The day was bright and crisp, not unusual for a spring day in Oklahoma, especially as it gets closer to the meat of the summer. Mateo had missed summers here, even the unpredictable weather, as it was rather predictable in Washington. Either it was rainy, or it wasn’t. He liked that he hadn’t seen a raindrop in a few days, welcoming the heat from the sun. Maverick parked the car in one of the spots in front of the gym and he, Mateo, and Malachi all shuffled out. Maverick pointed to a couple of other cars in the parking lot, “Looks like Coach and Rob are already here.” Mateo and Malachi give a silent nod as they hear another car approach.
A small black sedan pulled into the space beside Maverick’s car and Allie stepped out, dressed in full athletic wear, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She doesn’t appear to have any makeup on, but Mateo likes her natural look. With bags draped over their shoulders, they all walk into the gym, a smile spreading across Mateo’s face as he reminisces. His time here was borderline legendary, from freshman to senior year, they had built a rock-solid team, making the school’s first appearance to state when he was in the 9th grade. Mateo admires the pictures and trophies sitting in the glass case in the lobby of the gym.
Mateo hears the squeaks of shoes across the floor and suddenly is itching to get started. He never thought he’d be here again, playing in the same place that he found his true love for the game. Before the new gym was the new gym, it served as a storm shelter so there’s an entire underground floor filled with rooms that haven’t been used in decades. It’s eerie and cool at the same time, Mateo remembers the one time that they got to explore the closed off parts of the school.
“As I live and breathe, Mateo Alexander…” Mateo whips around at the familiar gruff voice to see his old coach. “Coach!” The two slap hands as the other three continue walking toward the benches to put their shoes on while Mateo and Coach McMillian catch up, “How have you been, Tae?”
Mateo smiles, “I’ve been good. I wasn’t sure what it’d be like to come home again, but it hasn’t been too bad so far.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m sorry to hear about the last time…” an awkward silence sits between the two though Mateo doesn’t want to hash it out, so he waves it off and instead changes the subject, “How’s your wife been? I don’t think I’ve had as good of a home cooked meal since I left.”
McMillian nods happily, any excuse for bragging about his wife, he’ll take it, “Oh, she’s doing good, though, I think she’s starting to make me fat with all her cooking. Perhaps that was her plan all along.” He chuckles jovially as more people start to shuffle in, and the ones that Mateo knows happily shake his hand before they go to lace up their shoes. McMillian lets Mateo go and says that they’ll continue to talk after they get done.
Who is this girl? Mateo says to himself. They shot for teams, but the other team was quick to grab her before Mateo’s team did. When Millie had told him about Allie, he thought that she may have been exaggerating, but he can see that Millie didn’t even do her justice. Since Robby was on his team, he tasked him with guarding Allie, and naively Mateo thought he got the best deal, but she has hit every three that she’s thrown up.
Swish.
Every. Single. One.
Even when he actually decided to play defense, she splashed two more in his face. He looked around to his teammates and the guys on the other team, and all of them were doing a poor job at hiding their smiles. He gave Allie a look as if to ask, “You’re serious?” to which she just responded with a knowing smirk and a shrug of her shoulders as she shuffled backwards down court. Okay, game on, Mateo thought. He liked playing as if every game was his last but since he wasn’t sure who exactly he was playing with, he decided to take it easy, feeling out the competition. Now that he knows that the other team isn’t holding back, especially with Allie as their sniper, he wasn’t going to hold anymore punches.
Changing his attitude, letting his more arrogant and cocky side loose, he brings the ball up the court. Fortunately for him, Allie is now guarding him. He gives her a crooked smile, looking her in the eye, but surprisingly she doesn’t shy away. She stands firm, getting into her defensive stance and her eyes trained on his waist. Gone is the timid, bashful girl that he met yesterday.
