Start Me Up

by Nicole Michaels

  He grinned at her, but it cooled a little as a warm arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her into a firm chest. Her step faltered slightly in her high heels but she managed to regain her composure quickly, pasting an embarrassed smile back on her face.

  “Everything okay here? I assume you were discussing your mother?” Mike said in a calm voice, but she knew better. There was a definite edge to his tone. Gabe Nelson’s sheepish grin told her that he caught it, too.

  “Of course, I’m sure Anne is eager to fill you in.” He looked at Anne once again and added, “I’m sure I’ll see you again when Marie checks out tomorrow.”

  She swore she felt Mike’s grip on her waist tighten. She should have been annoyed with him, but instead she felt only comforted and safe. Her traitorous body loved the feel of his arm wrapped around her and the possession she felt in his grasp. He really had no right to stake the claim he just had, but she was helpless to correct him.

  When the good doctor was back at the nurses’ station, she turned around in his arms. “Mike! What was that for?”

  “I was telling him to back the hell off. Trust me, that could have gotten a lot uglier.”

  “You had no right to do that. He’s just my mother’s doctor, it was nothing.”

  “Really, Anne? You’re not that naive. You’re also not for him.”

  For a moment she was speechless; then she reluctantly untangled herself from Mike’s arms and sighed. He was right, she wasn’t that naive, and she also wasn’t immune to his touch or his possessive streak. She needed to remember why they were here and stop thinking about how happy she was that he was here with her. “It appears my mother is fine, but they’re going to keep her overnight for monitoring.”

  Mike let out a deep breath. “Well, that’s a relief.”

  “Yes, it is. But now I’m torn. She’ll tell me to go back to the party, and while I’d love to, I hate to leave her here all alone.”

  “You should stay. I’ll go back to the party, tell Eric and Callie what’s going on and see if they need any help.”

  “No, no. You don’t need to do that. They really can handle it. But you should go. I’ll have one of them come get me.”

  “Anne, I’ll come back and get you in a couple of hours. You just relax and keep your mom company. In the meantime I’m going back to make myself useful. I don’t know how, but I’ll do whatever your friends tell me to do.”

  She stared at him, and he grabbed her hand. She let him hold it. “Why would you do that?”

  “Anne, you need to start catching on. I’ll do anything for you.”

  She had no words to respond with. The air was yanked from her lungs and she nearly passed out when he pulled her into his body and placed a kiss on the top of her head. He looked into her eyes before he spoke. “And stay away from that doctor.”

  And then he headed for the elevator.

  In a daze she walked back into Marie’s room. Anne noticed she was frantically turning the TV volume back up. “Handsome doctor, isn’t he?” Marie asked before Anne could make it all the way in.

  “Gracious, Mom,” Anne said with a sigh. She sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed. “But you’re right, he’s not bad to look at.”

  “But you felt nothing when he flirted, did you?”

  “How did you know he flirted with me?”

  “Well, you just told me, and I assumed he would after the way he looked at you when you walked in.” Marie flipped the TV off and turned to Anne. “I don’t think you see how beautiful you are, Anne, which is what makes you all the more wonderful for it.”

  “Thank you, Mom.” Anne grabbed her mother’s hand and squeezed. “But enough about me and men. I still need you, so please let’s do this right from now on.”

  “Uh-uh. You’re avoiding the conversation at hand. I especially enjoyed what came after the flirting with the hot doctor. Mike’s voice carries wonderfully, all deep and sexy.”

  Anne groaned. “Oh my goodness, Mother.”

  Marie gave her a small smile. “That man is in love with you. Why are you making him suffer?”

  “There are things you don’t understand, Mom.” Anne fiddled with her bracelets. She couldn’t believe they were going to have this talk.

  “You’re right, there are lots of things I will never understand, like why my husband had to die so long before me, or why I can’t eat chocolate cake every day. But all those unfair things aside, one thing is for sure. If I died tomorrow it would be with my heart full of happiness that I had the most wonderful daughter and granddaughter and I married the love of my life. Could you say the same?”

