"Maybe you should give it a try, Maddy."
What?Maddy was a bit confused,"Pardon?"
"An evening at the beach is certainlyromantic.”
“Mother, where are you going with this? I’m abit… I’m not sure …” The coffee pot puffed as it sucked the last ofthe water out of the reservoir, sounding as exasperated as shefelt.
“Maddy, I love you. I know you're terrifiedof trying at a relationship again, maybe even of sex–”
Maddy groaned. Damn, she was afraid that’swhat she was getting at. "Mother, you know I can talk to you aboutanything, but–”
"Don't you ‘Mother’ me, missy. I'm serious. Iwant you to be happy. You are a wonderfully passionate person.Just… consider giving things another try. With someone you cantrust."
Whoa boy, slow down. Was her mother psychic?It was a well-established fact that Laura McAllister had eyes inthe back of her head. Maddy was becoming increasingly sure hermother was even more mystical than that.
She heard her dad clearing his throat in thebackground. He had clearly just joined her mother. She hoped he wascoming to the rescue, and not here for the double-team.
Her dad grabbed the phone. "Maddy. Hi. Missyou darling,” he rushed through his greeting. “We won't push you onrelationships, that’s entirely up to you. But..." he drew out thepause, clearly not comfortable with the direction this one wasgoing. "Maddy, honey. It's time to think about... Remember what I'dencourage you to do when you fell off your bike?"
Maddy rolled her eyes but knew what he wasgetting at. "I'd get right back on, despite the tears and scrapedup knees. And you'd cheer me on."
"Exactly. See you soon honey." Her dad endedthe call before she could. She sat and looked out to the darkocean, finally pouring herself a cup of much needed coffee. Gentlyblowing the steam from the top.
She was ready. But maybe not ready to talkwith her parents about it and certainly felt a little weirdthinking of them cheering her on about her sex life.
Chase didn't need her messing with hisfuture, now that his future was looking so bright. She was adisaster. Maybe she should try a stupid online dating thing likePayson, who was so convinced it would work. Then, it would only bea total stranger she’d mess up. Her heart ached at the thought ofeven considering anyone other than Chase. Well, that was aninteresting revelation. A bit possessive of her. Dammit.
Her phone buzzed again with another picturemessage. Her mother was incorrigible. She read the text beforelooking at the pic,I know what you're thinking. Stop worryingand let it happen. Nosy mother; lucky she liked her so well orshe’d have to avoid her indefinitely.
She opened the attached picture. It was fromher mother's retirement party. Her mother had made it her missionto capture all her memories on camera, stating she was preparing tobore the eventual grandchildren with photos.
As she looked down at the photo, she laughedout loud. Dang that woman. The photo was of she and Aiden having aheated debate, with Chase standing at her side and joining right inthe debate, his hand subtly on the small of her back, almostprotectively. Her parents didn't miss a thing; she should haveknown. How long had they known?
Feeling like she had their permission, sherelaxed a bit. This whole ‘let nature take its course’ businessmight just be a bunch of bullshit. She'd been drawn to Chase sincethey were kids. And she'd been fighting it for just as long. Maybeit was time to stop fighting. For a night. Anything more than thatwas a bit scary to think about still, but becoming less daunting bythe moment.
19
Parade duty was officially her least favorite job,the day had been long and hot and busy. No one else had wanted iteither. This year, they’d held a lottery to decide who had to workthe tough shifts for the festival weekend.
But they tried to make it fair.
Maddy took the twelve-hour parade / crowdcontrol shift, but then had the next two days off. Today was thebusiest day of the festival. The crowds would start thinning outtomorrow and heading home.
The weather was perfect on the beach, but thestreet was sweltering. She reminded herself that everybody loved aparade. Just not her, at least, not when she had to work. She wasrelieved when the parade was over, but now she had her work cut outfor her.
She'd already had to make one arrest for adrunk and disorderly that had nearly been runover by anostentatious Sponge Bob float. Most of the crowd had been prettywell-behaved today… compared to last year. As the revelersdispersed, Maddy had cleared the avenue one last time and re-openedBeachside for traffic.
Grateful to be done with parade duty after along-ass day, Maddy nearly skipped back to the station to finishher office duties before starting her weekend off. She made her waythrough a crowd heading toward the beach, thankful they were usingthe crosswalks again.
A hand grabbed her arm and jerked her to astop as she stepped onto the curb. "Excuse me," Maddy demanded asshe turned toward the perpetrator. She froze, a hard lump formingin her throat as she realized Dylan had her arm and was squeezingfirmly. His eyes were dark, lips pulled tight.
She tried to pull her arm away, "Get yourhands off of me."
Dylan appeared to remember where he was andrelaxed his grip, but still refused to let go. Maddy wanted to run,but her training kicked in. This might be a good chance to getinformation about why he was really in town.
She didn’t pull away anymore, but stayedsilent, waiting for him to speak. Silence encouraged a confessionmore often than direct questions. "My dear Madelyn. I enjoyedwatching you at the parade. You sure could handle yourself withthat drunk. I'm so proud of you."
Maddy silently glared at him. He didn't seemto notice, "I'd like to reconnect with you. We were so goodtogether."