Allie isn’t small and petite, like Millie, she isn’t as tall as Mateo but she’s sturdy. Mateo figured that she likely wasn’t quick enough to keep up with him, but he was proved wrong very quickly. Allie was diligent and meticulous as she played defense, even in high school, she wasn’t very quick. However, she and her coach worked on training herself to be hyper vigilant against offenders who were quicker and using her slower speed to her advantage, which Mateo didn’t know. To his utter dismay, she was able to not only to keep up with him enough to deny him the ball, but he very rarely was able to beat her off the dribble.
Mateo was becoming extremely disgruntled, much to Allie’s enjoyment. She couldn’t deny that she found certain enjoyment when she was able to best a male counterpart, especially when they had started out taking it easy on her. She quickly showed the guys that she played with why she shouldn’t be underestimated, and it has now become somewhat of an initiation for newbies to let Allie have her own one on one against them.
Mateo could not shake Allie no matter what he did, so when the games finally ended, Mateo couldn’t leave the court, “Let’s go. Me and you. One-on-one.” Mateo says to Allie. At first, she thought he was joking but when he didn’t relent, she gave a cocky smile of her own and took the ball, “First to what? 11?” Mateo nodded, “You check first.” Allie nodded then walked backwards, bouncing the ball between her legs as she got to the top of the key. She gave a quick bounce pass to Mateo then he passed to back to start the game. Allie smiled to herself, knowing that she purposefully plays with the opposite hand when a newbie comes around. She’s naturally a left-handed player, but today, she made the decision to play with and favor her right hand. So, when she started right then double backed to her left, she surprised Mateo as she hit a left-handed jump shot.
The two played until Allie physically couldn’t anymore. She was in decent shape, but not play for three hours straight. She was nearing thirty, had a kid, and couldn’t move like she could when she was in high school. Mateo won the last game with Allie walking off the court before he made the last shot. She was going to need a week to recover from this, I should’ve just let him win the first game, Allie thought as she longed to go home to soak in her tub. She and Mateo sat side by side on the plush chairs, unlacing their basketball shoes. It was quiet for a moment, the silence of the gym prevalent since the other players had gone home after they became disinterested in Mateo and Allie after the first game.
“Sorry about that. I can be kinda psycho when it comes to basketball.” Mateo says with a shrug, not knowing what else to say. His passion and dedication to basketball and the way that he plays tends to rub people the wrong way. He’s gotten himself into some scuffles over the years because of his intensity and his tendency to get mouthy. “It’s okay, I get it.” Allie says with a smile.
“Where did you learn to play like that?”
Allie shrugs, “Myself, I guess. Neither of my parents are athletes, honestly, I don’t think anyone in my family is. I never got to play youth sports when I was a kid but we had a ‘basketball lesson’,” Allie explains using air quotes, “one time in P.E., and I fell in love. I started looking it up, watching videos, and teaching myself drills. I tried out for my middle school team when I was in the eighth grade and made it. I kept playing throughout high school.”
“Wow, that’s awesome.” As lame as it was, that’s all that Mateo could say, he was speechless. There weren’t many players besides the ones that he admired in the NBA that were able to illicit that kind of response from him. As they were getting up to leave, Coach McMillian approached and asked if they were ready to go, “Ms. Allie, are you bringing that fine young man of yours to my camp next week?”
Allie playfully rolled her eyes, “You know he’s only four, coach. The flyer says he’s supposed to be five and going into kindergarten.” She says with a pointed look. Coach waves her off with his hand, “Oh, who’s going to care? I make the rules anyway. Just bring him, I’d like to work with him. Haven’t seen that level of natural talent since, well, this one.” He says pointing to Mateo.
Allie nods her head, “Alright, alright. I’ll be here to sign him up.” She gives Coach a hug, telling him that she’ll see him and his wife on Sunday then walks up the stairs to the ground floor. “Speaking of camp, if you aren’t busy, I could use some help running it.” Coach says to Mateo, surprising him, “Is Coach Garcia not your assistant anymore?” Mateo asks. Coach Garcia had just started coaching when Mateo entered middle school, he was a young guy, couldn’t have been more than early twenties from what Mateo remembered. He and McMillian worked so well together; it was hard for him to imagine that Coach Garcia would leave anywhere. Coach McMillian’s face beamed with pride, “No, as of last week, he accepted a head coaching position over in Hulbert. He’s going to do great things there, but they needed him to report right away. He offered to split his time, but I told him no to worry about it.”