  Anne sighed. She most definitely hadn’t married the love of her life, and just the thought that her mother was that content with her own life brought tears to Anne’s eyes. “That kind of talk is so morbid. You certainly can’t be ready to die.”

  “Oh heavens no. My point is that at this very moment I have no regrets.”

  Anne nodded in understanding, but she wasn’t satisfied. She wouldn’t be happy until her mother was home and taking care of herself. And this conversation was over.

  “Do you know it crushed your father that we couldn’t have children? He was certain that marrying him was a horrible mistake because it killed him that he couldn’t give me every single thing that I wanted.”

  Anne’s eyes went wide. “Oh Mom, you never told me that. I thought it was you that couldn’t have children.”

  A wistful expression crossed Marie’s face. “That’s what I told everyone. I was trying to protect your father’s pride. We found out later that it was probably those damn chemicals he loaded onto the planes during the war that did it, and probably caused his cancer, too, but that’s neither here nor there.”

  Anne was shocked. She had known her father was a Vietnam vet, but this news made her outraged, and incredibly sad. She missed Wade Harris so much. Every time she thought about how much he would love Claire, she felt a deep emptiness inside her heart.

  “What I’m trying to get at, Anne, is that your father spent his whole life trying to make sure I was happy, and he was always so worried that he wasn’t the best husband for me because he couldn’t give me all that I wanted. Therefore I spent my whole life showing him that I loved him no matter what. He was the perfect husband for me whether he thought so or not. You can’t overthink if you’re the right person for someone; sometimes you just have to just trust fate. And each other. So Wade’s swimmers were no good, oh well, we ended up with you.”

  Anne laughed and swiped at her eyes. “You’re right, I keep trying to convince myself that Mike will realize we’re not good together. But he doesn’t seem to agree.”

  “Anne, I think there’s a good chance he never will have that realization. He sees you exactly the way I do, and you’re perfect.”

  Tears ran down Anne’s cheeks. “All I ever wanted was to make you proud of me.”

  “Oh, Anne. I’m always proud of you. Even when I see you dance on the Internet.”

  “Oh no!” Anne groaned and covered her face with her hands. “You weren’t supposed to see that, Mom!”

  Marie laughed. “You know how the girls love Facebook, but that’s beside the point. Now look at me.”

  Anne dropped her hands, and almost felt relief knowing that her mother had seen the video and could laugh about it.

  “Anne, what will make me even more proud is if you start living for yourself. The only thing I want you to worry about is you and Claire. And obviously that Mike, too, because I think he would make you girls very happy.”

  Anne smiled. “Maybe.”

  “Maybe my eye, I saw that young man with no shirt on.”

  “That’s not the only thing that matters,” Anne said with a laugh. Her blush was probably bright pink at this point.

  “No, sweetie, it’s not.” Her mother patted Anne’s hand as her eyes fluttered close. “But it’s sure a nice bonus.”

  * * *

  Almost two hours passed before Anne stood up
from the chair, desperately needing to stretch her limbs. She had flipped through the channels on the TV while her mother slept peacefully, thinking of how lucky she was to have her mom in her life.

  She peeked into the hall, used the restroom, and then checked in at the nurses’ station where they all assured Anne that Marie’s blood pressure was coming down slowly but surely and that they’d be in soon to check her legs. Anne pulled out her cell phone in the hallway. She had one message from Callie.

  CALLIE: Everything here is great, don’t worry about us. :)

  Anne sighed. She had known she could count on Callie and Eric; otherwise she would have been a wreck here at the hospital. She wondered what they had put Mike to work doing. Or maybe he had just decided to take her car back and go home. No, surely not, not after telling her he would do anything for her. She called Lindsey to check on Claire and update her on Marie and then made her way back to her mother’s room. A woman was adjusting the bed and prepping her for dinner. Anne smiled and lifted the lid off the tray. “Mmmm, grilled fish and green beans, looks yummy, Mom.”

