A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection (18 page)

Beth crossed her arms on the car top, apparently settling in for a conversation. “Will
he
be there?”

Nothing beyond the pronoun was necessary. When speaking of Madison’s hometown, there was only one
he
: Derek McGee. She’d known him since high school. They’d dated in college. Things had even been serious just after college graduation. It hadn’t worked out, and her heart was too stupid to forget him. Just thinking his name made her heart skip and jump around.

Stupid, stupid.

“He’ll be there, won’t he?” Beth was enjoying this too much.

“This trip is about my
mother’s
man troubles.”

“Man Troubles. That should be the name of your family business.”

It probably should have been. Her father was to thank for that. The only good thing that man had ever done was walk out on them.

“Have fun in Cancún.” What was she saying? Of course Beth and the rest of their friends would have fun.
They
weren’t headed home for a family crisis intervention.

“I’ll post pictures.” Beth wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.

“Careful which ones,” Madison warned with a laugh. “‘The internet is
forever.
’”

Beth’s grin grew as she tossed her things in her car. “Text me a picture of President Amazing.”

“Mr. Fabulous,” Madison corrected. “I’ll send you a before and after shot.”

“What do you plan to do to this guy?”

“Whatever it takes.”

Beth gave a nod of approval. “I’ll help you hide the body after I get back from Mexico.”

“Perfect.” It was nice to joke about the whole ridiculous situation. “See ya.”

“
¡Adios!
” Beth made air castanets.

Madison sat in her car for a while after Beth pulled out of the parking lot.
I’m giving up Cancún.
She’d been looking forward to the trip for months. But someone had to save Mom from herself. And that someone was Madison. Always.

Maybe it was the fact that she’d made the trip to fix Mom’s problems so many times, or maybe it was because she looked forward to spending time at home.

Either way, the following evening as she pulled off the highway at the familiar exit, the resentment that had started to take form in the bank parking lot disappeared.

Folsom Lake didn’t change much. The same people. The same main street. The place was small enough to feel cozy, but large enough that even life-long residents didn’t know everyone. They had their own high school, a couple of middle schools, and a smattering of elementary schools. Folsom Lake even had a multiplex, choice of grocery stores, and a branch of the same bank Madison worked at in what her grandmother called “the big city.”

Madison always missed home during that first drive into town whenever she returned. By the end of her stay, though, she was always ready to leave. This time, she’d be exhausted from saving her mother from her latest romantic disaster. Watching her friends live their married lives or their I-have-a-dreamy-significant-other lives wore on her. And, though she’d managed to avoid him on her last visit, Derek McGee might get under her skin as well.

He’d smile at her the way he always had. He’d make her laugh. And for just a moment, she’d believe they could make a relationship work. She’d start dreaming again of happy-ever-afters and fairy-tale endings. But life wasn’t like that.

She pulled up in front of her mom’s house, bracing herself for the coming few days. At least she was taking an intervention approach this time rather than a damage-control one.

I just have to convince Mom to break it off now before the relationship implodes.

She practiced her speech by addressing the steering wheel.  “Hey, Mom, I’ve come to visit. It’s time to say goodbye to Mr. Fabulous. So, what’s for dinner?”

Awkward, but doable. She’d wing it from there.

Madison pulled her little suitcase from the trunk and made her way to the door. She allowed herself only the tiniest glance down the street. Derek’s parents had once lived on the corner. Coming home always made her think of him.

That’s all in the past. This visit is about
Mom.

She rang the bell and waited. This wouldn’t be easy, but it was for the best. Preventing a mess was definitely better than trying to clean one up afterward.

Mom’s squeal upon opening the door brought a smile to Madison’s face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” She squeezed Madison in an almost suffocating hug, bouncing up and down.

Why didn’t I tell you? So you couldn’t hide Mr. Fabulous.

“Come in. Come in.” Mom held the door open, her smile not slipping at all. “Look who’s here,” she called to someone in the next room. “Madison’s come for a visit.”

