BMB: Version 3-1

"So, what you're saying is that you'll sleep with me in your bed within seven hours of meeting me, but you won't be my girlfriend until we get you moved to New York? You'll make love to me repeatedly and for hours after only 30 something hours of knowing me, but you won't say 'yes' until after we've basically had a two-week honeymoon?"

"Hey, I feel judged," I teased back. "You don't know how hard it was to get over that kid. I may not remember his name, but I remember the sting and the lesson learned." I watched his face as he began to laugh. I was fighting so hard to keep from laughing myself. "I will not argue with my sixth-grade self. She was right. That extra week is really important. So, uh," I said with a calculated rise of my wrist as if I was checking the time and date on my watch, "get back to me in about eleven days. I'll probably say 'yes,' assuming you haven't moved on with my neighbor or anything."

"Nah, I saw her out there," he answered and shrugged. "Not interested. I mean, don't get me wrong. That cane gave her great posture, but I'm not really into purple hair. I really prefer white if I'm taking that route. Gray if they wear it well. But the purples and blues? It just adds a few more years to their 70-some already." He sighed. "A man has to have his standards."

"Well, that's good to know," I told him and nodded. "I had always planned to go with a purple hue down the road. I guess I'll have a back-up option in case you're still alive when I get to that age. Probably won't be an issue though. Men don't generally last as long as women."

"Trinity," Tom whispered after fifteen seconds of silence, "be my girlfriend."

"Yes, of course," I said without hesitation. "I love you."

"I love you," he responded and laid me back to make love to me.

That week, besides making love in nearly every room of the house, including the laundry room which was fun and a little creative, Tom and I went to three different riverwalks for some fresh air and exercise, and to continue seeing what I grew up with for entertainment. We held hands and laughed as we told story after story about our lives before meeting each other.

We made meals together and sat around the house. We basked in the sun some days and danced together in the cool air-conditioned living room some afternoons. We went to see a couple movies at the theatre and talked both before and after with each other about movies we enjoyed and didn't. We talked about our earliest theatre experiences and how often we enjoyed seeing movies that way.

Each night, we'd climb into bed and make love like it was what we'd been waiting for all day, each day. He'd hold me and caress my skin as I fell asleep against his side. We'd wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and make love, or sometimes we'd talk about things we hadn't mentioned during one of our discussions.

Friday night, one week into our new relationship, we had Jen and her older brother over to play cards after dinner. Jen continued to love watching Tom with me. Her brother, Paul, got on with Tom like they were old pals. They laughed and teased us girls like they'd been doing it for years. Tom and Paul had a serious talk about Jen and me moving out there, and Paul actually thanked Tom for watching out for me, and for Jen whenever she got out to New York too.

Tom and Jen were partners again. The game went smoothly as Tom remembered almost all the rules and strategies about the game. When we played the other game, Paul had suggested making it the drinking game it could be, but I could tell Tom wasn't keen on that so I had suggested just keeping it lowkey. I wasn't sure, but between his Coke order at the bar the night we'd met and the few times he refused to discuss drinks, I had to guess that he had an issue with alcohol. I didn't care. I had no interest in drinking, so if he did have an issue, it was fine with me to keep away from the stuff.

Tom called Dougie to check in after we finished the second game. I think he did it so Jen could see him again. Before long, I was left with Paul and Tom in the kitchen while Jen sat in the living room flirting, I mean talking to Dougie through FaceTime. Paul and Tom got to talking about the movies we'd seen that week. Paul suggested we could go see the new movie that came out that day on his day off next week. When Jen came back in, she handed the phone to Tom who then left the room. Meanwhile, Jen and I made plans with Paul to see the movie the following Wednesday.

We said our goodbyes and waved as they left after 10PM that night. Tom pulled me into his arms and danced with me to the music we'd been playing all night as background music. We shut everything down after another half hour and went to bed as usual.

The following Monday, I took him on a tour of all the old places which were significant in my life, including my old houses, schools, and the football field where I was a cheerleader all four years. He loved hearing about that. To make his day, I even showed him a few cheers I remembered and managed to do a few jumps that I still had in me. Thank God I didn't fall and break my leg. That would have been the real kicker to ending my time in my old hometown right before moving away to make a whole new life for myself!

