Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5) (29 page)

“They’re fine. Hunter misses Lisa.” Chris swept his tongue across my bottom lip. “Talks about nothing else all day.” He kissed me again, briefly. “And Ethan says hi.”

I’d talked to Ethan on the phone this morning. He really seemed to love life on campus. “So many
cool
guys, I swear this would be your dreamland,” he’d said jokingly. Yeah, he and Ted hadn’t worked out, unfortunately, but the whole thing had boosted his confidence in a way none of us would have thought possible. He stepped right into his brother’s footsteps with flirting once Chris was off the market. Only Ethan’s target group usually wore a five o’clock shadow. Coming clean with his family and close friends was the best thing he could have done. Now I hoped he’d find his own Mr. Right one day so he could be as happy with him as I was with Chris.

The orange glow of the setting sun sneaked through the window, reminding me that I couldn’t kiss Chris all evening—much to my regret. “We better go now,” I breathed against his lips.

“Do we really have to?” he groaned and moved me backward against the door, taking my hands and pinning them above my head as he nibbled my neck. “It’s been so long…”

I giggled, enjoying every stroke of his tongue on my skin, but eventually I pushed myself free. “We have a reservation, remember? And your mom’s waiting, too.”

“Fine.” Chris pouted, but in a voice etched with mischief, he added, “I just hope this evening goes by really fast.”

Me, too.

Looping his arm around my waist, we walked downstairs. Mom grabbed her handbag and locked the door as we headed out to Chris’s car. He’d offered to be our driver tonight.

Mom climbed into the backseat, giving Chris the opportunity to hold my hand during the ride. Our first stop was his house, where Beverly was already waiting on the front steps. Chris got out and hugged her tight to his chest. “Hi, Mom,” we heard him say through the open window.

Beverly kissed him on the cheek before she got into the back with my mother. They’d become really close friends the day Chris and I had introduced them to each other. Their chatter started the moment Beverly slammed the door and ended when we halted in front of the restaurant in Arroyo Grande. I didn’t mind being kept out of their conversation. Seizing the chance, I enjoyed watching Chris the entire time. Every other minute, he’d cut me a taunting look or a smile, and sometimes he just squeezed my hand a little tighter.

As we entered the cozy restaurant and the waiter showed us to our table by the window, my mom stopped for a brief moment and sucked in a deep breath. I knew what was on her mind. This was the table that she, my dad, and I sat at together every year for her birthday. It’s been a tradition no one ever questioned for so long.

This year, however, one person was missing to make this evening perfect. My heart stung for her…and for myself.

Mom and Dad were still keeping their distance. They talked on the phone once a month or sometimes even two or three times, but other than at my important soccer games, they never saw each other—and my last game had been before the summer. Why they still avoided personal contact, I didn’t understand, because it couldn’t have been clearer that they missed each other if they’d tattooed each other’s names on their forearms. With big, fat hearts around them. Clearly, I got the best end of their breakup deal—I could see both whenever I wanted.

Rubbing my mom’s shoulder, I gave her a warm smile. “He’s going to call, you’ll see. He won’t forget your birthday.”

Mom nodded, forcing the corners of her mouth up, but it looked little like a real smile. She’d given up hope of him remembering what day it was sometime in the afternoon. And really, I’d started wondering, too. What kept him so long? He hadn’t forgotten…had he?

While Chris pulled out my chair, the waiter helped seat our mothers. He lit the candle in the middle of the white cloth-covered table and took our drinks order. Afterward, he handed us the menus and headed off into the kitchen. When someone walked up behind my mother and me two minutes later and reached around my mom to her front, I thought it was the waiter again, bringing our drinks, and I lowered the menu wrapped in blue velvet. But this hand wasn’t holding a glass of club soda.

It was holding a red rose.

At Mom’s gasp, Chris and Beverly looked up from their menus, too, their faces breaking into wide grins. They didn’t look surprised, just happily entertained.

Mom and I whirled around. The velvety book slipped from her fingers and clattered on the marble floor, certainly leaving a dent in my big toe, but I couldn’t care less.

“Dad!” I gasped at the same time my mother breathed, “Richard!” She rose from her chair, gripping the edge of the table and the chair’s backrest for support. Oh my God, she was shaking just as much as I shook when Chris cornered me in Hunter’s pool room on New Year’s Eve.

