Tomorrow May Never Come

Later that night, around six, Kate was returning home with two large bags of groceries in hand. Walking up the steps onto the porch, she tried to hold one of the paper bags while grabbing the doorknob, and when she nearly dropped it, Kate decided kick at the door with her foot in hopes someone inside would hear and come let her in. But after a few moments, no one opened the door.

"Oh, come on..." she groaned, kicking the bottom of the door even harder, and she sighed with relief when it finally opened.

"Where were you? You took forever," Brian said as he stood back and let her inside.

Not even registering that it was Brian who had let her in, Kate stepped into the hall. "I went to the store--"

Ignoring her answer, Brian came to her and grabbed something out of the one of the bags she was holding, heading toward the kitchen. Finally realizing that Brian had been in her house, she stopped.

Glancing back over his shoulder, Brian called to her, "Close the door, please?" before vanishing into the kitchen.

"Wait... what the hell?" Kate whispered to herself, but then just shrugged it off and followed Brian, who was now by the stove.

"Denise, I told you not to lift a finger!" he said with as Denise tried to somehow help with what was simmering on the stove. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Brian."

"Why thank me?" he asked, looking over at her. "I'm just impressing my mother-in-law." With that, he turned and sent a wink at Gia, who was perched on top of the counter, causing her to giggle. "What do you say, Gia?" he asked, and Gia nodded.

"You are so sweet, Brian," Denise practically gushed, just as Kate came up behind them.

"Oh, Kate! I forgot to tell you... Zack called and said he'd be fifteen minutes late tonight. Sweet boy. Boyfriend?" Brian asked sneakily, showing his Cheshire-cat grin at her over his shoulder. Kate just scowled.

"Friend." Turning to her mother, she lowered her voice with a quick glance at Brian. "Mom, I need to speak with you privately."

"Ohhh," Brian said, backing away from the stove and looking at Gia. "Gia, you should leave," he said in a hushed tone before standing with Kate and her mother. "What is it?"

Huffing, Kate glared at him and dragged her mother by the arm toward the living room.

"Kate, what has gotten into you?"

"This Brian--"

Cutting her daughter off before she said something rude about him, Denise turned Kate toward the couch in the living room. "Kate, this is Brian's mother, Suzy."

Putting on a quick smile for the guests, Kate nodded. "Nice to meet you Suzy. Hello, Joe," she said, seeing that Brian's uncle was sat with his mother on the couch. With that, Kate took her mother by the hand and headed back to the front hall as John came up to them with his crutch, wearing a brightly colored basketball jersey.

"Mom, is this our house, or theirs?" she fumed.

"It's mine, actually," Denise said rather pointedly.

"Kate! Look at my new shirt!" John shouted, interrupting them with a large smile.

"Great, who's it from?" Kate asked, both sarcastically and completely disinterested.

"Brian."

"Of course," she said with a scowl, practically storming back into the kitchen where Brian was putting a spoon into the pot of sauce on the stove. "Mr. Haner!" she growled.

"Yes, darling?" he answered, turning to her with the spoon.

"Don't call me darling."

"Then call me Brian. Say ahhh."

Not exactly knowing why she decided to do as he said, Kate opened her mouth and said 'ahh' only to have the spoon pushed into her mouth. Tasting the sauce, she grimaced. "Too bitter."

"You have the same problem, it seems," Brian joked in his usual way. He then put the spoon down and went over to the filing cabinet in the corner, where he had been going back and forth with between preparing the meal. He once more looked down at the open file book for the restaurant's bills as Kate followed him. Picking up the book and turning around, Brian nearly jumped, not realizing Kate was so close. "Why are you following me? Don't you have anything to do?" he said before reading the files. "Jeeze, these restaurant accounts are so bad. How could they be so bad!?" he asked.

Snatching the book away angrily, Kate glared at him. "That's none of your business!"

"Let me see it!" Brian called, trying to grab the book back from her.

Having heard the commotion with her son in the kitchen, Suzy entered, stepping between them and pulling the book from Brian's grasp, handing it to Kate. "I'm sorry -- my son can get out of hand sometimes. Brian, stop," she said in a hushed tone as she looked at him.

Sighing in frustration, Kate shook her head and started to walk away. "It's fine."

Dinner was finally ready and had been served. Somehow, to Kate's displeasure, she had ended up seated next to Brian, and therefore had been forced to put up with his chatter and odd attitude. She despised the fact that he seemed to get along so well with he family despite the fact they had only just met that day. She didn't like Brian, and she didn't want him getting close to her family. She just wanted him gone.

The only thing worse than having to sit next to Brian was the fact that it was already almost seven-thirty, and Zack had yet to show up. He hadn't even called to say he'd be running later than he had expected, so Kate had no one there to help her ignore Brian whatsoever.

Sighing, Kate stood from the table halfway through the meal, turning to her mother. "I'm going to go call Zack, see what's going on." With a nod from Denise, Kate left the table, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and heading outside where she could be alone on the porch. Dialing the number, Kate dialed Zack's number, receiving no answer. Trying once more, the same thing happened.

