Significance (9 page)

“Oh, now, don’t be embarrassed. It’s natural-”

“Dad! Little help here,” he called out.

“Alright, Gran,” Peter laughed. “Why don’t you take Maggie to the kitchen and I’ll talk to Caleb. But first.” He came and stood in front of me. He smiled and reached around me to hug me to him. “Thank you so much for saving my son, Maggie. Even if you weren’t his significant, I would still owe you everything.” He pulled back and released me.

“It was nothing, really,” I insisted.

“Nothing, smothing. Come on, pretty girl. I need help with the banana pudding,” Grandma chimed.

“Aces eat banana pudding?” I asked as she looped her arm through mine, but I felt stupid for my question.

“Yep. Aces love banana pudding. Well, my Aces do anyway.”

She towed me with her. I glanced behind me at Caleb and he mouthed a ‘sorry’. I smiled and shrugged and made my way to help a bunch of Aces make dinner.

Gladly, Gran did not continue her plight for safe sex with me. In fact, she didn’t speak of anything about our imprinting at all. She just asked me questions about school, my dad, my brother, growing up.

The other ladies in the kitchen listened intently when I answered. The little girl I’d seen in the window had apparently been held back from the meeting we had earlier and was now bouncing around me as I sliced bananas. She was about seven years old I’d guess and was very cute in her green dress and ponytail.

Everyone decided to eat outside so I helped set the tables and bring out dishes of hot concoctions. I texted Bish really quick while I had a few seconds.

Hey. Thanks for the congrats. I miss you. I can’t wait to see you. The sooner the better. Dad’s pretty bad but we’re making it. How’s things in NY?

As expected, the fasted typer in NY, who always had his phone attached to his hip, answered within thirty seconds.

Man, I miss you too, kid. I’m sorry about dad. I’ll try to send a little bit more money in a couple weeks but things are crazy expensive here. Other than that, things are...ok. I’ll start looking at when I can get a few days off soon. Love ya.

I typed back.

Don’t worry about us. We’re fine. Love you too.

When I made my final trip into the kitchen to help I saw the men had moved outside and were already parked in their chairs. Most of the woman had sat down too. I saw the empty seat next to Caleb, put my dish down and started to make my way over to him.

I felt like everyone was watching me. I’d felt like that all day and was glad I hadn’t just grabbed a hoodie and jeans like I would have any other Saturday.

The little girl who was following me around grabbed my hand before I could reach him. She smiled up at me angelically and swung our arms as we walked.

“I’m Maria.”

“Hi, Maria. I’m Maggie.”

“I know that, silly. Everyone knows who you are.”

“Oh. Well.” I’m sure I grimaced so I thought of something to say. “Where are you sitting?”

“Well, I usually sit next to Uncle Caleb but since you’re here, momma said I have to give up my seat.”

“Oh. You can sit by him. Really, I don’t want to take your seat.”

“It’s ok. Hi, Uncle Caleb!” She ran to him as he got up and hugged him tightly. “I brought Maggie to you.”

“I can see that.” He patted her back and smiled at me. “Thank you.”

“So,” she said more loudly and I was wary of the mischievous grin on her chubby cheeks. “Do you love my Uncle Caleb, Maggie? He’s really nice and he plays sports.”

Everyone looked and I swore my heart stopped. I laughed nervously and tucked my hair behind my ear but Caleb rescued me again.

“Maria, don’t you want Maggie to come back?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s try not to embarrass her, ok?”

“But she’s gonna marry you isn’t she?” she spouted with sudden alarm. “I heard momma say that you were! You can’t get married unless you love each other. Cause then all the babies will be born with no love in them-”

“Maria,” her mother whispered loudly. She covered a laugh in her fist. “Come sit down. I think you’ve scared Maggie enough for one day.”

I felt my cheeks blazing and bit my bottom lip. I wondered if I’d be permanently colored from all this blushing in one day. I looked up at Caleb and he was sighing and shaking his head as everyone chuckled around us.

“I’m so sorry. They’re all crazy. Don’t judge me by them, please,” he joked as he pulled me chair out for me.

The birds were jabbering as we sat under the shade of a huge oak in the backyard. I looked around at his family as they all passed the dishes around, laughing, talking, bickering. It all looked so perfect. I missed it, though I’d never had this before, I missed it something fierce.

“Are you kidding? Your family is so great. I’d give anything to have a big family like this. I mean, you all drove over here to see Kyle graduate, right?” I asked and he nodded.

I smiled remembering Kyle’s cheering and clapping section and his obvious enjoyment of it as his name was called. I’d never know what that felt like.

Caleb leaned in to whisper in my ear.

“Yes you will. They are your family now, too.”

I looked over and his face was so close our noses almost bumped. My heart galloped and I turned back to focus on my garlic bread. I decided I needed to talk to him. Understand him. Know him. I knew he went to Tennessee and was studying to be an architect, other than that, I had no clue.

“So, you live with your family?”

“Yeah. When I’m not at school I stay with my parents about thirty five miles from here. When I’m at school, I have a little apartment there.”

“And, Maria’s mom is your sister?”

“Yep. Jen.”

“What does she do?”

“She works with us.”

“Us?”

He looked at me and warred with whether to tell me or not.

“We all work together. Our great great grandfather started Jacobson Buildings and Things Architecture. It grew and it’s now it’s a pretty big company.”

“So, you all go to school to be architects and go work for the family firm?”

“Pretty much.”

“What if you didn’t want to be an architect?”

“You could be an accountant, lawyer or secretary. Anything you wanted as long as you work for the company. There’s a lot that goes into a big business like that.”

