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CHAPTER THREE
Dear Leonie: It’s been fourteen years since I had my first crush on a guy. Now I’m twenty-eight and he’s back in my life and all those old feelings have come rushing back. I don’t want to feel anything for him. What should I do?
Signed: Wanting to forget the past
Leonie says: You’re only attracted to him because he rekindles those adolescent feelings of first love. My bet is once you spend a little time with him you’ll realize that’s all it was—puppy love.
THERE WAS ONLY a two-hour time difference between Minnesota and Saint Martin, yet Dylan awoke feeling as if he had jet lag. Maybe it was because he’d had a restless night. Strange beds often did that to him.
Or it could have been his guilty conscience that had caused him to toss and turn last night. He should have apologized to his mother before saying good-night to her, but his confrontation with Maddie had left him in a sour mood and, instead of focusing on the matter of most importance—his mother—he’d been preoccupied with thoughts of the belly-dance teacher.
But that was last night and today would be different he vowed as he showered and shaved. When he walked into the kitchen his mother was alone at the table, reading the paper.
At the sight of him she smiled. “You look much better this morning. See what a good night’s sleep will do for you?”
He chuckled to himself. If she only knew.
“Smells good in here. Like oranges.” Before she could speak he held up his hands. “Don’t tell me. Maddie made orange bread before she went to work this morning.”
She clicked her tongue in admonition. “No, she did not. I just ate an orange. The peeling is still on the counter.” She nodded toward the cabinets.
“Sorry.” He gave her apologetic smile. “Mom, about last night…” he began. “There’s something I think you should know.”
“If it’s about you and Maddie having words, Dylan, I already know about it. She told me this morning.”
So Maddie had already talked to his mother about their confrontation. Dylan could see she was going to be a more formidable opponent than he’d expected.
“Well, I can see one thing hasn’t changed. She’s just as annoying now as she was at fourteen,” he remarked.
That had his mother gasping. “She most certainly is not annoying!”
He held up his hands in surrender. “All right. She’s not.”
“She’s a dear and if you must know, I’m surprised by your behavior toward her last night,” his mother chastised him.
“My behavior toward her?” He should have known she’d come to Maddie’s defense, not his. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Mom, it takes two to disagree.”
“And just what was this disagreement about?”
“She didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
So she hadn’t run to his mother with her version of what had been said. She went up a notch in his estimation, but only a small notch. He still found her irritating.
“It was nothing important, Mom. We just rubbed each other the wrong way, sort of like what happened the summer she stayed with us. Remember how she’d always bristle when I’d talk to her?”
“No, I don’t.” She gave him a blank look. “I only remember her being very sweet and shy and having to put up with the roughness of four boys who at times could be a bit overbearing even for their own mother.”
“Well, there’s only one Donovan boy at home now, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I know you’re very fond of Maddie. I’m sorry about last night and I promise I’m going to do everything I can to not repeat what happened.”
His mother stared at him, her finger on her chin. “You know, that’s nearly the same thing she said to me this morning.”
“Great. Then we’re in agreement on something.” He went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk.
“I know you had a long day yesterday because the plane was delayed, and you weren’t yourself. Why don’t we just forget about last night and start over?” she said with her usual optimism.
“I’d like that. I know I said some things I shouldn’t have,” he told her as he poured himself a glass of milk. “Not just to Maddie but to you as well. If I upset you, I’m sorry. I was tired and I wasn’t expecting to find so many things had changed around here. I had the weird feeling that this wasn’t home anymore.”
“It hasn’t been your home in a long time, Dylan,” she reminded him gently.
“I know and I had no right to act as if you’d done something wrong by getting on with your life. The house looks great and so do you. I should have said that as soon as I saw you.”
She smiled warmly. “Thank you.” Then she got up to give him a hug. “Have I told you how happy I am that you decided to have the surgery here? As long as I own this house you’ll always be able to call it home.”
“I appreciate that, Mom.”
“Being home will be good for you. You’ll see,” she said with confidence. “I know there have been a lot of changes, but there’s a lot of things that are the same.”
“I can see one thing that hasn’t changed. You still know how to make a kid feel better with words,” he said with an affectionate grin.
She smiled, too. “I’ve had lots of practice. Now, would you like me to make you some breakfast?”
“No, I’m fine. I don’t eat much in the morning,” he answered, then drained the milk from his glass.
“That hasn’t changed, has it? You were always in too much of a hurry to take time for breakfast when you were a kid. I still make a pretty good omelette.” She tried to tempt him.
“I’m sure you do. Maybe another morning? Now tell me why you’re all dressed up,” he ordered with a cocked eyebrow. “You look nice, by the way.”
“Thank you. This is a new outfit. I have several appointments today.”
“Ah, business,” he said in a knowing tone.
She fixed him with a questioning gaze. “Does it bother you that I’m a romance coach?”
He didn’t want to tell her the truth, yet he couldn’t lie to her, either. “I’m not exactly bothered by it, Mom, but I wasn’t expecting to come home and find you so involved with your work.”
“I needed something to fill my days. Dad’s gone, you kids are all gone…” She trailed off. “I like people too much to sit home by myself.”
“I thought maybe you would have gone to work for Shane when he took over the business.”
She wrinkled her face. “I never really liked doing tax forms.”
“Then why did you do it all those years?”
“Because I liked working with your father.” A contented look came into her eyes. “Sometimes even the most tedious tasks don’t seem so bad when they’re shared with the one you love.”
Talk of her love for his father always made him uncomfortable and this time was no different. Ignorance may have been bliss for his mother, but for Dylan, knowledge of his father’s infidelity continued to color his perception of his parents’ marriage.
