“I think I’m going to head home now… You wantto come over after the beach party tomorrow?” She was too afraid tolook at him, in case he said no.
“Oh, hell yeah.” He managed to pull away andpick up her clothes. She quickly put her underwear and dress backon. Cheeks flushed, she smiled at him as she walked across thelarge living room to the front door. Again, he leaned against thedining room doorway, the corner of his mouth turned up as shequietly left.
18
Seaview was bustling come Saturday. The town had ahuge anniversary festival every August. The hotels had been bookedfor months. Shops were all-hands-on-deck, busting to the gills withtourists. And sales. Sidewalks were standing room only at best. Thebeach looked like a hurricane had come through and neatly depositedtowels, umbrellas, and picnic baskets across it.
Maddy had been on duty since 5 o'clock thatmorning. But she'd been uncharacteristically awake since 3:30 inthe damn morning. She'd been awoken by repeated chimes from herphone notifying her of incoming texts. In her sleepy haze, she'dtried to ignore it, but then worried it could be important androlled over to check her phone.
Twelve picture messages had buzzed insequentially. Her parents toasting at a cafe table in front of rowsof grapevines. Her mother posing with her hand cleverly pointing tothe colosseum in the background à la Vanna White. Her fatherwearing some rather tiny European swim shorts in front of asparkling azure sea–that was a visual she didn't need so early inthe morning. Maddy couldn't help but smile and enjoy the series ofpics her mom had sent. She took the hint and called her mother.
"Good morning honey," her mother softlyanswered, as if expecting her daughter’s sleepiness on the otherend.
"Good morning my world travelling mother. Notthat I mind hearing from you, but do you have any idea what time itis?" Maddy's voice croaked through the phone. She rolled flat onher back and stretched her tight limbs, slowly acceptingwakefulness.
"I sure do darling. I remember you saying youwere taking the early shift today. So, I thought I'd catch youbefore you left for work." Her mother was awfully chipper. If Maddyweren't so glad to connect with her, she might be irritated.Maybe.
The woman was tough to be irritated with.Unless you’d done something stupid. Like get caught sneaking backinto the house at two in the morning. She winced at the thought.Her judgely-ness always had punishment to meet the crime. Such astaking advantage of her being awake at two in the morning andassigning several chores to be done before dawn.
They had been playing phone tag for days, andshe'd been missing her parents terribly. Leaning over, Maddyswitched on her bedside lamp, savoring the last few minutes ofcoziness under the covers. "Tell me everything about your trip. Itlooks like you guys are having an amazing time."
"We are, it's just incredible here. Yourfather's attempts at Italian are pretty terrible, but we've metsome wonderful people that have helped him with his accent andshoddy grammar. Not that I'm one to talk, I haven't advanced beyond'ciao,' which only gets you so far."
Her mother spent the next ten minutes tellingher about every detail of their stops, and the magnificent innoverlooking the Mediterranean where they were spending the rest oftheir trip. She made her mother promise to take her along nexttime. "Of course, you'd just love it here. We're missing you somuch. Next time, let's make it a family trip and drag you and Aidenalong."
"Sounds like a great plan. I'll download anapp to learn Italian." Maddy was liking this plan very much. Shewas suddenly wishing she'd had an espresso machine so she couldstart her personal immersion program. "Did you hear from Ronan? Iknow you were hoping to catch him while you were across thepond."
"I thought I’d sent you the picture, darn it,must not have gone through.” She could hear her mother scrollingthrough her phone, discovering the failed send. “Yes, he met us inRome. He couldn't tell me anything about what he's up to, ofcourse, but at least he spent the day with us. He looks so handsomewith the beard he's grown. A bit like a mountain man though. He’sgot a ponytail. I would never have picked him out of a crowd withthe eccentric new look." Maddy could hear her mom fighting burstinginto tears on the other end of the line.
"I'm so glad he took the time to come seeyou. He loves you mom. You know Ronan, he's always been absurdlydriven, and I suspect he's crazy busy with whatever it is he'sdoing over there."
"I know. I held it together; I didn't cryuntil after we'd parted. I may have hugged him too many times, buthe put up with me. I think… I think he's about ready to comehome."
“Did he say anything?”
“No. He wouldn’t. I could just tell. Helooked tired. Weary. Like he used to when he’d get back from one ofhis old punishing exercise regimens.” She heard her mom sniffle andclear her throat. "Let’s move on for now. I'm not going to dwell onthat right now; I can’t. We’ll just see what comes of this.”
Maddy finally dragged her butt out of bed,rumpled camisole and panties just hanging on as she padded acrossthe cold wooden floor toward the coffee pot. She struggled not toyawn as her mother changed subjects. She wasn’t bored, just findingher bearings.
“How's Chase settling in at work? Dad doesn'twant to ask himself. He's trying to pretend he's not worrying; hewants Chase to know he trusts him."
"Chase is doing great, Mom. Everything isrunning beautifully. Did you hear about Dylan's mission for ahostile takeover to bring in the cruise ships? And the break-in?"Maddy managed to keep her voice calm but couldn’t hold back thebitterness in her tone. She set the coffee pot to brew and leanedback against the cabinet.
"Chase, of course, has kept your fatherposted. I don't like that Dylan's creeping around. Aiden’sreporting in, too. You be careful, ok?" Laura couldn't hide theworry in her voice.
"Yes, I'm being careful. I just had asecurity system installed. I'm sure he's not a threat to me,however. I've hardly even seen him. Last time he came near me hewound up in jail. He’s not stupid. He’s not going to risk hisfuture again. Or his genitalia, as this time I’m castrating him ifhe comes near me." Maddy tried to reassure her mom, but if shecould just reassure herself. She focused on the gurgling sound ofthe coffee pot brewing away.
"Please call me if anything changes.Anything."
"Will do. Can you text me the details of yourflight home? I'm on pick-up, right?"
"Yes, thanks. I'm not sure our extra luggageand ourselves will fit in your Jeep, or Aiden's fancy little car.Why don't you rope in Chase to drive with you? We can throw theluggage in the back of his truck." Her mother’s helpful suggestionwas awfully suspect. She couldn’t know, could she?
Maddy played along. "Good idea, his truck ispretty spacious."
Her mother made an odd sound on the other endof the phone. Almost like a satisfiedHmm. Before Maddycould ponder what that meant, Laura moved on, "Are you all going tothe Seaview Beach Party tonight? I'm so sad we're missing it thisyear. I still remember the first time your father took me. I wasstaying at the cabin; I had decided to spend the summer there on abreak from college. That was the night your father and I... well,you don't want those details. But let me just say, that was onemagical night." Her mother’s voice had gone all soft anddistant.
Maddy laughed, she was pleased to know thather parents enjoyed a... healthy relationship. "Thanks for sparingme the details. I had actually wondered why you two always headedback first, leaving us to walk back by ourselves."