Who else could she be talking to but her latest: Mr. Fabulous. Mom took an all-or-nothing approach to dating. She probably spent every free minute with him. Of course he would be at the house.

I should have practiced longer with the steering wheel.

She pasted a smile on her face. No point tipping off the enemy that she had him in her sights. She followed her mom into the living room.

“Hey, Maddi.”

She froze. Only one person had ever called her “Maddi.”

“Derek.”

Chapter Two

Derek couldn’t manage to say anything but “Hey, Maddi.” He hadn’t been prepared to see her again. Last summer he’d had enough warning of her visit to get out of town.

Madison Collins was the one that got away. The problem was that she kept coming back to rub it in.

She didn’t look any happier to see him than he felt to see her. Maddi leaned closer to her mom and whispered something.

Mrs. Collins laughed so hard the neighbors must have heard. “Oh, Derek! She—” Laughter cut off the rest of her sentence.

“It’s not that funny, Mom,” Maddi muttered, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

“Not that funny?” Mrs. Collins’s shoulders shook with amusement. “She thinks you and I—” More laughing.

“You and I
what
?” Derek couldn’t help smiling. Mrs. Collins and her daughter had the same laugh and the same smile.

“She thinks we’re
d-a-ting
.” The last word stretched into three separate syllables, divided by bursts of laughter.

Maddi’s entire face turned pink. He liked that she still blushed so easily.
Careful. Madison Collins is your personal poison, and you know it.

“What did you expect me to think, Mom? I get epistle-length texts about this new guy you’re seeing, and Derek is here in your living room.” Maddi managed to make the conclusion sound almost logical. “I had to at least ask.”

Derek couldn’t resist. He slid up right next to Mrs. Collins and put an arm around her. “We should tell her the truth, Teresa.” Calling her by her first name felt strange, even though he wasn’t a kid anymore. “It’s time we stopped hiding.”

“You’re absolutely right.” Mrs. Collins put an arm around him as well.

“Maddi,” he said. “Your mother—” He pretended to fight his conscience. “This is difficult for me to confess.”

He could see Maddi push down her amusement. He’d always liked giving her a hard time.

“You should know before you hear it from someone else. Your mother is dating... my Uncle Grant.” He pushed out an immediate breath, pressing a fist to his forehead. “It feels good to get that off my chest.”

“Shut up.” But Maddi didn’t actually look annoyed.

Derek gave her a side-by-side hug, feeling the awkwardness of seeing her again even more than when she first walked in the room. There’d been a time when an embrace between them would have been the least affectionate part of saying hello.

“How are you?” he asked.

She nodded, not quite looking at him. “Fine. A little tired from the drive.” She stepped away, her attention back on her mom. “So, Grant McGee?”

Mrs. Collins flashed that bright, cheerful smile. Of the two Collins ladies, Mrs. Collins had always been the most optimistic. Maddi had never been a downer or a pessimist; a
realist
was probably the right word. And a worrier. He didn’t know if that made her the worst person to work as a bank loan officer or the perfect one.

“Let’s put your things in your room,” Mrs. Collins said, ushering Maddi off. “Grant went up the street to get some ice cream. He’ll be so happy to see you again. How long has it been?”

“I only think I’ve met him once. Long time ago,” Maddi said as she walked out of the room, her voice trailing off as she disappeared.

Survived that. Barely,
Derek thought.

Maddi hadn’t changed much. She was stunning, her brown hair wavy like it always had been, her brown eyes sharp and breathtaking. She still had that killer smile. She wasn’t as approachable as he remembered her, though. Maybe that was part of the awkwardness of being in the same room as the only woman he’d ever loved, knowing that she’d moved out of the state rather than settle down with him.

Weren’t
guys
supposed to be the ones afraid of commitment?

Uncle Grant breezed in through the door the next moment. “Whose clunker is that out there?” He set the carton of fudge ripple on the kitchen counter.

Clunker?
He could easily guess. “A green Altima?”

Uncle Grant nodded. “Looks like it got dragged backward through a junk yard.”

