Find My Way Home (Harmony Homecomings) (21 page)

Keith tried not to flinch. Sweet, syrupy songs by Taylor Swift and stupid ballads by a teen boy band from England popped into his head. Songs that Maddie went crazy over.

“Of course, I love the oldies from the ’80s and ’90s too,” Gail said, sensing that she’d insulted him.

Oldies? God, he felt ancient. Keith squeezed her hand and smiled, trying to ease her apprehension and his feeling of doom. “I like all kinds of music. How about country?”

“Love country music!”

“You wouldn’t be a true Carolina girl if you didn’t love the twang of pick-up trucks, cornbread, and goin’ to prison.” He laughed and Gail nodded, giggling. “They seem to have lots of concerts around here. Would you like to go to one?”

“That would be totally awesome,” she gushed. Keith quirked a brow at her. “What?” she asked with bright eyes.

“Just trying to picture you in jeans and cowboy boots,” he chuckled. He hadn’t seen her in anything but khakis, tennis outfits, or exercise clothes. On date nights, she wore conservative clothing, like what she wore tonight: black slacks, blue silk blouse with a dark blazer, and pearls. Not big on the latest fashions, his Gail. Nothing about her wardrobe would entice a man. She remained neatly packaged and buttoned up, like a proper Sunday school teacher. Keith had never even glimpsed a hint of cleavage.

Bertie’s world-class cleavage jumped to the forefront in his mind as he remembered her in some drapey green top the other day. She’d bent over to pick up a stone sample at his house and that fabulous loose top did its job by falling away from her scantily clad, lace-covered breasts. Eyes had popped and jaws dropped as half the construction crew came to a complete stop to ogle her voluptuous breasts.

“Uh, well, I don’t exactly own any cowboy boots, but I could probably borrow a pair from my roommate.” Gail’s conversation brought him back to the present and his vanilla, tame world.

Keith smiled at the pink that colored her cheeks. “You scare up some jeans and boots, and I’ll provide the cowboy hats,” he said. They had reached his car in the parking garage and Keith opened her door.

Gail giggled…again. “I can’t picture you in a cowboy hat.”

“Really? Why not?”

“You look too…sophisticated, I guess.”

Keith glanced down at his designer gray cashmere sweater, worn jeans, and scuffed-up Gucci loafers and shrugged. “Next time, I’ll wear my tennis hat and sweatshirt.” He winked at Gail and headed for the driver’s side.

Keith stood outside Gail’s apartment door and peered down. Her face had a weird green cast from the cheap lights illuminating the hallway. She waited, anticipating his kiss with her lips slightly parted. A good sign. He hadn’t dared try any other moves on her, partly because he didn’t want to scare her away and partly because he hadn’t been…interested? Inspired?

Keith pecked Gail’s soft lips and pulled back. “Maybe we can take Maddie with us to the country concert. What do you think?”

Gail leaned into him and fluttered her eyelashes. “That’s a wonderful idea. I would love to get to know her better.” Then she went up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his mouth. After a couple of nibbles, she said, “We should spend more time together”—nibble, nibble—“just the three of us.”

Holy crap! Sweet, innocent Gail had turned into tangy, aggressive Gail. Keith slid his hands around to the small of her back, careful not to palm her ass. He shifted a little for a better fit, molding her slender frame against him, and latched his lips to hers. She gripped his shoulders and swirled her tongue with his. And for the first time, he heard Gail moan as if she wanted more than chaste kisses from him. Keith swallowed her moans and sucked her tongue into his mouth. She gave him an awkward shove and his back hit the door as she ran jerky hands up his chest and around his neck. She was ramping up the heat, but he got the distinct impression that this was not her field of expertise. He angled his head for better access, trying to get comfortable. His sweet Gail had turned tigress as she nipped at his bottom lip and gave a low growl—or maybe a clearing of her throat. Keith wasn’t sure.

Her hand skipped any foreplay of running down his chest and abdomen, and went straight for ground zero. Whoa! Keith stopped her heat-seeking, inexperienced hand in the nick of time and placed it back around his neck. As much as he needed to get laid, he didn’t really want it to be like this. Not some quickie in the darkened hallway of her apartment building. Not with Gail, the future mother of Maddie and maybe more children. He wanted their first time to be romantic and meaningful. Call him sappy or old-fashioned, but he had envisioned his first time with Gail to be on their wedding night. Not in her ridiculously clean granny apartment with her two weird roommates listening at the bedroom door.

