He leaned his arm across the top of the car, leaning over to talk through the open window. “Come on inside. Everyone’s here. They’re all excited to see you.”
She could picture them all sitting at the big table, paired up all the way around. That was the worst part of seeing them all again: everyone had someone except for her and Derek. “We aren’t going to be the only single people in the group, are we?”
“You’re assuming I’m single.”
He was, wasn’t he? Madison’s stomach fell all the way to her feet. A sick, almost panicked, feeling welled up inside her. He was single still, wasn’t he? Mom would have texted her a saga detailing the whole thing if Derek had a girlfriend.
Except that Mom’s head was full of Mr. Fabulous. She probably hadn’t even noticed Derek.
“I really should be spending more time with my mom.” She could be home in five minutes—two if she hit all green lights. “That’s why I came home, to visit her.”
“Sure. That’s why.” His smile tipped to the left side, just the way it always had when he teased her. “It didn’t have anything to do with warning off your mom’s new boyfriend?”
“I... That’s not...”
He walked around the front of the car. He opened the passenger door and took a seat.
“What are you doing?”
He pulled the door closed and leaned the seat back.
“Are you settling in?”
“So you didn’t come back to Folsom Lake to decide if my uncle Grant was good enough for your mom?”
She kept her gaze forward. If she had to look at him sitting there so comfortable in her car the way he used to, thinking about him and some phantom girlfriend, she’d start all over again with the what-ifs and if-onlys.
“I only came to visit.” She almost sounded convincing.
“I know you better than that, Maddi.”
She shook her head. “You always thought you did.”
He leaned in, close enough to whisper in her ear. “I know you well enough to know you talk to your steering wheel.”
Derek still wore the same cologne. The two years they’d been apart disappeared at a single whiff of that scent.
The flood of memories brought an unexpected smile to her face. “I know you’re addicted to Chang’s spring rolls,” she said. He probably single-handedly kept Chang’s in business.
“And you can’t live without diet soda.”
She laughed. “And you prefer w—”
She turned as she spoke and his nearness cut the words short. He was so close. They were almost touching. She could see every speck of color in his eyes.
“You prefer water.” She could hardly breathe, let alone come up with a more coherent thing to say.
“Water and spring rolls and—” His next breath sounded strained. His eyes didn’t leave hers.
He touched her face. Her heart jumped from her feet to her throat. Every thought fled.
Derek leaned closer. She could feel his breath on her lips. She remembered with perfectly clarity how it felt to kiss Derek McGee. No one kissed like he did. No one. The comparison had ended more than a couple potential relationships. One kiss, and she would be lost again. She would be under that spell he wove, forgetting as she melted that this wasn’t what she wanted.
I can’t do this again.
She took in a deep breath, finding her center again. “Everyone is waiting inside.” Including his girlfriend.
What is wrong with me?
She grabbed the door handle and scrambled out. Why had she let Mom talk her into wearing these wedges? She could have slipped out with more grace in a pair of flats.
Derek’s longer legs caught up with her before she’d even reached the restaurant door. “Wait, Maddi. Come on. Don’t run off.”
“I’m not running. I’m going in for dinner.”
He stepped in front of her. “Don’t go in mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
That crooked smile came back in a flash. “Neither am I.”
“Why would you be mad? Guilty is what you should be.”
His brows pulled together. “Guilty?”
“I don’t think your girlfriend would appreciate knowing you were a breath away from making out with another woman in a parked car.” It sounded even worse out loud.
“First of all.” Derek stepped right up next to her, even closer than he’d been in the car. “If I’d been ‘a breath away’ from making out with you, we’d still be in the car.”
She refused to look at him. He’d see in her eyes just how much the idea of being kissed by him still appealed to her even after their years apart.
“What’s the second of all?” she muttered.
“Second of all, I don’t have a girlfriend.” With that, he walked into the restaurant, leaving her there to try to find her equilibrium.
Chapter Four
“You want me to plot against my own daughter?”
“Absolutely.” Derek looked between Mrs. Collins and his uncle, hoping they would be the willing accomplices he’d pegged them as. “Maybe I’m a complete idiot, and maybe I’ll regret this later, but there was still something there between us last night. I just want to see whether—”
“No need to convince me, hon.” Mrs. Collins waved off his argument. “Madison was never happier than when the two of you were together. You plot away and give me an assignment.”
He grinned. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.
“And you, Uncle Grant?”
Uncle Grant wrapped his arms around Mrs. Collins, leaning his chin on her shoulder from behind. “Whatever will make Teresa happy.”
She reached up and patted his cheek. “Sweet man.”
“Are you sure?” Uncle Grant asked, a troublemaker glint in his eyes again. “Madison seems to think I’m the devil himself.”
Derek smiled. “Figured that out, did you?”
Mrs. Collins laughed. “Madison doesn’t think much of my love-life intelligence, but I’m not stupid. I know she came home to get rid of Grant.”
“And that doesn’t offend you?” Derek looked at his uncle.
“Madison loves her mother. Since I do too, I can’t be offended by that.”
