Falling for a Stranger (17 page)

Silence followed her words. Apparently, she had finally found a way to halt Drew's endless list of questions.

"You're more than a woman I met in a bar, Ria," he said slowly. "If you weren't, I wouldn't be here right now. And you know it."

The intense look in his eyes made her swallow hard. "And you're more than a man I just had a one-night stand with, which is why I think you should go home and forget we ever met again. You may not believe me, but I'm not just trying to protect myself, I'm also trying to protect you."

"I can take care of myself."

"When I tell you the same thing, you don't believe me," she said dryly.

The tension in his jaw eased. "I know," he admitted. "But that's different."

She sighed, then got to her feet. "I should get dinner started. Megan is probably hungry."

"I'd like to stay."

"Why?"

"Because we're not done yet."

"I'm done answering questions for now. If you want to stay for dinner, fine, but it won't be much."

"I don't need much."

"I have to call my mother back first." She picked up the television remote and handed it to him.

"Ria—I'm sorry I listened to your message. That was wrong."

"Thank you, but I probably would have done the same if our positions were reversed," she admitted. She took her phone into the bedroom and closed the door.

Megan was sitting on the bed with her computer in front of her and headphones on. She pulled out the earpieces and gave Ria a questioning look.

"I told Drew that you're my niece, that your parents were killed in an accident, nothing else," she said.

"That's a lot," Megan said, surprise in her eyes.

"I had to say something. He's relentless."

"He likes you. And he seems like a good guy." Megan frowned. "Although, he did spy on your phone, which is weird."

"I made him way too curious." Ria sat down on the edge of the bed. "I don't know what I'm going to do about him. I know you don't want to hear this, but the best thing for us to do would be to disappear."

Megan immediately shook her head. "No way."

"After the prom," she said.

"No. I'm not leaving San Francisco. I want to stay with my friends and with Eric. I want to graduate from the school I'm in now. I don't want to start over again from scratch. We have a life here, and I don't think Drew would do anything to hurt you or me."

"He's a link to my past. And even if he didn't do anything intentionally, if anyone put us together—"

"Who would do that?" Megan challenged.

"I don't know," she admitted, but she couldn't shake the feeling that keeping Drew in her life was a dangerous idea.

"Maybe you're just afraid you're going to like him too much," Megan suggested. "Maybe that's the real reason you want to run."

Her niece had a point.

"Would it really be so bad if you let yourself care about someone?" Megan asked.

"We may not be able to stay here, Megan. I know you don't want to face that fact, but it's there. And while I want you to have as normal a life as possible, I need to stay vigilant, and I might not be able to do that if I let myself get distracted."

"Drew is distracting," Megan said with a smile. "I mean, seriously, Ria, have you ever dated someone that attractive before?"

"He would be at the top of the list, but that's beside the point."

"I think you should give him a chance." She paused. "Is he gone?"

"No, I had promised him dinner before he picked up my phone. So I'm going to keep my promise. But I need to call my mother back, so can you entertain him for a few minutes? Preferably without any stories from the past?"

"Sure. What do you think your mom wants?"

Ria heard the edge of bitterness in Megan's voice when she emphasized the word
your
, and she couldn't blame her niece for having hard feelings towards her grandmother. Megan had never met her grandmother, but obviously Kate had filled her daughter's head with long lists of her mother's flaws. Kate had picked sides in their family a long time ago, and her sister's side had always been with their father, not their mother.

"I don't know what she wants, but we agreed to speak only every three months, so I need to make sure nothing is wrong."

"I'd tell you to say hello for me, but I don't think she'd care."

"She does care, Megan, and the fact that you've never met her is not all her fault."

"I don't want to talk about it." Megan slid off the bed and left the room.

After she closed the door, Ria punched in her mother's number. "It's me," she said when her mom answered. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," her mother said. "I might just be being paranoid."

Her stomach tightened. "Tell me."

