A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection (22 page)

“I didn’t really miss out.” She was surprised to find she meant it. “I had a good time in Folsom Lake. I really did.”

Spying in a movie. Junior Mints and popcorn. Sitting in Derek’s car. She did have fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so content, so easily happy.

“Wait.” Beth looked more than a little suspicious. “
He
was there, wasn’t he? Not just there—you saw him.”

Madison let herself smile a little. “We spent a lot of time together. It was... nice.”

“You got back with the old boyfriend? Madison. How could you go all day without telling me this?”

She had Beth’s complete attention now. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Beth held her hands out, like the enormity of this was obvious. “You’ve been talking about Derek McGee for a year. And you always look all heartbroken and lonely. What happened? Did things get going between you two again?”

“No.” She shrugged at that. “Maybe a little, but not really.”

“Madison.” Beth sounded like Mom always had when she was in trouble.

“It didn’t work in the end, okay? It never does.”

Beth slouched again. “You gave it an entire week. That’ll tell you a lot.”

“I gave it years the first time, Beth. He is the same person. I’m the same person. It’ll just turn out the same way it did before.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. “Is he seeing someone?” Madison reluctantly shook her head.

“Has he been serious with anyone since you dumped him two years ago?”

Dumped
wasn’t the word she would have used. “He hasn’t.”

Beth didn’t let up on the interrogation. “Did he seem interested again? Interested still?”

She thought back on that farewell kiss, on all the times in the last week he’d held her hand or put his arm around her. He’d even said he still loved her. “Yeah, he is definitely still interested.”

Beth’s eyes widened far beyond normal. “Then why are you here? You have a hunky guy who is still so into you that he hasn’t dated anyone for years, even though you dumped him. And don’t tell me you don’t still have feelings for him. I’m not stupid.”

Madison propped her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her upturned hands. “I can’t do it again, Beth. What happens when it falls apart? I’ll be right back where I was before. I don’t want that.”

Beth came around her desk and gave her a friendly hug. “Your mom’s taking a chance, and she’s had far more relationship failures than you have. She found a good guy, but so have you. Go take the chance.”

“I don’t know.”

“Missing Cancún is one kind of regret,” Beth said. “But missing a chance to be with the person you have always loved who feels exactly the same way? That’s a completely different thing. That’s a regret most people couldn’t live with.”

Chapter Nine

Derek could only take so much of the conversation over dinner with Teresa and Uncle Grant. He’d hoped a night with someone else for company, anyone but himself, would take his mind off the month that had passed since Maddi left. Spring was giving way to summer. Life was going on, but his heart wasn’t in it.

He’d honestly thought she would come back. He’d sat facing his door all night when she’d first left. He’d set the table for two every night for a week. He still did a double-take whenever a green car drove past.

He knew he needed a distraction, but Maddi’s mom was the wrong choice. She would laugh, and he would hear
her
daughter. She would smile, and he would see Maddi.

They talked about everything from the unusually mild weather to the latest Hollywood scandal to the bank getting a new manager to music they’d listened to as teenagers. Derek spent the dinner hour picking at his food and trying to think of an excuse to leave.

In the end he didn’t have to. Uncle Grant gave him an understanding look and motioned to the front door with his head. Teresa nodded, her motherly expression coming a little too close to pity.

He thanked her for the meal and took the escape they offered. A drive around town didn’t help. Sitting for an hour at Folsom Lake was even worse. He finally settled on a takeout order of spring rolls from Chang’s. There had to be a game on. He didn’t care what sport or what team. He just needed something to do other than think about what a jerk Fate was sometimes.

Derek turned in at his complex’s parking lot. He parked in his space and sat in his car. He slouched in the seat, eyeing the steering wheel.

“This is ridiculous, and I know,” he told his steering wheel. “I wasn’t this bad when she left the first time.” The steering wheel was no help. “I don’t know why Maddi does this all the time.”

Everything always came back to her. He shook his head.
I’m so lame.
He grabbed his takeout then pushed open his door. Two steps from his car, he stopped.

A beat-up green Altima sat parked under a streetlight right by his apartment.
Now I’m seeing things.
Hallucination or not, he stepped closer. He didn’t see anyone sitting inside. It had to be Maddi. But he didn’t dare let himself believe it. If it was her car, where was she? There was no one standing by his door. The parking lot was empty. “It has to be her.”

If she wasn’t in the parking lot... He looked toward his apartment door. She knew where he kept the spare key. She used to let herself in all the time.

Maddi’s back.
His keys fumbled around in his hand before he managed to get the right one in the lock and open his apartment door.

“Maddi?”
She has to be here.
“Maddi?”

He pushed the door shut behind him with his foot. His heart missed the next beat. There she was, standing in his living room, looking unsure of herself.

He tossed his carton of egg rolls on the coffee table as he rushed toward her. His arms were around her in an instant. He kept repeating her name, unable to think of anything else to say. She was back. He didn’t know why or for how long. But she was there, and for the moment, that was enough.

He pulled back enough to look at her. “Are you here for another vacation?”

The answer had better be no.

She shook her head. “I got a new job.”

He could tell he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t care. “A job in Folsom Lake?”

“I’m the new bank manager at the branch here.”

He’d never felt so much like pumping his fist in the air. “Your mom didn’t say anything.”

“She doesn’t know yet. I wanted to tell you first.”

“Why me?” He watched her closely, looking for the answer in her eyes.

“You’re the one who told me to come back.”

“I told you to come back
when you were ready
.”

She wrapped her arms around him, leaning against him.

