Chapter 22

My heart jumps when I see Dave's phone call.

Damn it. Why do I have to be so happy to see that it's him? I can't believe he blew me off today.

I'm trying to be understanding. His family is going through turmoil, and that's what I should be focused on. I should do my best to sympathize with what he's going through.

Still, though, an explanation isn't an excuse, and the fact remains that he didn't come through on our lunch plans.

"Hi," I say into the phone.

"Hey, Maddie."

"What do you want, Dave?"

"I'm so sorry…"

"About what?" I ask.

I want to hear him say it. See if he's actually sorry.

"You know what. We were supposed to have lunch, and I forgot."

I pause a moment, trying to formulate a smart-ass comment, but I come up with nothing.

Eventually, I simply say, "Oh."

"I don't really have an excuse, except that I was working with Brianna in the orchards. I felt like I needed a day in the outdoors, you know? A day of hard manual labor. The kind I haven't had since I was a kid. I just sort of fell into it, I guess. I completely lost track of time, and it wasn't until the sun was setting that I even realized how long we'd been at it."

"I see."

"Do you? I can hear from your tone that you're not pleased, and I can't blame you."

I sigh. "Dave, what's going on with your family is just shitty. I wish I could do something about it. I truly do. I hate that you're hurting. I hate that Brianna's hurting. I hate that my sisters and Jesse are hurting because their fiancés are hurting. It all just sucks, Dave, and I'm so sorry. Especially about Joe."

"That's kind of you."

I scoff. "Kind of me? Well, here's some news for you. I'm a kind person, Dave."

"Never said you weren't."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you blew me off. I understand why it happened, but if you want to actually see if something will work out between us, you need to meet me halfway."

He pauses before responding. "You're right, Maddie. There's no excuse. Even with all the bullshit with my family?—"

"I know, Dave. And I'll let this one slide given the circumstances." I sigh. "I feel awful that you feel so badly about this. I care a lot about you."

"I care about you too, Maddie."

My instinct is to push him further. Make him tell me exactly how he feels about me. But I'm also afraid I'm not ready for that answer, whichever way it goes.

So I clear my throat. "I'm heading back to campus tomorrow. I talked with my advisor and the registrar, and it's not too late to complete my final semester of college."

"I know. I'm glad it all worked out for you."

"It just seemed like the right thing to do."

"I totally understand. I need to go home and shower, but would you like to have dinner after? I'll take you out somewhere. Make up for screwing up our lunch date."

"Are you sure you're up for it after working hard all day?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I weren't," he says. "I can pick you up in about an hour and a half if that works."

I take a look at my watch. That would be around six thirty. "All right."

"Who's taking you to school tomorrow?"

"My dad."

"Tell him he can save the gas. I'll take you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm beginning to feel like an echo here. But I wouldn't have offered if I weren't."

There's a hint of his usual joviality in his voice, which makes me smile. "All right. If you'd like to, I think I'd like that."

"Good. I'll see you in an hour and a half at your place."

"Where will we go?"

"Did you want to go somewhere specific?"

"No, I'm just asking so I know what to wear."

"Just wear whatever you want," he says. "You always look beautiful, Maddie."

"Okay." That was no help at all.

"I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye." I end the call.

I decide on simple black leggings, midcalf boots, and a wine-colored sweater that covers my ass.

I pin my hair up into a messy bun and accent my ears with silver wire earrings.

And that's it. Just a little bit of makeup.

It's a look that will work for everything but the finest restaurant, and I doubt that's where Dave is taking me.

Not at this point, anyway. He would've needed to make reservations earlier, although as a Steel, he could probably get in anywhere at the last minute.

Still, I don't think that's what he has in store for me tonight. My guess is Lorenzo's or something here in town.

I'm still in my room when I hear the doorbell.

I leave my room and walk out toward the house's entrance. My mother is answering the door.

"Hello, David." She's smiling. That's a good sign. "Please come in. I'll get Maddie."

