“We thought we’d come up for a few days. Lauren doesn’t have to work on Monday and Tuesday, so we wanted to take a long weekend. I thought I told you.”
“Why is Uncle Max hiding?” six-year-old Brittany asked. “Can I play, too?”
“If you don’t want your kids to get an eyeful, I think you’d better take them outside,” Max warned.
“Everybody out.” Dave and Lauren quickly hustled back out the door and a moment later, the cabin was silent.
“Oh, no,” Angela moaned. “This is not the way I imagined meeting your family.”
He turned to her. “You’ve imagined meeting my family?”
“No! I was speaking generically. Do you think they saw anything?”
“No. But I’m pretty sure Dave and Lauren have a good idea what was going on. And it wasn’t hide and seek.”
“Go get my clothes,” she whispered. “I’m staying right here.”
Max hurried out to the living room and gathered everything up in his arms, then returned to the kitchen. The clothes went on more quickly than they’d come off and when they were both fully dressed, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Angela dug in her heels. “No. I don’t want to meet them. Not right now.”
“They’ll be fine.”
When Max got to the door, he pushed it open.
Angela shook her head, but followed him, stepping outside. The kids were already down at the lake with Lauren and Dave was sitting on the porch steps. He stood when he saw Angela.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said, holding out his hand.
“I’m Dave, Max’s very rude older brother.”
“This is Angela,” Max said.
“Weatherly?” Dave asked.
“Weatherby,” she said. She glanced at Max, a questioning look in her eyes.
“Dave helped me track you down after you gave me that bogus phone number. You really made an impression on him.”
“I’m going down to the lake and introduce my self to your wife and children,” Angela said. She walked down the steps and followed the path across the lawn.
“I didn’t see anything,” Dave called to her. “I swear.”
Max jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “Don’t make it worse than it already is.”
“I lied,” Dave muttered. “I got an eyeful. But don’t tell her that. And for God’s sake, don’t tell Lauren. By the way, that girl has got a nice body. She’s the first naked woman I’ve seen since I’ve been married. I mean, except for pictures in magazines. And porn.”
“If you don’t shut up right now, I’m going to kick the shit out of you,” Max warned.
“Okay,” Dave said. “I just never thought you’d be up here. When we saw the car, I figured we’d have a nice family weekend.”
“I do own the place,” Max said. “Is it so difficult to believe that I might want a little privacy?”
“Of course not. But I just assumed you’d be in the city.” He picked up a football from the pile of toys he’d brought along and tossed it up in the air. “Hey, go out for a pass.”
“I’m not in the mood,” Max said. He had been in the mood for sex until a few minutes ago. The interruption had made things a bit uncomfortable for the moment.
“Come on,” Dave said. “Don’t be a pussy. I’ll take it easy on you. You won’t hurt yourself.”
Max trotted across the lawn for twenty yards, then caught a perfect spiral from his older brother. Though Max had played football throughout high school and his first year of college, he’d never liked it as much as baseball. He did remember how to catch a ball, though. “Nice,” he called.
“Throw it back,” Dave said.
Without thinking, Max heaved a pass, then realized he probably shouldn’t be stressing his shoulder outside of his rehab exercises. He rubbed the spot just beyond his collarbone, surprised there’d been no pain.
“You all right?” Dave called.
“I’m fine.” Frowning, he walked over to his brother. “It didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt good. Strong. It hurts when I wake up in the morning, but after I warm up, it feels pretty good.”
“What did the team doctors say?”
“They did an MRI and a few other tests. They said it’s healed and I can start to throw again. I just have to start real easy.”
“Hey, that’s great,” Dave said, clapping him on his back.
“Yeah,” Max murmured.
“You don’t sound thrilled. How come?”
He shrugged. “I guess I just assumed it wouldn’t come back, that I wouldn’t have to make a decision about going back. That the decision would be made for me. But now they’re saying I could start training with the team again mid-July if everything goes well.”
His stolen summer would be over before it really began. He’d have another month with Angela and then they’d go their separate ways, at least until the end of the baseball season.
Max grabbed the football and started toward the water. When he’d come to Chicago for rehab, he’d mentally moved on with his life. Once he’d met Angela, a future without baseball seem even more attractive.
He sat down at the edge of the water. A moment later, Dave joined him. “You want to tell me what this is all about? I thought you were determined to get back in the game.”
“I was. Not so much anymore.”
“Is it the girl?”
“Her name is Angela. And she’s not just one of my girls. She’s different.”
“I can see that. But you say that about every girl you date.”
Max cursed beneath his breath. “This time, I mean it. I can see myself with her…for a long time. Maybe even married to her.”
“What do you know about her? You’ve been together, what? A week? Maybe you ought to check her out before you fall in love,” Dave suggested.
“What do you mean? Like, hire a private investigator?”
“It couldn’t hurt, Max. You’ve got a lot of money.
You need to make sure she’s interested in you for the right reasons.”
“You never suggested this with any of the other girls I dated.”
“Because those relationships were doomed from the start. But you really seem to like this girl.”
“Woman,” Max insisted. “She’s not a girl, she’s a woman.”
“I can arrange for it,” Dave said. “I work with a firm that does background checks on our bartenders. It’s a simple process.”
Max shoved the football into Dave’s lap and stood up. “Nope, there’s no need. I’ve got everything under control.”
He walked along the pier toward Angela. Everything wasn’t under control. There were still a lot of questions that needed to be answered. And he was running out of patience.
ANGELA PICKED A CARD, then showed it to the two girls. “Blue,” she said. She moved her Candyland marker to the next blue square. “I’m winning. You better watch out.”
Brittany grabbed the next card. “No, it’s my turn,” Bethany cried.
“She’s right,” Angela said. She glanced over at Max and he smiled at her, then cocked his head toward the door. Angela nodded and a moment later, Max squatted down next to the coffee table. “I’m going to steal Angela away for a little while,” he said. He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. We’re going for ice cream.”
“Me, too!” Bethany cried, scrambling to her feet.
“Take us. We wanna go,” Brittany added.
“No, it’s late,” Max said. “And it’s almost bedtime for you two. We’ll go tomorrow, I promise. But tonight, Angela and I want to go by ourselves.”