  “I’m sure it will be.” Marie sounded unconvinced but thanked the woman and opened up a package of crackers. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to your party?”

  “I don’t mind being here with you.”

  “And I love you here, but this was a big night for you if I recall. You should go. Come back in the morning.”

  It was tempting. She hated not being there, seeing it all through, but she knew Callie and Eric could handle it. “I don’t know…”

  “Anne, I’m not dying, at least not this evening, unless this fish kills me, but I doubt it.” Marie winked. “Now tell Mike to come back and get you. That way you can tell me all about it tomorrow.”

  After a little more arguing she sent Mike a message; twenty minutes later he texted her that he was at the outpatient door waiting. Anne kissed her mother and made her way down to the first floor. On the drive back they didn’t really speak beyond her telling him a little more about Marie’s condition. She wasn’t sure where things stood. She’d told him she needed space, yet tonight had felt right, especially when he’d stormed into the hospital and played the caveman in front of the flirty doctor. Why did she want to smile when she thought about it?

  Her thoughts settled back on the party, and panic began to set in when she realized all the things she’d failed to photograph for the blog. By the time they pulled into the farm it was nearly dark, and at this hour dinner would be over and they would be on to dancing. Mike drove her car through the grass and parked off to the side of the barn doors so she didn’t have to walk far. She could hear the music when she got out.

  “Anne, you’re back. How’s Marie?” Callie and Eric stood outside the side door each holding a little plate of leftover food. The lights from inside put off enough of a glow that she could see them when she walked up.

  “She’s fine. Thank you, guys, for taking care of things while I was gone.”

  “Of course,” Eric said. “You had it planned and arranged down to the letter. It all pretty much happened on its own. And the food is amazing.” He held out a bacon-wrapped water chestnut and she let him drop it into her mouth.

  “Hmmm, that is delicious.” Anne covered her mouth with her hand as she chewed. “I’m so relieved to have it all over with? Did Jessica love the car?”

  “Oh Lord, you should have seen that girl.” Eric’s eyes went wide and Callie laughed. “She nearly peed herself. Mike here knows how to give the ladies what they want. I’m jealous.”

  Anne couldn’t help laughing when Eric gave Mike a pouty face.

  “Cool it, man,” Mike said, but his tone was all teasing.

  “I wish I could have seen her reaction. Hopefully the photographer caught it. I wished I would have told you where my camera was so you could get photos.”

  “No need, Mike barely left the photographer’s side when he got back. Was insisting she shoot this and that, the cake, the car, even the centerpiece candles.”

  Anne turned and looked up at Mike. He had his hands shoved into his pockets and appeared to be a little embarrassed when he met her gaze.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  “You’re welcome.” His eyes flickered over her face, and he took a deep breath. “Well, I’m gonna run, I think. Unless you need anything else.”

  She wanted to protest, tell him to stay. But she didn’t, because he’d already done too much for her. “No, please. Go home and relax, you earned it. Thanks for everything tonight.”

  Eric and Callie had been quiet as church mice, which Anne knew would normally be impossible for the two of them except for the fact that they hadn’t wanted to miss a thing. When Mike walked back to the truck and trailer and shut the door, Anne let out a long breath.

  “He is so damn whipped, Anne,” Eric said. “And why didn’t you go kiss him good night?”

  “I don’t know, things are … weird, and he’s not whipped,” she said. But the thought that Eric might be a little bit right made her feel giddy. Was it possible that this man really felt that strongly for her?

  “It’s true, Anne. You should have seen him with that photographer. He made sure the poor girl took a ridiculous amount of photos of every detail from the food to the chandeliers you painted. It was the cutest thing. He even took your notebook out and made sure every food on your catering order was present. He about made Eric and me nutty, but it was so sweet.”

