by Tessa Gray
“Rumor has it the two of you have been spending a lot of time together, that you’re dating.” Stephanie’s eyes narrowed and she turned to face Meredith, her eyes lighting up. “Since you’re not denying it, I’m taking that as a yes.”
“Yes. We’ve been spending quite a bit of time together.”
“Adam’s good people, Meredith. You could do a whole lot worse.”
“I wish someone would tell my mother that.”
Before long, Meredith began confiding in Stephanie, telling her how thoroughly Katrina disapproved of her choice in men, at least, this one.
Stephanie listened intently, nodding several times as Meredith continued filling her in.
She’d nearly gone so far as to confide in Stephanie the depths of her feelings for Adam when her cell phone rang.
Pulling it from her pocket, she glanced down at the screen to see who it was. When she realized it was her mother, her first instinct was to ignore the call, but the children were under her mother’s care. She’d better take the call.
“It’s my mother. I’d better pick up.”
Stephanie jumped from the bar stool and jogged over to the fridge. “That’s fine. I’m going to change out the creamers. Take your time. No hurry.”
~ ~ ~
Katrina Gustafson took a deep breath as she waited for her daughter to pick up the call.
She got right to the point. “I suppose you’re spending a lot of time with that man.” She couldn’t even bring herself to say Adam Lightfoot’s name.
“Yes, Mother, if you must know, Adam and I have been spending a great deal of time together.” Meredith’s tone was defensive, and Katrina decided to try and smooth things over. No use wasting an entire conversation on Adam Lightfoot when there was so much more to talk about.
“Carly and I spent the entire day shopping. You should see the shoes we found at one of the local shops. You’re going to want to steal them from her, I promise you. They’re that adorable.”
Her comment appeared to lift Meredith’s spirits, and within a minute, it was like old times as the two of them discussed upscale clothing lines, expensive perfumes, and shoes to ‘die for’ as Meredith often put it.
But then, the conversation veered into a totally different direction. Once again, it was centered around Adam Lightfoot. “I know you don’t care for Adam, Mother, but seriously, he’ll grow on you.”
Grow on me? I despise the man.
“I suspect you’ll ignore my advice as you generally do, but I’ll say it anyway.”
“Don’t, Mom. Don’t do this. I know exactly what you’re about to say. That Blake and I haven’t been divorced all that long. That I’m on the rebound. It’s true, Blake and I haven’t been divorced for very long, but trust me, the marriage was over years ago.”
Katrina’s initial reaction had been to threaten Meredith, to make good on her promise to cut the girl off financially if she continued seeing Adam. Aware that would just make matters worse, she decided to back off.
Instead, Katrina turned the conversation toward Travis. “Your father took Travis to the Dallas Cowboy Stadium for a tour. I guess they call it the AT&T Stadium, now. Who can keep up?”
“Did he just love it?” Meredith sounded like her usual self again, and Katrina decided there would be no more talk about Adam.
“At first, he was pretty bored. But you know your dad. He took Travis to the gift shop and the kid suddenly came to life. He plunked down almost a thousand bucks.”
“That’s too extravagant, Mother. You’re spending too much money on the children. Kids here don’t have all that much. It’s important that Carly and Travis fit in. I wish you wouldn’t focus so much on material stuff.”
Katrina flinched. What the hell was going on with Meredith? When she was married to Blake, the two of them had spent money like crazy. But now, something was changing. If Meredith was giving her push back for splurging on the kids, where was that coming from? It was a rhetorical question, of course. She knew damn well where it was coming from. Adam Lightfoot was brainwashing Meredith, and the kids would probably be next, if he hadn’t gotten to them already.
“I think we’ll bring the kids home early, maybe Friday. That way, Daddy can see the University and that adorable little town you’re living in.” Katrina nearly gagged on her words, because this was Bob’s idea, not hers.
“Nothing you can do will change anything between Adam and me. You get that, right?” Meredith’s bluntness shocked her.
Desperate to get off the phone, to make a back-up plan to keep Meredith from ending up married to this guy, Katrina cut the conversation short. “We’ll arrive on Friday at about five. See if you can get off work. I’ll take you to the Reata for dinner.”
“I’ll have Adam check his schedule. I’m sure it should be fine.”
After Katrina heard her daughter’s remark, she hung up, fairly certain Meredith was sleeping with Adam Lightfoot, or, as she termed it, “sleeping with the enemy.”
Chapter 15
Early Wednesday morning, Meredith packed up her sewing machine and headed over to Kelsey’s place to quilt. With her parents visit only days away, she nearly cancelled the get-together since her time with Adam would be limited.
But she’d promised months ago, and Kelsey truthfully didn’t get to spend much time on what had become her favorite pastime. Nathan’s mother, Elizabeth, had taught Kelsey some of the basics, and she’d caught on quickly.
As Meredith made her way over to the Wainwright farm, she seriously wondered if she’d be able to keep it a secret that she and Adam were planning on moving in together. She smiled at the prospect of getting up each morning with Adam beside her. The past few days had felt like an amazing honeymoon that she never wanted to end.
The two had gotten into the habit of rising at five each morning, making coffee, and then taking it out onto the porch as they watched the sunrise. By seven, they were back in his bed, making love. She laughed aloud as she thought of how Adam always carefully removed those wire-rimmed glasses of his, set them down gingerly on his bedside table, and then ravaged her mercilessly. He could go from thoughtful, college professor to love starved maniac in seconds. The man was truly a contradiction.
