THE INEVITABLE │ t.h

FOURTEEN

"Venus!" Evelyn had shrieked as she raced over to the older woman. Venus smiles, bending down to the little girl's height, scooping her up in her arms. She lifts her into the air, embracing her tightly.

"You guys are acting like you didn't just see each other last night," Tom chuckles. Venus and Evelyn rolled their eyes, the younger girl finally placed back on her feet.

"Guess what we brought you?" Venus questions as they walk down the corridor, Evelyn holding onto Tom's hand with one of hers and Venus's with the other. Evelyn looks up at her with pure excitement.

"A pony?" Tom and Venus laugh.

"Not quite," Venus responds joyfully. "Are a couple chocolate chip cookies okay?"

"Yes!" Evelyn chants, picking up her pace. Venus laughs again as the younger girl drags the two adults along, causing other adults and children to glance their way.

"Tom!" an older woman had called. The man heard his name and turned. When he connected the voice to the face, he told the other two he'd catch up with them in a bit. He jogged over to the middle-aged woman, questioning her call. "I see you've got a girlfriend."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Kitz," Tom chuckles, "she's just a friend." Mrs. Kitz frowns.

"That's a shame," she responds. "She pairs well with Evelyn." Tom grins. "If she continues to do so, put a ring on her finger."

"I'll think about that one, Mrs. Kitz," Tom remarks with a light tone.

"Please, dear," the woman airily chuckles, "call me Sally."

"Sorry, I forgot," Tom huffs, keeping a bright smile on his face.

"I'll see you at Evelyn's game tomorrow," Sally smiles, giving his shoulder a light pat goodbye before walking off to find her nephew.

"Who did you talk to, daddy?" Evelyn asks as he meets up with them at the front doors, waiting patiently for the young man to return since he held the keys to the car.

"Mrs. Kitz," Tom responds, taking her hand again and leading them out to the car.

"Ohh," Evelyn replies. "She's nice."

"She is, isn't she?" Tom states, his smile still in tact. It only dropped slightly when Evelyn asked what they had discussed. "Oh, nothing important," Tom had responded with a moment's hesitation. Evelyn wasn't too concerned with his cover-up when their car came into view.

"Race ya!" Evelyn shouted to Venus and Tom, taking off. Tom glanced over at Venus. Both were grinning and contemplating following the little girl. Venus shrugged, sprinting after Evelyn. Tom let out a deep laugh before chasing after them. "I win!" Evelyn cheers as she touches the car, doing her own little victory dance. "You guys are so slow!"

"I guess," Venus chuckles as she reaches the little girl and the vehicle, glancing back at Tom, who scared her by running closely past her and shouting "Boo!" in her face. "That wasn't funny, you prick!" Venus exclaims, stepping over to Tom and smacking his arm.

"Don't curse in front of the child," Tom teased, covering Evelyn's ears.

"It's nothing I haven't heard already," Evelyn laughed. Venus's pout dropped, an amused grin replacing it, gasping as she looked up at a flushed Tom.

"Let's just get in the car, shall we?"

➴⋆➶

"I wanna go to an arcade," Evelyn frowns as they stop in front of Venus's apartment building.

"Maybe another day," Tom huffs, glancing over at Venus. She hesitated, seeming to not want to leave herself. He didn't realize how long he'd been gazing at her until her head turned and a blush crept on her cheeks.

"I'll see ya later," she speaks, giving a small smile. "Thanks for hanging out with me today."

"Of course," he replies. "I had fun."

"Watching me sleep?" Venus laughs. Tom joins in her chuckles, shaking his head as he averted his eyes to the parked cars in front of him.

"Please come over to our house," Evelyn whines, unbuckling herself and flinging her arms around Venus, keeping her from exiting the vehicle.

"Evie, let go," Tom scolds.

"Not tonight," Venus responds, patting her hands. "I'm not feeling well."

"Still sick?" Tom questions, a soft sympathetic expression taking over his face.

"It's starting to come back," Venus huffs, glancing over at him before Evelyn whimpered again.

"But I wanna have a sleepover with you," she mutters. Venus chuckles, promising they'd have one another time.

"Let me know if you need anything," Tom offers as Venus opens the car door. She looks back at him and warmly smiles.

"Thank you, Tom," she speaks softly, shutting the door and running off into her building. Tom watched with a heavy heart as his flesh was poked with goosebumps from the warmth that quickly fled.

"Daddy," Evelyn speaks, neither of them moving from where they currently sat.

"Yes, princess?" he questions.

"I miss her," she whimpers.

"It's okay," Tom responds, moving his attention to his daughter. "We'll see her again soon."

"Good," Evelyn grins, sitting back and buckling her seatbelt before yelling at him to hurry and drive home so she could watch TV and eat.