The Other Boy (13 page)

“See—this is why we make a good team,” David said, spreading wider and wider swathes of bright cream onto the dingy plaster. “If this was all left to me, it’d be maroon with whatever furniture I saw first at Target.”

Maddy knee-walked over to a new section. David’s words sent a warm feeling all through her body. “You’d be fine,” she told him. “But maybe there is something to what they say about a woman’s touch… .” She tied up the bottom of her old tank top, exposing her sweat-beaded stomach.

David set his roller carefully in a tray of paint and turned around to wipe his face with his T-shirt, which he’d flung over the back of a chair. A wicked thought occurred to Maddy. She rose and padded silently across the floor toward him. “Then there’s this sort of touch too,” she said to his back, and lifting her wide brush, she painted a long cream streak between his bare, sweaty shoulder blades.

“Hey!” he yelped, swinging around at the touch of the brush. He swiped at his back and came up with a palmful of wet paint. Giggling uncontrollably, Maddy retreated to the other side of the room.

“I’m sorry,” she sputtered. “It must be the paint fumes… .”

“Riiight,” David said, advancing slowly across the floor, roller in hand. “I’m starting to feel a little light-headed too… .” He raised the roller and charged at her as she shrieked and retreated behind a ladder, laughing so hard tears spurted from her eyes. For a moment, they feinted right and left, and then Maddy lunged toward the door. “Don’t even think about it!” David yelled, tossing aside a chair and running after her.

Maddy burst outside and flew across the soft green grass, splashed through the stream, and came to a halt in the field on the other side. She turned around, grinning. David was standing on the other side of the stream, roller still clutched in his hand. “Come here, little Maddy-Mae,” he wheedled, stepping into the stream.

“Stop. Stop!” she cried, holding up her hands.

“Truce! I just couldn’t resist.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll forgive you if you come over here and get this paint off my back—here, I’ll even put the roller down.” He ostentatiously placed it several feet away.

Maddy stepped back across the stream gingerly. She searched around for something to wipe his back off with.

“Wait, hold on,” she said, and dashed back into the tasting room. She returned with his discarded T-shirt.

David was sitting on the grassy stream bank. “Here, turn around.” She dipped the shirt into the icy water and wrung it out. She knelt next to him and scrubbed, watching his skin turn red. They were quiet as she worked, and suddenly Maddy felt guilty—as if they were doing something wrong.
But we aren’t,
she told herself. It wasn’t like she was cheating on Brian or anything. They were just goofing around—and it wasn’t even like they had
chosen
to spend all this time together. They had to. Maddy was startled out of her reverie by the sound of a horse’s heavy breathing. She looked up.

Rain brushed her sun-kissed hair out of her face as she smiled down at them. “Hey, guys. I had a break in my schedule and thought I’d see if anyone wanted to go for a ride.”

Maddy noticed that, although she seemed to be speaking to both of them, Rain hadn’t actually looked at her once. She quickly glanced over at David, trying to gauge whether he was excited or annoyed by the interruption. His face was frustratingly blank.

“Hi, Rain.” David squinted up at her.

“Looks like you’ve had quite a morning,” Rain continued, her offer going ignored.

This perked David up. “You could say that,” he laughed, smirking at Maddy.

Maddy set the wet shirt aside. “Well, the paint’s all gone,” she said. She lay back on the cool grass and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the sky. A pale daytime moon was just visible overhead.

“Wow, thank you so much for cleaning up your own mess.” David grinned.

“So, anyone up for a ride?” Rain hopped down from the commanding gray horse. She reached into the saddlebag and took out a brush, giving the horse’s mane a few strokes.

David looked down at Maddy. She shrugged her shoulders, the warm grass tickling her arms.

“Actually, we’ve got a lot of work to finish up today.

Maybe another time,” David offered without much enthusiasm. Rain looked surprised.

“Oh, well, okay. I should probably be getting back anyway.” She gracefully swung herself back up into her saddle. “Bye.”

As Rain rode off, David sank back next to Maddy. He stretched his arms overhead.

Maddy turned to face him. “No riding with Rain for you today?”

“No,” David said, keeping his eyes glued to a passing cloud. He paused, as if unsure whether or not to continue. “She’s a little superior all the time, you know? Like anyone who’s not just like her is beneath her somehow?”