On Wednesday, we went to see a matinee show of a new movie with Jen and Paul, and then we went to the local pizza joint and arcade. Tom and I had a blast playing Skee-ball, air hockey, and several games which kept us laughing and playfully competing.

At one point, we were both trying to win a game, and when I almost had him, he shocked me with a kiss so toe-curling that I let go of my controller. Tom used this opportunity to get ahead and ended up winning. I accused him of cheating and even went to get the owner, Bill, a family friend and my Godfather, to tell on him. Tom gave me the most incredulous look until Bill let out a huge laugh, extended his hand out to shake Tom's hand and congratulated him. I then introduced them, and Bill's reaction said it all. He was thrilled for me, for us, and hugged me tightly.

"You've found a good one, kid," he whispered. "Go have fun with your life! You deserve it." I nodded at Bill and waved when he left the arcade area to go fix a problem in the kitchen.

"I can't believe you told on me!" Tom told me as we got into the car to head back to the house. "For a few seconds, I really thought you were upset. But then Bill congratulated me, and I realized you really knew him. You set me up!"

"Me? You kissed me to distract me so you could win the game!"

"It was a really good kiss though, wasn't it?" Tom asked, smiling with pride.

"Yes, it was. Dang it."

"You're welcome," he teased and leaned over to kiss me.

"Cheater," I chided and kissed him back.

"You love me," he said decidedly and sat back to let me drive us back to the house.

On Friday, two weeks after we'd met, I finally chose to introduce Tom to my parents. I called and told them it was time for me to come and say good-bye, and that I was bringing a friend along. I hoped they didn't mind. They had insisted on having us over for dinner, so Tom and I showed up at the requested time of 4:30PM to socialize and then we'd eat at 5:00PM.

Tom was nervous which I found kind of cute. I had insisted that he didn't have to do anything special, but he had insisted that he needed to bring flowers not only to the woman who gave me life, but also as a guest. I smiled and thanked him for being a good man. "In the spirit of honesty," I teased as we'd said this more than a few times over the last two weeks, "I think you're amazing, Tom Parker." He winked at me and got out of the car to run inside the store while I waited in the parking lot.

When we got to my parents' house, Tom held my hand while he held the flowers in the other. Man, I hoped they'd treat him right. I knew I hadn't said anything to them about him, but surely they'd have to be cool about this, right? I knew Daddy would be nice, no matter what. Sometimes Mom wasn't as appropriate with her wording when she was caught off guard. Oh, who was I kidding? If she would have had more time to digest it, she'd have attacked him with questions the minute we pulled in.

"Trinny, baby!" My dad cooed and hugged me as I stood just outside the door.

"Hi, Daddy," I greeted him and hugged him back. "Daddy, this is Tom. Tom, this is my dad, Jim Powers."

"Tom, so nice to meet you," my dad told him and shook his hand.

"Jim, would you get out of the way so I can see them too?" My mom complained from behind my dad. "Why don't you bring them inside?" I rolled my eyes. We entered the house, and I hurried to speak up before Mom could say anything else. Daddy went to sit in his chair to stay out of the way as usual.

"Mom, this is Tom Parker," I told her, and as if on cue, Tom handed her the bouquet of flowers.

"Mrs. Powers, it's nice to meet you," Tom told her. "You have an amazing daughter. I brought these for you. Thank you for having us for dinner."

"Oh, well, thank you," my mom told him awkwardly. "I'll just go put these in some water."

I brought Tom over to speak with my dad as we sat on the couch. Dad asked Tom about himself, so Tom told him about New York, shared his age and explained what had brought him to our city in the first place. When Dad asked how we'd met, Tom turned to look at me as if to tell me it was my turn.

"Daddy, you know how my last day of work was two weeks ago? Well, my co-workers also heard that I'd finally gotten the contract on the house settled, and they utilized the guilt factor that I rarely went out with them. Well, to celebrate, they invited me to go downtown to The Tavern. I went, hesitantly of course, and while waiting at the bar for them to show up, a not-so-great guy kept hitting on me. Tom here walked up and got him to leave me alone. We started talking and have been hanging out a lot. It turns out I'll be moving near to where he lives in New York. Crazy, right?"