But fooling around by the front door did hold some appeal. He skated his fingers up her back, threading them through her silky, straight hair. Gail sighed with pleasure as he scattered kisses around the edge of her mouth and cheek and eyelids. He nibbled on her lips as his mind wandered, thinking about the time and if Francesca and Maddie had made it to Virginia before dark. He should call and find out. His thoughts flicked over to the Jaycee Park and his business plan for the academy and then he remembered he needed to drop off some important papers for Bertie…shit. Keith broke away as if he were kissing a hairy tarantula. Gail gasped as she stumbled from his abrupt departure and his hand shot out to steady her. Fuck.

Keith rubbed his sweaty palms down his jeans. “Uh, it’s late…I should call…Maddie and Aunt Francesca are waiting to hear from me,” he babbled like a half-wit while Gail gulped for air. He detected a narrowing of her eyes heading straight for pissed-off land. But she ducked her head, averting her gaze, before he could be sure. She fumbled with the key in her shaky hand. He grabbed the key and shoved it in the lock. “I’ll call you, okay?” he said in a steadier voice. He cupped her chin and turned her reddened face toward him. “I had a great time tonight,” he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb in his attempt to steer them back on course. “I’m sorry. I just need to make sure everything’s okay with Maddie.”

Gail’s expression softened and she gave a wobbly smile. “I understand. I had a great time tonight too. Thank you.”

Keith kissed her heated forehead, pausing as he inhaled her faint, calm, pleasant scent. “Good. I’ll check online for the next concert and let you know.” He turned the key and pushed her door open.

Gail nodded as she moved inside. “Good night.”

“Wait…I almost forgot,” he heard himself say. Gail paused. “Harmony is having some kind of festival in a week or so. The Downtown Get ’Er Done or some ridiculous name like that.”

Her lips tipped up in a shy smile. “I’ve heard of it.”

“Anyway, I would love it if you could join Maddie and me.” Tension seeped from her stiff shoulders. “Lots of food, music, crafts…a good old-fashioned festival. What do you say?”

“Sure. Sounds fun.”

His lungs eased, releasing a huge breath. “Great. It’s a date.”

***

The idea of beating his head against a brick wall held great appeal. Keith cursed aloud at his stupidity. What the hell was wrong with him? He held an attractive woman in his arms who had feelings for him, and he’d almost blown all his weeks of hard work by behaving like a thirty-three-year-old virgin who didn’t know what his dick was for. God, if his friends could see him now, they’d fall over laughing their asses off. Keith gave the gas pedal an extra punch as he sped from the parking lot.

Each date with Gail had gotten better and better. So far, they’d gone on a bike ride on some nature trails through one of the state parks. They had played tennis a couple of times. Play might be a stretch, but they’d hit balls together, and he’d even coached her on her serve. Overall, Gail showed potential to be a good club-level player. At least she knew the head of the racket from the butt. Unlike Bertie, who had never held a racket in her life and didn’t even own a pair of decent tennis shoes.

Other dates with Gail had consisted of a couple of chick flicks at the theater. Keith would rather have gnawed off his arm, but Gail seemed to enjoy them, and it saved him from having to come up with scintillating conversation. And she’d made him dinner in her tiny, freakishly neat apartment. The food had been very good, and she even baked a chocolate cake and wrapped it up for him to take home. With the exception of her roommates, one whose hand strayed beneath the table and found its way to his thigh, and the other, who stared at him with two different odd-colored eyes and blathered on and on about the endangered Carolina gopher frog, the evening hadn’t been half bad.

And tonight, he ventured out and tried something a little more sophisticated. He shook his head. So she wasn’t a big fan of jazz; it didn’t matter. She had other more important qualities for him to consider. Like her athleticism, her love of tennis and books, her way with children, and her baking abilities. The mere fact that she seemed to like his daughter despite Maddie’s atrocious behavior could not be overlooked. It took guts to want to spend more time with someone else’s kid—particularly when the kid in question acted like a spoiled, obnoxious brat.

