14 Valentine Place (5 page)

A knock on her door had her looking up with apprehension. Maybe he regretted his mother’s appearance, too, and wanted to continue with his warning.

Then she heard a woman’s voice. “Maddie, it’s Krystal. Can I come in?”

Maddie threw her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “Sure. It’s open.”

“I saw your light beneath the door and figured you were up,” her housemate said as she padded into the room in her robe and slippers. “I just had to come in and see what you thought about Dylan. Is he gorgeous or what?”

That was something she hadn’t wanted to think about—Dylan’s looks. He was every bit as good-looking now as he had been all those years ago and, to her dismay, when he’d walked into the living room, her body had behaved as it had all those years ago when she’d practically melted whenever he’d pass by.

“He’s all right,” she said, trying to sound disinterested.

“All right? Maddie, are you blind? That sun-streaked hair and that golden tan and those muscles.” She sighed dreamily. “Leonie said he worked with concrete. No kidding. He must lift a ton of blocks to get that kind of a bod.”

“I’m going to have to get you a bib if you keep talking that way,” Maddie said dryly.

Krystal playfully punched Maddie’s shoulder. “Come on. Admit it. You think he’s cute.”

Maddie didn’t see much point in denying the obvious. “Yeah, he’s attractive.”

“But is he smart? Does he have a nice personality?” Krystal wanted to know. “You talked to him, didn’t you?”

“We only talked for a few minutes in the kitchen,” she said, not wanting to say what she really thought about the man. Krystal was single and so was Dylan. As Leonie often said, romance could happen when you least expected it and what Maddie didn’t need was to say something negative about Dylan and have it end up coming back to haunt her later. “But he can’t be dumb if he’s an engineer,” she pointed out.

“That’s what I figured, too. I was hoping I’d run into him when I went downstairs to use the shower tonight, but he’d already gone to bed.”

Which was exactly what Maddie wanted to hear. She’d avoided going downstairs to the bathroom for that very reason. She didn’t want to risk bumping into him again this evening. One unpleasant confrontation was enough.

“It’ll be nice when we don’t have to use the shower downstairs,” she remarked. “Having only a half bath on this floor could result in things getting a bit awkward.”

“Or interesting,” Krystal said with a wiggle of her brows. “I wish I’d listened more closely all those times Leonie talked about him. I thought he’d look like Shane or Garret.” She held up her hands. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t think they’re cute,
’cause I do. It’s just that Dylan is so…” Her eyes got all dreamy as she searched for the right word.

Maddie could have supplied it.
Hot.
There was no denying it. The man had
it,
whatever
it
was. Not that she cared. She wasn’t fourteen anymore and she didn’t respond to
it.

“He hasn’t been married, has he?” Krystal asked.

“Not that I know of.”

“I can’t believe he doesn’t have someone waiting for him back in Saint Martin,” Krystal said, sighing heavily. “Leonie says he doesn’t, but look at him. Good-looking guys like that are rarely unattached.”

“Just because he hasn’t told his mother doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Maddie pointed out. “But does it matter? I thought your heart belonged to the bodybuilder over at the gym.”

“T.K.? I’m thinking it may be time to move on.”

Maddie wondered if she was planning to move on with Dylan. Before she could ask, Krystal said, “I suppose it could get sticky, though, if I messed around with Dylan. I mean, Leonie’s a dear, and I wouldn’t want to create problems…you know what I mean?”

“I think you’re right on with that one,” Maddie agreed. “Mothers can get funny over their sons.”

Krystal nodded her head in agreement. “I once dated this guy who had a really neat mom. She treated me just like a daughter until she found out we’d been talking about marriage. Then she went ballistic. Started cussing at me and telling me I wasn’t good enough for her little boy.”

“I don’t think Leonie would be like that.”

Krystal thought for a moment, then said, “No,
you’re probably right, but I still wouldn’t want to screw up a great housing arrangement.” She sighed. “At least Dylan will make good eye candy for these cold, gray days of winter.”

As much as Maddie wanted to deny it, she knew her housemate was right. Only she wasn’t going out of her way for any visual treats. She’d do her best to avoid him, even if it meant disappointing Leonie by being absent in the kitchen. She was determined that when she shared a house with Dylan, this time she was not going to become infatuated with him.

Once in a lifetime was enough for her. Besides, she already had one man in her life. Jeffrey, who was a dear friend. That’s all she wanted in a relationship right now. It was all she could handle. She needed to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life before she could look at men as anything other than friends.

Unfortunately as she drifted off to sleep, it wasn’t Jeffrey’s face in her thoughts. It was the man she wanted to forget—Dylan.

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.

T
HERE 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?”