"Come on, Zack, where the hell are you?" she muttered to herself, pocketing her phone and standing with her arms crossed, looking out into the now-dark street. She heard the door behind her open and someone step out, a light chuckle escaping whoever had just joined her. From the sounds of it, it was Brian, and when Kate turned to the door, she realized she was right.

"So, he stood you up?"

"Why are you laughing? This isn't funny," Kate said pointedly, completely fed up with Brian. "You are so weird, you know? Ever since this morning, you've been acting like you've known me and my family for years."

"Not years, darling. Eons. In fact, I feel as if we've known each other from past lifetimes," Brian said with a smile, standing next to Kate and putting his arm around her shoulders. Kate just stepped away and shrugged him off.

"Listen to me. You are our neighbor. Nothing more. So please, behave like one," she said, looking at him hard to make sure the point got through.

"Okay, fine," Brian answered with a shrug, stepped toward her again and tapping her nose. "Ding dong! Excuse me, may I please borrow a cup of sugar?" he asked, holding his hands out.

Kate was furious. "What are you doing?"

"You told me to behave like a neighbor, so that is what I'm doing. So, may I please have a cup of sugar?"

Giving him a sour smile, Kate rolled her eyes. "Oh hah hah. So funny! Now, please, take your obnoxiously happy-go-lucky nature and knock on someone else's door," she spat, "because we are genuinely not interested. And I'm warning you--" Kate said, pointing her finger at Brian. He quickly grabbed her around the wrist and sent a serious look at her.

"Sshh."

"...What?"

"What is your problem?" Brian asked, being serious for the first time.

"Excuse me, my problem?" Kate shot back, pulling her wrist from his grip.

"Yes. Why do you feel that the entire weight of the world rests on your shoulders?" he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Who do you think you are?" Opening her mouth, Kate went to speak. "No, don't interrupt me. You don't even know the value of your own life, do you?"

"What do you even know about my life?" Kate answered, angry that he was talking like that to her.

"Not much. But I know enough to say that in your eyes perhaps you don't have much.... But look at your life through someone else's eyes and you'll know you've got a lot."

"Great, now you're lecturing me..." Kate sighed, rolling her eyes as she turned to leave. Before she could reach the door back into the house, Brian had her by the hand again, pulling her back to him.

"Just listen," he said. "Live...be happy...smile for once, okay? Because who knows? Tomorrow may never come." With a pause, Brian suddenly smiled to himself. "Oh wow, what at thought. 'Tomorrow may never come'... Oh I'm so good at this," he said thoughtfully to himself. "Anyway, since you don't know how, I will teach you to smile. It's just a simple, three-step process. Ready? One...two...three..." he said, and then smiled big at Kate, who was not amused. "Try it. One...two...three," he chuckled, smiling at her again. "Oh, come on," he groaned, reaching out to poke her cheek.

"Don't touch me!" Kate shouted, slapping his hand away from her.

"Oh, you poor thing. You really have forgotten how to smile. Don't worry. Just practice, and I'm sure it'll come back," Brian said, smirking at her.

"You know what your problem is?!" Kate shouted, pointing at him again. "You think--"

"No, I know that I am very sexy," Brian said, grabbing her hand again and trying his best to growl sexily at her. Kate just stopped and looked at him with wide eyes. "But you're just not my type. Sorry," he said with a smile, letting her go.

"Forget it. You're insane," Kate said, throwing her hands up and storming back into the house.

For the rest of the night, Kate kept thinking about it. Was Brian right? Had she really forgotten to smile?

Later that night, after dinner had been over for some time and Brian's family had returned back to the house across the street, Brian was entering the living room, where his mother was sat on the couch with one of Brian's photos.

"Such a beautiful smile..." she said to herself, not knowing Brian had entered.

"Who, mom?" he asked, coming up to stand next to her.

"Michelle, of course. Who else?" Suzy answered, holding out the photo she had been looking at. With a grin, Brian took a seat next to her on the couch.

"That was taken at the wedding. Where did you find it?"

"Here on the table," Suzy said.

"Oh...must have left it out," Brian mumbled, still looking down at the photo of himself and Michelle together, back during happier times.

"I spoke with her this morning She said you were meeting with her tonight?" Suzy then asked, setting the photo down and turning toward her son.

"Actually, I was just leaving to go see her," he said, going to stand up from his seat.

"Should I come with you?" Suzy asked, stopping him, and Brian sat back down. He smiled a little at her.

"What will you do there?" he asked, and Suzy nodded, knowingly. "Anyway, I want to speak with her in private."

Sighing, Suzy looked down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at Brian. "...Aren't you scared?"

Taking a deep breath, Brian shook his head. "Nah... I'm not scared," he said with a chuckle, and as Suzy looked back down at the photo on the table, he looked down at his hand and crossed his fingers, uncrossing them as his mother looked back at him. "There's nothing for you to worry about, Mom," he said, trying to reassure her as he pulled her in for a hug. "Everything will be alright."