He didn’t want to think about that, so he said, “Then it’s a good thing you tried something different. It’s obviously been good for you because you seem happy.”
“I am happy, but I still miss him,” she said, a note of sadness in her voice.
He placed an arm around her and gave her a gentle hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here for you those first few months after he died.”
“There’s no need to apologize,” she said, patting his hand. “I understand why you kept your distance.”
At the time he had thought he had, too, but now he wasn’t so sure. He’d told himself that if he were to spend any time with his mother, there was bound to be more tension between him and Shane. Yet now that he was actually home, he wasn’t sure if there hadn’t been another reason for his absence. Maybe he had stayed away because he hadn’t wanted to share in his mother’s grief, hadn’t wanted to hear her eulogize his father as an ideal husband.
“That’s all in the past,” his mother continued. “You’re home now and I want to enjoy every minute of your stay. Will you be seeing Garret today?”
“I have a doctor’s appointment this morning, but then I’m going to stop by the hospital so we can have lunch.”
“You can take Dad’s car. It’s in the garage. Jason’s been using it when he’s been home, so it’s in good running condition.” She reached for a set of car keys dangling from a hook on the wall and set them down on the table, saying, “I have a favor to ask you.”
“Ask away.”
She pulled several plastic gallon containers from under the sink. “Maddie left this morning without taking these. Would you be a dear and drop them off for me?”
“Drop them off where?”
“Remember Ken’s Market, that small family grocery near the hospital? It’s now community owned.”
“It’s a co-op?”
She nodded, setting the jugs on the table next to the keys. “They sell spring water, but you have to supply your own containers.”
“You want me to fill them and bring them home?”
“Or you can leave them with Maddie and she’ll take care of it.”
“She works at the co-op?”
“Mmm-hmm. In the deli.”
So Maddie was a belly-dancing teacher at night and a deli clerk during the day. Not exactly what he had expected she’d be doing for a living.
“You need me to pick up anything else?” he asked.
“No, that’ll do it.” She placed her fingers on the upper portion of the refrigerator. “There are frozen dinners in here and there are cold cuts, too, if you want to make yourself a sandwich for dinner.”
“Dinner? Aren’t you going to be here?”
She shook her head. “Tonight’s my class at the community center. I would have canceled, but it’s my first one and I thought I’d better not.”
“What class is that?”
“The keys to making love last.”
“They actually offer a class like that through community ed?”
She gave him a look of admonition. “Love is a very important thing in people’s lives. If you look at the statistics, Dylan, you’ll see that most people still believe in marriage.” She gave him a gentle shove so she could get to the door. “I’ll tell you more about it when we have more time. I have all sorts of interesting statistics I can share with you.”
Dylan didn’t want to tell her that he really wasn’t interested in hearing any numbers when it came to love and marriage. Fortunately, the phone rang and he didn’t have to come up with a response.
The call was brief and as soon as she’d hung up, she said, “I have to get going. I have an extra stop to make. Try not to leave the kitchen a mess, will you? We have a rule around here. Everyone cleans up after herself.”
“Mom, I haven’t become a slob since I left home,” he told her.
“I didn’t think you had, but I need to consider my tenants.”
He frowned. “Are you saying they’ll be eating their meals in the kitchen?”
“Krystal won’t be home tonight. She’s going to a convention in Saint Cloud and will be staying overnight, but Maddie should be back after she finishes her classes.”
He wanted to ask his mother about Maddie’s classes, but swallowed his curiosity. He didn’t think she would understand the reason for his inquisitiveness.
He didn’t understand it himself. All he knew was that since he’d seen Maddie in those harem pants with that turquoise jewel winking at him from her navel, he’d had trouble forgetting that she lived upstairs. And now that he knew she ate her meals in the kitchen, his imagination was already working on possible scenarios in which he might see her again.
As he left the house, he made sure he took the plastic jugs.
DYLAN WASN’T QUITE SURE what kind of a reception he’d get from Garret, but he was glad when it turned out to be a warm one. As the young doctor came down the hall toward him, he wore a big grin.
“I can tell you’re a doctor now, Garret. You’re late,” Dylan said with a teasing grin.
The younger man smiled, then gave him a bear hug. “There literally aren’t enough hours in a day in this profession. Welcome home, Dylan. It’s good to see you. How’s the shoulder?”
“Your friend Pete says it’ll be as good as new after he goes in and does his handiwork,” he answered, stepping aside so they were no longer in the center of the corridor. He studied his brother. “You look tired.”
“That’s the way I’m supposed to look. I’m a resident.” He nudged Dylan toward the stairs. “You look like you’ve been leading the good life.”
He spread his hands. “What can I say? I live on an island in the Caribbean. I thought by now you would have come to visit me.”
“Don’t think I wouldn’t have liked to, but I’m short on two things. Time and money. And until I’m finished with my residency, that’s not going to change.”
“I could help you out in the money department,” Dylan offered.
“Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but time is the real villain here. Speaking of which,” he glanced at his watch. “We need to make this lunch a quick one.”
“I guess that means we don’t get to pop across the street for a big thick juicy burger?” he quipped.
Garret smiled apologetically and said, “The hospital cafeteria makes a great tuna hot dish.”
Dylan grimaced, then followed his brother into the dining area. “I guess I should get used to this,” he said as they passed a section of Jell-O and pudding. “It’s going to be my diet while I’m here.”
Garret chuckled. “I hope you’re going to be a better patient than Jason was. You should have heard the moaning and groaning that kid did when he had his appendix out.”
Since Garret had mentioned their youngest brother, Dylan decided to steer the conversation toward family. As they sat down at a small table, he asked, “Is Jason doing all right? I know he was in some trouble last semester with his grades.”
