Naivete

16. One evening’s hour.





“I don’t know anything about your family,” Sam said suddenly. She and Mike had been driving in pleasant silence for several minutes. The previous five days had been as grinding as they’d both assumed it would be, and now they were overjoyed at the prospect of just being together, just sitting, not worrying about class. Sam smiled a little; this was the first time they’d ever been able to do that. It was pretty nice.



“Well, not much to tell, really,” Mike answered flippantly. “Just me and Mother, for as long as I can remember.”



“Where’s your dad?”



“Don’t know him,” he responded. He hesitated for a moment before glancing at her and continuing. “Mother’s past is a bit…sordid.”



“Well, you don’t have to go into it if you don’t want to.”



Mike smiled. “Maybe later,” he said reassuringly. “All you need to know is that my mother is extremely sharp. It’s impossible to pull the wool over her eyes, if you catch my drift. I’ve tried it. Doesn’t work.”



Sam laughed. “So does this mean I get to hear some stories about you?”



“Not if my mother values her life,” he replied cheerfully.



Grinning happily, Sam leaned back in the seat and slouched down a bit. It was going to be a long drive, and while she normally wasn’t a big fan of car trips, there was no place she’d rather be.



Their last final had been for Utopias and Dystopias. In a move that seemed to be par for the course, the professor had dropped a serious bomb on them. A five-essay exam, each question requiring a completely different train of thought. Sam’s wrist still hurt from the effort, but she thought she did okay. Karen and Paul had apparently fared as well as Sam, and Mike as usual appeared unfazed by the entire ordeal. The four wished each other a merry Christmas, and Mike and Sam were on the road less than thirty minutes later.



“Who did you mean when you said ‘a few others’?” Sam asked then, looking curiously at him.



“Hm?”



“When you first invited me, you said that it would be you and your mom and a few others. Who else?”



Mike smiled cryptically. “Sam,” he said dramatically. “I think it’s time that I tell you my big, dark secret.” Sam’s eyebrow shot up. This was going to be interesting. He cleared his throat and continued. “Haven’t you ever wondered how I can be going to Berklee without a scholarship and without working?”



Sam blinked in surprise. “Actually, no,” she answered. “But now that you mention it…”



“Right,” he nodded. “The truth is, Sam…I’m terribly rich.”



There was a moment of amused silence before Sam laughed out loud. Mike furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. “What? You don’t believe me?”



“Just tell me you’re not a prince from some unpronounceable Eastern European country, okay?”



Mike shrugged. “Okay, I won’t. But I want you to know it hurts me to lie to you, Sam.”



Sam bolted upright and stared at him. “Wait, are you serious?”



There was a pause before Mike finally snorted with laughter. “No, I’m not a prince, dear. At least not in the literal sense.” She sank back, relieved, into her seat. “I am rich, though,” he added quickly. “The ‘others’ I was referring to would be the, uh…household assistants.”



“How rich are we talking here?” Sam asked, a disbelieving smile on her face. “Old-school Carnegie family rich, or nouveau hip-hop star rich?”



“Uh, that would be ‘my mother has been the second most successful defense attorney in the tri-state area for the last fifteen years’ rich.”



“Really? I’m impressed.”



“As well you should be,” he responded seriously. “She worked extremely hard to get where she is, and to have carved out as much respect as she has, being a woman in a strongly male-dominated world, is an amazing feat.”



Sam smiled at him a little dreamily. He spoke highly of his mother. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d met a guy who did that.



The rest of the trip went quickly and pleasantly, and Sam was almost disappointed when they finally arrived. Mike took a careful right turn into a very long driveway. In case there was any doubt in Sam’s head regarding the truthfulness of his claim, it was erased upon seeing the house. It was enormous, almost a mansion. Her eyes must have been round as saucers, because Mike laughed outright at her.



“Over 3000 square feet, single story. Six bedrooms, six baths. Enormous pool in the backyard with a pool-house that could comfortably hold a family of four.”



Sam shook her head in amazement as he pulled into the one empty spot in the three-car garage. His old clunker looked sorely out of place between the BMW and the Jag. “But…but your car. And you shop at thrift stores. You beg for free coffee. Why do it if you don’t have to?”



Mike looked at her incredulously. “Because it’s fun, Sam. Life isn’t fun if you don’t have to work a little to get what you want.”