Dad gently took her hand and pulled her one step away from the table, very obviously drinking in her delicate shape clad in a white halter dress cinched with a slim black belt. “Happy birthday, Sally,” he said in a low voice, stroking his knuckles along her jaw with the flower still in his hand and cracking a half-smile that made her cheeks turn red.

I knew she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around his neck and crush him in a long-needed hug, but the waiter returned with our drinks, stealing that chance from her. Placing the glasses in front of us, he asked my dad if he should get a fifth chair for him. My father didn’t reply, but the look he cast my mother held a small question. Mom nodded her head vigorously at the waiter, but her smile was for Dad alone.

When everyone was seated again and even the flower had found a place in a slim vase the waiter had fetched from behind the bar, Mom introduced my dad to Beverly. I took the chance to lean across the table toward Chris and whisper, “You don’t look surprised. Did you know he was coming?”

With a broad grin, Chris leaned closer to me, keeping his voice as low as mine. “He called me sometime last week and asked me if I knew whether you and Sally planned on coming here tonight.”

“That’s why he didn’t call her,” I concluded with a frown. “It was all set up.”

Chris nodded and leaned back, enjoying a sip of his Coke, his roguish eyes fixing on me over the rim of the glass.

The birthday dinner was one of the happiest evenings I’d had in a long time, and that’s saying something because since Chris and I got together, he’d taken me out on many happy evenings. Tonight, we ate and drank, we made jokes, and heck, sometime between the main course and the dessert, my father had started stroking the back of my mom’s hand in an inconspicuous manner. She didn't pull her hand away. My heart did a double flip for the two of them.

After Dad had taken over the bill and we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, he whispered something into my mom’s ear. Gazing into his eyes, she gave a small nod. As if there was any reason to, she asked me whether it was fine with me if Dad took her home in his car.

“Of course that’s fine with us,” I hissed, almost bouncing on the spot like a preschooler that needed to go to the toilet.

We left the restaurant together but parted at the parking lot. After kissing my dad goodbye, I climbed into Chris’s car. First, he dropped his mom of at his house, then he drove us to mine and came inside with me. I loved when he spent the weekends here. Falling asleep in his arms as he caressed the back of my neck was the best thing ever.

When he helped me out of my dress and dragged me with him into my bed, I knew his first year at college was going to be hard on both of us. “All these long periods of not seeing you…how will I ever stay sane until next summer?” I whined, sinking against his chest.

“Maybe that’s the wrong way of dealing with it. Don’t think about it as a whole block of time. Instead, focus on staying sane for the next couple weeks until I come home again.” His lips pressed against my brow. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“But still…an entire year.”

“Yeah, but there’s Thanksgiving, and winter break, and spring break, and who knows what else. You’ll see, I’ll be home more often than at campus.” His teasing didn’t manage to lift my spirits. He wrapped his arms around me, his warmth seeping through my skin. “And before you can count to three, you’ll be at college with me and we can share a room.”

That prospect, on the other hand, made me smile.

Any thought about college and the future slipped away when Chris started kissing me, and I closed my eyes, giving in to the temptation of my sexy boyfriend.

*

The sounds of a car engine pulled me out of my sleep. I listened carefully, but only silence remained. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the dark room. Cautiously, I lifted Chris’s arm off of me and slipped out of bed. Sneaking to the window, I chanced a quick peek outside. My dad’s car was parked in front of our house and I could see the shadow of my mom through the passenger window.

Heck, it was after one o’clock in the morning. Where had they been so long? Did Dad take a detour all around California to get her home?

Warm hands touched my sides and made me jump with shock. “Chris!” I hissed as I turned to face him. The moonlight breaking through the window caught on his smirk.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing. Go back to bed.”

“I will, if you come with me.” He glanced over my shoulder, out onto the street. The breath of his chuckle caressed my neck. “So they’ve finally come home.”

“Yeah, a bit late, don’t you think?” I whispered.

“Why? You should be happy. They were probably having a nice birthday.”

