Twenty-Nine

"TOMMY?"
She found Tommy standing alone by the edge of their garden, looking at the vegetation they worked hard to maintain, and he looked very dejected.
He glanced at her for a moment before he looked back at the garden again. His shoulders looked bowed as his posture was, and he seemed unseeing. Her heart melted at the sight and she decided against the lecture she was about to impose on her little guy.
Instead, she stood beside him and looked over at the garden herself.
"We'll transfer this to the yard there, as much as we can bring there. It will be easier because we'll have faucet water. We can get a hose so Mama can water the plants and it'll be an exercise for her."
At the periphery of her vision, she saw him glance at her again. "Ate, I know you didn't want to move but it was just so fast and—"
"I understand. Tommy..." She raised a hand to place it on his shoulder. "You made the right decision. This is good for you and Mama and for me, too."
He was looking at her. "I told him the truth, that it was my fault and it was just that one time. That I'll not let you—"
She pulled him to her to hug him. "He knows that already. Will you stop beating yourself up about it? For me? You don't have anything to worry about."
"Ate... you talk to him like you're not afraid of him."
She pulled back to look at him. "Because I'm not." Liar.
"I asked about him, about how he treats people here in the hacienda, and nobody ever said a bad word. They said he was fair and good, like the Señor. He isn’t as approachable, but they said he’s not been so since a child in the shadow of his mother. That he was irritable then and always stay away from everyone."
She looked at her brother. She had her own opinions about the gago, but she could imagine how people perceived him.
As manipulative as he was, he had been trying to make up for that night ever since. She could see that now. He was really trying.
"I suppose they are right. He hasn't hurt me. He helps us. He's been helping us."
She saw his lips thin, even as they trembled a little because he was fighting to stay calm.
"I told him to respect you because you are a respectable lady. I told him that, Ate. Or I'll hurt him."
She blinked. "What?"
He nodded. "On the phone when he called me while I waited in the hospital. But he said he respects you and he will help. He said he would not fire me from the job even after I'd threatened him because he knew I was working to help you and Mama."
She stared at him. "When all of this is settled and we're alone, I'll ask you about the conversation, okay?"
He nodded. But he hesitated. "But he treats you right?"
"Tommy, would I have talked to him like that if he treated me badly? If you include irritation as bad treatment, he does irritate me, telling me to do this or that without question. Like a spoiled bratty fool."
A corner of her brother's lips twitched. "But he's the boss. He can tell you to do this and that."
"He's your boss, not mine. I don't work for him."
This time, Tommy couldn't fight the smile. "Is that why you were impolite to him a while ago?"
"No. It was because he's pig-headed and he didn't want to take the cut on his head seriously."
"Why were you with him, anyway?"
She schooled her face against his curious look as she thought fast. "I... happened to be on the road and he was on his way here, and I kind of argued with him about the move and about why I wasn't told about Mama's check-up before they brought her to the hospital."
"Uh-oh." His smile disappeared. "I'll not do that again. I'll wait for you next time—"
"Tommy, if it's about Mama and it's important, you don't have to wait for me. Okay? But if it's about other things, you must let me know."
He nodded. "Alright."
There was a movement in the periphery of her vision and both she and Tommy turned towards it.
It was Eric, walking towards them from the side of the house.
His neck looked cleaner and he was wearing a t-shirt—one of hers, actually, she saw in shock. It was an oversized tee that she used for sleeping because it was really old and faded and had some holes.
She didn't know what to think, as she noted right away how even an old, cheap tee could make him look good – or vice versa.
And that she'd always worn it without a bra and now it's hugging his naked—
Shut up.
"I borrowed a t-shirt from your freshly laundered pile," he said upon arriving in front of them. "It's the one that fits."
"It's got a hole there," Tommy said, looking perplexed, and she was sure it was about their wealthy señorito wearing a poor person's clothes with a sleeping cat printed on the front. "I've got newer—"
"It's fine, Tommy," he said. "This one is very comfortable. I need to talk with your sister."
Tommy's look was so vulnerable when he meekly turned his face towards her.
"Go help them with our things, Tommy, before someone else thinks they can just borrow another sleepwear."
Tommy had a surprise smile on his face before he nodded and left.
"It calms him that I could talk to you like you're a normal human being," she explained before anything else.
"I am a normal human being."
She didn't say anything about that.
"If you didn't want to let me wear your shirt—"
"It's fine. It's got a hole, and the cat looks cute on you."
"You're making fun of this normal human being now?"
She had goosebumps at the intimate way he talked, his voice low and sexy. And amused. And she was having a premonition that she could never feel terror around him ever again while wondering about how they came to this.
"So does this mean you're not angry about moving now?" he asked.
"I don't have any choice, do I?"
"Why?"
She caught herself before she could glare at the señorito. "Because this will help my mother and my brother, and you know it!"
"You're angry because you weren't informed beforehand."
"Yes, too!"
"Your mother didn't need to be here when everybody's moving her things. She could get agitated, and she would try to help. It's better she is away, and I didn't think the staff would move that quickly if there are too many people to listen to. It seemed like everyone's been privy about how hard your family's been doing here and wanted to help. They've been concerned about your mother for a long time, except they said you and your mother refused any help they've offered after your father passed away, and that you're all just grateful you're allowed to stay."
Her lips thinned but he was right. Everybody was as helpful as they possibly could be to her family. But she didn't reply.
"Okay, then. From now on, I will let you know everything, then you can decide what to do."
She blinked at him. Why was he smiling like that? What was he up to now?
"You said you wanted me to see a doctor. Do you still want me to do that?"
"What? Why are you even telling me that?"
"You said you wanted me to go and I'm telling you now. It depends on you."
"It depends on your injury. You have to go."
"Then I'll see a doctor," he said, backing away from her, still smiling, before casually turning around to walk towards the front of the house.
She watched him, confused about the game he was playing now. She moved and followed at a slower pace, and found him giving instructions to the tanod and Tommy about the move and the house where they were supposed to be sent.
He glanced at her again when he finished before getting inside a jeep that had just arrived and wasn't there before she looked for Tommy.
He gave her a little wave before the jeep left with him and the driver.
Tommy stepped by her side as she watched the back of the jeepney driving away.
"Ate?" Tommy's voice whispered beside her.
His voice sounded not that of a teenager but of a lost kid. She smiled at him and shrugged.
"We're going to be alright. Come on, let's sort our things so they can move them to the truck faster. Help me."
Zoren approached them as they both walked towards the stairs, and they three went up there chatting like it was a regular day.
As if her life had not just been hit by a bolt of lightning called Enrique.