They retrieved their luggage from the trunk and lumbered toward the side door. He produced a key from his pocket and unlocked it smoothly before stepping inside. Sam stood a little behind him, suddenly feeling more nervous than she knew she should.



“Mother!” Mike called out into the house. Just peeking around him, Sam could see it was impeccably decorated, light and bright with lots of windows, and very comfortable.



“Michael?” came a voice from somewhere deeper into the house. “Michael, you’re so early! I wish you’d called, I’d have done something with myself.”



Sam almost gasped. The woman walking toward them was petite and slim, and wore a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans that looked like they came straight from the early nineties. Her espresso-hued hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, and she wore not a drop of makeup on her face. But she was still the most beautiful woman Sam had ever laid eyes on.



“Oh, come on, Mother,” Mike said, his voice dripping with praise as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. “You’re ravishing as always.”



‘No kidding,’ Sam thought to herself as she took in the woman’s delicate features, bright, round eyes and smooth-as-satin skin. ‘I hope I look that good when I’m her age.’



“Samantha,” Mike said suddenly, catching her off-guard by using her full name. “This is my esteemed mother, Leah. Mother, Samantha.”



Sam grinned widely as she approached Leah, feeling a tad self-conscious at her own drab appearance. She shook hands warmly with the older woman and the two exchanged the normal pleasantries. “I’ve heard so much about you!” “How was your drive? Did my son try to kill you?” “You have such a lovely home!”



“Well,” Leah said finally, clasping her hands together eagerly. “Phillip will get you both settled. I put you in the pool room, if you don’t mind. More space, more…privacy,” she finished, patting Mike on the arm in a very motherly fashion. He looked at Sam and waggled his eyebrows suggestively as Phillip…who was, as near as Sam could tell, the butler…gingerly took her bag from her and headed toward the back door.



As they made their way through the house, Sam found herself more and more taken aback by the house. Everything worked perfectly, the colors and the light, the artwork and the furniture, even the rugs and the books on the mantle seemed to go together. It was hard to imagine that Mike had ever lived here, in fact.



The four arrived in the pool house, and while the “family of four” comment had been slightly exaggerated, there was no room to joke about the space. A queen-sized bed stood against one wall, covered in majestic and luxurious pillows and linens. The single bathroom had a huge walk-in closet and a large vanity. There was even a tiny kitchen, with a two-burner stove, oven, microwave and mini-fridge. There was no television or computer to be seen, but there was an impressive sound system, and a wet bar a few feet away from the bed. Sam blushed a little as she realized that this structure was probably created for one brand of entertainment only. Leah thankfully interrupted this thought by kissing Mike on the cheek again and smiling warmly at Sam.



“Well, I’m going to go get freshened up. You two get settled, and let’s meet in the dining room at say, seven o’clock?”



Mike smiled innocently at his mother, who cast a look of mock suspicion in his direction before leaving the house with a chuckle, Phillip following on her heels.



Almost before the door had fully shut, Mike had Sam pressed against the wall and was kissing her fiercely. Without meaning to, she laughed out loud with surprise. He drew back and looked at her lustfully. “God, I feel like I haven’t touched you in weeks.”



“That’s because you haven’t,” Sam pointed out with a smile.



“Well, you have Karen to blame for that, don’t you?” Mike answered before hungrily seeking out her mouth again. Resistance was out of the question. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him even closer to her, eliciting a tiny moan from the back of his throat that sent a shiver up her spine. His sudden move had surprised her. She certainly hadn’t forgotten that they were dating now, but things had so easily slipped back into the “friendship zone” with them during the study group’s pact that she had managed to forget the impact one of his moans had on her body. She pressed herself against him and combed her fingers through his hair, lifting his hat and sliding it back on his head a little. He pulled back and looked at her again. This time, there was mischief behind the lust in his eyes.



“What?” Sam asked then, eyes growing wide with concern and her lower lip pouting just a little. “Don’t you want me?”



Mike gritted his teeth in frustration. “Jesus Christ, Sam, I want you so fucking bad. Except when you do that thing with your lip, I’ve told you a thousand times not to do that fucking thing with your lip.” With that, he leaned forward again and gently caught the offending lip between his teeth. “Don’t think I won’t do it,” he warned, tugging it slightly. Sam smiled, releasing herself from his grip.



“The thing is, sweetheart,” Mike said as he rubbed his hands up and down the sides of her arms. “Dinner is in one hour. When I do take you, I will require longer than one hour of leisure time. Also, when I do take you, it will certainly not be in, or anywhere near, my mother’s home.”



