The Other Boy (21 page)

After a little while, David turned off the highway and she could feel the truck bumping down a dirt road. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. “Where are we?”

Dark, impenetrable pine forest lined both sides of the narrow dirt track.

He smiled, his eyes straight ahead, his large, graceful hands resting on the steering wheel. “Just wait. Don’t you recognize it yet?” The woods opened onto a little meadow, lit by the full moon. They were near the lake—

their lake.

“Oh, I love this place,” she said.

“Me too. We had such a good time that day, I thought we should visit it one more time before we left.”

He stopped the engine and reached behind him into the back of the cab, pulling out a basket.

They walked single file down the path to the sandy beach. The lake lay before them, a moonpath spread on the inky, glittering surface. The water made gentle splashing sounds as it lapped the edge of the dock.

David led the way onto the sand. As Maddy watched, he opened the basket he had been carrying and spread out a blanket and a container of something. Then he pulled out three little votive candles in glass holders and lit them carefully with a lighter from his pocket. Maddy was floored.

“This is so beautiful, David,” she said. He smiled, more shyly than usual.

“Come here,” he said, patting the blanket next to him. She sat, tucking her legs underneath her. He opened the container, revealing the finished chocolate mousse cake. “I thought we could try this.” He cut two pieces and put them on little plates. Maddy broke off a bite with her fingers and put it in her mouth. It was dark and moist. “What do you think?” he asked.

“It’s amazing, but I can’t imagine that’s because of me,” she said.

“Well, you added a little extra spice.” For a moment, they smiled at each other and then David looked away across the lake. He frowned, started to say something, and then stopped.

Maddy scooted a little closer to him on the blanket.

“David?” she asked softly.

He looked back at her and took a deep breath. “I’ve got something to tell you and I’m going to have to get it out before I lose my nerve.”

Maddy wondered if he could hear her heart pounding.

“I don’t know about you, but for me, this summer has been one of the craziest, most confusing … and best two months of my life.” Maddy nodded, and David, seeming to take that as a sign of encouragement, went on, his voice a little steadier. “And
you
are the reason for that
.
” Maddy drew in a breath and watched his face. He was looking back across the water, his arms looped around his knees. His fingers were twined so tightly together the knuckles were white. “I know it’ll be hard going back to the city. I mean, all of our friends will be around and everything, and we’ll be back at school… .”

“It won’t!” Maddy spoke for the first time since he had started talking. David looked down at her. “We could still see each other. I’ve had such a good time with you.” She faltered and dropped her eyes to her lap.

When she looked up, he was smiling.

“Maddy-Mae.” The sound of his voice saying her name sent a shiver up her back. “I was so excited to meet you at the beginning of the summer. But then I messed it all up that first night. I thought you were totally super-ficial, but I was completely wrong. And then I pushed you too fast after your birthday. I should have realized you’d need time to sort things out. I was so mad at myself for screwing things up with you.” He started fiddling with one edge of the blanket. From across the lake, a loon’s lonely cry echoed. A soft night wind ruffled their hair. Maddy placed her hand over David’s.

“You want to hear something funny?” she said. “After our fight in the orchard, I was so mad at
myself
for screwing things up with
you
.” He looked up in surprise. Their eyes met and neither spoke for a long, excited moment.

“We’ve been having such a great time lately,” David said. “Then, in the kitchen, I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I chickened out. I’ve been hoping—” He stopped and looked down at the blanket. “I can’t think about anything but you.”

This is the moment,
she thought. “I have something to tell you, too. When we were in the kitchen?”

“Yeah?”

“I really wanted you to kiss me.”

David let out his breath audibly and grinned.

“Really?” He sounded hopeful and disbelieving at the same time.

“Yeah.”

He looked into her eyes and lifted her chin. She took a deep breath as he tilted his head toward her and pressed his lips to hers softly. He drew his head back and looked at her face. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

“Me too,” Maddy whispered. She leaned toward him and turned so that she could put her arms around his shoulders. His arms wrapped around her waist and they kissed again, more deeply this time. His lips were hot and insistent. She opened her mouth and lost herself in their kiss, sending jumps and shivers all through her body.

