More to You ✔

Chapter 40 - Loss (Maria)

"It's okay. Sometimes you need to face the truth even if it's agonizing."

Mitch dipped his toes back in the water. "I probably owe you some secrets to balance out this friendship."

"You don't owe me anything." Although she suspected he hid enough about his life and was one hundred percent intrigued by his offer. Would she find out why he avoided relationships?

His chest rose and fell slowly as the pool's surface grew calmer and glassier. As he closed his eyes, whose dark circles were more pronounced in the artificial lighting, she sat in silence with him for a good minute.

"I had a sister." His face twisted and lips pressed together as if someone had struck him. His feet rippled the water.

Maria reached out and took his hand. She couldn't imagine the devastation of that loss. He looked at her and exhaled. His mouth kept opening, but no words came out, so Maria tried to help him with some questions. "Older or younger?"

"Younger, just by a little."

"Hopefully less snarky than mine."

He laughed softly. "She was pretty headstrong."

Maria waited for him to add more, but despite meeting her gaze, he remained silent. The fragments of his closed-off life he'd shown her in the past floated back to her. She'd assumed the friend he'd talked about was an ex or someone who'd hurt him, but it must have been his sister.

"Was she the one who loved history and wanted to visit Thailand?" Mitch nodded. "And who was the artist?" He nodded again.

He'd said they were high school students then, so her loss couldn't have been too long ago. Maybe a drunk driving accident? Instead of asking, Maria scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him.

"You're going to get soaked," he protested.

"They're just clothes."

He squeezed her tight, his breaths growing more laboured. The water from his chest seeped into her tank top. "Her name was Em-Em-Emily," he whispered. Not long after, a warm droplet landed on her bare shoulder, then another. She tried to pull away to console him, but he said, "please don't," and held her tighter.

How did the man joke and flirt every day with so much pain trapped inside? "I'm so sorry, Mitch."

His chest heaved up and down. "I miss her so fucking much."

More tears fell on her shoulders, and she snuggled him even closer. Each one made her chest ache. She wished she could absorb the pain for him. A few minutes later, his breathing settled and his tears turned to the odd sniffle. As his skin grew colder against hers, he pulled away and shook his head.

"I ruined your outfit."

"That's not important. How are you feeling?"

When he answered, "fine," Maria crossed her arms until he said, "like I got hit by a bus." His blond eyebrows were pulled together and the wrinkles in his forehead matched his down-turned lips. His blue eyes had darkened to the shade of a stormy sky.

She stood up. "Let's go upstairs."

"What about the decorations?"

"Screw the decorations. People are coming for the food and pool anyway. You are more important than that." Tom might be mad, but Mitch's vulnerable face erased that outcome. She'd be there for Mitch whether or not it cost her Tom's trust.

As Mitch stood up and his legs wobbled, Maria reached out to steady him. "Do you need a minute?"

"I got this. I pushed myself a bit too hard today."