Sam raised her eyebrows, unsure what to make of this declaration. Did he have something planned? Would it be soon? Normally she didn’t get too worked up about surprises, but so far Mike had well proven his ability to change her attitude about things.



“So let’s unpack,” he continued smoothly. “We’ll take turns using the extremely expensive shower, and then we’ll enjoy a lovely, chaste dinner with my mother.”



“How romantic,” Sam replied wryly. Mike smiled and kissed her on the tip of her nose before strolling into the bathroom.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Sam reached out and stroked the sleeve of his jacket again. She couldn’t help it! From the second he’d emerged from the bathroom wearing the damn thing, all she’d wanted to do was touch it – rather, to touch him in it. It was raw silk. A raw silk suit. She’d never seen one before, and she couldn’t believe he’d been hiding it from her all these months. When she’d commented on it, he pulled a cheesy “this old thing?” line before adjusting his tie. Sam now officially felt self-conscious. Not knowing just how formal this trip was likely to be, she’d brought very little in the way of dress clothes. Currently donning a long black skirt and a long-sleeved hunter green tee shirt, she felt a little cheap.



She had made the mistake of mentioning this to Mike, who had (expectedly) told her exactly what she could do with that thought.



Now, as they made their way into the dining room, which had transformed in the course of an hour to a wonderland of candles, china, and pure white linens, Sam still felt out of place…but not as noticeably so. She followed Mike straight through the dining room and into the kitchen, where his mother, impeccably dressed and looking more stunning than she had before, was removing a very nice smelling roast from the oven. How the woman had had time to “freshen up” and cook dinner at the same time was completely beyond Sam. She chalked it up to the mysterious transformation from “girl” to “mother” and simply went with it.



“Mother,” Mike began casually. “Why on earth would there be…four place settings at the table?”



Sam blinked. She hadn’t noticed. Of course, there could have been eighteen place settings for all she knew. She’d been too distracted by the exquisitely sculpted silver candle holders.



Leah, on the other hand, had apparently been expecting the query, because she launched into an explanation immediately.



“I’m having a…friend join us tonight is all. Now Michael,” she continued sternly before he could respond. “You be nice to him.”



Mike looked at her in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m always nice.”



“Don’t listen to him,” Leah said pointedly to Sam. “He’s been scaring off my suitors since he was ten years old.”



“Mother, you are a filthy liar,” Mike said gallantly, stooping to kiss her on the cheek again. “After all, weren’t you the one who taught me to hold everyone to the highest possible standard?”



“Ah, so you’re the culprit,” Sam replied, giving Mike a little punch in the arm.



Leah smiled at Sam and nodded slowly, a look of sly consideration on her face. “I like her, Michael.”



Sam tried to accept the approval gracefully, but she could tell she was beaming. Somehow, for reasons beyond the typical “impress the parents” routine, she desperately wished for this woman’s respect. Her moment of glory was interrupted by the doorbell.



“Ah, he’s here,” Leah said, bustling toward the front of the house. She stopped near Mike and grabbed his sleeve, bringing him close to her. “Be good, Michael. I really like this guy.”



Mike blinked innocently at her before she rushed away to greet her boyfriend at the door. He took Sam’s arm and they meandered toward the door themselves, awaiting the introduction. When they came around the corner, Mike stopped short for just a second, before continuing forward. He was a nice-looking man, older than Leah. His skin looked hard and calloused, like someone who’d spent their whole lives working outdoors, but he was wearing a very nice suit and appearing very comfortable in it. He was smiling shyly as Leah took his coat and draped it over the ornate coat rack in the corner. Mike’s grip tightened almost imperceptibly when the new arrival bent down and kissed Leah squarely on the mouth.



Leah turned with a childish grin and began introductions. His name was Hugh, and he was the owner and president of a large contracting company. One of his employees had taken the stand in one of her trials. Hugh reached out to shake Mike’s hand, and for a moment Sam was worried that Mike wouldn’t take it. But Mike extended his arm and shook the man’s hand firmly and amicably.



“Very nice to meet you, Hugh,” she said when he turned to her. He took her hand and kissed it.



“It appears there are two men in this room with excellent taste,” he said with a chuckle. His voice was hard but kind, and Sam liked him almost immediately.



Dinner began peacefully. Leah’s roast was outstanding, and the wine she’d selected was perfect. Even Mike had a small glass, which surprised Sam quite a bit.