"I've seen a car a couple of times in the neighborhood. This afternoon there was a man in the front seat and he was talking on the phone. I got a license number, and I asked a friend of mine's husband if he could check it out for me."

"What friend is that?"

"A woman I play tennis with. Her second husband is a police officer. I told her I'm part of a neighborhood watch group, and I'm trying to be vigilant."

"I hate to get the police involved."

"Well, I have other children to worry about, and I need to make sure this car is not connected to you."

"I understand. Let me know what you find out."

"How's Megan?"

"She's doing well," Ria said, realizing it was true. Megan had really begun to blossom in San Francisco. She was finally living the kind of life she was supposed to live. "She's going to the prom on Saturday."

"Really?" her mother asked in surprise. "You're letting her go out?"

"I don't have a choice. She's trying to be normal, and normal kids go to the prom. We bought a dress the other day, and she looked gorgeous. She has Kate's smile. I just wish Kate could see her."

"I do, too," her mom said with a sigh. "I remember when Kate went to the prom. It was right before your dad left, before everything turned upside down, and she decided that she hated me. It seems like a different life now."

"It is a different life. I can barely remember when it was the four of us together. And now it's just me and Megan."

"You've acted with great courage, Ria. You're saving Megan's life. I'm very proud of you."

Ria was shocked at her mother's complimentary words. She didn't think she'd ever made her mother proud. Most of her decisions, like not going to college, had filled her mother's eyes with disappointment. "Thank you," she said slowly.

"I know we haven't been close in a long time, and a lot of that is my fault. But I do love you, Ria. And I love Megan, too, even though I don’t even know her."

Her mom paused, and Ria could hear her talking to someone, telling them they couldn't have ice cream unless they ate their green beans. One of her half-siblings, Ria thought, feeling both connected and disconnected to the woman on the other end of the phone.

"I have to go," her mom said.

"Call me if you find out anything."

"I will."

Ria closed her phone and returned to the living room. She'd expected to find Megan talking Drew's ear off, but instead the two of them were on their feet playing an interactive videogame called Street Fighter. Drew seemed to be frustrated with the game, which didn't surprise her. Megan was an expert player.

After they'd first left the island, they'd had to stay out of sight for weeks at a time, and videogames had been their sole entertainment. At first Ria had shied away from the battle games, but she'd soon come to realize that Megan gained confidence and strength by defending herself, even if it was only in the virtual fighting world.

"What the hell," Drew muttered, looking down at his controller. "Mine is broken."

"It's not broken. I'm kicking your ass," Megan said.

"Don't feel bad," Ria interjected. "She kicks my ass on a regular basis."

As Megan gave Drew a few tips to improve his performance, Ria moved into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She had eggs and vegetables, so it was going to be omelets for dinner. Megan would appreciate not having anything tough to chew, and if Drew didn't like it, he could certainly find his own dinner somewhere else.

She sautéed vegetables in a pan, then whipped up the eggs and folded in the vegetables. She cut up some fruit, made toast, and set out plates on the small table. "Dinner is ready," she said a few moments later.

"Gotcha again," Megan said, a triumphant note in her voice. Then she set down her controller and headed to the table.

Drew followed more slowly. "Well, that was fun," he said dryly. "I used to be good at videogames."

"Really?" Megan asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, really," he said. "I used to beat all my brothers."

"How many do you have?" Megan asked.

"Four brothers and three sisters," he replied.

"That's crazy," Megan said.

"That's the way I'd describe it."

"Are you the oldest?" Megan asked.

"No, I'm right in the middle. And my family is getting bigger every day. My sister, Emma, and my brother, Aiden, are both engaged. Emma and Aiden's fiancé, Sara, were childhood friends, so they're planning a double wedding in August. And I just found out today that Sara is expecting a baby. I'm not sure how that will affect the double wedding, but there's certainly a lot of action in the Callaway family."