Maddy turned away so David wouldn’t see how broadly she was smiling. “Yeah,” she replied. “I got that vibe too.”

They chatted about the paint job for a while, and then David mentioned that the Robertsons, who had hosted the pre-harvest dinner, had asked him to cook for one of their upcoming parties.

“What are you going to make?” Maddy asked idly, gazing at a cloud that looked like a mushroom.

David nibbled on a blade of grass. “I think maybe lamb ragout. People usually get a kick out of that, and everyone likes it.” His voice was slow and sleepy. They lay in comfortable silence for a few minutes, drinking in the sunshine like warm honey, letting the dragonflies buzz over their inert figures.

Then Maddy spoke. “I think I’d like to learn to cook sometime.” The words seemed to bubble out of her of their own accord. For a moment, she felt surprised.
You
would?
“Yeah, I would,” she said aloud.

David removed the blade of grass from his mouth and turned his head toward her. Maddy turned hers too, and they looked at each other from only a few inches away. Maddy realized for the first time how close they were lying. She could almost feel his breath on her cheek. “Maybe … you could give me some lessons.”

“Yeah … sure.” For a moment, they just stared at each other, both smiling. “What, um, do you want to learn to make?”

Maddy considered this. “I don’t know—a soufflé?”

“Do you like soufflé?”

“I don’t know.” She laughed. “I’ve never eaten one.

You just always hear about people trying to cook soufflés and messing them up.”

He laughed too. “We should do something easy, so it’ll actually be edible at the end. Okay, how about this—

what are your favorite flavors? Like, mine are lime, mango, anything roasted, and anything battered and fried.”

“Hmm.” Maddy pondered. “I like that question.

Maybe … chocolate, raspberry, coffee, and—this might sound kind of weird—but I really love smelly cheese. Like the kind with mold that’s supposed to be there?”

“Yeah, blue cheese. I love that too. It’s really strong, though.”

“I know. Ever since I was little, I’ve always liked strong, salty things—even sardines!”

“Wow,” David said approvingly. “My grandma likes sardines.”

Maddy sighed. “That’s good. I thought I was the only person in the world, but I’m glad there’s an old lady out there who likes them too.”

“Um-hm.”

She glanced over at David. He was lying with his hands crossed on his chest, and his eyes were closed. As she watched, he took a long, slow breath and then another. “Are you falling asleep?” she asked, propping herself up on one elbow.

“Huh-mm.”

Maddy curled up and tucked her hands under her cheek. The grass was soft and the breeze felt lovely on her face. She closed her eyes too and, listening to David’s regular breathing beside her, fell asleep.

Mads,” Maddy’s father said, coming into the kitchen the next morning while Maddy was sitting half awake over her bagel and cream cheese.

“What?” She didn’t care how long she’d been in Napa—she still didn’t like 7 a.m. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a dance the night away prom 2008 T-shirt and a pair of boxers with teddy bears on them.

Her dad poured himself a cup of coffee and, leaning an elbow on the counter, downed half of it in two gulps.

“Mom and I want you to have a break on your birthday—and David, too. So take Saturday off, okay?

No working—don’t even try to sneak in a little painting.

And tell David the same goes for him.”

“Aw, thanks, Daddy.” Maddy rose from the table and gave him a hug. He squeezed her back and then headed for the porch. At the door, he turned.

“Oh, and we’re going to have a birthday dinner, here at the vineyard, for everyone.”

“That’ll be great. Brian will love it.”

“Well, I hope
you
love it. It’s not his birthday.”

Maddy rolled her eyes. “I know, Dad.” He waved and Maddy heard him clattering down the porch steps.

Maddy stuffed the rest of the bagel into her mouth and, after a quick glance around, took a swig of orange juice straight from the carton. Saturday would be great, she decided as she climbed the stairs for her shower. A whole day with Brian. The idea
sounded
good, but she didn’t feel that thrill of excitement in the pit of her stomach when she thought about it. She just felt sort of …
eh
. Napa had really taken over her brain, she mused, staring idly into the bathroom mirror. She was getting an excellent tan, though.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Guess what?” Maddy said to David a couple hours later.

