Becca nudged some of Tom's students' textbooks aside and sat on the end of his staffroom desk. He repressed his urge to realign them in a neat pile. She cleared her throat and stretched her long, track-pants-clad legs toward where he stood.

"Any plans for the weekend, Tom-O?"

He didn't understand the Australian custom of inventing nicknames longer than the original name, but after seven months of sharing office space with the forward woman, he stopped questioning it. He couldn't fight his smile since he'd planned an exciting non-date for him and Maria this Saturday. "Taking Maria out to Lumphini Park."

Becca laughed, making her ponytail of chestnut hair bounce. "You boys are all the same. A new toy shows up and you're obsessed."

Tom crossed his arms. "She's not a toy, and she's been here a month a half."

Becca stared at him with wide eyes with thick, long lashes that made her pupils appear even bigger. "For how much of that time has she been over her ex and emotionally available?"

"That's why we're taking it slow, as friends."

Becca smoothed the dark hair on her crown. "That won't give you an edge over Mitch." Her lip curled after saying his name.

Tom offered her a butterscotch candy from the dish on his desk that she took without hesitation. "I know he's a selfish egomaniac, but he said nothing happened between them that night at the beach. He's too cocky to lie." Although, it didn't make Tom any less jealous of their outing to Ayutthaya. Why hadn't he thought of that, and what was Mitch scheming next?

Becca snorted and played with the candy wrapper. "He will tell you exactly what you want to hear without losing a second of sleep over it. Don't be fooled by his bullshit." With the history that Becca and Mitch had, Tom didn't doubt her advice for a second.

"You think Maria is lying too?"

She shrugged and popped the candy in her mouth. "Invite her for drinks tonight, and we'll see."

Tom frowned and stood to surpass Becca's slouched height. She was always trying to convince him to go out when she knew why he hated it. "Mitch's actions were awful, but I won't do this to Maria."

"Afraid of her answer?"

His stomach shifted, and he straightened the cuffs of his dress shirt. Did he know Maria well enough to assume she wouldn't lie to him? He'd thought he and his ex were much closer, and she'd torn him to shreds. Laughter floated from the nearby primary four to six side of the staff room, and it sounded like Maria. Becca sauntered over and raised her eyebrows at Tom before disappearing. What was she up to now? He gripped the rough fabric of his chair before following her.

Maria sat at her desk, chair swivelled toward Mitch who'd captured her full attention. She beamed in a way Tom had never seen. She must have had an amazing day with the kids. It was impossible Mitch had inspired those feelings.

"Maria," Becca called out with a grin as fake as she'd accused Mitch of being.

Maria turned and tensed as she made eye contact with them. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Brilliant. Listen, Tom's having a few of us over for drinks if you're keen, Maria?"

Tom shot Becca a look he wished would render her tongue-tied. So much for his quiet night in to video chat with his sister and his nephew.

Maria tucked her hair behind her ear and caught his eye. "I wouldn't want to impose."

He dug his hands in his pockets. If he backed out of this now, it'd appear like he was excluding her more than it already appeared. Why couldn't Becca have minded her own business? "You're more than welcome. They're last-minute plans, otherwise, I would have mentioned it earlier. If you're busy, that's completely fine."

"I missed partying with you at the beach. Just come for one drink, it'll be fun." Becca grinned at Maria invitingly, which made the Filipina relax.

She met Tom's gaze with those sweet brown eyes. "Did you invite Prae?"

The Thai woman worked diligently at her tidy desk while her foreign coworkers had checked out. Perhaps Becca would forget her silly plan to question Maria if a more sensible person was around to witness her pettiness. "No, but we should," he said.

"I'll go ask her." Maria took off, smart enough to sense a trap and concoct an escape. It gave him hope she'd fend off Mitch's advances.

The man stood to glower over Becca like a cheesy, made-for-TV movie villain. "Hate me all you want, but leave her out of this."

Becca grinned and batted her eyelashes. "Have I struck a nerve, Foster?"

"She's not a pawn in whatever you are planning. She's a person, and she's been through enough."

Tom held in his scoff. Since when had that narcissist started caring about other people?

Becca laughed dryly and steeped closer to Mitch like he was a magnet. "Don't act like a hero. I know how you treat women or did you forget what you did to me because we're so meaningless to you after the chase? Sunshine asked me to look out for her, and I'll be damned I'm if letting you sink your claws into her after what a dick you were to me."

Mitch's gaze flickered to Maria, his frown softening a touch before he looked at Becca. "We agreed from the start what our arrangement was and wasn't. You're the one who expected differently. Don't blame me for that."

What a jerk! He couldn't expect women would agree to his selfish term. If that was how he played his games, Maria would be safe. She wasn't that kind of girl.

Becca's nostrils flared. "Arrangement? Didn't those months mean anything?"

"They were fun, but that's all they were to me."

"You're a worthless pig." She stormed off, runners pounding on the floor as she left.

Tom shook his head. Why couldn't women see through Mitch's nonsense the second they spoke to him?

Mitch snorted and leaned against his desk. "I thought you'd be above using another person's pain to get a girl."

"This wasn't my idea."

He picked up a toy basketball, which was fitting given the man's emotional maturity. "Didn't stop you from using it to your advantage."

Tom narrowed his eyes. "You're the last person who should lecture me about morals."

Maria approached and clicked her tongue. "I can't leave you two alone for thirty seconds without a fight breaking out."

Mitch grinned and shamelessly checked her out. "Can you blame us?"