“Oh, that’s awesome. I’ll have to try to find some time to go see him while I’m here.”
“I think he’d like that,” Coach rocks up onto his toes, “So, you interested in helping?”
Mateo thinks about it, unsure of committing to something like this. He couldn’t help but remember that he was just thinking about how much he missed working the camps and now this opportunity comes up? Mateo thinks briefly as Coach looks on expectantly but couldn’t come up with an answer. He asks if he has time to think about it and Coach assures him that the camp didn’t start until the following Monday so just to come by then if he was interested. As they leave, Coach gives Mateo a pat on the back, telling him it’s good to see him home. Luckily for Mateo, Maverick and Malachi ended up waiting in the car so he didn’t have to walk home though he wouldn’t have blamed them for leaving him since his ego kept them waiting for so long.
Whether it was the universe that was listening, or it was, in fact, God… Mateo hoped that whatever he chose would bring him some good.
This is what Mateo loved about the upcoming summer season, it was only seven o’clock and the sun was still shining brightly. The boys had only been home for roughly an hour and Mateo still hadn’t felt any sure answer to what he should do. Did it make a difference? Was there a wrong answer? He certainly didn’t feel like there should be a wrong answer, but the more he leaned to declining the invitation, the more unsettled he felt.
Though he just spent hours playing basketball without hardly taking a rest, and he would likely regret this decision in the morning, he decided to go for a run to clear his head. Mateo headed downstairs, letting his dad and sister know that he would be back shortly, then walked out the door. Letting the storm door slam behind him, he quickly observed the land, deciding where to start. At first, the dock called to him. It was one of the places that he cherished the most as a kid, a place where he felt like he could breathe when he felt overwhelmed. As he began his run, something in his peripheral made him double-take. It was the trail to his grandparents’ house. Curious, he opted against going toward the dock and ran toward the trail. He hadn’t been to the old house in years, even before he graduated. He always let Mav go there to clean it up. Unbeknownst to his parents, he would use his allowance to pay Mav to clean the house when it was his turn since he didn’t want to crease his shoes or get them dirty.
As he heads down the trail, nostalgia washes over him as memories bombard him. He, his siblings, and his cousins used to explore the land with the grandparents telling them stories about it as he grew up. His thoughts are interrupted as he gets closer to the house when he hears loud shouting, which is odd since the land is closed off and nobody, that he knows of, has occupied the house since his grandparents died.
He slows his run down to a walk as he enters the clearing and is surprised to see an angry, tall man. He’s even more surprised to see that angry, tall man yelling and towering over Allie. Mateo didn’t even think about his next moves as he inserted himself in between the unknown man and Allie, “Hey, hey! Back up, man! What’s your problem?” The man backed up, fire blazing in his stare as he tears his glance away from Allie to Mateo, “Who are you?” the man curses at Mateo, taking him aback. Not that Mateo had a problem with cussing, but what was going on, that was making this guy so aggressive. He had only known Allie for a day, but he couldn’t imagine that she could have done something so bad to warrant this kind of reaction.
“I’m Mateo. My family owns this property. Now, who are you?” Mateo asks, keeping his tone level. The guy gives a humorless laugh as he looks behind Mateo, making Mateo instinctively step in front of Allie to protect her from this guy, “Real nice, Rosalie. I can’t believe that you’d stoop so low to screw someone to have free place to live,” Seriously, who is this guy? Mateo thinks to himself. “What would your parents think, hm? You’ll live here, in squaller, instead of giving our son,” he emphasizes those words as he looks directly at Mateo, “the home and family that he deserves.
Mateo puts his hands up, “Listen, I don’t know what the issue is between you and Allie, but her decisions that she makes are her own and should be respected. Until you can speak to her with the respect that she deserves as the mother of your son, you need to go.” The guy doesn’t move, but Mateo stands strong and firm, not backing down. The guy gives another chuckle, looking Mateo up and down, as if sizing him up. The guy looks like he’s about to take a swing but either thinks better of it, or decides it isn’t worth it, “Whatever. I don’t want her. She was just an easy lay anyway.”