Slowly, still kissing, they slid down so that they were lying on the blanket, their bodies pressed together from shoulder to hip, their legs entwined. David kissed Maddy’s neck and she closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the blanket. He pulled her tighter against him and they lay holding each other under the stars, listening to the lapping of the water, not saying much—but then again, not much needed to be said.

Maddy inhaled a deep breath of the crisp Napa air as she stepped out onto the front porch. Inside, her parents were frantically packing for their departure tomorrow, but she was leaving today. Morgan had apparently called the elder Sinclaires last night and convinced them to let her and Kirsten drive up and get Maddy. They were going to get lunch and then head down to the city for Morgan’s party. Maddy was excited to see them, but it was a low-grade excitement. Mostly, she was consumed with thoughts of David. She was all tangled up this morning. Last night everything had seemed so easy. Now Morgan’s words from their phone conversation were intruding on Maddy’s happiness.

She sat down on the top porch step with her head on her knees. She had a whole other life back in the city, one that didn’t include David. And in truth, he really was different than anyone else she knew. Funny and goofy and smart, but different. The realization that she was a little different now too after this summer invaded her thoughts.
But I like my life at home,
Maddy argued with herself.
I don’t
want
things to change.

The question was flashing in neon lights in her mind: What would happen to them in San Francisco? Should they stay together? Did she want that? Did
he
want that?

Maddy tried to imagine David hanging out in Morgan’s hot tub with the usual crowd. She shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden step. This summer had been so damn confusing from beginning to end—one thing that hadn’t changed.

She looked at her watch. David would be here any minute. Maddy rehearsed several scenarios in her head.

She could clutch him passionately and say,
“David,
you’re my true love, why did we wait so long to get together? I
don’t care what the world says. Let’s defy them all, my darling.”

That seemed a little extreme. Then there was the one where she froze into icy perfection and said with deco-rum,
“I wasn’t myself last night. I’m sorry about that. Well,
this summer was fun and it was nice getting to know you.

Good-bye.”
Or maybe,
“Want to go to the beach on Saturday
with my friends and me?”
Or,
“You were an awesome kisser,
maybe we can have a couple of booty calls this year.”

No. She knew what she had to do. She’d just tell him honestly that they clearly had a connection, but that she’d been thinking about it and didn’t see how it was going to work back in the city. Their lives would never mesh.

David rounded the side of the house. Maddy’s palms immediately started sweating as if someone had turned on a faucet in her hands, and she felt a silly grin spread over her face. His face bore a similarly goofy expression as he approached the porch. They looked at each other.

“Hi,” she croaked.

“Hi.” He lowered himself next to her on the step.

She could feel the warmth radiating from his body. He smelled wonderful. She resisted the urge to lean in to his shoulder, but he reached out and pulled her against him. She looked at him and he leaned forward and kissed her softly. For a moment, she pressed her lips against his in response, but then her fears came flood-ing back and she pulled away, shrugging his arm from her shoulder.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. She looked at his open face and quailed a little.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. A lie. “I’m worried.”

“About what?” He reached for her again but she shifted away.

Before she could respond, Morgan’s white Mercedes SUV pulled up the driveway and parked in front of the house. The doors flew open and her friends jumped out.

“Hey!” Morgan shouted. “We’re here!”

Automatically, Maddy rose from the porch steps and went toward them. “I can’t believe you guys are actually here,” she said, giving them each a hug. Her words sounded far away, like they were coming from someone else.

“Ohmygod, look at this place!” Morgan shrieked.

“It’s
so
adorable!” She was wearing one of her standard outfits, a tiny miniskirt and white tube top, with platform espadrilles that tied halfway up her legs.

Kirsten was more subdued in a gray polo-shirt dress and flip-flops. She hugged her friend again. “So, it’s actually a vineyard,” she said. “We were sure you’d been lying to us and you were living with Justin Timberlake up here.”