It was all he needed. He held her close, rubbing her back and taking in the citrusy smell that always filled her hair. “You came back to me.”

“I can’t promise not to freak out sometimes,” she said from inside his embrace. “And I’ll probably be paranoid and worried and seriously messed up. But I’ll try.”

“I just want you here, with me, for better or worse, through the ups and downs. It’s all I’ve wanted for two years, Maddi. Longer than that, really. I wanted it even before you left.”

She looked up at him, an aura of hope in her eyes he hadn’t seen before. “You are the only one who’s ever been worth the risk, Derek. The only one.”

In moments like that, there’s really not much to be said. He kissed her, long and deep, with all the passion he’d held back a month earlier. She held tightly to him, as if determined not to let him get away from her. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not ever.

He took in the scent of her, the feel of her back in his arms and in his life for good. This was home to him. His Maddi was back, the one who got away, his lost love, his one and only. This time, he would never let her go.

About Sarah M. Eden

Sarah M. Eden read her first Jane Austen novel in elementary school and has been addicted to historical romance ever since. An avid researcher, she loves delving deep into the details of history. She was a Whitney Award Finalist for her novels
Seeking Persephone
(2008) and
Courting Miss Lancaster
(2010). Visit her website at
www.sarahmeden.com

Twitter: @SarahMEden

Facebook: Sarah M. Eden

Other Works by Sarah M. Eden

Seeking Persephone

http://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Persephone-ebook/dp/B005JU5SQM/

Courting Miss Lancaster

http://www.amazon.com/Courting-Miss-Lancaster-ebook/dp/B005EOCET2/

The Kiss of a Stranger

http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Stranger-ebook/dp/B004HD6E42/

Friends and Foes

http://www.amazon.com/Friends-and-Foes-ebook/dp/B006UKH7KU/

An Unlikely Match

http://www.amazon.com/An-Unlikely-Match-ebook/dp/B009M84FL6/

Drops of Gold

http://www.amazon.com/Drops-of-Gold-ebook/dp/B00AYNQCSM/

Picture Perfect

An Aliso Creek novella

by Heather B. Moore

Chapter One

“I can’t go,” Arie said, the pout in her voice carrying through the phone. “If I lose this client, I’ll lose my promotion.”

Gemma exhaled with frustration. Arie was the second one to cancel for the weekend. Granted, her excuse was solid, but Gemma had gone through a lot to get three days off for their annual spring vacation. She stared out her condo window at the scenery that never seemed to change—green trees, blue skies—San Diego’s temperatures fluctuated only about twenty degrees throughout the year. “Jess isn’t coming, and now you aren’t. What about Liz and Drew?”

“Liz is still going, but I don’t know about Drew,” Arie said. “I haven’t talked to him much this year. He didn’t come last time; I wonder if that means something.”

Gemma talked to Drew quite a bit—well, about once a month. A text or quick phone call. They’d managed to stay in touch over the years since high school. All of them had stayed in touch—the “Five.” Other friends had come and gone—heck, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends—they’d all been a part of the group at one time or another. But currently, it was back to the original Five for this weekend. Or it was supposed to be.

Gemma could hardly believe it had been twelve years since they’d graduated from Aliso Creek High, which, of course, reminded her that she’d just turned thirty. She was the last of the group to hit that milestone—which made her the baby of the Five.

Arie was saying something else about work, and Gemma forced herself to tune back in. She already felt the despondency hit. First, turning thirty... next, her boyfriend, Randy, had been weird lately, but that was probably the funky phase that all relationships went through... then everyone was cancelling on the spring vacation plans. She’d been looking forward to the trip more than she’d realized.

“So sorry, Gem,” Arie said. “We’ll do lunch later this month.”

“Okay,” Gemma said. “Love you.” When she hung up, Gemma texted Drew and Liz separately.

R u still planning on this weekend?

Liz texted back immediately.
Yep, can’t wait! What time will u be there?

Leaving @ 9 am Friday. Should be there 11 @ the latest, Gemma wrote.

Sounds good. I’ll be there @ 12.

Gemma tossed the phone on the couch and went to her bedroom to start packing. It looked like it would just be the three of them, assuming Drew was coming. She slowed as she passed the hallway mirror. She’d hardly changed a thing about her appearance since high school. Throughout college, she’d sported the same straight brown hair. The only evidence of the passing years was fluctuating weight and an inch here or there on the length of her hair.

I look average.
Her hair was pulled into its usual ponytail, the easiest way to wear it while working at the floral shop. She brushed the top of her black pants—another item from work. She and all of her employees—which amounted to two—wore the same thing: black pants and pale green shirts. Gemma had read a study that if the employees wore matching clothing, they looked more professional.

Perhaps it was true. Gemma’s floral shop had done well, allowing her to hire a full timer and a part timer. Her parents had been disappointed that she hadn’t gone into the corporate world, but they seemed more supportive now that they saw her success. In fact, about once a week, her dad stopped in to buy flowers for her mom.

It was kind of sweet.

Totally sweet,
she corrected herself. Her parents had one of those magical marriages, where they were still in love and weren’t afraid to show it. Gemma sighed and readjusted her ponytail. It had been at least two years since her parents had bothered her about the M word. And that was because of Randy. Yet now she didn’t know what to make of him. On the one hand, she didn’t want to admit to herself that the past few months had felt
off
. She couldn’t quite explain it. They were great together. Besides, she was thirty now, and it was time to take things more seriously. Maybe that was it—she didn’t see Randy as being equally serious.