Yeah, that plan’s out the window whether Maria knows it or not. We’ll find out fairly soon what Michael’s reaction is.
kismet: Hmm… well, we’d have to get him back up on that mountain first. Not sure he’s gonna cooperate with that one.
Yeah, they’re just not giving her much to work with.
mary mary: Yeah, the ol’ apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Well, staying up on that mountain is one option. People like that definitely make life interesting.
Well, that’s one week down… one more to go…
Eva: Mark may surprise you even more as we move further along.
Maria’s folks are definitely blind to what she wants.
Oh, that meeting is going to be interesting… and it’s coming soon.
Alien_Friend: Mark is being a jerk and he’s not even thinking about waiting for her to explain things to him. We’ll see the situation begin to unfold soon.
Courtney’s just a girl who fell for a guy who doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. We hope she finds someone too.
Yup, it’s getting closer.
begonia9508: You’re right – and we think she’s thinking right along those same lines.
sarammlover: Yup, we agree. Well, the parents are actually thinking they’re just going to see their daughter – Maria’s parents have no idea that Michael’s up on the mountain with their daughter. Mark is definitely assuming the worst. Courtney… surprise ya?
Part 41
Everyone was gathered around the fire after finishing dinner, talking and laughing, and just enjoying each other’s company. It was their last night on the mountain and while they were all ready to get back down, a few of them wished the end wasn’t so close. The last few days had been filled with fun and happiness as the two newest couples began to explore their relationships.
Michael and Maria were relearning their way while Max and Liz were taking their first steps into uncharted territory with each other. Tess and Kyle were completely happy and she had been talking about wedding plans since they had settled down to relax for their last evening. She and Maria had been discussing different aspects of the wedding with the occasional helpful bit of information from Max while the rest of the guys had been content to discuss any and all sports.
Max cast a glance at Liz when she moved to stand up. “Goin’ somewhere?”
“Think I’m gonna just take a breather,” she said, resting her hand on his shoulder to tell him she needed a moment alone. “I’ll be okay.”
He nodded but his gaze followed her as she walked off to stand near the edge of camp. He turned his head when Maria called his name and he shook his head when he caught her questioning look.
“I’ll go talk to her,” she offered. “You can take my place.”
“Huh?”
“We’re discussing flower arrangements and whether to go with real or fake flowers,” Tess said, catching him up on the conversation.
“Real, definitely. More expensive, but also a lot nicer.”
Nick raised an eyebrow when Max easily slipped into Maria’s place in the conversation. “Dude, you’re not supposed to be able to talk about stuff like that.”
Max just shrugged and grinned. “Why?”
“It’s just not right.”
He glanced after Maria, seeing Liz jump when she approached her and reached out to place a hand on her arm. He had felt the nervous tension in her all day long but she hadn’t wanted to talk about it, insisting that she was fine. He had let it go because he knew she was still trying to figure out how things worked with the shift in their relationship but he was worried about letting it go for too long.
Maria held her hands up when Liz jerked around to look at her. “Hey, easy, girl, it’s just me.”
Liz smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, just got a lot on my mind tonight.”
“Lemme guess: Max?” Maria teased slightly.
“He’s part of it,” she said.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Liz shrugged. “I don’t know. I just... I feel like once we get off this mountain everything’s gonna change.”
“Yeah,” Maria shoved her hands into her pockets. “There’s no way around that, Liz.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Yeah... I mean, I guess it’s already changed, but it’s like...” she sighed. “It’s like, once we’re down there it’s... I don’t know... real, ya know?”
“What’re you afraid of Liz?”
“I...” her mouth opened and closed a few times. “Change, I guess. I feel like everything’s about to change and I don’t know if I’m ready for it.”
“Change doesn’t have to be something bad Liz.”
“No, I know,” she said with a faint smile.
“We just have to go back and see what happens, Liz. It might be tough and strange first, but I believe everything will be okay.”
