Page 17 of Spring Forward
Madison propped her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her upturned hands. “I can’t do it again, Beth. What happens when it falls apart? I’ll be right back where I was before. I don’t want that.”
Beth came around her desk and gave her a friendly hug. “Your mom’s taking a chance, and she’s had far more relationship failures than you have. She found a good guy, but so have you. Go take the chance.”
“I don’t know.”
“Missing Cancún is one kind of regret,” Beth said. “But missing a chance to be with the person you have always loved who feels exactly the same way? That’s a completely different thing. That’s a regret most people couldn’t live with.”
Chapter Nine
Derek could only take so much of the conversation over dinner with Teresa and Uncle Grant. He’d hoped a night with someone else for company, anyone but himself, would take his mind off the month that had passed since Maddi left. Spring was giving way to summer. Life was going on, but his heart wasn’t in it.
He’d honestly thought she would come back. He’d sat facing his door all night when she’d first left. He’d set the table for two every night for a week. He still did a double-take whenever a green car drove past.
He knew he needed a distraction, but Maddi’s mom was the wrong choice. She would laugh, and he would hear her daughter. She would smile, and he would see Maddi.
They talked about everything from the unusually mild weather to the latest Hollywood scandal to the bank getting a new manager to music they’d listened to as teenagers. Derek spent the dinner hour picking at his food and trying to think of anexcuse to leave. In the end he didn’t have to. Uncle Grant gave him an understanding look and motioned to the front door with his head. Teresa nodded, her motherly expression coming a little too close to pity.
He thanked her for the meal and took the escape they offered. A drive around town didn’t help. Sitting for an hour at Folsom Lake was even worse. He finally settled on a takeout order of spring rolls from Chang’s. There had to be a game on. He didn’t care what sport or what team. He just needed something to do other than think about what a jerk Fate was sometimes.
Derek turned in at his complex’s parking lot. He parked in his space and sat in his car. He slouched in the seat, eying the steering wheel.
“This is ridiculous, and I know,” he told his steering wheel. “I wasn’t this bad when she left the first time.” The steering wheel was no help. “I don’t know why Maddi does this all the time.”
Everything always came back to her. He shook his head.I’m so pathetic.He grabbed his takeout then pushed open his door. Two steps from his car, he stopped.
A beat-up green Altima sat parked under a streetlight right by his apartment.Now I’m seeing things.Hallucination or not, he stepped closer. He didn’t see anyone sitting inside. It had to be Maddi. But he didn’t dare let himself believe it. If it was her car, where was she? There was no one standing by his door. The parking lot was empty. But it had to be her car.
If she wasn’t in the parking lot... He looked toward his apartment door. She knew where he kept the spare key. She used to let herself in all the time.
Maddi’s back.His keys fumbled around in his hand before he managed to get the right one in the lock and open his apartment door.
“Maddi?”She has to be here.“Maddi?”
He pushed the door shut behind him with his foot. His heart missed the next beat. There she was, standing in his living room, looking unsure of herself.
He tossed his carton of egg rolls on the coffee table as he rushed toward her. His arms were around her in an instant. He kept repeating her name, unable to think of anything else to say. She was back. He didn’t know why or for how long. But she was there, and for the moment, that was enough.
He pulled back enough to look at her. “Are you here for another vacation?”
The answer had better be no.
She shook her head. “I got a new job.”
He could tell he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t care. “A job in Folsom Lake?”
“I’m the new bank manager at the branch here.”
He’d never felt so much like pumping his fist in the air. “Your mom didn’t say anything.”
“She doesn’t know yet. I wanted to tell you first.”
“Why me?” He watched her closely, looking for the answer in her eyes.
“You’re the one who told me to come back.”
“I told you to come backwhen you were ready.”
She wrapped her arms around him, leaning against him.