Mateo didn’t register the next few moments; they happened within a blink of an eye. One moment, the guy looked like he was ready to clock him and the next, he was on the ground holding his jaw. As soon as the words against Allie came out his mouth, he just felt a blind rage. His vision went black as his arm moved on it’s own volition, “Get in your car and get out of here. Don’t come back unless she specifically invites you.” Mateo says bending over, ice coating each syllable. The guy shuffles to his feet, working his jaw back and forth, “You’ll regret that.” He says before climbing back into his car and speeding off, sending gravel flying in his wake.
Mateo silently stares at the orange glow of the retreating taillights for a moment before remembering where he was at. He whips around to still see Allie standing there frozen, “Allie, I’m sorry-,” He begins to apologize before she surprises him by leaping into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. He didn’t know how to react at first, not reciprocating the hug. She grips her arms tighter around his neck, then he finally relents, wrapping his arms around her waist. He closes his eyes and revels in this moment. He wasn’t sure what it was, but this was… good. She was good. He breathes in, smelling notes of coconut and vanilla, likely her shampoo since it seemed that her hair was damp from a shower.
Allie releases her hold and steps back, suddenly flustered. She attempts to inconspicuously wipe away some stray tears, “Whew. I’m sorry for all that,” She waves an open hand over the area that the guy once occupied, “as you probably assumed. That was my ex, Asher’s dad.” She explains as feeling comes back to her legs, now feeling slightly unstable as the adrenaline subsides. Inhaling a shaky breath, “I’m sorry that you had to see that, that was… ridiculous.” She says again, tears forming in her eyes, the prickle of emotion rising in her nose and cheeks. Try as she might, she just couldn’t keep her lip from quivering.
“Are you okay?” Mateo asks cautiously.
As much as Allie tries to hold it back by pinching her bottom lip between her teeth, her nostrils start flaring as emotions rush forward causing her to begin sobbing. Her breaths shallow. Again, acting on instinct, Mateo steps forward to catch Allie by the shoulders as she nearly collapses into his hold. Allie is horrified at what is currently transpiring between her and Mateo, since she only met him just yesterday, but she can’t help it. Since she’s had Asher, possibly even before then, nobody has stood up for her the way that Mateo just had. She felt guilty for rolling her eyes when he stepped in, thinking that he was just going to automatically take Hayes’s side since Hayes has a way of manipulating people, but it was like Mateo wouldn’t even allow the conversation to flow that way. He didn’t even give Hayes room to “defend” himself.
While Allie doesn’t condone violence and she thanks God that Asher wasn’t here, she can’t help but feel a little vindication for all the abuse that she’s put up with over the years. This has been one of the areas that Harmony and Maria have been helping her with; that even though Hayes physically hit her, she was still a survivor of abuse. Forgiving herself was the next step. She also couldn’t help but thank God for sending Mateo here. Sending him here to River Valley, sending him out to this house, everything. She didn’t even want to think of how it would have escalated had he not shown up.
“Oh, my goodness,” Allie says, standing upright, “I am seriously so sorry. This is such a mess, I’m such a mess.” Allie steps back out of Mateo’s hold, using her fingers to wipe the tears away though she knows that it doesn’t do much since her face turns blotchy red when she cries. “Allie, stop. You don’t have to apologize. That was…” Mateo begins gently as he approaches her, “that was a lot. Are you okay?” Tears form once again as she shakes her head, “No, not really.” She lets out a somber chuckle.
“Do you have anyone to stay here with you? Where’s Asher?” Mateo asks, looking over her shoulder toward the house to see any signs of the young boy. Allie shakes her head, “No, there’s no one here and Asher is at my parent’s house for the night.” Allie wraps her arms around her waist, tucking inside of herself. Mateo nods silently, looking around at the wooded area then at the house, noticing there wasn’t any security cameras or anything, “Go grab a bag.” He instructs Allie, causing her to whip her head, “It’s okay, Mateo. I’m okay.” She expresses it unconvincingly. “No, you aren’t. You’re scared. I’m scared. I don’t want you here by yourself in case he gets brave and decides to come back. Plus, I think Millie would literally kill me if I left you here alone after what just happened.”