A beat up green Altima.
Derek shook his head. That was Maddi straight through. She could afford to replace the beater, but wouldn’t spend the money as long as it was still running. “That’s Maddi’s. She’s had it since freshman year of college.”

“Madison’s here?” Uncle Grant lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling beneath his bushy mustache. “Teresa’s happy about that, I bet.”

“Happy and surprised,” Derek said.

The usual twinkle in Uncle Grant’s eyes grew. “Describing Teresa’s feelings about it, or yours?”

Fair enough. Every member of the McGee family knew that Derek and Maddi had dated. A few could even tell he hadn’t gotten over her.

“I’m surprised, definitely.” Derek wandered toward the kitchen side of the large room.

Uncle Grant pulled out some bowls for the ice cream he’d bought. He knew the kitchen well after a few months of dating Mrs. Collins. “You’re surprised, but not happy?”

“Maddi has visited before,” Derek said. “It never works out.”

“Never say never.”

Mrs. Collins and Uncle Grant were a perfect match. They were both optimists, even if it meant believing in the impossible.

Derek peeled back the lid on the ice cream carton. “Are we still going to watch this movie tonight, or what?”

That changed the subject. Even when the Collins ladies returned, things weren’t as awkward as before. Derek could almost ignore the memories that hung around Maddi. He could almost pretend she was just an acquaintance sitting in on a last-minute movie night.

Almost.

Maddi settled in as if she’d never been gone. It was like the last two years had never happened, like the two of them were still together. She was the same Maddi he’d fallen hard for, just hanging out at her mom’s place. She even ate ice cream the same way she used to, flipping the spoon over after each bite to have one more go at whatever she’d missed with the first pass.

He spent most of the movie watching her. Though she glanced his way once in a while, Maddi was definitely not watching him. But she wasn’t paying attention to the movie either. She was watching her mom. More specifically, she was watching her mom
and Uncle Grant.

Was that was the reason for her drive down? To check out her mom’s new boyfriend?

What, did you think she came to say she was wrong to break things off? That she’s changed her mind after two years? That’s not gonna happen.

He knew better. He’d accepted years ago that she had cut things off totally. It still hurt.

Derek made a break for it before the closing credits were done rolling. There was a reason he’d skipped town the last time Madison Collins came home.

Chapter Three

Grant McGee had done a good job of seeming like a decent guy. Madison, though, wasn’t entirely convinced. All of Mom’s boyfriends had
started out
okay.

“Wear this blue one.” Mom pulled a top out of Madison’s closet. “You look great in blue.”

“I’m not going, Mom. I came to see
you,
not my old friends.” She’d also come to ward off a disaster, but that was best left unsaid.

Mom didn’t argue. She simply went on as though Madison hadn’t made any objections. “Definitely the blue one. What jewelry did you bring?”

Madison took the blue top from Mom and hung it up again. “We’re ordering in, remember? I don’t need to accessorize to throw back a carton of General Tso’s from Chang’s.”

“
Grant and I
are having Chang’s.
You
are meeting your friends for dinner.” Mom pulled the blue top out again. “They want to see you. You don’t visit often. Besides, Derek will be there.”

All the more reason not to go.
“Derek and I broke up two years ago.”

Mom shrugged. “I didn’t mean it like that.” If her guilty expression was anything to go by, she’d meant it exactly like that. “Only that he’s a friend, like the others who will be there, and they’re all expecting you tonight.”

But how can I spy on you and your new boyfriend if I’m not here?

“They’re counting on you,” Mom said, which slammed the last nail in that coffin.

Madison had known her fair share of people who fell through when people were counting on them. She refused to be one of those people.

She managed to keep her sigh of resignation silent. “I brought my big, chunky, yellow necklace.”

Mom grinned, dropping the blue top on the bed. “Perfect! What about shoes?”

Before Madison had a chance to catch her breath, she was dressed for a night out and pulling up to Romanelli’s on Vine.

“I came home to save Mom from herself. How did she manage to distract me?” Madison leaned back against the headrest. “Tonight was the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on things, but here I am at Romanelli’s.”