The two of them were kind of disgustingly happy. Derek envied his uncle that. The only time he had been out of his mind in love with someone was Maddi. He hadn’t ever gotten her out of his system. Maybe he really was an idiot. He was, after all, about to try again, despite being shot down so entirely the last time.
“Both of you knowing exactly what Maddi’s up to will make this work even better,” he said. “I’m going to offer to help her with her sleuthing. Give her a chance to spy on you when you’re... uh... supposedly oblivious.”
“Fake spying?” Mrs. Collins asked.
“No. I want her to see how things really are.” He knew his uncle well enough not to worry at all that Maddi would see her mother being mistreated in any way. “I don’t have private-eye skills. No matter how covert I tried to be, you’ll probably realize we’re there.”
Uncle Grant nodded slowly. “So our role in this is to pretend we don’t see the two of you?”
“Exactly,” Derek said. “Just be yourselves, the way you always are. And pretend you aren’t being spied on.”
Uncle Grant turned his gaze back to Mrs. Collins. “What do you think? Will your girl see through this?”
Mrs. Collins eyed Derek for a moment in silence. “She might have some suspicions. But if Derek is smart, she’ll be too distracted in the end to care.”
“I can distract her, especially if you go places Maddi will enjoy.” Derek grabbed his jacket from the coat rack by the door. “Where are you two going to be tonight?”
“We were just going to stay here and watch a movie, pop popcorn or something.” Mrs. Collins seemed to reconsider their plans even as she said it. “But maybe we should go out.”
They were catching on fast.
“Would Madison enjoy the new movie at the Cine
plex?” Uncle Grant asked.
A couple seats in the dark, back corner of the movie theater? “Let’s do it.”
Uncle Grant pulled the door open for him. “We’ll go about seven-thirty. There has to be a showing around then.”
That would work. “We’ll start our stakeout around seven o’clock. I’ll watch for you to pass, and we’ll follow.”
Mrs. Collins looked beyond excited. “We’ll have to think of something really romantic for us to do tomorrow night. Let us know if you have any ideas.”
They’d not only be covertly watching their relatives, she’d be unknowingly going on a date with him every night. Nice.
He waited until a quarter to seven before going to Maddi’s house, trying to act covert and sneaky. She answered the door, and he pulled her outside, looking both ways before pulling the door closed.
She looked at him like he was completely nuts. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to help you go all Sherlock Holmes on your mother.”
“What?”
“Shh.” He pressed his fingers to her lips. Pretending that touch didn’t affect him pushed his acting skills to their limit. “Stealth, Maddi. You need stealth.” He reached around her and opened her mom’s front door again. “Tell her you’re going out—going to someone’s house or something.”
“Are you bossing me around?” Her offended tone was a little overdone.
He gave her a half smile. “I wouldn’t dare boss you around. You’d rip me to shreds.”
“You know it.” She ruined her show of arrogance by rolling her eyes like a teenager. She leaned in the doorway. “Hey, Mom?”
“Yeah?” came the answer from inside.
“I’m going out for a while, okay?”
“Okay. Have fun.”
Maddi gave him a “good enough?” look. He nodded approval.
“What now, Dr. Watson?” she asked.
“I have a stakeout vehicle parked at the end of the street.” He took her hand, not giving her even a minute to object, and walked quickly that direction.
“You’re putting a lot of effort into spying on your own uncle.”
“You took off work and drove across state lines to spy on your own mother.” He winked at her.
She still blushes. It was adorable.
He kept her hand in his all the way to his car up the street. He held the door while she got in, then let himself in on the driver’s side.
“Do I smell spring rolls?” she asked. It almost sounded like an accusation. “Are you still in denial? Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.”
“And what about your ‘problem’?” He tapped the plastic lid of the takeout cup in the passenger-side cup holder.
She pressed her lips together, eyes growing wide. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Twenty ounces.”
She picked up the cup. “You’re terrible.” She took a long pull on the straw. “Terrible.”
“Yup.” He reached back and grabbed the bag of Chang’s takeout he’d picked up before parking. He popped open the carton of spring rolls. “Want one?”
She nodded as she sipped, reaching in and pulling out a roll.
“We’re really spying on your uncle?” she asked.
He swallowed a bite. “You need to know your mom is happy. If following them around will set your mind at ease...” He shrugged and took another bite.
“What if we follow him around, and we find out that he’s a jerk?”
Derek just smiled.
“You’re that confident?”
“I know my uncle pretty well.”
“We’ll see.” She took a bite.
“Yes, we will.”
They chatted while they sat there. Nothing important came up, but it was good talking to her again. She clearly loved her work. Whether she realized it or not, she was lonely. He could tell.
Still, he stuck to light topics and kept his distance. He’d admitted to himself that he’d gone too fast the night before.
Maddi didn’t trust anyone easily, especially men. Her dad had walked out on them when she was just a little girl. Then Mrs. Collins had gone through a long string of relationships. They all ended badly. He’d have to take his time.