“Yeah? Is it normal to have these moments of doubt, Maria? It’s just, I don’t doubt Max... but I guess I just doubt my ability to be what he needs.”
“It’s pretty normal. And Max has known ya for a very long time now, Liz. Don’t ya think he’s already figured out that you’re what he needs you to be?”
“I’m obsessing about this too much, right?”
Maria smiled and hugged one arm around her friend. “Yeah, probably.”
“He does seem to be happy,” Liz confided with a small smile. “I’m completely lost in this relationship thing and he’s confident enough for both of us, but I need to feel that way too... he deserves it.”
“Don’t put so much pressure on yourself, Liz. Just...” Maria shrugged, “take it easy.”
“Yeah, he keeps tellin’ me the same thing.”
“See, seems to be true then, huh?” Maria teased. “I know it’s easier said than done. I don’t know what it’d be like to go from best friends to lovers. Michael and I were never just friends.”
Liz snorted. “Somehow I believe that.”
“Just have faith in yourself, girl.”
“Max is just...” she turned to look at him, smiling when she saw him and Tess deep in discussion about some wedding detail or other. “He’s Mr. Forever, ya know? I’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see it.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, it’s not a bad thing. And it’s not like he’s putting any pressure on me...” she rolled her eyes when Maria just gave her a look. “Right, I know, stop putting that pressure on myself. I’m tryin’.”
“When you start feelin’ like there’s too much pressure, think about me still havin’ to face my parents.” She paused and checked on Liz, chuckling when the other girl smiled. “See, my life is much worse.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that one,” Liz agreed. “I know it’s just nerves along with a little bit of fear... I’ve just gotta get a handle on it.”
“You just climbed that mountain, Liz. How hard can it be to deal with some nerves and fear after that?”
She snorted. “Fallin’ off the side of a mountain’s a different kinda risk. We’re talkin’ about riskin’... hell, everything.”
Maria snorted. “You’re crazy, Parker.”
“Yeah, I’m crazy,” she teased. “And you’re the one who just jumped back into a relationship with Michael.”
The blonde bit her lip and smiled. “He’s the right one. I know it.”
“You both look really happy.” She smiled and nodded when Max glanced at her. She knew he was concerned about her and she had brushed him off all day.
“So do you,” Maria observed as she watched the little gesture between Max and her friend.
Liz watched him for another minute before turning back to Maria. “Thanks for the reality check. Hope you’ll be ready to give me more of them ‘cause this probably won’t be the only freak-out I have for a while.”
“If ya promise to help me pull the pieces together after my parents rip me apart?”
“Aww, Maria,” Liz said, hugging her friend tightly. “I’ll be here for you. Always,” she promised.
“Ditto.”
“I think your guy’s getting impatient for you to get back to him,” she said with a smile. “He keeps looking over here.”
“Feel ready to get back to yours as well?”
“Yeah. I know he can hold his own with the wedding conversation with Tess, but I’m sure he’s ready for you to take over again.”
“Let’s go then.”
They rejoined the group and Liz smiled at Max as she sat down next to him again.
“You okay?” he asked quietly when she leaned against his side.
“Fine,” she answered. “Just needed a little advice from a friend.” Her right hand settled on his thigh. “Don’t worry about it.”
He covered her hand with his bigger one and squeezed it. “Ya want some chocolate?”
“That a real question?”
“Here,” he placed his coffee in her hand. “I’ll get some.”
*****
It was late afternoon as the group sat in the van driving back to the lodge where their journey had started just a few days before. Maria glanced out the window, feeling uncomfortable about what she knew was coming. She knew the day would change her whole life and it scared her.
“You okay?” Michael asked, glancing to the side from where he was sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Just nervous.”
He reached out to squeeze her hand where it rested in her lap. “Me too.”
Liz glanced at Max dreamily, trying to imagine where things would go from here now that things had changed.
“What’re you thinkin’ about?” he asked when he caught her staring at him.