"Thanks, Mrs. Pike."

"Please, it's Maureen."

Yeah, Mom has that I want all my children to marry a Steel look on her face.

I hate to tell her that she may be barking up the wrong tree with me.

But you never know.

"I'm here, Mom." I walk toward Dave.

His eyes are wide. "You look great."

I feel a spurt of blood rush to my cheeks. "Thanks. So do you."

He's wearing black jeans, black ostrich cowboy boots, a white button-down, and a gray blazer. No tie.

"What time will you be home tonight, Maddie?" Mom asks.

"I don't know, Mom."

"We won't be late, Maureen," Dave says.

"Great." She gives a wide smile. "You two have a nice time."

We walk out of the house, and Dave opens the passenger side door of his Jaguar.

Once he's seated beside me, I say, "Sorry about that."

"About what?"

"About the curfew interrogation from my mother."

"That's no problem."

Except it is a problem. Or maybe the problem is that Dave said we wouldn't be late. Which means he's not taking me to his place to…

It doesn't matter. I'm leaving for school tomorrow. Maybe I'll meet someone new.

Except I won't. I already know all the guys in my class. All the older guys are gone, and I'm not really interested in checking out the younger guys.

I sigh. "So where are we off to?"

"My place," he says.

I widen my eyes. "I thought we were having dinner?"

"We are. I ordered lasagna from Lorenzo's. It should be there by the time we get back. And I've got a bottle of Dale's finest Italian blend."

"I see." Though I'm not sure why he's dressed for going out.

"Is that okay? Was I being presumptuous?"

"No, it's fine. But you did tell my mom we wouldn't be out late."

He shrugs. "You won't be. I'll make sure you get home by midnight or earlier."

"Okay."

He stops the car then. Right in the middle of our driveway. He turns and looks at me. "Maddie, do you want to spend the night with me?"

"I…"

"Because I'd love to spend the night with you," he says, "but you're leaving tomorrow. I don't want to start something that neither of us can finish."

His words astound me.

I take a deep breath, then sigh. "I guess… I just don't know where you're coming from, Dave. Clearly we're attracted to each other, and we have great chemistry between the sheets. But your family is going through some major upheaval, and I'm about to go back to college. I just don't know where either of our heads are."

"I feel the same way," he says. "I have a lot of feelings for you—feelings I never thought I'd have, at least not until I was older—but I want to make sure that this is the real thing. I don't want it to be something false, a bond that stems only from our shared trauma."

His words have both a positive and a negative effect on me. Because in truth I agree with him. I want feelings that are real, feelings that will stand the test of time. And he's right. We've both been through a lot. But we certainly had chemistry before the plane almost went down.

"I understand."

Though, to tell the truth, a part of me doesn't.

"I'm glad." He starts the car again.

The bag containing the takeout from Lorenzo's is sitting on Dave's front stoop when we enter. He grabs it, unlocks his door with the code, and we go in.

I follow him into his kitchen, where he sets everything on the table.

"What can I do to help?" I ask.

"Not a thing. I've got the table set, and the wine is open, decanting."

I look at the table. He even has glasses of ice water sitting there.

He pulls out the takeout, which includes a large pan of lasagna, a loaf of garlic bread, and Italian salad.

"Please, have a seat."

I sit down, and he serves me a plate full of food. Once he serves himself and takes a seat, I wait.

"Go ahead," he says.

I say a silent thank you for the food, and then I bring a forkful of salad to my mouth.

Lorenzo's Italian food is wonderful. I don't go to town to eat very often. My family just doesn't have the money for those kinds of things.

"Delicious," I say after swallowing.

"I'm glad you like Italian," he says. "One of my favorites, and Lisa does it like nobody else. Even Aunt Marjorie says Lisa beats her with Italian food."

"Your family's not Italian," I say.

"We're not Greek either," I say, "except for Aunt Ruby on her father's side. But my mom can sure make a Greek feast."