Tom was ready to throttle the jerk for both making her uncomfortable and lumping Tom into his sleazy behaviour. As she shook her head, a touch of red-tinted her cheeks. Tom dug his nails into his leg. Why couldn't she see this man was an animal?

"What did Prae say?" he asked.

Maria glanced at Prae's desk. "She might come. I'll keep twisting her arm."

The weight on his chest lightened. "So you're coming too?"

"My cooking channel sponsors said to keep my content alive, so I hope you like appetizers with your drinks."

"Can I help?" Tom asked.

She nodded and grinned in a way that made his heart soar. "You can if you know where to buy plain tortilla chips."

Perhaps Becca wasn't the worst friend to have on his side.

***

After school, he and Maria met up in the apartment courtyard, and she insisted they take a songtao to the store instead of a cab during rush hour. Tom grimaced at the truck-buses with the passenger areas, which were truck beds with benches and a high roof installed, packed so full that people had to hang on the outer railings. It defeated the point of putting on a fresh shirt after work, but she grinned as her eyes hung on each passing vehicle, so he kept his mouth shut.

Once the sixth truck passed Maria's hesitant attempts to find the right one, Tom urged her to wave down the next one that looked less full. The truck pulled to a stop, and they ducked into the covered truck bed, brushing past dozens of people to stand in the middle, clutching to a ceiling rail for dear life. At least Maria's coconut scent cut through some of the body odour.

"Is it everything you imagined?" Tom joked.

She laughed. "Everything and more." Her gaze travelled around the uniformed university students, the labourers, the young mothers and families. "Reminds me of a rush-hour bus ride at home, except without icy winds and slippery sidewalks."

"Some days I'd take the cold over this heat." And the ripe smells that accompanied it.

The songtao jerked to a stop, and Maria slammed into his chest as he tried to keep her from flying into the truck cab. Her small hand rested on him briefly, and his heart fluttered.

"How's your family doing?" she asked.

"Good, I was supposed to see them tonight, but Becca had other plans."

"That's nice of you to reschedule."

He hadn't thought of it that manner. Maybe he was being a good friend. "She's struggling after what happened with Mitch. He really hurt her."

Maria stared at the small child sitting on his mother's lap beside them. Perhaps she was reconsidering the time she spent with that con artist, or perhaps Tom was overstepping. Best to change the subject.

"My nephews are excited about Christmas already and busy asking me for all kinds of anime gifts since they discovered Thailand and Japan are both in Asia."

"That's adorable." Maria smiled up at him then back at the toddler. "I can't wait to meet Sunshine's baby. I want to shower that kid with love and gifts."

"You'll be an amazing aunt or cousin, or how does that work when your cousin has a child?"

"Tita," she said with a sexy lilt to her voice. When he raised an eyebrow, she added, "An auntie. When you're adult Filipina, you're an auntie to the kids in your life."

The warmth in her culture matched well with his values. "It's incredible that fate brought both of them here and it forever changed their lives."

"My cousin's pretty determined when she wants something or someone. I wouldn't chalk that all up to fate."

Tom laughed with her and motioned it was their turn to disembark. He had a love and hate affair with fate, and right now it was fifty-fifty. Meeting Maria partway through his loveless year in Thailand was promising, but she didn't want a relationship yet, which could mean five more months of feeling like an unlovable misfit until his contract was up, and he flew home or to another country. However, she was different as she was interested in more than partying and hooking up like many of his single foreign co-workers were.

After squishing through the crowded truck bed, they hopped off at a mall that housed a grocery store with an international food section. The area wasn't too busy around suppertime. There seemed to be even more Christmas in the air, from the Thai covers of Christmas songs playing to the fake snow and little winter village with cute red hat-wearing animals. What he wouldn't give for some of his mom's gingersnaps and homemade caramel corn right now.

"I keep forgetting it's December without the snow," Maria said.

He dug his hand in his pocket even though there was no need to protect his skin with the temperature in the mid-twenties. "Christmas is going to be weird."

They walked onto the descending escalator, and her eyes stayed on him. "Have you ever been away for it?"

"We've taken family holidays outside Alberta, but I've never been away from them at this time of year before," Tom said. No turkey, no playing board games till someone fell asleep on the table, no sharing memories of their road trip horror stories when they were young and a handful.

Maria leaned back against the escalator handrail. "Darn, I was going to ask how to make it easier."

"Probably spend it with friends. I heard there are a few indoor skating rinks in the city."

Maria's eyes brightened like the holiday decor strung from the mall balconies above. "That would be fun."

His chest warmed as he'd finally found the right thing to say, and he beat Mitch to it.

They reached the basement floor and walked past several Thai and international brand clothing and cosmetic stores. Soon they arrived at the grocery chain with a decent imports section. Maria sighed when she saw the prices.

"Don't worry about it. I'm hosting, so I'm buying," Tom said.

"But—"

He shook his head. "You wouldn't be making anything if I hadn't invited you out, at not anything with an international food price tag. You're doing me the favour by cooking it by making me look like a better host."

Maria chewed her lip. "But you paid at the movies, and if it wasn't for my cooking channel—"

"Split it?"

"Ok."

They ventured around the store, picking up tortilla chips, ground pork, cheese, and mayo. She studied the shelves like she was trying to commit the products to memory, or maybe she was imagining new dishes. Would he get to be in her cooking video like Mitch had? She returned with a cabbage and an onion to toss in their basket.

"Do you need help to make this?" he asked.

"I don't need it, but if you like dicing onions, I won't say no."

It wasn't enthusiasm, but it was a start. He plastered on a smile in hopes the remainder of the night would work more in his favour. "I'd love to."