"Weddings and babies," Ria murmured, thinking how lovely it all sounded. How nice to be in a family with no bigger problems than that.

"A double wedding is so romantic," Megan said. "I would love to get married on the same day as my best friend, Lindsay."

"You wouldn't want your own day?" Ria asked.

Megan shook her head. "Double the wedding, double the fun, double the presents."

"I guess that's true," Ria said with a laugh.

"Good eggs," Drew murmured as he quickly worked his way through his omelet.

"I told you it would be nothing fancy."

"I'm not picky when it comes to food. Growing up in a big family, you learn early to eat whatever is there and eat it quickly."

"I always wanted a brother or a sister," Megan said, a sad note in her voice. "I don't know why my parents didn't have more children."

Ria didn't know why, either. Kate had always talked about having more than one, but that was probably before she realized just what kind of family she had married into.

"So where is this double wedding?" Ria asked, wanting to get off the subject of Megan's parents.

"I have no idea. I try not to pay attention when the women start talking weddings," Drew said. "I don't know why anyone wants to spend so much money and time on a party."

"It's not a party; it's a wedding," Megan said. "It's the most important day of your life."

"Don't argue with a sixteen-year-old," Ria advised. "Especially when it comes to romance and love. You will lose."

He smiled. "Are you speaking from experience?"

"Absolutely."

Megan rolled her eyes, then took her empty plate to the sink. "Can Lindsay come over for a while? We want to work on our English project together."

"Sure."

As Megan left the room, Ria glanced over at Drew and caught him staring at her with a more serious and thoughtful expression than their recent conversation should have elicited. "What?"

"You don't like it when Megan talks about her parents. Are you afraid she's going to give away your big secret?"

"It's painful to talk about my sister, and, yes, I'm always afraid that Megan will give something away. She thinks that we're safe now."

"You've allowed her to think that way. You don't want her to live in fear. So you take it all on," he said. "I admire that, Ria. But don't you ever want to share that burden?"

She shrugged. "I'd only be making someone else's life as difficult as mine."

"What did your mother want?"

"She was just checking in."

"And…"

"She noticed an odd car in her neighborhood. She's going to check it out with the local police."

"So your mother can go to the police, but you can't?"

"She can talk to the police about an odd car in her neighborhood. That has nothing to do with me."

"Obviously, she thinks it might. Why doesn't she have Megan?"

"My mother has another family. She has young children to worry about."

"Your family is getting bigger by the minute, too," he said with a wry smile. "So much for it's just me and Megan."

"It is me and Megan. I honestly don't think of my mother's second family as mine."

"How many kids in her second family?"

"Two boys; they're eleven and twelve."

"Not much younger than Megan," he commented.

"Kate was nineteen when she had Megan. And my mother was forty when she had my brother. It's weird. We're quite the dysfunctional group."

"Not that weird. I have a blended family, too. My father had four boys. My stepmother had two girls. Together they had twins. I know what it's like to merge two families."

"We didn't merge, Drew. My mom got remarried and started a new life that didn't include me. She met her second husband when I was thirteen. I had agreed to live with her instead of my dad, because I didn’t want her to be alone. Two years later she wasn't alone. She was in love. And I was the third wheel. They got married and started having babies when I was in high school As soon as I graduated, they wanted me out of the house so they could have more room."

"That's when you decided to sail around the world."

"I had some friends who were crewing on some luxury yachts. I decided to sign on, and from there I jumped from one gig to the next. I rarely made it home for anything, and it didn't seem to bother anyone that I was gone. I think in some ways I was a reminder to my mother of her first failure. It was easier when I was away."

He frowned. "I'm not getting a great vibe on your mom."

"She's not a bad person. She loves me. She just doesn't show it much."

"How does she treat Megan?"

"She doesn't have contact with Megan, but she cares about her in an abstract way. And that is enough about my family," she said decisively, as she got to her feet. "You've had dinner. Time to go home."