“Are you gonna be like your father was and his father was? Do you have to carry what they’ve handed down?”


Even if the conversation wasn’t the worst of her life, it was definitely in the top ten. And after a few hours, Carol left to retreat to the hotel she was staying at for a few days. Then Marie made it her mission to get to Marco’s. She needed him tonight, but not for sex. Just to be with him and talk and feel normal again after every topic she and her mother had discussed.

Still having to take a test for her folklore class, she brought her laptop along, and showed up at his front door fifteen minutes later. Without saying too much, he invited her in and watched as she scurried to his kitchen table and plopped herself down in one of the chairs. While she was trying to ignore the subject of her mom, Marco seemed to be dwelling on it.

“Do you want to talk about it today?” He murmured, pulling out a pot from a cupboard, filled it with water, and set it on the stove.

She set her laptop on the table and flipped it open, quickly typing in her password, “I have a test to take.” Marie didn’t even take her eyes off the screen, but rather just clicked and typed away, getting onto Marco’s wifi.

“I think we should talk about it,” he said as he turned up the flame and waited for the water to boil.

“I know, but if I don’t do this test and pass this class, we won’t have anything to talk about because I won’t be able to get into the University of Minnesota…”

“Okay, okay…” Marco sat down in the chair next to her and reached for her hands. It forced her to stop typing, but when she looked at him, he just stared at her, giving her the chance to cool off and calm down. “Do your test. I’ll make us dinner and we can talk afterwards.”

She looked up at him and leaned in quickly, kissing his lips sweetly before she backed away and returned her attention to her laptop. While she was enthralled with that, Marco poured the pasta into the pot of boiling water and stirred it for a moment. Satisfied that it wouldn’t boil over, he walked back to Marie and stood behind her. He bent down and pushed her hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to her skin, kissing his way up to her jaw.

“Please stop,” she said sternly.

Marco backed away immediately, seemingly not taking any offense by it. Marie glanced at him and then returned her attention to the online test. That was one of the many things that made Marco attractive. He understood that when she said stop or no, she meant it. It wasn’t a game or a suggestion. And because she didn’t say it often, he took it seriously when she did.

The test wasn’t particularly hard, she would’ve rather not had to do it at all though. But by the time Marco had finished up with dinner, Marie was answering the last question, and as she submitted it, Marco set a plate down in front of her. Before he sat down to eat with her, he went back to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of beer and popped the top off both of them.

“You’ll have to stay here tonight; I don’t want you driving,” he handed her one of the bottles and she brought it up to her lips to take a long gulp.

“One beer isn’t going to get me drunk,” she said, twirling her fork in the pasta and brought it up to her mouth.

“I don’t want you to drive. Marie, please…” he took a bite of his food and leaned back in his chair coolly.

She reached out for his hand and laced their fingers together loosely. Dinner was fairly quiet as they prolonged the conversation they were going to have. They focused on their food, taking time in finishing up. But Marie searched her mind the entire time, trying to figure out what bits of the talk she had with her mom she’d leave in, and which bits she’d leave out. It all seemed pretty important, and Marco had the right to know what they’d said considering it had to do with their relationship. But she was nervous to bring it up at all, because what Carol had said wasn’t what they’d want to hear. Especially since they were in their honeymoon phase of the relationship.

When they could no longer fake the fact that they were both done with dinner, they cleared the table and put their plates in the dishwasher. Marie was the first to retreat to the couch with her beer in tow, and Marco joined her shortly after, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to pull her into his body.

“Basically my mom went on a rant of all the reasons why this relationship will never work… That you’re five years older than me and by the time you’re ready to settle down and start a family, I’m still gonna be trying to figure out what I want.” She ran her thumb along the neck of the beer bottle, “that every time you say I love you, it’s just your way of coercing me into staying in Minnesota.”

“Did she say we should break up?” He asked quietly as though he didn’t want Marie to answer it.

“Yeah…” she mumbled. Marco unwrapped his arm from around her shoulders and she set her bottle down on the coffee table, just to lean back into him, pressing one of her hands against his chest. “But I don’t want to. I swear. I love you and I want to be with you. Even if my mom’s right and there’s no real future for us, I don’t care. I wanna be with you now.”

He shook his head and looked down at his lap, “she’s an important person in your life, and you…”

“Marco,” she reached for his chin and turned his head up so he had to look at her, “I love you.”

He looked at her and placed his beer in between his legs before leaning in to kiss her lips passionately. Marie could feel the tension and anxiety in the kiss, but it was packed emotion. Marco wrapped his arms around her, “I love you too.”