“What about your brain cells?” she murmured as he took the first sip.



“Yes, they are wonderful aren’t they?” he returned, looking at her like she was crazy.



“So, Mike, I understand you’re in school,” Hugh began, glancing at Mike as he cut into a slice of roast.



“Yes, sir,” Mike responded pleasantly.



“And what is your major?”



“Piano performance.”



Hugh’s eyebrows came together in mild disbelief. “Really?” he said after a moment. “That’s an interesting choice.”



Mike smiled tightly at the older man. “Well, I don’t think there was much choice involved.”



Hugh chuckled. “Ah, a divine calling, eh?”



“Not exactly,” Mike explained, a touch of hardness coming into his voice. “Although I do feel like this path has…already been chosen for me. I’m just walking it.”



“Just walking it…” Hugh paused for a moment, turning the idea over in his head. “Must be nice,” he continued, stabbing into a mound of mashed potatoes.



“What must be nice?”



“Not actually having to make any decisions,” Hugh replied flippantly. Leah leaned forward a little in her seat but said nothing. Sam thought she could detect both apprehension and excitement in the woman’s eyes. There was a long pause, so Hugh continued.



“I mean, when I began in this business, I hated it. The last thing I wanted to do was work construction, but I had to. It was the only job available at the time. What I wanted was to be a reporter. I wanted to travel around the world, one scoop at a time.” He chuckled. “But contracting is what I had to do, and it turned out to be the best choice I could have made.”



“How do you know that?” Mike interjected quickly. “How do you know that any other decision wouldn’t have been better?”



Hugh leveled a fatherly gaze at Mike. “Because if I had done anything else with my life, I wouldn’t have married my beautiful wife. I wouldn’t have had my two great kids. I wouldn’t have met Leah, and I wouldn’t be having this conversation tonight.”



“But you would have met someone else, probably had other great kids, you would have met another wildly successful woman with an unruly son and you might just be scolding this unruly son as you’re scolding me tonight.”



Hugh chuckled again. “I’m not lecturing,” he said, shaking his head and turning his attention to his plate. “Just chatting.”



But Mike (as expected) wouldn’t let this conversation drop.



“Well, by all means, let’s chat,” he said, grinning at Hugh expectantly. “Are you implying that knowing what you want and going after it won’t result in the best possible life for you?”



“Maybe not,” Hugh challenged. “Maybe you’ll go after what you want, and you’ll encounter nothing but struggle and hardship. Maybe you’ll look back on your life when you die and regret the choice you made to go after a fantasy instead of a real life.”



Mike paused, smiling cryptically. “Maybe, Hugh.”



“How old are you, son?” Hugh asked then, his voice sounding stern.



“I’m 25 years old.” Sam looked at him in surprise. She’d thought he was considerably younger than that. Although, in his defense, she’d never asked him before.



“And you’re still in college, still working on that degree?”



“Yes,” Mike answered. Sam could feel the heat radiating from him as Hugh continued to challenge what seemed to be the very core of Mike’s life.



“You seem to be a very intelligent young man, Mike, which is the only reason I’m so surprised. You could be doing anything, you could be building rockets or writing novels or saving the world. Why choose something so…inconsequential?”



Mike let his fork drop on his plate and set his mouth in a grim line. Sam knew he was trying very hard to keep his mother’s wishes in mind. A quick glance in Leah’s direction, however, showed that Leah seemed to be enjoying herself. Maybe she got a kick out of Mike verbally attacking her boyfriends. She began to silently will Mike to go for it, to really jump all over the guy.



“Well, Hugh, have you heard him play?” Leah interrupted casually, saving the day.



“No,” Hugh replied. “I’m sure he’s very good-“



“If you heard him, you might rethink your choice of words there.” Leah’s tone had that sort of finality that comes with being a mother. Hugh shrugged in resignation, but that didn’t stop him.



“Mike, look at that girl sitting next to you,” Hugh said plaintively. Mike glanced over at Sam and smiled a little. “Do you love her?”



“Hugh!” Leah warned.



“Yes, I do,” Mike answered quietly. Sam blushed a little. This was getting to be one of the strangest conversations she’d ever witnessed.



“Don’t you think she deserves the best? Don’t you think you’d have a better shot at providing a good life for her if you saved playing the piano for your spare time and tried to achieve some real success in your life?”