"Well, isn't that a coincidence?" Dad noted and nodded at Tom. The two men made more small talk, so I listened and mostly watched the two interact. When Mom called us for dinner, I let out a sigh and stood up to head toward the dining room.

Once dinner was served, Mom started in on the questions. They began innocently enough, but then she started in with the accusations laced with seemingly innocent questions.

"Well, so what brought you to our city in the middle of the hottest month? And by yourself, no less. Seems rather odd, don't you think?"

I'd had enough experience dealing with her to know when to interject, so I put my hand on Tom's knee and decided to answer the question for him to stray from the direction she was going. "Mom, the thing is, I'm in talks with a place to work starting next month, and because I'm alone and have a whole house worth of stuff to move, the boss sent Tom here to safely bring me back to New York so I wouldn't be alone in the process. I think it was nice of my potential new boss as well as Tom who braved the weather and the fact that he was dealing with a perfect stranger."

"Well, remind me to reach out to your boss to thank him," my dad told me. "When you get settled, you call me from your new little office and let me talk to him, would you?" I just nodded. Great. I'd just lied to my mom, but my dad bought it hook, line, and sinker. Crap.

"And what do you do?" my mom asked. Dang it! I hadn't thought about the fact that she didn't know that. Hell, did I know what he did? In all that we had spoken about, work wasn't really one of the things we'd covered. I'd just stopped working at the job I'd had, so it wasn't relevant, and I didn't tell him where I'd applied because I didn't want to let him know yet where I was really headed for in New York. It hadn't occurred to me to ask what he did. Sheesh, with all that we'd talked about, how was that never brought up?

"I'm a builder, Mrs. Powers," Tom answered.

"As in houses?" my mom asked.

"Um, machines actually," Tom answered. "Motors, mostly."

"A mechanic?" she asked and then looked at me with, what was that? Shame? Disappointment?

"Well, yes, I guess that would fall under the category of what I am, but I don't fix cars or trucks or change oil like that," he clarified.

"Well, that's interesting," my mom stated and set her wine glass down as she touched her mouth with her napkin. If the image you're picturing is that of a rich bitch, you're spot on. Only she isn't rich. She likes to act high and mighty, but she's nowhere in the ballpark of those who could afford lavish golf club memberships.

Mom had two friends who were members of the local golf club, and they often brought her along for lunches, but I knew that those friends only kept her around, at least over the last year, for the gossip she had on me. And most of that was inaccurate since I didn't tell her much. This visit was sure to produce an invitation to the club again soon. I could just imagine what they'd be saying about my new mechanic boyfriend who got his hands dirty every day. It was funny, though. Those hands had never once been dirty in my presence, not to mention the fact that they were some of the most amazing hands I'd had on my... Oops, back to the dinner.

For every snide comment my mom managed to get into the conversation, Tom had an intelligent, honest, and friendly answer to give her in response. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand often as we finished the food.

As I helped my mom do the dishes, Tom went with my dad back into the living room to wait for us to be done. I tried to make light, small talk with my mom, but she either answered with a snotty manner, or hardly at all. I gave up and commended myself for not saying anything I might regret should she die before we were to speak again.

Finally, Tom and I were able to leave. I gave my mom a friendly hug and told her I'd let her know when I got to New York so she knew I was safe. I hugged my dad tightly, promised to be careful, and assured him that I would call when I got there too. Tom shook my dad's hand and thanked him. My dad nodded and surprised me by patting Tom on the back and calling him "son." I smiled at Tom and took his hand as he led me back to the car.

"Tom, I am so sorry my mom is such a piece of work," I told him and shook my head. "I had really hoped she wouldn't be so judgy, but she was right back to her old ways. She had really calmed it down when Mark and the girls died, but I guess that had a year-long limit on it. Dang it, Tom. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that."

"Trin, it's cool. I don't think it was that bad," Tom assured me. "I just answered everything honestly and didn't take too much of it personally. I know what people think if they hear that I work with motors and stuff. I'm used to it."

"Used to it?" I asked with surprise. "You're a builder! You have a craft! Where does she get off acting like she's holier than thou? She is a simple housewife with a couple rich friends!"

