Kevin ran his hands through his hair. “Oh no. No, no, no. Not me. You got the wrong guy.” He was trying to get away from work, not hunt it down.
“What do you mean, Kevin? Do you have experience with a camera or not?” Angel asked impatiently.
“Well, yeah, but...”
“But what?” she asked. “We really need you, Kevin. We have the equipment. All we need is someone who can work a camera. If we can’t document the work we’re doing, we’re never gonna be able to raise enough money to start the new clinic in San Pablo next year.”
The room grew quiet.
“But, but, but…what about Brandi?” he asked, holding his hand out toward the young woman as he spoke. “I can’t abandon Brandi.”
“We’ll take good care of her, Kevin,” said Miguel.
“Luis and I will help,” said Juanita.
Kevin looked over at Angel. He saw so much expectation there. This was important to her—to them all apparently. Everyone at the table was sitting on the edge of their seat.
“Kevin,” Angel implored. “Is there really anything on your agenda that’s as important as helping to provide a dental clinic for a small Mexican village?”
He had told Angel his only obligation right now was to get Brandi out of Arthur’s hair. He didn’t like being put on the spot like this. He was about to tell her no, he couldn’t possibly abandon Brandi, when he looked into Angel’s blue eyes and felt himself drowning. He couldn’t say no. He closed his eyes and reluctantly muttered, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
“Yes!” Everyone shouted, milling around to thank Kevin for his help. Seconds later, when music poured in from the next room, Miguel turned and threw his hands up enthusiastically. “All right, everybody. Let’s dance! It’s time to celebrate!”
4
Everyone except for Kevin and Angel headed for the dance floor. When everyone was gone and the room calm once more, she reached over and placed her hand on top of Kevin’s. “I really do appreciate this, Kevin.”
He glanced down at their hands, hers looking so pale and delicate sitting there on top of his. Then he looked up into her face, her eyes mirroring his reluctant expression, and he nodded grimly, trying not to look miserable. He failed.
“I see,” she said calmly. “You’re not into helping the needy, working to make the world a better place, that sort of thing.”
Kevin looked down at their hands. Turning his over, he softly intertwined his fingers with hers. “No, it’s not that. I just…well, maybe it is. I don’t know if I can do this. Poverty is such a difficult thing to watch.”
“Sounds like the voice of experience talking,” she said quietly.
He nodded without looking up. “When I was a teenager, about fourteen maybe, I went with a friend of mine, Jack, to visit his uncle in the Appalachian Mountains for a few weeks. Supposed to be like a summer job for both of us, right? They lived in a two-room shack with no insulation and a hundred-year-old outhouse in the back yard. The uncle worked the stew out of me and Jack while nearly starving us to death.” He looked away momentarily, uncomfortable with the memory. “One summer was enough. I never went back.”
When he looked back up at her, he could tell that she understood.
“Did either of you report him to the authorities?
He shook his head. “His uncle was the local sheriff. Everyone who saw us turned a blind eye. Jack went into the military as soon as he could. All he wanted was a better life for him and his baby sister. He died six months after enlisting on his first call of duty.”
“Oh…I’m so sorry Kevin. Children should never have to endure anything like that.” She paused, slowly pulling her hand away from his. “Kevin, I know you may not believe this now, but I promise you, you won’t regret this. We are going to help so many people.” She hesitated. “You know, I’d be willing to bet, that if you give it a chance, this will be one of the best weeks of your life.”
He didn’t believe her, but he smiled anyway. Then a mischievous thought came to mind. “What are you willing to bet?”
“What? Are you serious?” One look at him and she answered her own question. “Wow. You are serious.” She studied his face intensely for several moments. “Hmm, okay. How about this? If you’re right and this is not one of the best weeks ever, I’ll pay for your airfare back home at the end of the week.”
“Hmm... Okay. And if you’re right, I’ll pay your travel expenses for your next mission.”