Allie thinks for a moment, then nods her head. Mateo was right. She was scared out of her mind, but she had always been so used to just dealing with it that she didn’t think anything of it. She never felt protected, even by her parents and she felt like too much of a burden to ask any of the Alexander for help, though she knows that they would be happy to give it. She resigns, nodding before turning around to walk back to the house. Mateo walks behind her, choosing to sit on the front porch steps, keeping watch and an ear out for any approaching cars. He’d never been a big fan of guns, but he sure wished he had some form of protection right about now. It wasn’t long before Allie came back out, duffel bag slung over her shoulder as she meekly shrugs her shoulders.
Mateo didn’t like this. This version of Allie didn’t seem right, it didn’t fit her. He couldn’t help but think she was supposed to be the version that he saw on the court today; strong, outspoken, competitive, confident. Mateo jerks his head toward the trail, which she follows silently. They walk in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say until Allie speaks up, “Can I ask how you knew to come here?” The question caught him off guard, “I didn’t really,” They stroll leisurely, the sun now setting slowly, creating an orangey glow in the sky, “I just wanted to go on a run to clear my head and saw the trail to the house and decided to venture, I guess.” Mateo shrugs.
Allie gives a silent nod, ingesting the information, “Well, thank you,” She opens her body up to him as they continue walking, “I owe you one.” Mateo laughs, “You don’t owe me, Allie, for being a decent human being. Anyone that saw that should have come to your defense.”
“You’d think that.” She huffs out.
“What do you mean?” Mateo raises his eyebrow at her rebuttal. His entire life, his dad had taught them how valuable and special women, especially in Jesus’s teachings. He couldn’t imagine no one coming to Allie’s defense after seeing her ex being so aggressive.
“Hayes, my ex,” She explains, “has a way of manipulating the situation. He uses all the charm and charisma to get people to agree with his perspective and only his perspective.” She shakes her head angrily as she looks down at the trail, watching her shoes crunch the gravel beneath her feet. She kicks a rock and watches as it propels forward, clicking as it hits against other rocks.
“For what its worth, he shouldn’t talk to you that way. Ever.” Though that’s truly what he believes, Mateo doesn’t want to think or dive into why he feels so protective in this moment. Is it because he finds Allie attractive or is it something deeper? He doesn’t know nor does he really want to think about it, so he decides to keep the conversation on Allie, “So, can I ask what he was doing there?”
Allie blows a breath between her lips, trying to process why he was there herself. She wasn’t expecting him, in fact, she made sure to text him and his mom that Asher was with her mom as she dropped him off. As she was settling in after her shower, she heard him pull up, “I’m assuming him and his fling broke up, because I told him Asher was with my mom then he showed up,” Allie rolls her eyes, thinking about all the times she was stupid and fell for Hayes’s antics in the past, “This was another lame attempt to get ‘his family back’.”
“I’ve heard that before. I obviously don’t have any kids, but some of the friends that I’ve hung around complained about their kids’ dads doing this sort of thing. What happens?”
“PG version? They want one thing but use the ‘I want my family back’ to manipulate to soften hearts, get them all ooey-gooey, then when they get what they want… they leave.” Allie voice quiets on those last words, shame filling her as memories come back of the times that she let herself be tricked into thinking that he had really changed or there was really a part of Hayes that wanted to be a family. The humiliation she felt when she found him post another girl on social media the very next day, the horrendous messages that she would get when the girls found out about her and Asher, as if it was her fault.
“Has he done this before?” Mateo looks at Allie’s sunken face, what is this guy thinking? She’s a lotto pick. The jackpot, Mateo thinks to himself. He had never had a serious girlfriend before but even he could see Allie’s value. She was… everything. They continued to walk, coming closer to the edge of the tree line where it would soon open to the circle drive in front of his parents’ house. He didn’t want the conversation to end though. Allie was so interesting, different from any girl that he had ever met or had any sort of relationship with.