Maddy’s mind was still a fog but luckily the auto-response function took over. “Yeah, I am—how’d you guess? I’m keeping him down by the stream in the tasting room. I missed you girls like crazy!”

“We missed you, too!” Morgan said. “You look awesome—you’re so tan!”

“Thanks. That’s one thing a summer of manual labor will get you.” Suddenly, she remembered David, who was standing patiently by her side. “Girls, remember the, um, guy I told you about?”

“Hey.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m David. You know, the um, guy?”

The girls laughed. “Hi,” they said in unison.

David smiled. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“You too,” they said together. Then they looked at each other and laughed.

“We have to stop that,” Morgan said. “So, where should we eat around here?” she asked as the group headed toward the Mercedes.

David paused and then said, “Actually, we could check out Maddy’s favorite place to eat. It’s not far from here.” He winked at Maddy and took her hand.

Oh no,
Maddy thought, her grip tightening on David’s.
No, they totally wouldn’t go for—

But David was still talking “… barbecue shack right on the side of the road. The meat is incredible, if you girls don’t mind a picnic table.”

Damn it.
Maddy saw Morgan glance at Kirsten hesi-tantly.

Kirsten shrugged. “Sure,” she said. “Why not?”

“Cool,” David said as they all slid into the sleek leather seats. “You should have seen this girl put away an entire rack of ribs the other day. It was really impressive.”

Morgan glanced back through the seats at Maddy, who offered a sickly smile. “Nice, Mads. I had no idea you were such a carnivore.”

“Heh-heh. Um, yeah, I guess I didn’t know either.”

Maybe the barbecue shack would be closed, she thought hopefully. Then they could all find some nice little sandwich place in town. At the back of her mind, she wondered why she was being so uptight. David was right. She
did
love it. It was just that it would never have occurred to her friends to go someplace like that back home. Actually, it wouldn’t have occurred to her, either.

The cooker was smoking when they pulled up in the parking lot, and the two dogs, which didn’t appear to have moved an inch since their last visit, were still watching the little old guy in the stained apron with eternal hope. Several people, most of whom looked like workers from the nearby vineyards, were waiting in line. Maddy spoke up as they piled out of the car. “David, can you get the food while we stake out the picnic table?” She had to get the girls alone for a second.

David nodded agreeably. “Sure. Ribs for everyone okay?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said. “I barely ate breakfast anyway.

We’re starved.”

“Good,” David said as he headed toward the cooker.

The girls collapsed at the picnic table. Maddy looked back and forth between her two friends for a few moments.

“Well?” she whispered after a long pause. “What do you think?”

Kirsten nodded slowly. “Cute.”

“Yeah,” Morgan said. “He’s really cute, Mad.”

Kirsten opened her mouth to add something, but David’s figure loomed over them suddenly, loaded with steaming paper plates of ribs, corn on the cob, and warm biscuits.

“Hey, look at this!” he said, plunking the food down in front of them. “The guy recognized me and jumped me to the front of the line. Plus, he threw in the biscuits for free.” He sat down next to Maddy and pulled over two of the plates.

For a long moment, no one said anything. Maddy imagined that she could see the tension floating around the table like a fog. Then Morgan swallowed a bite of corn and asked, “So, what did you guys do up here for fun all summer?”

Before Maddy could say anything, David answered,

“Went biking some, did some cooking, had paint fights.

The usual Napa activities.”

Kirsten laughed as if David was making a joke and then stopped, seeing Maddy’s expression. “Oh, you were serious. Sorry. It’s just that I can’t imagine Maddy cooking and having paint fights.”

“Well, we did,” Maddy said, a trifle defensively.

“Sounds awesome,” Morgan said, and laughed.

Maddy couldn’t tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.

Probably sarcastic, she decided glumly.

Everyone ate ribs and made conversation for the next half hour. David and the girls
seemed
pretty relaxed, but Maddy figured they were all just trying to be polite.