That’s what I hoped. But leaving them alone after so long could backfire. They hadn’t had a chance to fight in a while. What if they caught up with that now? It was killing me not to know what they’d been talking about—and were still talking about. Neither of them got out of the car.

“Come on, sweetness, give them some privacy,” Chris taunted me and pulled me away from the window. Maybe he was right. This wasn’t my business. But when a car door slammed outside and another a split second later, I yanked my hand out of his and rushed back to the window, pressing my face against the glass.

Excitement made me shiver as they both walked toward the house. Squealing, I pivoted to Chris and grabbed fists of my hair, my eyes and smile wide. “They’re holding hands!”

“Yeah?” He smiled, too. “Things happen. Now don’t think about going downstairs. Nosy as you are, I won’t let you ruin their evening.” Dammit, he knew me too well. He crawled back into bed and held the covers open for me. “Come here.”

Well, that was an invitation I could not possibly reject. Snuggling up to him, I let him warm my fingers and feet. He got a soft good-night kiss—and a second and third, and just one more for good measure.

“Sleep tight, sweetness,” he whispered in my ear.

I did.

And you know what? Dad’s car was still there in the morning.

THE TIME BEFORE Christmas was my favorite of the year. I couldn’t help it, it just reminded me of the days when Chris and I had started dating. Hah, well,
dating
might be stretching it a bit, but it was the time when I first fell in love with him, and that’s not something a girl ever forgets.

Staring out the window of our two-story house that—since last night—had been decorated with chains of lights, I tried to catch a glimpse down the street. Chris should be home any minute. He’d called me from the restaurant earlier, telling me to stay where I was. Today, he wanted to come with me to my important meeting with Dr. Lois Tallaware. In fact, he was taking me everywhere these days.

“You know what the Dr. Lady said,” he argued with me every time I insisted on driving the car myself. “You have to be careful.”

Yeah, I was probably going to hear that warning more often in the future. And as annoying as it could be at times, his overprotectiveness only made me love Chris more. If that was even possible.

A smile dented my cheeks when his car rolled up the drive. Quickly, I pulled up my hair, which was a lot longer than it had been back in high school, and fastened it into a ponytail with the hair band I always wore around my wrist. Grabbing my coat and purse, I hurried outside and locked the door. When I turned around, Chris stood right in front of me.

Like every other time he came home and I hadn’t seen him for most of the day, his roguish cornflower-blue eyes and the sexy smile took my breath away. But more than his looks, the kiss he surprised me with right now was devilish and hot, like the chili he’d cooked us last night.

“Hey, sweetness,” he breathed, running his hands down my sides. I jumped as he pinched my butt. “Ah, happy to see me, are you?” he teased.

I smacked him on the shoulder, but he only chuckled, intertwined our fingers, and led me to the car, holding the door open for me and helping me inside. I gave him an eye roll that read: You’re so overdoing it, baby.

One hand on the headrest and one on the dashboard in front of me, he leaned down and kissed me again, softer this time. “Just being careful,” he whispered against my mouth.

Funny, how fast he’d adapted to the new situation. When we got the test results four weeks ago, he’d gone pale as the little vampire he turned into each time he sensed a chance to nibble my neck. And frankly, so had I.

Outside the doctor’s office, we’d both looked at each other, no one speaking during the drive home, still in shock. Hours later and after baking a double-decker chocolate cream cake—cooking had become his stress-release button—he’d sat down beside me on the porch and started rocking us softly on the porch-swing. “I want you to stop playing soccer,” he’d said then.

Soccer wasn’t my life nor was it a career I’d chased after high school, but I still loved playing a friendly game twice a week with the girls from the town’s team. It was fun and balanced the hours I spent in an office chair as an editor at a publishing house.

“Promise,” Chris pressed when I hadn’t given him an answer. “The damage is done and I don’t want you to risk anything now.”

“The damage?” Both my eyebrows had gone up at that.

I still remembered how Chris had rubbed his neck and dipped his head back against the backrest, his gaze moving to me. “You know what I mean.”

He hardly ever asked anything from me, so this was clearly important to him. He only wanted the best for me, and that’s why I’d relented in the end. “Okay, I’ll stop until everything is back to normal.”

His look had filled with an unspoken message. It didn’t take much to understand. Nothing would ever be back to normal again. A diagnosis like that out of the blue would do that to a couple who’d graduated from college two years ago and just started to lead a normal life.