“Ok. So what if you didn’t want to work for them?”

“Uh. I’m not sure. That’s all we’ve ever done. That way we can stay together and, work together. We all have knowledge of how to take care of the family in case something happened to one of us. Everyone’s taken care of. It’s a security thing.”

I nodded.

“So, when do you go back to school?”

“Aug 1
^st
.”

“That’s eight weeks,” I sighed.

“Yep.” He looked at me and rubbed his chin. “I talked to my uncle and he’s agreed, in fact he insisted, I stay here with them until I go back to school. That way I’ll be closer to you.”

“And when you do go back to school?” I asked softly.

He leaned close.

“One thing at a time, Maggie.”

“Yeah. Ok. So, now what?”

“Well, it’s Saturday. I was going to ask if you wanted to do something with me tonight.”

“Yes,” I said a little too quickly and rolled my eyes at myself.

He laughed softly and scooted his hand close to mine on the table, a few of his fingers grazing over my knuckles.

“Great. We can go see your dad if you need to ask him first.”

“Nah,” I mumbled, relishing the way my mind clears of anything negative every time he touched me. “He won’t care.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. You saw him, he’s almost catatonic.”

“He’s been like that since your mom left?” I nodded as I picked at my pasta. “And what about the diner? Are you still gonna work there over the summer?”

“Well, I have to if I want money. My dad sure won’t give me any for anything.”

“So you only work there for extra cash?”

“Basically. School stuff. Clothes. What is it?” I asked at his relieved expression.

“Nothing. That’ll just be one less thing to worry about later,” he said cryptically.

“What do you mean?”

He smiled and bumped my shoulder with his.

“Nothing. Try the pudding. My grandma won county prize three years in a row for it.”

I allowed his subject change but put it away for future reference.

“So where are we going tonight?” I asked as I tasted a bite of pudding and found that yes, it was delicious.

“Mugly’s.”

“Mugly’s?” I said thinking I’d heard him wrong.

“Yep. A little place in my town, if you don’t mind the drive. They have awesome homemade corn nuggets and barbeque.”

“Mmm. I love barbeque,” I crooned.

He laughed around his spoon of pudding at my enthusiasm.

“Well, I’ll file little tidbit away for later use. What else do you love? I’m making a list here.”

It was my turn to laugh.

“Um. Popcorn. Cherries. Coffee. Anything pasta. My all time favorite, honey buns, I eat at least one everyday.”

He smiled, leaning on his elbow watching me like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“What else?”

“Concerts.” He made a noise to indicate he did too. “Sci-Fi movies. The beach. The color blue. Convertibles.”

“Really? Convertibles, huh? Well, then you’re in luck.”

“Why? You drive a convertible?”

“I do indeed.”

It hadn’t slipped my mind the cute flirty banter that was flowing easily between us. That every time he smiled at me there were sparks in my veins. That I suddenly realized he was way out of my league and there is no way this guy would have given me the time of day had we not been imprinted.

But I remembered yesterday, when he walked me to Kyle’s, he did seem somewhat interested then. In fact, he seemed outright disappointed when Kyle was ready to go. Hmm.

Then I remember he can read my feelings and peeked at him. He was still watching and shaking his head in amusement. I wrinkled my nose and he laughed.

“You said there was a way to turn that off, right?”

“Yep,” he answered. “It takes practice and concentration.”

“I’ll work on it.”

“Hey,” I heard from behind me. I turned to see Kyle. “You done?”

“Uh,” I looked down at my plate. I’d barely touched any of it. I’d spent most the time talking to Caleb. “Sure, I guess. What’s up?”

“How you holding up?”

“Good. Your family is really nice.”

“I told you they would be. You didn’t have anything to worry about. So, since you’re feeling ok, what are you doing tonight?”

I glanced at Caleb. He was watching Kyle with annoyance.

“Caleb and I are going to dinner.”

He laughed humorlessly.

“Are you? Well at least he’s gonna
try
to date you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Caleb asked.

“It means this is some fluke. Some joke. She’s nothing like you, she already got rid of one jock in her life and now you think you can just take her out on a date, like everything was normal, and it’s all just gonna be hunky-dory from now on?”

“Kyle. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” As Caleb spoke I looked around and saw that everyone was watching them with concern. “I’m sorry. I already said that.”

“Oh yeah, you’re real sorry. Strutting around here,
in my house
, like you’re just king of everything,” Kyle spat and I was shocked by the venom in his voice.

“Kyle. That’s not fair at all. I didn’t choose-”

“But you were still the chosen one weren’t you!” he sneered.

“I can’t change that’s she my significant, no matter what you feel about her. This right here is a prime example why they have the no-dating rule.”

“You hated that stupid rule just as much as me!” he yelled and pointed angrily.

“I know but I didn’t break it,” Caleb countered quietly. “If you’d spent less time trying to get her to go out with you, you wouldn’t feel this way about someone who doesn’t belong to you.”

Kyle paled and then turned beet red.

“That has nothing to do with it, though if I had touched her first instead of you, things would be a little different not wouldn’t they? But she’s my friend.”

“I disagree,” Caleb said steadily.

Kyle’s hand shook with his drink in his grasp at his side. I wondered what was going on. I mean, I knew Kyle had a little crush on me but Caleb knew an awful lot about it. Then Kyle’s dad came forward and put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder.

“Son,” he said softly. “I know this situation isn’t ideal but Caleb’s right on this. What are you doing? Don’t stir trouble where there doesn’t have to be any.”