She smiled, shaking her head. “Nothin’, just trying to imagine the future.”
“Am I in there somewhere?”
She frowned. “Of course you are, goofy.”
He laughed and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “That’s all I need to know.”
The van came to a stop after a few more minutes in silence, letting everyone know that the trip was definitely over. They all climbed out, stretching and starting to get their packs out of the back. “Wow, I can’t believe it’s already over,” Tess said, feeling sad about it.
“We’ll have to do like again,” Kyle agreed. “Maybe a different mountain though.”
“I hope that’s not a hidden complaint about the guides,” Tony told the couple, his tone amused. He turned around when somebody tapped his shoulder and he smiled in surprise when he came face to face with Vanessa Morgan.
“Welcome back,” she said with a smile and gave him a hug.
Tony lifted her up off of her feet as he hugged her and he kissed her cheek when he set her down again. “I didn’t know you were gonna be here,” he said.
“Surprise,” she said, smiling.
“Best surprise I can think of.”
Behind him Nick snorted and muttered, “Liar,” under his breath.
Tony shifted just enough to bump into his buddy and he rammed his elbow into his side. “Nick, why don’t you make yourself useful and use your back instead of your mouth,” he growled.
Vanessa smirked. “Are we still on for our date tonight?”
“Sounds good.”
“You’re actually gonna go out with this loser?” Michael asked, intentionally bumping his shoulder against Tony’s as he passed him.
Vanessa glanced at her date for the evening and smiled. “I guess I am.”
“Um, Vanessa… that’s the part where you were supposed to correct Guerin’s comment about me bein’ a loser,” Tony said with a wink.
“I’ll correct him after tonight,” she told him with a wink.
“I’ve got a twenty spot that says he’s gonna do somethin’ stupid,” Nick said.
Michael grinned and shrugged. “I’ll take that bet. I think Tony might be able to pull this off.”
“You two are not betting on me.” He glanced at Vanessa. “We should leave before they will make you run.”
The guy’s just grinned and high-fived each other.
“If he cooks for her the date’ll be over before it even begins,” Nick joked.
Tony rolled his eyes as he started to say goodbye to the rest of the group. “Hey, so ya might stop by again someday, huh?” he asked Kyle.
“Yeah, that might just happen.”
Tony nodded and looked at the last person in the row. “I guess I’ll be seein’ you around more often in the near future?” he asked Maria with a smirk.
She glanced at Michael, watching him as he tried to untangle a couple of straps on two of the packs and she nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I think that’s very likely.”
“Good,” he said and gave her a small hug, “I’ve already gotten used to you and you’re good for Guerin.”
“Don’t be tellin’ her any lies,” Michael said as he straightened up from what he was doing. He wasn’t close enough to hear what his friend was telling Maria and Tony was probably trying to be helpful, but that had a 50/50 chance of actually being helpful.
Maria laughed. “He didn’t.”
“Uh-huh, we’ll see…” He trailed off when he saw Mark step out of the lodge with a group of people and it only took moments to recognize Amy and Carson DeLuca. This wasn’t good, he thought. They hadn’t noticed him yet but he knew it wouldn’t be long before they did and it wasn’t gonna be pretty. He could feel it.
“Um, Maria... isn’t that your parents over there?” Liz asked when she turned to follow Michael’s stunned look.
Maria jerked around and muttered several colorful epithets under her breath when she saw her parents walking towards them with Mark and his parents. She glanced back at Michael and she felt her nerves settle just the tiniest bit when he gave her a determined nod. He wasn’t going anywhere, he was going to stand there and face them with her.
“Oh, boy,” Max muttered when he realized what was going on. “This could get real ugly, real quick.”
Nick made a face and looked at Vanessa and Tony, pointing at the lodge. “Let’s leave ‘em alone.”
“Yeah, we probably oughta do the same,” Kyle said quietly to Tess. “You think?”