“Unfortunately. Though, I had decided the last time would be the last time… finally. He had been on and off with this girl, creating this terrible love triangle, stringing us both along. Willingly and stupidly. It was about six months ago, and I just remember him telling me that he ‘couldn’t wait for the day that I met someone, bought land, and lived happily ever after’. I swore then that I would make that come true for him.”
“Wow,” Mateo couldn’t come up with any other words. He couldn’t fathom a man’s mind that didn’t see Allie as a total package, “sounds like a cheap way of avoiding commitment.”
Allie nods slowly, “I thought the same thing when I heard him. I just had this moment of realization that he thought I was so stupid and desperate for him.” Allie shook her head, unable to keep thinking of how blind she had been to see only what she wanted to see, his potential. As they found there way past the tree line, both Allie and Mateo, released a breath, like they both felt relief of how far removed they were from what just happened. Just before they get to the door, Mateo stops her by gently grabbing her elbow, Allie looks down, feeling a zing at his touch then looks back up at him, “For the record, I know I don’t know you very well, but I don’t think you’re stupid. And you’d be perfect…” Mateo wasn’t sure where he was going with it, but before he could find it, Allie interrupted him, “yeah, yeah… I’d be perfect if I was smaller and not one of the guys, right?”
Mateo gives her a confused look then his features soften, “No, just that. You’d be perfect for anyone. You’re the total package.” Mateo gives her a smile as he opens the door and lets her in, God, what is happening here? Allie asks as she passes him, willing her knees not to buckle underneath her. Mateo already saved her from an unruly douche bag, he didn’t need to catch her from falling.
She wanted so badly to be skeptical, to find fault in his words, to see every red flag, but she couldn’t. It was like her spirit wouldn’t allow her. She could feel these walls that she had meticulously and rigidly built around her heart slowly melting away. Dominic gave both Allie and Mateo a look as it was abnormal for them to have been together since Mateo left by himself. Mateo, seemingly understanding his father’s look, holds up hand indicating that he would explain. Silently they communicated that Mateo would meet Dominic in his office, “Hey, I’m going to go talk to my dad,” he says as he turns to Allie, “You okay?” He asks, checking on her one more time before leaving her.
Allie nods, “Yeah, I’m going to go find Millie.” Allie walks off toward the dining room then heads up the stairs, resigning that Millie must be in her bedroom as Mateo heads to his dad’s office.
“You’re kidding,” Dominic leans back in his chair, shocked that something like that happened only a mile away without his knowledge, “Wow. Well, I’m certainly glad that the Holy Spirit led you that way. Who knows what could have happened…” Dominic shakes his head, not wanting to take himself down that path. In the short time that he has come to know Allie, she has been implanted into their little family. He has come to care for her just as much as he cares for Teagan and Millie, especially little Asher, and he has a sneaking suspicion why.
“I don’t know if it was all that spiritual?” Mateo responds, scratching the back of his neck. It’s not like he felt a strong urge to go down that path or felt like he should go visit where his grandparents used to live. He just did it.
“I don’t think it was a coincidence. I’m just mad at myself for not putting up cameras sooner. She’s been living there with no issue for the last two or three years, so we never thought anything of it.” Dominic says.
“I get it, the land is practically locked with only one way in, that’s if you know the drive is there.” Mateo scratches his jaw line, not wanting to think about the “what ifs” any longer. Since the moment he saw the fear in Allie’s eyes, all he had been doing was thinking about the “what ifs”. What if he had shown up a couple of minutes later? What if he turned back around when he saw they were arguing? What if he hadn’t gone down the trail at all? He didn’t want to think anymore. He wanted to act. He wanted to do something.
He wanted to keep her safe.
“What are you thinking, son?”
“You think it’d be okay if we ran some basic cameras? Inside and out? You think she would mind? I don’t know her as well as you all do, but I don’t like the idea that he could come back. That’s why I insisted that she come back here.”
