Miranda made her way back down the stairs, leading to the kitchen. She couldn't put it off any longer. If she had to face him, then it was at least going to be on her own terms.
She could hear Drew long before she could see him. He had the same carefree laugh she remembered. The one that used to chase her through the apple orchard, when they were kids. The same smooth notes that tickled her ear when she danced with him at her senior prom. The same sinful sounds that floated gently on the evening breeze the first night they made love under the stars. She used to cherish that sound. There was a time she would do all manner of things, just to hear it. Now, it made her cringe.
She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. She’d thought catching a glimpse of him beforehand might have helped, but her heart still fluttered in anticipation. She might have turned and ran if Tommy hadn't seen her first.
"Mommy!" Tommy ran toward her, his face lit with excitement and pleasure. "Where have you been? Come see Daddy."
The color drained from her face. She looked around, praying for a giant hole to open and swallow her up before Drew turned around, but she was out of luck. Her body wasn't listening to her brain again.
"Well," Drew said. "The elusive Mandy finally arrives."
"It's Miranda," she said. "Nobody calls me Mandy anymore, Drew." Her heart caught in her throat when he smiled at her, and she had to turn away, so he wouldn't see. It was amazing. He looked almost the same. Manly muscles rippled where the boyish physique used to be, but it was definitely Drew. Her Drew. The man who had deserted her and left her to care for their son on her own.
"I'm sorry, honey," she said to Tommy. "Mommy's running a little late, that's all."
"Seven years is more than a little late, wouldn't you say?" Drew’s rakish grin came out of nowhere and took her completely off guard. She wanted to kiss him and smack him, both at the same time.
"I'm here for my son, not for you," she whispered, waltzing past him and into the kitchen.
"The important thing is, you made it,” a steadying voice from the corner said.
Ah. Jordan. She breathed an inward sigh of relief. The opposite of Drew in every way, Jordan had been her rock over the last several years. It was hard to believe he and Drew had once been best friends. Aside from Kayla, and the rest of the Elliott family, Jordan was one of the few people who had always been there for her.
"Uncle Jordan," Tommy said. "Are you taking me to baseball practice tonight?"
"I sure am, buddy." Jordan lifted Tommy up in the air and swung him around in a big circle. When his eyes landed on Drew, a sheen of guilt seemed to wash over his face. "Unless your dad wants to take you, that is."
"Uh—" Drew stalled. "I don't think I can make it tonight, Tommy. It's gonna take me a while to unpack, and I have an appointment later." He reached down and chucked Tommy on the nose. "I'll make the next one, though, sport. I promise."
Miranda felt her heart drop in disappointment for her son. His first day back in town and Drew was already ditching Tommy for an unpacked suitcase and some vague reference to an appointment that hadn’t seemed to exist before now.
"Appointment, my ass," Jordan whispered into Miranda's ear. "More like a hot date with Susie Billings."
"So that's the type he's going for now. Disgusting," she whispered back. The girl was barely twenty, if she was a day, and her over-processed hair and bitchy attitude made her just the sort of woman Miranda did not want around her son.
"Hey," Jordan said. "How are you handling all of this? Are you okay?"
"Better than I thought." She smiled when she realized it was actually true. She had faced Drew, and somehow had managed to avoid bursting into flames. Still, it did trouble her that Jordan and Drew barely spoke any more, and it was largely because of her. "Listen Jordan, don't feel you have to alienate yourself from Drew on my account. The last thing I ever wanted was to come between the two of you."
"You didn't come between us," Jordan said. "Drew did that all on his own." His blue eyes shimmered with a cross between anger and sadness as he spoke. "I could forgive the first year or so. You two were just kids when Tommy was born, but seven years—there’s been plenty of time for him to step up and be a man. It takes more than child support payments and a few visits a year to be a dad. I can't respect someone who won't take care of his own kid."
"Thank you." She grasped his arm and pulled him in for a hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Jordan. You're a good friend."
"Yeah," he said. A weak smile splayed across his face. "A great friend."
His normally soft huggable body had stiffened at her touch, and the sudden weight of his stare made her uncomfortable. Was everyone going to act this strange now that Drew was back in town?
The sound of Tommy's shrill voice broke the silence.