“Yeah, they don’t need an audience for this.”
Liz glanced at them. “Agreed, but if this gets outta hand we make sure her parents know we’re behind them.”
Max nodded. “Works for me.”
Maria glanced at her parents again... and Mark... and his parents. Oh God! It wasn’t planned like this. She had thought she could talk to Mark and only Mark first. She was pretty sure her parents hadn’t noticed Michael yet, but they were coming closer and it was only a matter of seconds.
Michael waited until the others had made themselves scarce before he turned to Maria. “How you wanna play this? We wanted to talk to Mark and Courtney first… you wanna just jump in now or just let your parents deal with the fact that I was one of your guides on this trip, take care of Mark and Courtney later without the parents around, and then face the parents?” He was out of his depth here and he knew her father was going to be beyond angry when he realized the guy he was so sure he was rid of was back and intent on a relationship with his daughter.
Maria sighed. On the one hand she wanted this to be over, but on the other hand, she wanted to talk to Mark first. Otherwise this could get really mess. “We probably shouldn’t reveal the truth just yet,” she told him. “I... I need to talk to him alone first.”
He nodded. As much as he wanted this nightmare to be done and over he didn’t want a huge scene right in front of the lodge.
Maria turned to look at her parents again as she put her pack on the ground. She could see her father’s face turning into a grimace when he recognized Michael. “God, I wish I could just run now,” she muttered to herself.
“If I can’t run, neither can you,” he said and forced a smile.
“You better not,” she told him and then tried to look cool when her parents and the others approached them. “Hey, everyone. Wow, I didn’t expect you to already be here, Mom.”
“Well, I’d heard that you were having a good time but I had no idea that you’d run into an old… friend,” she said delicately. She turned to Michael and held her hand out to him. “Michael, how are you?”
“Hello, Mrs. DeLuca. I’m good, thanks. How’re you?” God, he felt nervous. Amy wasn’t the problem though; it was Maria’s father, the head of the family.
Amy glanced between her daughter and the boy she knew still held Maria’s heart. It was written all over the younger woman’s face regardless of the fact that she was clearly trying to hide it. She hadn’t necessarily agreed completely with her husband’s adamant refusal to accept Michael and they had gotten into plenty of disagreements about it but never in front of their daughter. “Carson, come and say hello,” she said and reached for his hand to pull him forward. She squeezed his fingers in warning because as much as he disliked public scenes Michael was a sore subject and it wouldn’t be unheard for him to lose his temper.
She didn’t know what Mark knew or if he even knew anything at all, but she knew her daughter well enough to know that she would want to handle Mark on her own and without an audience.
Carson’s eyes bored into the younger man as he shook his hand and did his best to make the grip as painful as possible. It only annoyed him further when Michael kept his expression neutral. “Michael,” he grated out, in deference to his wife’s warning.
“Mr. Deluca,” Michael responded with a nod. Stay calm, he ordered himself.
Mark watched the interaction with both amusement and tension. Carson looked like steam was going to escape from his ears at any second and Amy was watching her husband carefully. His gaze shifted to Maria. She seemed kinda lost and he even felt a little sorry right now. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea for this run-in.
Carson gave a sharp nod and released Michael’s hand. He turned his attention to his daughter and smiled as he hugged her tightly. “Mark wasn’t sure if your friends would be staying longer or going home today. Will you be coming to stay with us?” he asked hopefully.
“Is Mark already at the cabin with you?” she asked, hoping he would say no.
“He moved his things over a couple days ago,” her father answered.
Damn it, she thought. “Well, then, of course I’ll stay with you.” She didn’t have a good feeling about this, but if she wanted to talk to Mark first, then she had to.
“Well, I’m sure Mark will go with you and help you pack your things.” He looked meaningfully at Michael. “You must have things you need to attend to after being away for so long.”
“I need to go get the keys for the cabin from Liz. You guys wait here, okay? I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Maria said, hoping none of them would insist on coming with her. She needed to talk to Michael alone.