“What are you thinking about?” Chris’s voice broke my train of thought when he halted the car in front of the doctor’s office.

I managed a smile. “Nothing. Let’s go inside.”

“Wait.” With that order, he ran around the car and opened the door for me again. Apparently, I couldn’t do that on my own anymore, because my condition was tying my arms to my side, making me a complete and utterly helpless invalid. I grunted a sigh. We really needed to have another chat about that tonight. His wry grimace told me—yep, he’d read my expression correctly.

Doctor Tallaware’s practice was inside a neat, yellow bungalow, part of which was her home. I’d never seen anything past the waiting or examination rooms, but if this part of the house was any indication, the rest must be a warm and cozy place, too.

“Hello, Mrs. Donovan,” the receptionist with the black bun on top of her head greeted me across the frosty glass counter. “You can go right in. The doctor is waiting for you.” Then she smiled at my husband, her cheeks turning a little flush. “Mr. Donovan, would you mind signing a card for my nephew? It’s his tenth birthday Saturday and he’s one of your biggest fans.” She must have been hoping that I’d bring Chris today, because she held out a basketball card with his picture on it.

Though Chris had stopped playing basketball last summer in order to be home more and was now working at his brother’s restaurant, the kids in town all loved and remembered him. He could deny it all he wanted, but the gleam in his eyes every time someone asked him for an autograph spoke volumes.

He signed the card with his smirking face on it for the receptionist’s nephew and afterward followed me into Doctor Tallaware’s office.

“Ah, Susan,” the woman with short chestnut hair and freckles said and shook my hand. “I see you brought support.” She offered Chris a stool next to the examination table.

Cutting Chris a wry grin, I laughed and told her, “Yeah, he barely let’s me go anywhere alone since we left your office the last time.”

“Just taking care of the little bump,” Chris murmured.

At the defensive but also caring expression that crossed his face, my heart melted for him…and for the little bump, too. I squeezed his hand as I reclined on the examination table and mouthed, “I love you.” He started to rub his thumb over my knuckles, his gaze going tender.

“All right, let’s see how this darling is doing,” Doc Tallaware said while she squeezed a cold liquid from a plastic bottle onto my tummy and ran her ultrasound device over my lower belly. After a few seconds, she pressed a little harder and a clear picture emerged on the screen in front of her. The monitor was turned so that also Chris and I could see what was going on.

Using her finger to point, the doc explained what exactly the light and dark gray images on the screen were. “You see, this triangle is the cone of the ultrasound. Here’s your uterus, Susan, and this”—she smiled at both of us—“is the little Donovan that will soon move in with you.”

My heart started to pound at the sight of our baby, even if it was no bigger than a strawberry right now. Chris held my hand tighter. When I shot him a glance, he gave me a proud-as-hell daddy-smile.

The doctor moved the device on my lower belly again, trying to catch the strawberry from a different angle. As the picture on the screen changed, she suddenly stilled. Moving the ultrasound around and around, her gaze was glued to the screen. And so was mine.

“Is…is that normal, Doc?” Chris asked in a concerned voice that gave me uncomfortable shivers. When I looked at him again, a frown marred his brows and I knew I was mirroring it. We both focused on the lady in the white coat as she cracked a smile.

“Well, it certainly happens more often than you would think. Congratulations, Susan. From what we can see here, you’re going to have twins.”

“Twins…” The word left my mouth in an appalled whisper. “This—this is— I didn’t plan this!”

“Few ever do,” Doc Tallaware replied, amused.

My chin dropped to my chest. When Chris’s hold of my hand eased and finally slipped away, I tilted my head to him, preparing for the shock in his eyes to make this even harder to cope with. Slowly, he dragged his hands through his tousled, blond hair and down his face. When they came off, he began to laugh so hard that he startled both the doc and me. What the heck? He thought this was funny?

“Well,” Chris choked out through continuous fits of laughter, “Uncle Ethan and William are going to love that.” He got up from his stool, turned around, and headed out the door without another word to me or the doctor.

Through the window to my left, I could see him walk to our car and bang his head on the roof. Twice. His laughter never ceased.

The End