All around them, crystal sparkled on glass shelves of Standish & Sons—the biggest glassware dealer in wine country—dramatically displayed against dark blue walls.

David hadn’t even moaned about shopping when Maddy told him they needed to go pick out wineglasses for the tasting room.

“What?” He poured a little Perrier into a wineglass they were testing. A dozen different glasses were spread out on the sleek black table in front of them, all shapes, heights, and sizes. “Look, this is what you’re supposed to do with wine,” he said. He stuck his nose into the glass as far as it would go and inhaled deeply. “Ah, what a bouquet,” he murmured in a fake French accent.

“Mmm,
le scent du Perrier
,” Maddy teased. She poured some water into another glass and held it up. “This one is so sparkly.” She admired the sparks of blue, orange, and purple shooting from the crystal as she twisted it in a beam of sunlight. “I like the shape of these big ones.

What do you think?”

David glanced over at the huge balloon glass. “I could take a bath in that one. How about this?” He held up a smaller, more slender version.

“Okay,” Maddy said doubtfully. “A little
boring
. How about something more edgy? Anyway, don’t you want to know what I was going to say?”

“Yeah, what?” He set the glass down and turned to her.

“Well, my dad told me to tell you that we get my birthday off on Saturday.” Maddy grinned, anticipating his reaction.

“Woo-hoo!” he hooted. “Wow! No work for an entire day!” He gave her a little hug, which left her breathless.

“I’m actually really excited.”

Maddy grinned, her fingertips tingling a little. “Me too. We’re such nerds—all worked up about one day with no work.”

“I know.”

They kept grinning at each other. Maddy had to force herself not to hug him again.

“Oh, and I almost forgot,” she went on once she had regained control of her hands, “there’s going to be a birthday dinner, too.”

“Cool! Who’s cooking?” David took a sip of Perrier out of a champagne flute that had somehow wound up on their table.

Maddy set aside eight glasses she didn’t like and lined up four possibilities in front of them. “I don’t know—

probably my mom. I think it’ll be just us and your dad and my parents and—” She shut her mouth abruptly. For some reason, she didn’t feel like mentioning that Brian would be there also. She held up her favorite wineglass instead. “Okay, what do you think of this one? It’s gorgeous, perfectly proportioned, and not horribly expensive.”

David nodded. “Good. Let’s do it. Hey, I could give your mom some suggestions for your birthday dinner. I have this amazing torte recipe we could do with fresh raspberries. And I know the best place to set up the out-door table, too.” He led the way to the counter at the front, chattering about plans, while a wave of guilt swept over Maddy.

Back in the truck, she made her decision. It was wrong not to mention that Brian was coming to visit, though wrong to David or Brian, she didn’t know. David clicked on the radio and made a face as country music blared from the speakers. “Wow, my dad must have been driving last,” he shouted over the twanging guitars.

Keeping one eye on the road, he punched in an oldies station. “I think this is the best we’re going to get out here,” he said, tapping in time to “Respect.”

Maddy suddenly reached over and clicked Aretha off in the middle of “
find out what it means to me.
” David glanced over.

“What, you don’t like Aretha?”

“No, I love Aretha. Um, hey!” She tapped her cheek as if something had just occurred to her. “I totally forgot to tell you—Brian’s coming for a visit … on Saturday.”

She faltered a little at the end and watched his face nervously.

For an infinitesimal moment, his hands tightened on the steering wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Then he relaxed them with what seemed like a conscious effort. “Oh, yeah?” he said.

“Yeah.”

The silence in the truck felt like it was expanding, pressing against the windshield, bulging into the back of the cab. They both stared straight ahead for a few miles.

This is stupid,
Maddy thought. She spoke aloud. “So, won’t it be exciting when they deliver the furniture?”

David stared straight ahead as he drove. “Yeah.” His voice sounded hollow. More silence. Maddy was starting to feel a little pissed. He’d known all along that she had a boyfriend. They’d definitely had a great time working and hanging out together, but she needed to focus on Brian for a while now. It had been so long since they’d seen each other, and judging from their last phone call, they were in desperate need of quality time. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that David was a little jealous.
Well,
she thought,
he’s just going to have to deal
with it.