“You did good, son. Real good. I’m honored to be your dad.” Dominic says. Mateo clears his throat to get up, not wanting to truly feel the weight of those words. He knows his dad loves him, but he had always wondered if his dad ever blamed him for what happened to his mom. While his dad never said anything nor did his actions ever indicate otherwise, there was still this voice inside his head that would run rampant that nearly insisted that his dad had some underlying hatred toward him.
“Thanks, dad. I’m going to go ask Allie if she wants to go shopping for some tomorrow.” Mateo uses the wooden arm rests to push himself up and walk out of the office. As he exits, he hears the girls talking at the dining room table, chatting about everything that had just happened. Mateo didn’t mean to eavesdrop; he just didn’t want to scare them and interrupt their conversation. However, he couldn’t help the ego fluff that he got when he heard Allie mention his name,
“Millie you should have seen it. I’ve never seen anyone react on instinct the way that he had. Like literally, one minute Hayes was in my face yelling and the next, Mateo is standing between us.” Allie explains.
“I still can’t believe that he got that aggressive. Has he ever got like that, with you?” Millie asks.
As Mateo keeps listening, he has to keep his anger in check, knowing that if he unleashed his anger, it could have serious consequences. Not only for him but for Allie and Asher too. He leans against the outside of the doorframe, continuing to listen to his sister and this enigmatic, beautiful woman that has taken his world by storm in just a few hours.
“No, never. Then again, he’s used to getting his way. With everything.”
“I’m just glad that Ash wasn’t here to see anything.”
“Yeah, me too. Then again, I think he likes Mateo more than he does his own dad.”
“When’s the last time that he’s actually spent time with him or seen him?”
“Who knows? I tell him anytime that Asher spends the night with my parents, but I rarely ever get a response.”
Mateo shakes his head. What kind of man is this? One that doesn’t respect the mother of his child but seems to go out of his way to not see his son. Not wanting to listen to any more out of fear that he wouldn’t be able to control his temper, he walks into the dining room and has a seat next to Allie, which Millie takes notice of.
Millie saw it yesterday, the way that Mateo was looking at Allie. She didn’t blame him because Allie was an absolute knockout. Not many people can pull off the classic red hair look, but it looks absolutely timeless on her. Millie attempts to cover her features with her hand, not wanting to give anything away or make the conversation awkward. As she looks between the two of them, she is certain that there’s something between them. Though she’s excited about the prospect of Allie and her brother, she can’t help but grieve her own love life. With four overly protective older brothers, and a stint in the NICU that apparently stays with one for life, she never had the opportunity to date much, though it wasn’t like her class produced any real winners.
She thinks about the pull that she feels currently, the one that she looks at like Allie is looking at Mateo, the pull that’s so strong yet she still tries to deny because she feels like it should be forbidden. Well, if I can’t get my happily ever after, might as well help Mateo get his, she surmises. “You guys should go together.” Millie chimes in, halfway following their conversation of buying and installing security cameras around Allie’s house.
Allie gives her an eyebrow raise that Millie responds to with a cheeky smile, “I’ll have Asher tomorrow, he probably wouldn’t find security camera shopping too fun.” She responds, wondering if Millie is up to something, which is confirmed with Millie offers to watch Asher so that they can go. “You know I can only afford three days a week, Mills.” Allie reminds her.
Millie waves her off, “Pfft, it’s on the house.” He’s going to be my nephew pretty soon anyway, so… though she doesn’t dare to voice that opinion just yet. With Allie backed into a figurative corner, she concedes, telling Mateo of her schedule for the next day and when she can go, but they’ll have to be back before Wednesday night service since she volunteers to help Maverick with the youth groups.
Mateo lightly smacks his hands on the table, giving Allie that world class smile that threatens to knock her right off her feet, then says, “It’s a date” as he leaves to go upstairs. Millie squeals in delight in her seat, “Oh my goodness, that was so cute. I’m gonna die.” Allie leans forward to whisper yell at the loving pain in the butt sitting in front of her, “What are you doing?”
“Mmm… nothing.”
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