Keith could feel a headache stabbing the backs of his eyes as he remembered all the past arguments with Maddie over the last few weeks. He still didn’t understand her immediate dislike of Gail. Maddie had only met her twice. Once at the bookstore and then one other time when Keith had picked her up from school and took her by Gail’s apartment. Gail had brought a book home that she thought Maddie might enjoy reading.

The visit couldn’t have been more painful if Keith had ordered everyone to have their toenails ripped out, one by one. Maddie had been obstinate and surly, and Gail kept adjusting the silk arrangement of navy blue flowers that sat in a brass bowl on her oak coffee table. Maddie scanned the contents of Gail’s apartment, taking in the surfaces covered with lacy doilies and the old spinning wheel that occupied one corner. And to Keith’s horror, Maddie asked Gail if she lived with her grandmother. Gail laughed and said she understood why Maddie would ask, because most of her furniture had been handed down from her grandparents and old aunts. As Keith shuffled Maddie to the door, he had to squeeze her shoulder to prompt Maddie to thank Gail for the book and the homemade lemonade.

The entire ride home that day, Maddie had sulked. But the minute she had gotten back to Aunt Francesca’s house, she had miraculously cheered up and started yammering about how excited she was about her new bedroom and how she couldn’t wait to move into their new house. Which drove the conversation over to Bertie and how much Maddie loved her and how she couldn’t wait to work with Bertie on some charity housing project. And Maddie would give him these sly looks or would sniff in his general direction as if he had the intelligence of a baked potato.

Images of Bertie marauded his mind, making it hard to concentrate on anything else—like getting his life in order and making a serious commitment to Gail and even to Dottie Duncan and the Jaycee Park and to the start of his tennis academy. He couldn’t settle down long enough to focus on any of these issues that needed his immediate attention.

As he neared the city limits to Harmony, he made the turn that would lead him to the Jaycee Park instead of heading to his empty home. From a distance, he could see the bright lights of the tennis courts which meant the courts were open. Perfect. Scrounging up a pro or two shouldn’t be too hard. Just what he needed: an opportunity to smash some balls. Playing a few sets of tennis would give his muscles a workout and clear his mind. When all else failed, he could always rely on his training to regain his focus.

The next day, Keith kept busy by cleaning construction debris from his house and yard. He had called Maddie the night before and again this morning to check on their progress. Francesca wasn’t planning to return home today, instead deciding to stop and visit some friends in Richmond and stay the night. Maddie had seemed okay saying good-bye to all her friends at school and was excited to be stopping in Richmond for some shopping. Keith then managed to place a few phone calls to his agent and his coach regarding his ideas on opening an academy, trying to drum up some interest, and getting the ball rolling. After running and working out, he headed over to Raleigh for another round of tennis at the Raleigh Tennis Club and then dinner with Nick and Marabelle Frasier. But once again, he found himself driving back to Harmony without any clearer answers than he had had the day before. The clock was ticking and he needed to make a move. Francesca had made it very clear that she was planning a wedding, and he’d better show up with a blushing bride. She wasn’t giving him any wiggle room since he’d disappointed her with his irresponsible behavior in the past. Doing right by Maddie was too important to her and to him.

Keith caught his grim expression in the rearview mirror. He glimpsed a bulging folder on his backseat and remembered that it needed to be delivered to Bertie. He’d been given explicit instructions by Gary to get the documents to Bertie as soon as possible. He turned down the single road that led to Bertie’s little gingerbread house stuck in the boonies. He didn’t know why, but for the first time that weekend, he felt a sense of calm, as if he were finally heading home—a place where he belonged.

Keith parked his SUV alongside Bertie’s house and killed the engine. A light shone from the kitchen window and lights were on in the front as well. He checked the time, noting it was a little after ten. Maybe a little late to be dropping off papers. But Gary had been adamant that he return the signed orders.

He pushed his fingers through his hair and adjusted the Bulgari sports watch on his wrist. Before he could chicken out, he grabbed the folder from the back and headed for the front entrance. Dropping off important papers. Nothing else. Keith’s conscience glared at him and shook its fist in his face, telling him that this was a mistake. At the same time, his dick jumped to life and banged against the zipper of his jeans, yelling for Keith to let it out before it shriveled up and died.