"Daddy wants to go lay down for a while," Tommy said. "Can we go outside and play catch, Mommy?"
"I'll make you a deal," Miranda said. She would agree to almost anything to escape the heavy atmosphere of the kitchen at this moment. "I'll come outside now to play with you, if you promise to help me finish Anna Simon's wedding cake later."
"Okay." Tommy's face lit up with glee. "Can I use the big tube to squirt frosting all over the cake?"
"On second thought, I think Anna might prefer to leave the cake to me." Visions of guests dining on cake that looked more like a play dough creation than a professional masterpiece flashed through her mind. Probably wouldn't be so great for business. "Why don't I give you your very own cake to decorate? You can share it with Grandpa Max later."
"Yum," he said. "I'm gonna go tell him right now."
"Okay, honey," Miranda said. "I'll meet you outside in a minute."
She turned to give Jordan another quick hug before leaving. Whatever strange vibe she’d picked up just moments before seemed to have vanished. "Thanks again," she whispered, as she pulled out of his embrace.
"Drew," she said, nodding her head in cool acknowledgment as she walked past him and out of the kitchen.
∞ ∞ ∞
"Mmm…" Drew peered down the hall at Miranda's retreating form. The last time he’d seen her, she’d only been nineteen years old. He hadn't been sure what to expect when he saw her again, but it wasn’t this. "Our little Mandy has certainly grown up, hasn't she?"
"A lot can happen in seven years, Drew," Jordan said.
Drew wasn't sure he appreciated the judgmental tone in Jordan's voice. He wasn't that fond of the protective way he acted around Mandy, either. He followed Jordan's gaze toward the window overlooking the back yard, where Tommy and Miranda were playing ball. Jordan's eyes were clearly focused on Miranda's willowy form, her long blond curls blowing in the wind. He didn't like the way Jordan was looking at her. On the other hand, he was having a damn good time looking at her, himself.
"I forgot how beautiful she is," Drew said. "I wonder how long she’ll stay mad at me."
"Stay away from her, Drew."
Drew took a long draw from his beer and nodded his head toward Miranda, doing his best to ignore the alarm bells ringing in his head. "Why? You got something going on with her?"
"No." Jordan turned from the window and eyes of steel met Drew's own fierce stare. "But, she doesn't need you stringing her along and hurting her all over again. If you want to get closer to Tommy, that's great. But leave her alone."
"You're telling the truth, aren’t you?" Drew said. His brain might be slow, but it was beginning to comprehend. He may not be as close to Jordan as he once was, but they had known each other since childhood. There were some things Jordan would never be able to hide from him. "There isn't anything going on between you. But, you wish there was, don't you? You want her and you're afraid I'm going to ruin it for you.”
"This isn't a game, Drew," Jordan said. "She's not some prize for the victor to win."
"Well, if you never go after what you want in life, you’ll be stuck on the sidelines forever, man." Drew tossed his beer bottle in the recycle bin and turned to leave. "I’ll catch up with you later, my friend,” he said. “Right now, I need a nap."
Drew slipped up the back stairs, into the family wing of the hotel, and down the hall to his room, grateful he hadn’t run into anyone on the way. The day had started out pleasant enough, but somehow now, he just wasn’t feeling it.
He yanked off his shirt, throwing it on top of his suitcase in the corner of the room, then fell onto his bed. He took slow, measured, breaths, trying to ease the tightening in his chest. Seven long years, and he’d thought he was finally over her. She certainly was over him. She walked right out of that kitchen without giving him a second glance.
All he’d wanted was to come home for the summer. Take a break. Reconnect. He missed his family. His best friend. His son. And, damn it, he missed her, too. He didn’t want to, but he did, and the thought of her ever being with Jordan was more than he could handle. Any other man would be bad enough, but Jordan would be too much. There was something brewing between them, though. He could sense it.
He massaged his aching brow and closed his eyes for a quick snooze before dinner. Maybe it would help tame that gnawing feeling in his gut. The one that told him he had made a huge mistake leaving town all those years ago. The one that told him he was a fool if he thought things could ever be the same again. Because, if there’s one thing he’d learned in the short time he’d been home, it was that everyone seemed to have changed, except him.