Thrill Me

“He texts me all the time. Sometimes it gets annoying.”

She nodded. “I can imagine. Speaking of famous people, have you seen your dad?”

“Killjoy.”

“Should I take that as a yes?”

Del leaned back in his chair. “I stopped by the house and saw both my parents. My father wanted to talk about Nick wasting his talent.”

Maya remembered how Ceallach had always preferred the three younger sons. The ones who took after him. “I suppose there’s some comfort in consistency.”

“That’s the optimist in you. I prefer to think of my father as...” He reached for his glass. “No reason to go there.” He sipped. “Yes, I saw my father and he seems well.” He glanced at her. “Are you going to be helping my mom with the plans for my dad’s party?”

“I’ve offered. Why?”

“Because it’s a lot for her to do on her own.”

“You could take care of some of it.”

“I’ll do my best, but you know halfway through, she’ll take it all away from me and explain how she can do it better.”

Maya sighed. “Yes, she will. Elaine does like to maintain control over every situation.”

“So do you.”

“I wish. I gave up control a long time ago. A hazard of the job. There are a million things that can go wrong on any given story and I’ve had to deal with them all.”

“Is that why you left television?”

“Partly. I left because I was tired of beating my head against a wall that was never going to give way.” She frowned. “Is that what’s supposed to happen? The wall gives way? You break through. Man, I hate it when I don’t think through a cliché.”

He grinned at her. “Good to know you’re not perfect.”

“I’m far from that.”

Miles, she thought. Miles and miles. Although being with Del was nice. More comfortable than she would have thought. He’d always been easy on the eyes, but she’d thought there might be some tension between them. Because of how things had ended.

Apparently not. Here they were, having dinner as if they were old friends. She took a bite of steak. Maybe they were. Maybe they’d both moved on enough that the past didn’t matter.

“There’s no Mr. Farlow?” he asked, the question unexpected.

“Uh, no. What about you?”

“No Mr. Mitchell,” he said, his eyes bright with amusement.

She groaned. “You know what I mean.”

“Hey, my romantic life was public knowledge.”

It had been, she thought. “That kind of comes with being semifamous and then dating a beautiful figure skater,” she said gently.

“Semifamous.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “Way to go for the kill shot.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You know what I mean. You were known, but not a tabloid regular. Plus, you’re not interested in fame.”

“You sure about that?”

She studied him for a second, then nodded. “Absolutely.”

He picked up his wine. “You’re right. I never liked that part of dating Hyacinth. There were choices made to put us more in the public eye. I didn’t love those, either.” He shrugged. “Relationships are all about compromise.”

There was something in his tone. “You say that like it’s not a good thing.”

“Oh, it can be. Until one person needs the other to go too far.”

Interesting, she thought. Not that she had a clue what it meant. She’d heard that Del and Hyacinth had broken up, then gotten back together for a short period of time before ending things a year or so back. What she didn’t know was why.

There had been speculation that one or the other had cheated. She would put her money on Del staying faithful. Despite his traveling lifestyle, he was a traditionalist at heart. A one-man, one-woman kind of guy. She couldn’t say for sure how she knew that, but believed it down to her bones.

“What about you?” he asked. “You had the luxury of a private life. Who do you want to trash over dinner?”

“No one,” she said with a smile. “There were relationships and they didn’t work out.”

“Or there’d be a Mr. Farlow?”

“Exactly.”

She’d dated, but had never gotten serious with anyone. Not since Del. She’d figured out the reason. She’d learned early that she couldn’t trust anyone to rescue her. She was going to have to take care of herself. While that wasn’t inherently a bad thing, it had kept her at an emotional distance from the men in her life. The ones who had wanted more had been frustrated by her reluctance to risk getting more involved.

Unfortunately, knowing the problem didn’t seem to make it easier to solve. As long as she wasn’t willing to take the chance, she would never have that elusive happily ever after ending. A part of her genuinely didn’t think she had it in her to love anyone, so why try? But without trying, she would never get there. An emotional paradox.

“So what festival are you looking forward to the most, now that you’re back?” Del asked.

“A tidy change of subject? Is this to ensure I don’t pry into your reasons for not being married?”

“Something like that.”

She laughed. “An honest man.”

“I try.”

She thought for a second. “I think the Book Fair is my favorite.”