1.02 Misunderstandings

Previously...

Amelia, born and raised in Bridgeport, got an irresistible job offer in Riverblossom Falls. She said goodbye to her parents and moved into a shabby Riverblossom Falls motel. She soon realized that her new boss was a hunky-hunk. A couple of weeks in town humbled her, now seeing the small town people as equals. After a dinner party at her boss's place, they both professed having feelings for one another and went back into the apartment together.

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After sneaking past Tilly's door and shutting themselves up in the master bedroom, the two love birds started kissing again as they came closer to the bed step by step. Mort was just about to pull Amelia onto it when she surprised him with a push. Hell fell down on his back onto the soft covers with an expression on his face that said “I didn't see that coming”. She was quick to follow him though, lying down on top of him with a confident smile. Here, she was the boss.

Without going into details, let us just say that Mort and Amelia did not do much sleeping that night.

The sun had only just started to rise when the two got out of bed.

“Tilly will probably be sleeping for a few more hours, it's Sunday after all, and she is a teenager” Mort chuckled “so you should be able to grab some breakfast here. You probably need the energy...” He winked and gave her a naughty smile.

“Thank you for tonight.” Amelia said shyly, nuzzling her face against his chest. The roles had shifted during the night and she was back to being the timid inferior. Mort took her head in his hands and smiled reassuringly.

“No, thank you. I haven't felt this young since... Well, since I was your age.” He let out a little laugh and kissed her forehead. “But you should get dressed, sweetie. I'm gonna hop into the shower.” Amelia did as she was told and then went out to the kitchen to get herself some breakfast. But as it turned out, she wasn't the only one who was up and about.

Just as she rounded the corner, she bumped into a surprised Tilly. She couldn't believe it! This was the worst “walk of shame” she had ever experienced or even imagined experiencing! Before she could say anything, Tilly had turned and gone back to her bedroom. Amelia was devastated.

But she proceeded to eat her breakfast and think over what had just happened and how to remedy it. She could hear that the water was still running in the shower. Maybe that was for the best. After a few minutes, Tilly's door opened and closed again. Amelia realized that she was headed out and that this was her only chance to talk to her, so she darted out into the hallway and caught Tilly just as she was about to leave.

“Tilly!” She exclaimed. “I'm sorry, we haven't been properly introduced.” She shook Tilly's hand warmly. “My name is Amelia.”

“Mhm” Tilly responded shortly.

“Hey, I'm really sorry about this, it's pretty awkward, I know. But me and your dad... Well, we like each other. I really care about him. I'm sorry you had to learn this way, though.” She poured all of this out in a steady flow of words. The moment she was done Tilly fired off that crooked smile again.

“Oh, it's cool, it was bound to happen, I kind of expected it. But I really have to go now, I'm meeting some friends for breakfast. Bye!” With that, Tilly Termine turned on her heel and walked breezily out the door. Amelia stood staring for a while, until she had heard the elevator go down. “Bound to happen.” What had she meant? An unpleasant coldness spread in her body and she felt like her heart was slowly being suffocated as the horrible realization came to her. This wasn't the first time Tilly had experienced this. She wasn't surprised. She had even expected that this would happen. Amelia grabbed her cell phone and ran out the door. The tears were burning her eyes.

How could she have been so stupid!? She had really thought that there was something special between her and Mort. Going to work would be a pain from now on. The thought made her cry even more.

From that point on Amelia avoided Mort's office, indeed that entire floor of the building, like the plague. She was not going to give him the pleasure of looking upon another easy conquest. The only thing that held her up was the complete focus on her work that she had now adopted. Night and day she lived and breathed work. It was soothing to her and she felt some peace when she was concentrated on it. But there were unwelcome interruptions. Mort's number flashed on her cell phone display. Not once, and not twice, but every day. He didn't let up, and finally one day she felt that she had to answer it, if for no other reason than to make it stop. She grabbed the phone firmly, anger and disgust surging through her.

“What do you want?” She answered sharply.

A few seconds passed before Mort's voice answered, the sound making Amelia's knees weak.

“Why haven't you been answering? I haven't seen you at work. Are you okay?” The concern in his voice sounded real, but she reminded herself that it was just a trick. She wouldn't be fooled.

“I don't want to talk to you.”

“Amelia, please... I don't know what's going on, but please, just meet me at the park. I'll be there in a few minutes. Okay?” Amelia hung up. It took all of her strength to do it. She sat down at her computer again and resumed her work. But the thought of him being at the park, just some hundred meters from her door, it nagged at her mind. Finally she couldn't concentrate. “I'll just look out the window.” She thought. And there he was. She would have recognized him anywhere. The tall, handsome figure with that dark mop of hair and the beard, she could feel the roughness of it again, as if her skin had a memory... Before she knew it she was moving towards the door. She opened it, went out, half running in his direction. Her body controlled her actions while it seemed that her mind and willpower lay dormant. In a few moments she was standing in front of him. He looked concerned.

“I was afraid you wouldn't come. Now what is going on, why are you avoiding me? I thought we had something.”

“If by “had something” you mean meaningless sex, then yeah, we had something, but I'm not interested in that kind of thing so you can just go to hell.”

The words had come out of her before she could think. Now she remembered that he wasn't just a jerk who had taken advantage of her, he was also her boss. What if he fired her? But he didn't seem angry, only confused, and hurt.

“What are you talking about? I didn't want meaningless... sex.” He looked disgusted.