“I’ve gotta check in with the Evac Unit that picked you up,” Michael said with a nod in Mark’s direction. “Gotta find out if they need anything else from me.” He hefted his pack up and hooked one of the straps over his shoulder, nodding to the others as he passed them to follow Maria.
“Why would an Evac Unit be at the lodge?” Carson asked suspiciously.
“They’re not,” he answered coolly. “But the pilot has lunch here every day and this’ll save me a trip later.”
Maria walked through the door of the lodge first and moved left so she would be out of her parent’s sight. She glanced at Michael when he reached her. “My father is bein’ an ass again, sorry.”
He shrugged. “Didn’t really expect anything else. How’re you holdin’ up?” he asked gently.
“Good so far.” She made a face. “I’m gonna have to go to their cabin with them though.”
He nodded. He didn’t like that she was going into the first part of this mess alone. He reached for one of the flyers on a stand behind him and flipped it over on the reception desk. He grabbed a pen off of the polished surface and scribbled out his phone number and address with rough directions. “You don’t really need to bother with the directions unless you can’t reach me. If anything happens and you can’t deal with Mark, your parents, or the situation, I want you to call me. I’m gonna head to my place and clean up so I can find Courtney and get that out of the way.”
She took the flyer from him and shoved it into her jacket pocket. “Okay, I’ll call you as soon as I’ve got things straight with Mark and all.”
“If you change your mind… about talkin’ to them alone first… I’m here, Maria. I don’t care what time it is or what I’m doin’, if you call me I’ll be with you as soon as I can get there.”
She sighed. “Right now I can’t even tell you where I’ll be. I only know that the cabin they’re stayin’ at isn’t too far from here.”
“I’ll find out from someone here. They always know where the out-of-towners are stayin’.” He took her hand and tugged her closer to whisper a kiss against her lips. “You’ll call soon either way, right?”
“Tonight at the latest,” she whispered and hugged him tightly.
Michael didn’t want to let her go but he knew they were on borrowed time. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, letting his lips linger for a moment. “Tonight,” he agreed gruffly and released her.
She smiled briefly. “Tonight.”
“Okay. You worried about it?”
She was, but she wanted to look brave in front of him. “They can’t do anything, right? Pulling the money isn’t a threat for me.”
“Hey,” his touch was tender as he cupped her cheek and brought her gaze to his, “it’s only a threat if it’s somethin’ that can come between us. We don’t need your parents’ money to make it.”
“I know,” she agreed and straightened up. “Gotta say goodbye to the others now.”
Michael nodded and straightened up, letting her go. He glanced up when Tony and Nick flanked him. Tony bumped his shoulder and Nick gave him a friendly shove as they showed their support.
Maria smiled at them. “Watch him for me, will ya?” She pointed at her friends who were sitting around a table drinking some hot chocolate. “I gotta go.”
The guys nodded and Nick gave her a sloppy salute.
Maria walked towards her friends slowly and crouched down next to Liz. “Hey.”
Liz studied her friends’ face for several long seconds. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I have to leave you guys though. My parents are stayin’ at a cabin a few miles from here and I need to go with them.”
Liz shook her head. “You should stay with us, Maria. Once you tell Mark it’s over he’s gonna be even more unbearable than usual.”
“Uh-huh and staying here would only make my parents mad. I doubt that would be smart right now.” Maria sighed. “Are you guys staying here for a while?”
Tess gasped audibly. “We’re not just leaving you here!”
Maria smirked. “Thanks, guys.” She stood up again. “I have to go now. Wish me luck!”
“Good luck!” they shouted, raising their hot chocolate mugs in the air.
She gave Liz a quick hug before she went back to meet Mark and the parents, feeling nothing but weird, guilty and lost.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, another TIC TAC character is waiting for ya at our author's page (link in the siggie). Meet Max Evans!
TRAILER: MAX VID