But she wouldn’t be in Folsom Lake very long, so time was one thing he didn’t have a lot of. He’d let her run away two years earlier without a fight. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
Chapter Five
“What movie did they pick?” Madison was enjoying their stakeout despite herself. “Please tell me they aren’t seeing that dad-saves-his-daughter-from-kidnappers movie? You’d think after four movies, those kidnappers would decide to take someone else.”
Derek gave one of his half laughs of agreement. She’d heard those so many times while they were together. No one else made that sound. It was cute. “Kidnappers are notoriously stupid,” he said. “Fortunately, for us, your mom and Grant chose the sappy, romantic flick.”
“‘Sappy’?”
“Did I say that? I meant, wonderful, heartwarming romantic flick.” He obviously didn’t mean that at all, but he held up two tickets, so he apparently thought the movie was worth enduring in the name of covert operations. “Do you think they’ve had enough time to get popcorn and all that?”
“Peek in the window,” she said, motioning ahead of them.
He waved her over with him, leaning enough to glance in the tinted glass. “I kind of feel like a criminal. If anyone asks, I’m saying this was all your idea.”
“Hey, we’re in this together. If I go down, we both go down.” She’d forgotten how much fun they used to have. Their sense of humor was the same. They both enjoyed being just a little crazy, though she didn’t think either of them had ever admitted it.
“You ratted me out, see,” he said with a 1920s gangster inflection. “So I’m taking you out with me, see.”
She laughed. “Your twenties gangster impression needs work.”
“You no-good, dirty rat.” He even tried to make a Humphrey Bogart face. That hadn’t improved since the night they watched Angels with Dirty Faces on cable because he’d been sick and didn’t feel good enough to leave his apartment. He’d been doing that ridiculous impression ever since. She’d been laughing at it from day one.
“So, Bugsy,” Maddi said. “Is the coast clear?”
Derek looked inside again. “We have a clear shot to the concession stand. We can get you some Junior Mints before the show starts.”
“Wow. Dinner and dessert.”
He flashed her a big, goofy grin. “That’s right. I know how to show a girl a good time.”
“I probably should be footing the bill for this. It’s my investigation, after all.”
He pushed open the door, holding it for her. “You can pay for tomorrow’s itinerary.”
“Tomorrow’s?” She stopped halfway through the door. He was planning to spend the next night with her as well?
He looked surprised by her confusion. “Did you think you would find out everything you needed to know about my uncle in one night? I thought you’d want to be more thorough than that.”
She had taken off a full week of work, after all. If Mr. Fabulous had been a pig from the first minute, she’d have sent him off and spent the rest of her vacation with Mom. But a more subtle jerk, she realized, would require more observation. So far, Grant McGee didn’t seem like a jerk at all. Either he wasn’t one—which was hard to even imagine—or he was better at hiding it than most.
“I intend to be completely thorough,” she told Derek.
His nod seemed like approval. She liked that. No lecture, no treating her like an incompetent child. Not enough men were like him.
He ordered a large popcorn like he always had and got her a box of Junior Mints. She, of course, remembered his usual movie-theater snack, but it surprised her that he remembered hers. Her own father didn’t remember her birthday half the time, let alone her favorite candy.
&nbs
p; Derek stuck his head in the theater where their movie was showing, checking to see where Mom and his uncle were sitting. Folsom Lake didn’t have the new stadium-style theaters, but the old school ones with the entrance at the very back.
“We’re in luck. They’re about halfway to the front. If we take a seat here in the back, they’ll never spot us. Maybe in the corner where light from the door won’t hit us.”
Dark corner. In the back. She liked the idea, but she couldn’t deny the fact that most of the appeal had nothing to do with hiding from her mom.
They slid into the back row, taking the two seats closest to the wall. Apparently Derek remembered she preferred not being next to the wall. He took that seat without having to be asked.
“A person could fall asleep here, and no one would see them for days,” she whispered.
The theater was only about a quarter full. Enough people to go unnoticed, and not so many that they couldn’t whisper now and then without getting shushed.
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” he whispered. “You keep an eye on your mom—watch for any signs of being unhappy or miserable or anything. I’ll watch Uncle Grant and let you know if he does anything you might object to.”
Her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet; she could only just make out Derek’s silhouette in the dark. How could he possibly see what his uncle was doing from clear across the room?
“What kind of things will you be watching for?” She squinted, trying to get a better look at her mom in the dark.
“Well, if he pulls the old yawn-and-stretch move, like this.” Derek gave an exaggerated yawn, then held one arm out, as if getting a good stretch, and rested it along the back of her chair, effectively putting his arm around her.
“Mom won’t fall for that.”
“Probably not.” He settled in with his arm still around her shoulders. “I’ll also let you know if he leans in too close to whisper in her ear.” He, of course, leaned in close to whisper the last few words—where else?—in her ear. “Or if he convinces her to sit alone with him in a dark corner of the theater.”
She whipped her head around to look at him. By now, her eyes had adjusted enough to see the look of mischief in his eyes.
A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection (A Timeless Romance Anthology) Page 15