“You got it.” Angel stuck out her hand to seal the deal.
Kevin shook his head. “Wait a minute. Not so fast. If I go along with this, I want a date with you.”
Angel dropped her hand. “Date?” she asked.
Kevin nodded. “Date. If I’m going to do all this work for free, then I need to know the payoff will be worth it.”
“And a date with me is the best you could come up with?”
He grinned. “I’m working on short notice here.”
Angel cocked her head and pursed her lips. “I tell you what. I’ll do you one even better. If you come with us and film our work every day, you can be my date every night.”
Now it was Kevin’s turn to be surprised. “Really?” Then he caught her playful look. “Your date for what exactly?”
She smiled mysteriously. “You’ll see. Deal?” she asked. She offered her hand to seal the contract with a shake.
Kevin took it. “Deal.”
“Mommy, Mommy!” Little Grace ran back into the room.
“What, sweetie?” Angel asked, pulling her hand from Kevin’s to reach for her daughter.
“It’s a falling-in-love song!”
Billy Currington’s “Doing Something Right” came from the dance floor.
“You’re right, honey. It is one of the falling-in-love songs. I bet your grandpa wants to dance with you. Why don’t you go ask him?”
“Okay.” Grace ran back to the other room.
“Falling-in-love songs?” Kevin asked.
“Yeah, I told her that if a man really wants a woman to fall in love with him, he’ll ask her to dance with him to a song just like this one.” She smiled.
“Dating advice already? I thought you said she was only six.”
Angel giggled. “You’re never too young or old for good dating advice.”
Grace ran back into the room with her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and tears in her eyes. “Grandpa’s dancing with Grandma.”
Angel pulled her daughter into her lap and hugged her, rocking her back and forth. “I’m sure Grandpa will dance with you soon.”
Kevin tried to swallow the lump growing in his throat. “Grace,” he asked tentatively, “would you mind dancing with me instead?”
Grace nodded, let go of her mother and climbed back down. “Okay, but you have to pick me up,” she informed him in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Of course.” Kevin took Grace by the hand and turned to Angel. “Would you excuse us, please?”
“Absolutely,” she answered softly.
* * *
As the two of them walked away hand-in-hand toward the dance floor, Angel wondered if Kevin had any children of his own, or a wife for that matter. Surely not. No wife in her right mind would stand for her husband bringing one of Arthur’s castaways on a trip to Mexico.
Suddenly a bright light flashed from the patio. Who’s stalking me this week? She already had a good idea of the culprit when she walked outside. Sure enough, hanging over the railing with a camera around his neck was the British-born paparazzo, Maxwell Freemont.
“Max, don’t you ever get tired of following us?”
Max put a hand over his heart and faked a swoon. “I can’t help it, Angelina. The camera loves you.”
“Give it a rest, Max. I’m tired of it, and I have important work to do this week. If you have to follow us, can’t you at least try to be inconspicuous?”
He grinned up at her and winked. “I’ll see what I can do, pretty lady.” He saluted her and disappeared into the darkness
.
Angel sat in one of the nearby chairs and shook her head. “Thanks, Max,” she called out into the darkness.
Just then, Kevin and Grace walked out onto the patio still holding hands. “Who ya talkin’ to, Mommy?” Grace asked, and Kevin looked down the now empty beach with a puzzled expression.
Angel sighed. “Oh, talking to myself.”
“She does that a lot,” Grace informed Kevin.
“Really?” he asked with an inquisitive grin.
“Yeah, she’s funny, but you gotta love her anyway.”
“I see.”
Angel blushed. “Are you two having fun?”
Grace took her mother by the hand. “We came to get you, Mommy. Come dance with us.”
“That’s right, Mommy.” Kevin said, taking Angel’s other hand. “Come and dance with us.”
“Okay, okay.” Angel pretended to be reluctantly led onto the dance floor.
Several hours later, everyone stood in the restaurant foyer, saying their goodbyes.
