The Sound on a sunny day
The ocean
The rain
When it snows
Hitting a home run
Baseball
Hunter, Andrew, Gabriel, James, Sophie, Grace
My mother
My mother’s cooking
Wine
Beer
Sleeping
Painting
About halfway down the page, I saw my name. Even though I knew I had no right to be snooping through his things, I picked up the paper to see what else he had written, mostly interested in finding out if there was anything else about me.
Maura
Her smile
Her laugh
Caring
Innocence
Passionate
Her horrible jokes
Ridiculous taste in music
Kind
Intelligent
Talented
Faithful
Beautiful
Determined
“So, I’m finished with the tire.”
I froze. Thomas was standing in the doorway of the office.
“But it looks like your alignment is off again. Are you really in that big of a hurry to get back home, or do you mind if I just fix that now? Normally I would’ve just done that first but I didn’t know how long you were willing to wait.”
I stood there, too stunned to fully process his question.
I turned around, still holding the list, accepting that I had been caught. He looked at me with confusion. Then he looked down to see what I was holding.
“Oh,” he started and then stopped. We both stood there silently. He rubbed the back of his neck; he did that whenever he was nervous.
“So,” he sighed. “I, uh...went to confession last Saturday...and my penance was to make a list of everything I was thankful for…” he explained.
“You went to confession?” I knew I had seen his truck on Saturday but was still shocked to hear him say he’d actually received the sacrament.
“Yep,” he said. “Broke my eighteen-year streak.”
“Why?”
“Uh, well,” he paused. “Father Sean suggested it might help my chances with you,” he admitted.
I looked back down at the paper, letting his words sink in.
“Which,” he sighed, “now sounds really manipulative.”
“Do you believe in God?” I blurted. I had always assumed he didn’t believe in anything.
“Yes...I mean, I think I do…”
I stared at him, searching.
“Look, Maura, I don’t want to stand here and pretend like the whole faith thing comes as easily for me as it does for you. I’ve always been a skeptic with just about everything. And that’s probably a big reason why you’re not interested in me,” he reasoned. Then he looked me in the eye. “But what I can honestly tell you is that knowing you and what your faith means to you makes me believe in God more than I ever did before. Who knows? Maybe that was Father Sean’s whole point in having me make the list in the first place: to recognize that all of the great things in my life have to come from somewhere.”
“I’m one of the great things in your life?” I clarified.
Thomas laughed.
“Did you not notice that the list just turns into a list of reasons why I love you?”
Once the words came out, I could tell by his expression that he hadn’t meant to tell me that.
“You love me?”
Thomas took a deep breath.
“I...I know things went too far for you the other night...and I’m sorry that ended up being so upsetting for you...but I’m not sorry it happened,” he said. “You have to believe me when I tell you that I’ve never done anything like that before and had it mean as much to me as it did with you. I’ve never been in love before...it always seemed like too much work...but…” he paused and rubbed the back of his neck again, “Maura, being around you has never felt like work...yet I’ve never worked harder in my life to make myself a better person...and I don’t not want to be around you...shit,” he sighed and shook his head. “This isn’t coming out right at all,” he fumbled. “What I mean is–”
Before he could finish, I walked over and kissed him. It was the first time I’d ever initiated a kiss, at least a kiss that really meant something. Everything I had felt the first time I kissed him was still there, possibly more so now that I knew how much he cared about me. He kissed me back, relieved that he didn’t have to keep trying to explain himself. After a few moments, I broke away.
“I’m sorry,” I finally apologized.
“Wait, are you rejecting me again? After kissing me like that?” he said with disbelief.
“No, no,” I quickly corrected. “I’m sorry for the other night. I took advantage of you and–”
Thomas started laughing.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just glad you’re finally accepting responsibility for taking advantage of this poor unsuspecting Catholic boy.”
“Unsuspecting? Let’s not push it,” I warned. “You kissed me first.”
“After you lured me back to your apartment and put on booty shorts,” he argued.
“I did not–”
He stopped me, pulling me in closer to kiss me again.
“You realize your penance was pretty much to play The Glad Game, don’t you?” I pointed out, happy to finally smile with him again.
“Well, I guess Pollyanna wasn’t as irrelevant as I had judged her to be.”
“So,” I took a step back, holding up the paper and pretending to examine it. “I’m just curious to see if ‘Maura not putting out’ made it on the list?” I wanted to make sure he knew my position on the matter hadn’t changed, regardless of how much I liked kissing him.
“This is a living document,” he responded coolly, taking the paper from me. “I feel like I’d have to be your boyfriend to fully appreciate just how much you don’t put out.”
“Are you saying you want to be my boyfriend?”
“Well, I am in love you,” he said matter-of-factly.
“You’re sure? Even with no sex?” I reiterated. “Not even the stuff we did the other night; that’s included. I mean, I don’t want you thinking that’s par for the course, even though I let it happen the one time,” I started to ramble. He reached out and grabbed my hand, again pulling me closer to him, looking me in the eye.
“Even with no sex,” he confirmed. “Just lots of kissing and hand holding.” He wrapped his arms around me. “And the occasional ass-grab and boob play. You know, just to keep it romantic,” he added with a grin.
I rolled my eyes and kissed him again. He was the last thing I had expected and it still terrified me. There were still a lot of unknowns and challenges that would come with dating him. But as I stood there being held by him, it was the first time I felt like someone loved me entirely for who I was and not for what he wanted me to be. Of all people, he gave me hope that loving me wasn’t such a lost cause after all. I would do the same for him.
Somewhere Unexpected Page 21