"Don't worry about it on my part, Trin," he told me in an attempt to calm me down again. "Besides, we hadn't talked about what I did for work either, so it was good to get it out there. Since you didn't talk about work, I enjoyed not thinking about work either. I love it, don't get me wrong. But it's nice to not think about that and just live in our little world together."

"I guess," I told him with hesitation. "Hey, um, since we're talking about this, when did you plan to head back to New York? I only told you that my closing was this Sunday and that I was leaving right after. What about you?"

"Well, yeah, I was going to talk to you about that," Tom told me. "What are your plans?"

"The moving truck and guys will get the last of the items packed at 9AM Sunday morning," I explained. "They'll head to New York, and we're set to meet up Tuesday morning in Montgomery at the storage place there. I will stay to close on the house and then leave and drive my car to as far as I can go that night, stay in a hotel, drive Monday until I'm at least close to New York, stay in a hotel, and then meet them before contacting a lady I was told to call for a place to stay until I could start looking for a house."

"By yourself?" Tom asked. "Like you'll be driving the whole time by yourself?"

"Yeah, that's the plan," I answered and shook my head. "Why? I know how to drive, and I have the directions. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, but I just told your parents I'd make sure you made it safely," Tom argued. "You can't let me be a liar."

"I also told them that you were sent by my potential new boss, Tom," I reasoned. "I had to get you out of that situation. I just told them that to keep them at bay. I had not talked about my moving plans for just that reason."

"Oh," Tom said quietly. We were pulling into the driveway when he answered, so the conversation was put on hold until we were in the house. I had thought we were finished, but he started right back up when the front door closed.

"Um, so we need to talk," Tom told me as he sat on the couch next to me. I was checking messages on my phone.

"OK," I told him and typed another sentence to Jen about how the dinner went.

"Trin, you're gonna want to put your phone down for this."

I heard him and nodded, but then I realized he wasn't messing around, so I closed my phone and set it on the arm of the couch. "What's up?"

"First, um, I'm confused," Tom said. "If you knew my dad was sending me out here, why did you wait to say anything until you told your parents? Don't you want to know anything about the job? And if you knew we'd be working together, why did you act like you couldn't tell me where you'd be living? You knew we'd be close anyway."

My head began to spin. What did he just say? His dad? His job? Close? "What? Tom, what?" I finally asked. "What are you saying?"

"What you said to your parents," Tom clarified as if I didn't already hear his earlier words. "You already knew."

"No, I told them that to get my mom off your back," I clarified. "Are you saying that was really true? And that your father is the man I have been dealing with by email and, by the way, first name only, about the new job?" Mind spinning. So confused.

"So, uh, you didn't know."

"No," I said plainly. No, I didn't know that my new boss, or at least the boss I thought I was going to have, had a son, let alone the son to whom I'd all but committed my life to two weeks ago. No, I didn't know that he was sending his son to come find me, wait... to come spy on me? To come fall in love with me? "So, what? You were sent here to find me, spy on me, and fall in love with me so I wouldn't change my mind about coming to New York?"

"What? No, I wasn't sent here to spy on you," Tom corrected.

"OK, you know what?" I decided and folded my arms. "Why don't you tell me how this all actually happened? You know, in the spirit of honesty," I said snidely. "Tell me the actual truth. Please."

"Trin, that's not fair," he said almost sadly. "I didn't lie to you. I made sure to never lie to you."

"Wow," I said sarcastically. "Did you just admit you strategically talked to me in a way that I wouldn't find out that you orchestrated this whole thing? That you managed to withhold just enough for me to believe this whole thing was meant to be? That it was all happenstance?"

Tom sat quietly and seemed to be gathering his thoughts. I felt hurt. I felt conflicted. I felt betrayed. I wanted to know the truth. He sighed and turned to face me. I couldn't look at him. "When Dad said you were coming to work for us, I was pissed." I gave a laugh of disbelief.

"OK, I know that sounds bad," Tom conceded. "It had nothing to do with you. I didn't know you. I hadn't heard of you. I didn't see why we needed someone in the position as he'd described it. I'm telling you what you asked for. I'm sorry if it sounds harsh. It's relevant, I promise." I nodded.