She blinked again; her breath seemed to have left her. “Like, am I dating someone?” Standing so close to him, her legs quickly turned to, well, jelly, she supposed. Like beach-plum jelly, the kind Grandma Nancy used to make.
He rubbed his hand over the top of his bald head. “Well … yes. Are you dating anyone?” He might have blushed. She wondered if his palms now were damp like hers.
Then she had another thought:Is this what he’d wanted to ask the other day before he’d winked, climbed into his truck, and driven away?Right now, however, he was waiting for an answer. “The last date I had was our picnic on the beach,” she said.
“That was a while ago.”
“August.”
“It’s the last time we were alone.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and moved a step closer. “Until now.”
“I guess so. Yes.” The heat in the kitchen seemed to rise. She wanted to fan her face or tuck her hair behind her ears. She wanted to feel like something other than a teenager.
Where the heck had this come from? And why am I so … excited?
He took another step. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She pressed her back against the freezer; her eyelids fluttered; her pulse sped up. He looked into her eyes. And kissed her again. Softer, warmer, melting the lot of her.
He stepped back. “I hope I didn’t misread anything. I only know I’ve wanted to do that since the first day we met.”
She swallowed air. “Since you broke into my grandmother’s shed?”
He laughed. And kissed her again.
She didn’t know whether the warmth coursing through her was from his kisses or because she was too close to the stove. Then she remembered she was leaning against the freezer.
“Rex?” she whispered. “Maybe I’ve wanted you to kiss me since that first day, too.” Her response was so spontaneous she realized it was true. That first time they’d met, there was something about him … something different. Something special. And, after she’d broken her foot, when they had their first (and only) date, he’d brought a wheelchair. He’d taken her to a beach that had a wood boardwalk that led down to the sand, where he gently lifted her up and set her on a folding chair, and then presented her with a gourmet lunch. When Rafe intruded on the date by calling to say he was on the boat, en route to the island, Rex speedily gathered everything and chauffeured Maddie to the Vineyard Haven pier so she could be there to greet her son.
Since that magical afternoon, she and Rex had seen each other often, but he was right, they had not been alone, what with the fire and the commotion and the rest. And now, the only thing that felt strange about being alone with him was that it wasn’t like her to share her feelings with anyone, let alone a man. But Rex was different from others she’d dated since her divorce—none of them had made her cheeks—and the rest of her—so warm.
Then he turned off the burner on the stove, and tuckedher hair behind her ears the way she would have done. The next thing she knew, he was leading her from the kitchen, through his living room, and down the hall toward what she thought—what she hoped—was the bedroom. She went with him willingly, eagerly, her senses fully lit, her heart swelling with anticipation, ignoring the ghost of her upbringing that cautioned:It’s too soon, Madelyn. It’s too soon.
Her clothes, including her white top and her grandmother’s skirt with the beads and the embroidery, wound up on the floor in a corner of the bedroom. Maddie had pulled her clothes off more hurriedly than the previous night when the bed she’d climbed into had been empty. It was far nicer this morning when Rex had crawled under the covers next to her. No matter if her conscience thought it was too soon.
What it had been was wonderful. Startlingly wonderful.
“This is the confusing part,” he said once their bodies separated and they both caught their breath. He turned onto his back, stretched his arms over his shoulders, and clasped his hands behind his head. “It was our first time together. So now for the big questions. Who gets up first? Me? Am I expected to stand up, wrap a sheet around my lower parts, and disappear into the bathroom so I can give you privacy to get dressed? Or do you wrap said sheet around yourself and go first?” He scrunched his eyes closed. “I don’t do this very often. To be truthful, it’s been a long time. So I could use some direction. Please.”
Maddie watched him. She wanted to laugh, but her belly had started to ache and her head had started to hurt with a singular, disturbing thought:What if someone finds out?She was new to the Vineyard. For all she knew, Rex had done this sort of thing many, many times. He might even have a reputation for it. Not to mention that his early years had been tough, having spent more than a night or two in the jail in Edgartown,thanks to a few teenage antics. On their first date and only real date, he’d started to explain another “situation” to her, but there hadn’t been time for him to share the details because they’d rushed off to get Rafe.
Still, why had she never asked him about it?
Because, she reasoned,one picnic on one afternoon did not mean you were dating the guy or ever would. Or should.
As for now, if the news escaped that she’d slept with him, she might become a laughingstock washashore, with little chance of holding her head high, let alone of starting a business she had no business starting in the first place.
“Hello?” he quietly asked from beside her.
Reaching to the floor from the side of the bed, she retrieved a comforter that one of them had kicked off. She quickly pulled it up and managed to cloak her body with it. Then she looked at him.
“You’re wonderful, Rex,” she said, feigning a smile. “But believe it or not, this is highly irregular for me.”Highly irregular?Had she actually said such a snooty thing? She hauled herself up, collected her clothes, and headed for a doorway that looked like it led to the bathroom. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, her back toward him now as she stepped into what, indeed, was a bathroom.
And that was the end of that.
It wasn’t until Maddie was outside in the fresh air, pulling her phone from her purse and heading toward the parking lot, that she realized Rex hadn’t said a word, hadn’t tried to convince her to stay, hadn’t apologized if he’d upset her. But she didn’t have time to dwell on that now. Three new voicemails were waiting, all from Grandma.
“Where in blazes are you, Madelyn?” the woman snarled in all of them. “Are you lost?”
Fast-walking toward her car, Maddie quickly returned thecalls, assuring her grandmother that all was well, that she’d simply forgotten to turn her phone on after waking up late and hurrying to get Rafe to Vineyard Haven. For good measure, she added that she’d stopped for coffee and to do a little shopping. After the part about Rafe, the rest were lies; she hadn’t even had the coffee Rex had offered.