“Tilly said...” Suddenly Mort's face flushed and Amelia's sentence trailed off into silence.

“What did she say?” He demanded.

“Oh, don't be angry with her” Amelia pleaded “She didn't do anything wrong. She just told me that this was bound to happen. That she'd expected it. I know I'm not one to talk about raising children, but I really think you should protect her from that kind of stuff... She'll get a skewed view of men...”

“Is that what you think of me? That I sleep with women left and right?” Amelia didn't know what to think now, so she didn't answer.

“Amelia, Tilly didn't mean that she expected this because it's happened before. She expected it because I had told her about you.” His face was flushed still, but now he looked embarrassed rather than angry.

“I promise you” he said with emotion “that you are the first woman I've been with since Tilly's mother died. You are special. Don't you believe me?” She did. Another wave of emotion, positive this time, rushed over her and she threw her arms around Mort.

“Oh thank the Maker.” She mumbled into his shoulder.

The next few months were nice and undramatic. Amelia and Mort skipped dating and went straight for the relationship. They both knew what they wanted and there was no need for a “trial period”. Amelia and Tilly got along well, even though the initial misunderstanding had resulted in some awkwardness at the first couple of movie nights at the Termine residence. Mort was thrilled to see that the two ladies in his life were becoming fast friends. But considering the small age difference between them, it shouldn't have come as a surprise at all.

Amelia secretly decided to stop looking for an apartment, figuring that Mort would ask her to move in eventually. She certainly wouldn't mind living at 8 Roth Square, and having this as a long time goal to look forward to, made the nights at the motel more bearable. One evening as Amelia, Mort and Tilly had just had dinner, Mort took Amelia's hand and asked her to stay at the table.

“Honey, I want to talk to you about something.” This was it. She could feel it. Tilly had stayed out in the kitchen. Maybe they had even planned this? The excitement rose in her, but she tried desperately to hide it. Mort seemed a bit nervous. He stared at the table for a moment before resuming.

“Well, it's like this... Me and Tilly have been living in this apartment for a long time. Since just after her mother died.” Amelia nodded slowly. She knew exactly where this was going.

“But it doesn't really feel like home anymore. We've talked about it, and I've just sealed the purchase of a piece of land a little closer to the town center.” Amelia stared. This definitely hadn't gone where she had thought it would.

“O... kay...” She said reluctantly.

“And well, I've just started talking to contractors so it will take a while before we can move in, but I was... Well we were hoping that you would move in with us once it is all done.” His hand was trembling slightly.

“Why don't you want to stay here? Have you really talked with Tilly about this?” She couldn't help herself. The question was obvious. Who would ever live on a “piece of land” when they had this amazing apartment as an option? Mort chuckled. He had evidently anticipated this response.

“Oh, Amelia, I know you love it here, but wouldn't you rather have a little more room? A garden to walk in? Maybe a pond with some fish and frogs?” Tilly sighed and shook her head as she stood in the kitchen, listening to the conversation.

If anything would scare her potential step mother away, it would be that mental picture, she thought. And she was right, Amelia certainly didn't see the attraction of any of those things.

“And you don't have to worry about Tilly” Mort continued ecstatically “she's the one who's been driving this whole operation. It's not right to keep a child cooped up like this. She deserves space and freedom. So what do you say?”

“You're sure about this?” She was hoping that he had somehow changed his mind in the seconds that had passed since his little speech.

“Yes, I'm sure. I've already found a buyer for the apartment.” Amelia sighed.

“Okay.” She said resignedly. Mort's entire face lit up.

“Oh, you will love it, I promise!” He stood up, went around the table and pulled his woman into a loving embrace. “You've made me so happy.”

Amelia was not thrilled at the thought of moving into a house. But at least it was better than living in a shabby motel. Contractors and other building authorities were consulted left and right but Mort wanted only the best for him and his family so the preparations were slow. After one particularly long day of work and a tedious evening of looking through different materials for the kitchen, Mort took Amelia to his car, but he wouldn't tell her where they were going.

“Hey, when are we stopping?” She inquired after quite a while of driving in silence. Mort wouldn't answer. After what seemed to Amelia like a lifetime, the car finally stopped.

“Come” Mort said and went out of the car. She followed reluctantly.

“What is this place?” She asked, stepping carefully on the moist grass and onto an old wooden bridge.

Suddenly a light bulb lit up in her head. Mort was proposing!

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I'm cranking out chapters like there's no tomorrow! I hope you can keep up. ;) The updates will probably be less frequent soon, right now I'm just trying to catch up, as I've already played through almost all of Amelia's young adult days.

So... What did you think of Mort? Did you think he was a jerk, or did the chapter title give the game away? And what's your opinion of him now?

/Alexandra

PS: I put up a a family tree! Yay! 

They've only had one night together, and he's already comfortable enough to do this? Is that good or bad?

After realizing how gullible she'd been, Amelia went straight home and wolfed down a good amount of Ben & Jerry's! ;)

This was originally going to be a part of the storyline. Mort hiding from his secretary Laura so that no one at work would find out about him and Amelia. In the end it didn't really fit, though, but this picture survived.

Dispite hating the outdoors, Amelia seems to prefer walking through the bushes instead of on the perfectly fine pathed sidewalk...

... I don't know what to say.

 Considering that this is one of the fanciest high-rise buildings in town, I'd say that woman just robbed someone. Did Amelia call the police? No.