Marie buried her face into the base of his neck and kissed it. He lifted her up and set her in his lap, moving his hands down to her thighs. She sat up straighter and looked down as he moved his hands along the curve of her body. It was obvious he was hoping for something more tonight, but after the long talk with her mom, Marie’s head just wasn’t in it.

“I don’t want to do anything tonight…” she flicked her eyes up to his quickly, afraid to look at him for very long. And she set her hands on top of his shoulders, smoothing out the fabric of his shirt subconsciously.

“Okay,” he said as he stopped moving his hands. But before doing much more, Marco stood, carrying Marie in his arms, and made his way to his bedroom. He set her down on the bed and she laid back, watching as he pulled off his shirt and jeans.

“Marco,” she mumbled as he crawled into his bed and flicked on the TV. He began the lengthy process of scanning the channels for something to watch. “My mom said we’d end up like her and my dad. They got pregnant when they were young so they got married… And it ended pretty badly.”

“She’s just trying to scare you,” he whispered, finally settling on a reality show about a guy fixing up an old car. “That’s what good mothers do,”

“But it’s working…”

“She just needs some time to process and understand everything. We did sort of ambush her with this and she’s responding.”

Marie groaned, ultimately knowing that Marco was right. Being protective and putting up a strong front was all her mom could really do now. For years, she had acted like both a mother and a father. Even when the marriage was still legally in tact, she stepped in where Bill had failed. And with her daughter’s relationships with men, Carol took a more conservative stance. Marie figured that stemmed from a place deep within her mother’s subconscious; she didn’t want her youngest daughter to end up like her.

She flopped onto her side and set her head down in his lap, waiting for the moment she knew would be coming soon. There had been many times throughout their relationship, where Marco would do something simple that would send Marie reeling. She loved that he never thought too hard about those actions, but rather just pursued them with a certain easiness. Like now with her head in his lap, Marco gently ran his fingers through her hair, slowly stroking her into a calmer state. If anything, she felt safe with him, and it had been awhile since she’d felt that way.

---

They walked hand in hand through the courtyard of the complex to get to Marie’s tiny studio, nodding pleasantries to the neighbors they passed. And as they reached the top of the flight of stairs, Marie stopped mid-step. Her mom was waiting by her door, leaning against the wall as if she’d been there for quite some time. After all it was nearing one and Marco had just gotten out of practice.

When Carol saw them, she straightened up and clutched tighter to her purse. She didn’t look particularly pleased, but Marie continued on, eventually standing in front of her mother with Marco beside her. She was afraid to say much of anything, so she reached for her keys and fiddled with the lock until it opened.

“Marie I’d like to have a moment with your mom… if that’s okay with you Ms. Rosen,” Marco murmured, clasping his hands behind his back.

Marie felt herself get dizzy, fearing the worst from this. Carol stared up at Marco and sucked a deep breath in before she relented and stepped forward to begin walking with him. For a moment, they walked aimlessly, not having any real sense of direction or destination.

“Your talk with Marie has her shaken,” he finally uttered, pushing his hands into his pockets.

“Good. She needs to know that a man of twenty-four is only trying to use her,”

“I’m not though. I just want to love her. Simply love her.” Marco chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking of what to say next. “I met Dr. Thatcher in Montreal, I saw the tension between him and Marie, and I must say I didn’t expect this level of adversity from you. Marie speaks so highly of you… I thought you’d be supportive,”

“How am I supposed to support my daughter’s decision to leave Boston for… this. She left a comfortable lifestyle,”

“Comfortable for her or for you? The distance from Boston to St. Paul are safety miles; reassurance that Dr. Thatcher won’t come checking up on her anytime he feels like it. He’s less likely to visit Minnesota than Massachusetts, don’t you think?”

Carol shook her head and looked down at her feet, “it’s frightening how quickly she was just able to get up and leave. What’s next? Getting married to a boy she hardly knows and having his kids?”

“I don’t know how much you know about me or my career…”

“Very little,” she interrupted.

Marco flicked his eyes to meet hers, “well then let me tell you that I’m not looking to get married right away, and I’m surely not looking to be a father either… not now at least.”

“That’s just talk,”

“Marie’s coming to a work thing of mine tomorrow night. I’d like if you’d tag along so you can see what I do. And maybe after you see, you’ll understand that it’s not just talk. I’m not really in any position to be locking down a family right now,”

“That depends on if I stay in town for another night.”

Marco stopped and turned to face her straight on. He was looking at her earnestly, with pleading eyes. “It would make me very happy if you did. And I know it would mean a lot to Marie.”

Notes

"Family Tree" by Matthew West.

Just a little update. I'm kind of on a little roll with the sequel to 'Seeing Stars'. At some point, I suppose I will be updating this story and the sequel simultaneously, so stick with me y'all.