Stay (Completed)

Chapter 8- Dogs, Moms, and Beverage Choices (Again)

Maria’s POV:

We walked the rest of the way mindlessly chatting about whatever we could come up with. It didn’t feel awkward like it would with some people though. Evan and I could be talking about the sand or the sun or some random guy we saw with his kids and it could be interesting. I found myself opening up about things in my life I hadn’t thought about in years. I told him about how when I was in elementary school I fell off the slide and broke my arm. He had the same experience except he fell off of a swing. It was little things like that where I was just amazed that I was talking with him and we were walking along the beach together.

We made it to my house after about 15 minutes. I walked through the back gate and up the steps to the back porch. Evan followed me, silently taking in his surroundings. I wondered what he was thinking. Did he think my house looked too nice? Too neat? It was one of the nicer houses in town. Despite our family business being a grocery store, my mom had come from a considerably wealthy family from New York and my great grandparents had left my dad a sum of money well enough to support his family even if I had some siblings. My house had a back porch that had steps down to the pool and patio. There was a screened in porch below the balcony that was off of the kitchen. I climbed up to the top and entered through the back door into the kitchen. I slipped off my shoes as Evan did the same.

“Mom! I’m back!” I called into the cool air conditioned house.

“Hey! I’ll be up in a sec! Let me take the dogs out and I’ll meet ya in the kitchen!” My mom called back from downstairs. She must have seen me on the way in from the beach. I wonder if she saw Evan too.

I led Evan to the refrigerator and asked if he wanted a drink. I pulled out the lemonade and he said he would have a glass too. As we were sitting at the island waiting for my mom to return I could see his eyes wandering around the room. He looked at the stainless steel appliances, the granite countertops and polished wood cabinets. He looked at the TV on the wall in the living room adjacent to the dining room. I saw his eyes skim over the sectional leather couch that seats eight easily. Then he looked out the solid glass wall to the beach and beyond. I could tell he was impressed just in the way he was standing. I really hope it wasn’t too much. Some guys I had had over were too into the fancy things that they barely even talked to me after they got the tour. Hopefully this time my mom would skip that part of her introduction as I had told her adamantly after the last time she gave a 20 minute explanation of everything in the house. Soon I heard the pitter patter of my two dogs’ paws up the stairs and was greeted by their happy faces when they came up to where I was sitting.

“Hey boys!” I said as I reached down to pet them. I had two long haired Chihuahuas that were like little brothers to me. They greeted me every day when I got home from school or work and loved being outside with me, at least when it wasn’t too hot. Evan had kneeled down and began to pet them as well.

“They’re adorable. What are their names?” He asked me.

“Rex and Buzz. Don’t ask me how they got their names though.” I told him. By then Evan had gotten both of their attention and he was now sitting cross legged on the tile floor trying to please both of them as they tried to lick his face off. He was laughing and I just sat there and watched him for a moment. When he laughed his eyes would get wrinkles on the outside and his smile was as wonderful as ever; it was crazy.

“So Maria! You didn’t tell me you had a friend coming over for lunch!”My mom interjected as she came up the stairs. She had this look on her face that I knew could only mean one thing; she was about to go into interrogation mode.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t know. Mom, this is my friend Evan Thompson. He is on vacation from Wisconsin.” I told her as Evan and I stood and turned toward her. He shook her hand and as he stepped back toward me I whispered, “Sorry in advance for all of the questions she is about to ask you.” He looked at me like he understood but I’m not sure he even heard me since my mom was talking to him while she went to the refrigerator.