“We’ll see you at the house, Angel,” said Tomás. “Miranda and I will get the girls ready for bed.”
“Thanks, Tomás. I’ll be right behind you to tuck them in.” Angel hugged Miranda and whispered in her ear, “You must think you’re pretty clever, huh?”
Miranda tried to look innocent. “What are you talking about?”
“You could have told me he was a friend of the family.”
“Would that have made a difference?”
Angel shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe…” Then she wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know.” She turned to look at Kevin over her shoulder and gave a sigh. “He is cute.”
Miranda laughed. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
Miguel was standing in the open doorway. “Are you ready, Kev?”
Kevin hugged Miguel’s parents. “Sure.”
“Kevin, would you mind riding back with me?” Angel asked. “We need to discuss some things you’ll need to know about next week.”
“Sure, but what about Brandi?” he asked.
Miguel put his arm around Brandi’s shoulder. “I’ll take her home.”
“Great.” Brandi headed a little too readily for the door.
“That’s settled. See you later, Kevin, Angel,” called Miguel as he and Brandi took off.
Angel turned to Kevin. “Do you get the feeling they’re glad to get rid of us?”
“Yeah, and they’re not too subtle about it either, are they?”
“No, they’re not,” she said, watching Miguel open the door of his Jeep and help Brandi into the seat. “Are you ready?”
“Sure. Where are you parked?”
“Around back.”
They walked to the back parking lot, and Angel stopped at the red Ferrari.
“So you were the one who took the car,” Kevin teased. “I thought Rosita was going to snap my head off when I tried to take it out earlier today.”
Angel laughed. “She can be like a mother wolf protecting her young, can’t she?”
“That’s an understatement.”
They got into the sleek red car, and Angel turned to Kevin with a sly grin. “You might want to fasten your seat belt.” She floored the gas.
When Kevin was finally buckled in, he said, “I bet you love NASCAR, don’t you?”
“No,” she giggled. “Why would you think that?”
“Oh, no reason,” he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.
“NASCAR can’t possibly be any fun.” she said seriously.
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m not driving in it.”
He laughed. “I cannot argue with that logic. Say, you were pretty good on the dance floor tonight. Where’d you learn to dance?”
“Oh, here and there. I’ve had some good teachers. You’ll see later this week.”
He sounded genuinely surprised. “There’s going to be dancing this week?”
“Absolutely. Singing too.”
“What else can I expect?”
Angel thought for a moment. “A little of everything: tears, laughter, hope, hard work, and most importantly, victory. Nobody walks away unchanged by these trips, Kevin…nobody. We’ll stop on the way…” Angel paused midsentence at the look of panic on his face. She reached over and patted his hand where it lay on the seat between them. “You’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll take good care of you.”
“Thanks, but I think I can take care of myself.”
“Relax, Kevin. Everybody needs help from time to time. And you better rein in that ego of yours if you know what’s good for you. You’re about to spend the week floating in the estrogen ocean, sweetie.”
Reaching the driveway, Angel pushed a button on the remote, and the garage door opened. She maneuvered the car into its slot and shut off the engine. “Can you be ready by seven thirty tomorrow morning?”
“For what?” he asked.
“For your physical. Everybody on these trips has to have a physical. We have an obligation to protect the people in these villages.” When he didn’t respond right away, Angel leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I promise I’ll hold your hand.”
He had to laugh. “All right, seven thirty it is. Come on. I’ll see you to the door.”
The stained oak of the deck of the house was the perfect contrast to the coastal colors of the furniture and set the mood for the serene but breathtaking waterside castle. At the top of the patio steps, Angel walked to the rail and stopped to look around. “Don’t you love it here, Kevin? This place has the most breathtaking view. Moonlight on the lagoon, the smell of the ocean breeze.” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “I’m glad Evelyn lets us stay here.”
