The Driving Force to Love (MXM) ✔

Chapter 54

Dean Axle Lance

"So who is this woman you were telling me about?" I asked Mark as he opened his door to let me into his apartment.

"Sally," He said. "I think I really like her."

"That's what you said last night," I said, "but you were on your way to work so you couldn't tell me much. Where did you meet her?" I was skeptical of my brother's taste in women. All of them in the past had drug or alcohol addictions and he had been doing so well that I didn't want him to get tempted to go back to drugs. But I also wanted to be supportive of him. He was my brother and I was his only family.

"It was at my work, believe it or not," he said. "She came in to buy a candybar on her way to work."

We walked to his couch as we talked. He had to go to work soon and I was supposed to meet up with Tonio at his place so neither of us had a lot of time to talk.

"She's a nurse," he said. "She's ten years younger than me, but that's alright, right?"

"Yeah," I said. Ten years wasn't a big difference at our age and at least I already knew she had a good, stable job.

"Our work schedules even match," he said, "so we've been going on dates in the morning instead of at night. And you don't have to worry about her being on drugs or anything. She's been supportive of me and my recovery process."

"That's good," I said. "I'd like to meet her some time."

I hung out with him until Tonio sent me a text that he was home and I could come over whenever I wanted.

"What do you want to do tonight?" he asked when I arrived.

I shrugged. He had been in his new house for almost a month now. "Honestly, I like just hanging out at your house," I said.

He smiled. "I can do that. I don't want to cook though."

"I can cook," I offered.

"No," he said. "That isn't what I meant. Let's order delivery." We ordered sandwiches to be delivered. While we waited for them to arrive, we sat on his couch and watched an action movie. It didn't take long for the food to arrive. While we ate, we talked about our day. I told him about Mark and that I was hopeful about his new girlfriend. It was the first time I could ever remember actually being hopeful about one of Mark's girlfriends.

We went back to the couch to continue the movie. The movie was almost over when Tonio's doorbell rang. He looked at me as if I would know who was at his door, but it was his house. How would I know?

When he opened the door, Liz squealed and hugged him excitedly. Sarah followed her into the house more subdued, but with a smile on her face.

"Liz," Antonio said, "What's going on?"

She let go of him and held up her hand. The engagement ring on her finger with the large diamond was hard to miss.

"You're engaged," Antonio said with excitement in his own voice now.

Liz nodded. "Show him the video," she said to Sarah.

"You took a video of the engagement?" Tonio asked.

"Liz told me if I proposed to her I had to get it on video so I set up my phone beforehand," Sarah said.

She sat on the couch with Liz on one side of her and Antonio on the other. I hovered behind the couch so I could see the video too without being intrusive. When the video started, I recognized the backyard of the home that was now Liz's since the divorce. Little lights had been strung up all along it. Rose petals were scattered around. The camera didn't catch what Liz and Sarah were saying, but Sarah got down on one knee and held out the ring to Liz. Liz's hands went up to her mouth. Her hands slowly lowered as she took the ring from Sarah. When Sarah stood, Liz wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. When they pulled away from each other, Liz put the ring on her finger. But then, she reached into her own pocket and pulled out a second ring and held it out to Sarah. Sarah looked surprised and then she took the ring from Liz and put it on her finger. Then they were kissing.