her head as she pressed her index fingers to her temples. “Going into business with someone you care about is a death sentence for a relationship, honey. Haven’t you heard that before?”

  “Of course, I have.” It was the first rule of family, right? Never go into business with them. “I appreciate your concern, Mom, but I’m not in a relationship with Noah, and even if I was, there are plenty of families, friends, and couples who are perfectly happy doing business together.”

  “Name one.” She cocked her head.

  “Ever heard of all those businesses referred to as Someone and Sons?” I retorted. “They’re family. Don and Doris Fisher started Gap, and Bill and Melinda Gates run an incredibly successful charitable organization together. That’s three.”

  “Someone and Sons.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “I haven’t heard of that one before.”

  Winking at me, she let a soft smile come to her lips, but it did nothing for the worry in her eyes. “I know that there have been successful businesses run my families, friends, or couples, but those aren’t the norm.”

  “It’s real good Noah and I aren’t in a relationship then, isn’t it?” In my heart of hearts, I couldn’t deny that I wanted to be in a relationship with him, though.

  We were getting along so well, and we had so much fun together that it kind of already felt like we were.

  Obviously, Mom saw straight through my not-quite-a-lie instantly and scoffed. “That boy might not have formally asked you to go steady or whatever you kids are calling it these days, but the two of you are in a relationship.”

  “One person can’t just decide that they want to be in a relationship and then voila,” I snapped my fingers, “they’re in a relationship. It just doesn’t work that way. If it did, stalkers would be out of their jobs.”

  She flatly ignored my attempt at humor. “So you admit that one of you wants to be in a relationship, then?”

  “I don’t know, Mom.”

  “Well now, that’s absolute bollocks if I’ve ever heard it.”

  I stifled a laugh. “Have you been watching that old-timey British show on TV again?”

  Her eyes crinkled in the corners as she smiled. “It’s an addiction. I just can’t seem to stop.”

  “What’s been happening? Maybe I’ll watch with you again sometime.” Mom and I had both followed the show when I was still living in New York. We would watch the episodes and then call each other after to dissect them.

  I missed those days, but I’d lost track of the plot when I’d picked up extra shifts at the department store.

  Mom’s eyes narrowed on a glare. “You can’t distract me that easily, missy. Tell me the truth. Do you want a relationship with Noah or not?”

  Allowing my eyes to fall closed, I nodded before opening them again. “It doesn’t matter, though. Like I said. That’s not the way it works.”

  “It might not be, but you don’t have to wait for him to ask you.”

  “I’m not,” I argued. “We’re still getting to know each other again. We don’t need to rush into a relationship. I’m not even sure how I really feel about him, but I am sure that he also needs more time before either of us suggests a relationship.”

  Her lips were painted a deep shade of violet today. It wasn’t flattering, but it was so very her that I hadn’t been able to stop myself from giving her a hug when I saw her this morning. When they parted on a gape now, though, they were downright scary. It looked like the mouth that formed the opening to one of those rides at a haunted house on Halloween.

  Mom didn’t seem to realize that she could scare the neighborhood kids that way. “I was wrong before. That is the biggest load of bollocks I’ve ever heard, not what you said before.”

  “What? Why? We have only just started getting to know each other again. It’s not a lie.”

  She began to drum her fingers on the table again, stopping when her eyes met mine. “Oh, sweetheart, you two might only have rediscovered each other recently, but you’re so madly in love with that man it’s like neither of you ever went anywhere.”

  I felt the blood draining from my cheeks. “What? Why would you say that?”

  “Because it’s true. You are in love with him, Maggie. Deeply so, too.” Empathy softened her eyes and chased the worry from before away. “Every time you say his name, your eyes light up. When you talk about him, you have this constant little smile on your mouth, and don’t think I didn’t notice how excited you were to spend the weekend with him.”

  I scoffed. “None of that means that I’m in love with him. Noah may have been Ryan’s best friend, but he was one of mine too. It’s good to have him back in my life.”

  It really was. I’d meant it when I told him that coming back would have been worth it just to get back in touch with him. My life had always felt fuller and more meaningful with him in it. Noah just… he got me.

  Years after I
’d last seen him, I’d still missed him. In fact, I thought I might have just shut the missing him part of my heart off after half a decade or so. That didn’t mean it had ever stopped existing.

  No matter how much he had hurt me, I’d longed for my friend and not necessarily the boy I’d had a crush on. I’d missed our late night talks and our silence as we lay out underneath the stars.

  Mom suddenly had tears in her eyes when I dragged myself out of the past and back to the present. “Right there, that was it. You are so madly in love with him that even when you’re denying it you can’t help but visit the part of your heart that belongs to him.”

  “That’s...” Surprisingly accurate. “Crazy. I can’t love him. I can’t be in love with him.”

  “Why not?” Mom prodded gently, her voice soft. Like she was trying to soothe a horse who had just gotten a huge scare. I couldn’t even take offense. There was a very good chance I’d take off if she made any sudden movements.

  “Because…” Because he’s hurt me in the past and I don’t want it to repeat itself. “I just can’t.”

  “Whether you think you can or you can’t doesn’t change the fact that you do,” she said sagely. “Your father and I were madly in love, my dear, but not in the way that you are right now. You and Noah have that kind of whole-life love that people write books and make movies about. Daddy and I never had that.”

  “We don’t...” I trailed off because wasn’t she right? I suddenly wasn’t sure anymore. “Maybe.”

  The brilliance of her answering smile would have made anyone believe she’d just won the argument of the century. She pushed back the chair and stood, smoothing her brightly colored paneled skirt. “I’ll take your maybe because I have faith that Noah is going to turn it into a yes.”

  She swept out of the room with that flair only my mother had, leaving me flabbergasted in her wake. I’m in love with Noah?

  Sure, I’d thought about it the other night. I knew I’d loved him and that I could love him in that way again, but I hadn’t noticed I was quite that far gone just yet. Maybe my mother had just gotten into my head, and I wasn’t, in fact, that far yet.