“Yeah, me too.” Kevin stood beside her, looking out at the water. “I love coming to Mexico. Every time I come down here, it feels like I’ve come home.”
She looked away, giving his unspoken thoughts some degree of privacy. “I know what you mean. I feel it too.”
When she turned back to him, he looked down into her face with open curiosity. She wet her lips and closed her eyes, imagining what his kiss would feel like and, without thinking, leaned into him before stopping herself and backing away. What was wrong with her? She had just met this man! What about her girls? Would they trust him? Did she trust him? Her head spun with so many questions she began to feel nauseous.
“I…I’m sor—” Angel began, only to jump at an outbreak of giggling. A pajama-clad Faith and Grace came out from behind a palm tree. “What are you two doing out here? You’re supposed to be up in your room,” she admonished.
Faith tried to sound innocent. “We wanted you to tuck us in.”
Angel shrugged at Kevin. “I’m sorry. I guess I’d better go.”
He reached for a stray strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. “It’s okay. I understand.” He bowed to the girls. “Arrrrrg, till the morrow, me ladies,” he said, sounding like a rogue pirate from the Caribbean.
Angel tried not to snort while the girls started a fresh round of giggles over Kevin’s accent. He turned and walked down the patio steps.
“Oh, wait,” Angel called, jumping down the patio steps after him. She stopped in her tracks, her heart beating hard. “Um…a bunch of us are going to Aquatica Park to swim with the dolphins tomorrow, if you and Brandi would like to join us.”
“Sounds great. I’ll ask her. Good night.” Kevin turned and disappeared into the shadows.
Kevin woke up the next morning when the sun came peeking in through his bedroom window. He wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep but lay there, staring out of the window at the lagoon below, wondering how he’d gotten himself into this mess. He couldn’t spend a week in the middle of nowhere filming someone’s mission work! “What was I thinking?” Never mind. He knew what he’d been thinking. One look into her eyes and she drew him in like…like… “Oh, man! What is it about her?”
He took a deep breath. He should go and tell her right n
ow. No sense putting off the inevitable. It had to be done and the sooner the better. He wasn’t looking forward to it though. He liked Angel. He wondered if he didn’t like her a little too much.
He also wondered how much she would like him if she knew who he really was. She had a dim view of people in the film industry—she’d told him as much last night when she’d discovered he was a friend of Arthur. It might be better for everyone if he put a stop to this right now. He knew many people in the film industry. Maybe he could help Angel find someone else to film her mission work.
Ralph! Ralph owes me a favor! Kevin jumped out of bed and pulled on his cut-off blue-jean shorts. “A huge freaking favor! And I know he’s available.” He hurried into the kitchen, with its cordless phone. He called up his friend, tapping his fingers insistently on the counter as he waited for him to answer.
“Hey, Ralph, I need a favor. I need you to come to Mexico for a week and film a mission trip.”
“What? Mission trip? Who is this?”
“It’s Kevin. I need you to come to Mexico.”
“Do you know what time it is?”
“Look, I need you to catch the next flight into Mexico. I’m in Cabo San Lucas.”
“Are you crazy? What’s in Mexico that you need me for?”
“A mission trip with a beautiful woman. They need a cameraman. It’s a week’s work.”
“And you want me to do this…why?”
Kevin took a deep breath and sighed loudly. “So I won’t have to.”
Ralph laughed. “Yeah, man, you are crazy. You want to send me on a trip with a woman that you describe as beautiful so you won’t have to go? I don’t know, man. It sounds like a real hardship to me.”
“I’ll pay you.” Kevin threw out what he hoped would be the deal cincher, closing his eyes and grimacing.
Ralph lit up. “How much?” Ralph asked, after taking a long drag of his smoke.
“Two thousand.”
“Two thousand? You have to be kidding me. Two thousand for a last-minute job solely to keep your butt out of the proverbial sling? No way, man. What did you do? Is she pregnant?”
Angel's Mission Page 4