  “He also looked really hot doing it. The teenage girls couldn’t keep their eyes off him,” Eric said as he popped the last of his crab cake into his mouth.

  “I just don’t know what to think.”

  “Come on, Anne!” Callie yelled. “That man’s in love with you. You should forgive him. He deserves it, especially after tonight.”

  “There’s really nothing to forgive, I know he didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just being stupid. I don’t know, I’m worried.”

  “It’s scary to love someone.” Eric said.

  “Pssh, you’re in love with someone new every other week.” Callie interjected.

  “That’s not love, it’s lust. I just call it love so I don’t sound so promiscuous.”

  Anne laughed and walked into the barn, leaving a giggling Callie and Eric outside. She made her way through the room. The dance music was loud and the lights were low, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. The scent of a delicious meal lingered, but the tables were mostly empty as the catering crew cleared them of dishes. The DJ had lit up the full dance floor with some flashing colored lights, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Many of the adults lingered outside on the back patio near the Mustang so Anne made her way out. Jill Monser caught sight of her instantly.

  “Oh, Anne, I heard about your mother. How is she?”

  “She’s fine. Thank you so much for your concern.” Anne had been a little worried about how Jill would handle her abrupt departure, but she seemed to be okay. “I hope tonight has been a success?”

  “Tonight has been absolutely fabulous. I can’t even believe how perfect everything was, and Jessica has had a ball.”

  Anne smiled and felt the pleasure roll through her body at Jill’s words. “I’m so happy to hear it.”

  Jill walked Anne around to several other women, who poured praises onto her for the evening’s festivities. Even Dan Monser came by and told her how impressed he was once again.

  At ten they opened the s’mores bar outside and the teenagers all circled around a large fire pit; by eleven the kids were pilling into their cars and heading out to heaven knew where. While the party waned, Anne, Callie, and Eric had been able to get almost everything cleaned up.

  “Well, the catering was fast. They were cleaned up and out by ten thirty,” Callie said. “I managed to nab the box of fancy dark chocolate, though. Anne, excellent call on the s’mores made with imported chocolate and homemade graham crackers. Ridiculous.”

  “Uh-huh, so ridiculous that’s your third one,” Eric sai
d.

  “Shut your mouth, I’m already dreaming up s’mores cupcakes. Ooh, or s’mores brownies.”

  “S’mores cheesecake!” Eric said wide-eyed.

  “Oh yes! We’re so good.”

  “You’re so crazy, both of you.” Anne rolled up the last string of lights. She’d come back tomorrow when the man returned to take down the chandeliers. “But thank you guys, seriously. You’re too good to me.”

  “You’re welcome. But now, why don’t I go to your house and relieve Lindsey so you can go to Mike’s?”

  “Callie…”

  “You know you want to, Anne.”

  “A little, but it’s late. I’m also physically and emotionally exhausted. I’ll call him tomorrow.”

  After they all loaded Anne’s car and said good-bye, she headed for home and told Lindsey how the evening had gone.

  “I’m so glad Marie’s okay. I wasn’t sure what to do when they called,” Lindsey said.

  “Well, you absolutely did the right thing calling me. Everything worked out just fine.” Anne hugged her friend and told her good night.

  She took a hot shower and put on her favorite pajamas before she sank into her soft bed. It was nearly one in the morning, but for some reason she was now wide awake. She clicked her lamp on and stared at the painting above her dresser. Never before had she felt alone in this bed, but tonight someone was missing.

  Twenty-Six

  With the pressure of the Mustang reno behind him, Mike could finally get on to his next project. He didn’t usually work this late, especially not on a Saturday, but he’d already tried and failed at sleep. He’d even talked on the phone with his sister, something he rarely did, but he’d needed to talk to someone. Erin had encouraged him not to give up on Anne, which had been well-meaning but unnecessary advice because there was no way he was letting her go. Now two cups of coffee down and he almost had both quarter panels on the ’71 Skylark welded and ready for sanding.