I nod. "Yeah, I remember the food at your aunt and uncle's anniversary party. It was great."

Then I clamp my hand over my mouth.

That party didn't end well either. Ryan Steel was rushed to the hospital on suspicion of a heart attack. Turned out it wasn't a heart attack, but no one really knows what happened. The Steels kept it quiet.

Callie told me it was a panic attack, but I'm sworn to secrecy, so I can't say anything to Dave about it.

That was the beginning of what would turn out to be the big upheaval in the Steel family… And for all the citizens of Snow Creek.

We don't talk a lot while we eat, and once I finish my rather large slice of lasagna, my belly is nice and full.

I drink the wine, which of course is way better than any of the wine my family makes. Ryan and Dale Steel are artists, whereas my father makes wine that's accessible to the masses. Table wines that are good with everything and easy on the pocketbook.

Of course, this season he's made no wine because of the fire.

Ugh.

Just what I don't want to think about.

"You want any more?" Dave asks.

"God no," I say. "I couldn't eat another bite."

"That's a shame, because in the freezer I have some of my mom's vanilla bourbon ice cream made with brown sugar."

I rub my stomach. "It sounds amazing, but I can't."

"Okay. Maybe later."

"Sure."

I suppose now he's going to try to seduce me into his bed. I'm certainly not averse to the idea. Just sitting with him, I'm already hot and horny as hell.

I'm not sure if it's the best thing, since I'm leaving tomorrow.

But instead of rising, bringing me to my feet, and kissing me senseless, he takes my hand, brushes his lips over the back of it, and then looks me straight in the eye.

"Maddie, we need to talk."

My heart plummets.

Here it is—the classic brush-off. It's never a good thing when a person says those four fatal words.

"All right." I keep my countenance balanced. No way will I let him know how disappointed I am.

He kisses my hand again. "I like you a lot."

"I like you too, Dave."

"And I'd like to continue seeing you. After you go back to school."

My eyes widen in shock. "Oh?"

He cocks his head at my reaction. "Did you think I was going to say something else?"

"I… Well… Yeah. You said the standard break-up line. We need to talk."

He raises an eyebrow. "That's the standard break-up line?"

"Oh, come on, Dave. You were one of the Rake-a-teers. Surely you know how to brush a woman off."

He frowns. "Actually…I don't."

"Come on, you must've brushed off a million of them in your day."

He chuckles at that one. "A million women? You must think I'm much more of a Lothario than I am."

Then I giggle. "Lothario? Really?"

"Hey, it's a word."

"Yeah, if you live in the nineteenth century."

He chuckles, but then his face gets serious again. "To be honest, Maddie, I've never used that phrase before with a woman. I was never serious enough about a woman to even have to make an excuse for brushing her off."

I cock my head. I'm not sure whether to be flattered by his words or pissed off. I choose flattered.

"But it's like we said before," he continues. "I want to make sure that the feelings between us are real and not just the result of everything we've been through."

I nod. "I agree with that."

"So in a way, it's good that you're leaving. Going back to school. It will be more difficult for us to see each other, but we'll be able to see whether what we're feeling is real."

"Sure. I get it."

"Good."

"So next weekend, then, I'd like to come to Grand Junction," he says. "And take you on a real date. Not just dinner but dancing afterward. A big night out."

"I'd like that."

"Good, then." He pulls out his phone and opens the calendar app. "Saturday night. A week from today. It's a date."

"Absolutely."

"So what time do you need me to take you to school tomorrow?"

"Dad and I were planning to leave around two."

He scrolls through his phone. "Yeah, I think I can make that work."

"Is there a problem?"

"No. We have another big family meeting scheduled at Uncle Joe's house. Ten in the morning. But I should be able to pick you up by two to take you."

"You might want to bring your truck," I say. "I've got a lot of stuff. I'm not sure it will all fit in the Jaguar."

He smiles. "The truck it is."

Then he rises finally, brings me to my feet, and pulls me to him for a kiss.