He laughed. “Haven’t you figured out by now that you should never challenge me, woman?”
She hadn’t figured anything out.
But the engine rumbled to life like some feral beast waking from a nap, and Maggie felt her heartbeat sync to the thunder in her ears. Jo Ellen was mounted behind Randy, giving Maggie and Brick a ridiculous thumbs-up like she was some kind of biker babe.
As they peeled away from the curb, Maggie looked up at the stars. No T-bird. No jail. No family watching. Just wind, warmth, and the man in front of her who smelled faintly of leather, danger, and vanilla bean cheesecake.
The end of what had been, without a doubt, the most unforgettable adventure.
She was definitely going to miss the car, the laughs, the bad decisions, and the best time of her life.
They were coming.
Sally and Gary Danes—without their daughter Rori, Jonah was relieved to know—were en route to the Summer House to see the baby Carly had left behind.
As he waited and paced, drank a third cup of coffee and cracked every knuckle on both hands, Jonah checked the driveway repeatedly. He peeked out the window on the landing, saw nothing, then circled back through the living room feeling as though he would spontaneously combust from the stress.
Out on the deck, he could hear Dad and Kate talking softly, making cooing sounds to Atlas, who Jonah had left in his baby bouncer. When he’d walked out, his father seemed calm, but wound a little more tightly than usual. He and Kate had held hands on the sofa, which he hoped meant that their differences in how to approach this day had faded and they would be facing Carly’s parents with a unified front.
Back inside, Jonah swiped his hands over the khaki shorts he’d chosen for today while exhaustion stung his eyes. He hadn’t slept and, for once, he couldn’t blame his son. Just raw, unfettered nerves.
His stomach was in knots, his head hurt, and he couldn’t decide if the sweat on his lower back was from the Florida heat or the sheer terror of facing Gary and Sally Danes. They had to be furious that he blew out of California with their grandchild. And how could they not blame him for letting Carly run out for diapers—and into a truck? What kind of father was he?
Well, that was the question that was about to be answered as they marched their way east to cross-examine the man raising their grandson.
He popped a grape into his mouth and nearly choked when the door to the garage opened and Grandma Maggie walked in.
“Where’s the welcoming committee?” she demanded, her shoulders set square for battle, her silver hair looking particularly sharp in her two-inch-long crop that accentuated her cheekbones and sky-blue eyes.
For a moment, he just stared at her, slightly disoriented. Was it because she’d been MIA for ten days or did she look…different? Younger, even. Brighter.
Had she gone to a spa or something? Jonah couldn’t remember where she and Jo Ellen had said they were off to for the past week or so.
“I didn’t know you’d be back in time,” Jonah said.
“Of course. I was just down the road in Santa Rosa Beach.”
“Really?”
She launched one of her uber-judgy brows north. “Would I lie?” she challenged.
“I don’t know,” he said, not really wanting to get into a verbal fencing match with this woman. He lost under the best of circumstances, and these were not ideal.
She walked toward the coffee pot, which was always hot and full in the Summer House.
“I wouldn’t miss a chance to meet Atlas’s maternal grandparents.” She took a mug from the rack and slid him alook. “And make sure they know exactly what the ‘great’ in great-grandmother really means.”
“Relentless, judgmental, and unwavering?” he countered.
“Don’t forget possessive, bossy, and…” She added a totally out of character smile. “Fearless.”
He wanted to laugh, but she was in an unusual mood and that made him even more nervous.
“Grandma,” he said. “I’m begging you to not be…you.”
She gave a soft hoot. “You know, if I didn’t love life so much at this moment, I’d punish you for that comment, Jonah.”
“You know what I mean.”