“Now wait a second, Hugh,” Sam started instinctively. “I don’t expect Mike to provide for me at all. I never expected that from anyone. I have goals and ambitions of my own, and I have success of my own to achieve. And I’m damn sure not going to let him hold himself back just so he can hold me back too.”



There was a long pause as everyone registered what Sam had just said. She blushed a little as she realized it was the first full statement she’d made since she’d arrived that afternoon. Leah was looking at her with a cocked eyebrow and crooked smile. Hugh’s expression was similar. Mike, not unexpectedly, kept eating, focusing solely on his plate, but she could see the corners of his mouth turning upward just a little.



The awkwardness vanished then, somehow, and conversation became much more pleasant for the rest of the evening. About halfway into coffee and cake, Mike excused himself and left the room. Sam and Leah had been discussing the Utopias and Dystopias course she and Mike had taken together, while Hugh sat back and listened intently. Finally, as it neared 9:00, Leah suggested they “retire” for the evening. Sam couldn’t hide a little giggle at the word, and Leah responded by winking knowingly.



As Hugh made his way to the living room with his coffee, Sam and Leah began clearing the table.



“Where did Mike go?” Sam asked curiously, realizing that she hadn’t seen him in at least ten minutes.



“Oh, he’s probably outside…relaxing,” Leah finished with a roll of her eyes. It took Sam only a minute to realize what she was referring to. He was smoking a joint…at his mother’s house.



“How do you feel about that?” she asked cautiously.



“Well, I don’t like it,” Leah said with a sigh. “But I know he doesn’t do it often, and I know it helps. Hell, I used to do it, I understand how these things are. But I grew out of it, and I believe he will too.”



Sam smiled a little and glanced outside, where she could barely make out a puff of smoke near the pool house. She wished she could excuse herself and go outside with him. Even in the inhuman chill of the New England December night, she wanted nothing more than to huddle near him under the stars…alone.



Leah seemed to read her mind. “Go on, honey. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.” Sam smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Leah. Good night.”



“Night!” Leah called as Sam grabbed her coat and rushed out the door into the cold night.



Mike was leaning against the wall of the pool house, in his hat and coat, looking up at the stars. He looked like a scene right out of a Humphrey Bogart movie, and for some reason this idea jacked Sam's body temperature up a notch. As she came closer to him, he turned and looked at her, that familiar, lazy smile on his face.



"Hey," she said, breathless from the cold. "Are you all right?"



"Couldn't be better," he replied, smiling as he exhaled a puff of smoke.



"I can see that," Sam giggled. He offered it to her and she took it gingerly in her gloved hand. As she took a slow, careful drag, he sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.



"What if he's right, Sam? What if I'm wasting my time on something that will mean nothing in the end?"



Sam raised her eyebrows. She wanted to yell and scream at him for even thinking such a thing, but she didn't.



"Do you think he's right?" she asked gently, handing the joint back to him. He sighed again.



"No. But he's older. He's seen more than I could ever hope to see in my life. Maybe he's on to something."



"Or maybe, now that we're grown-ups, we get to decide what that means," Sam shot back.



Mike looked at her and smiled the oddest smile she'd ever seen.



"I hope she marries him," he said suddenly. Sam did a double-take.



"What?"



"I hope my mother marries Hugh," he said clearly.



"Why?" she asked incredulously. She liked the old man fine, she supposed, but she was shocked to hear those words come from Mike's mouth.



"I know my mother," he said casually. "I know when she's happy, and when she's unhappy. This guy makes her happy. Besides," he added, his voice growing somewhat more serious. "I've never had a father, Sam. And in fifteen minutes, that guy just said everything to me that a father should say to a son."



Sam watched with some amazement as Mike blotted out the end of the joint and hid the roach behind a flower pot. It was then that she noticed the small duffel bag on the ground near him. "What's that for?" she asked, pointing to the bag curiously. Instead of answering, he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder, then walked forward until their bodies were touching. He put his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.



"Sam," he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "I want you to know that whatever happens in my life, as long as I have you next to me, as a friend or otherwise, I have tasted real success." Sam was taken aback, unsure how to respond, but she just hugged him tighter. "Now let's get out of here," he added quickly, releasing her and walking toward the garage. Sam smiled. What the hell did he have in store for her now?







A/N: I got a review! Yay, I’m so glad people are actually reading this again. Anyway, as usual, I require commentage. Please read, review, tell me what you like and don’t like. I live to serve.