She pulled up into Kelsey’s driveway, wiped the smirk from her face and marched inside.
“Door’s open, Mere. Come on in,” Kelsey called out from the kitchen table where she and Rachel were already working on several quilt blocks.
Meredith set her portable sewing machine on the kitchen table and began rummaging through several swatches of fabric. She looked over at Kelsey, marveling at how happy she looked. For being a mother of four children, including baby twins, she looked totally relaxed, almost at peace really, if you thought about it. Or maybe like a woman who was head-over-heels in love with her husband.
Nathan and Kelsey made the perfect couple. He’d been a lonely widower when the two of them had met several years ago, and their relationship had gotten off to a rocky start. In the end, of course, they’d wound up together. Despite the fact Nathan was reluctant to have more children, his love for Kelsey had prevailed. Their story had the happiest of endings, Kelsey got that baby she’d always yearned for, times two. She was blessed. But then, after all she’d been through, she deserved it.
“Try your hand at this block, Mere. I suck at it.” Rachel held up a piece of the monkey sock fabric, wrinkling up her face. “Kelsey does these perfectly, but I can’t seem to get the knack of it. When you sew these quilts, there’s no room for error. It has to be perfect.”
Meredith laughed at the remark and took several swatches in her hand. “Right you are, Rach, it does have to be perfect. Guess that’s why I’m not all that great at it.”
She glanced about the room. Nathan had painted the kitchen a vibrant yellow and changed out the curta
ins. They’d initially been a bright shade of red gingham but were now navy shade instead. “Did Nathan decide to ‘man up’ your kitchen a bit?”
Kelsey laughed at her remark. “I decided. My husband is what you’d call a ‘man’s man. For that reason, I opted for blue which, by the way, is his favorite color. Jessica begged for the pink, but I saved Nathan’s ‘man card’ and talked her out of it.”
Meredith felt emotions welling up inside her as she considered the happily-ever-after storybook ending Kelsey’s life had taken. While she’d only ever wished happiness for Kelsey, it was difficult not to be envious. Kelsey’s parents adored Nathan. And Nathan’s mother, Elizabeth, thought Kelsey hung the moon.
For Meredith, it would never be that way.
“You okay, sweetie?” Rachel leaned over and grabbed Meredith’s hand. In what seemed like an afterthought, she added, “Is everything all right between you and Adam?”
“Fine.” She nodded and quickly picked up the fabric and began piecing it together. “Isn’t this the ‘flying geese’ pattern?”
“Yes, it’s tricky. I do like the way it ends up, though. It just takes a lot of patience to get it right.” Kelsey fidgeted with the fabric as she spoke and began sewing the strips together.
Rachel, being the consummate school teacher, quickly reminded them of the history behind the flying geese pattern. “Some say that this pattern was used during the days of The Underground Railroad. The slaves would sew all the geese pointing in the same direction, a signal to other slaves about which way to flee. Of course, there’s so much stuff on the Internet now that it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction.”
“Maybe I should make myself a quilt with the pattern and hang it up. That way, I’ll know which way to go,” Meredith said as she stopped sewing. She laid the fabric back on the table, and stared out the window, thinking about how much she and the geese on the pattern had in common.
~ ~ ~
Kelsey jumped up from the table, grabbed a coffee and two creamers for Meredith, and sat back down. She set the coffee down and touched Meredith’s forearm. “The quilting can wait. Let’s talk for a bit.”
Rachel, as usual, felt the need to sum up what direction the conversation would take. “I gather you’re seeing a lot of Adam these days.”
When Meredith blushed, Kelsey wondered if this was what they referred to as a double entendre. Maybe, indeed, Meredith was seeing a lot of Adam, a lot more than she was letting on. Were they sleeping together? She’d never ask, of course. That would be rude. Still, she wondered.
Meredith changed the conversation abruptly. Staring down at Kelsey’s hand, she studied her wedding band. “I love that you and Nathan having matching bands. It’s very simple, but I like the idea of no bling, no diamonds or fancy stuff. A wedding band is a never-ending circle, a symbol of the never-ending love two people share. And I like your nails. You used to have acrylic, but now you don’t. They’re not even polished, are they?”
Rachel glanced across the table, a mystified expression on her face. Kelsey couldn’t help but wonder if Meredith was about to have a serious meltdown. Something wasn’t right here. The girl who craved bling, wore it continuously, seemed to be changing before their very eyes.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Kelsey decided to just come right out and ask Meredith what was bothering her. “Mere, what’s this really about? Surely you didn’t drive all the way over here to talk about acrylic nails and my wedding band.”
“I’m in love with Adam Lightfoot.” After Meredith said the words, she broke into a smile. “As crazy as it sounds, I really, really love this man.”
“Kind of sudden, don’t you think?” Rachel stared at Meredith, a hard expression on her face and Kelsey suspected there was a certain amount of jealousy between the two women. Rachel had spent the past year and a half with Jake Crenshaw, and he didn’t appear to be in a hurry to make any type of commitment.
Kelsey made the decision to try and find more out about this elusive man. He’d been at the house several times, but she knew almost nothing about him. “What do your parents think about this?”
Meredith cleared her throat before answering. Her voice faltered as she explained. “Well . . . umm . . . the thing is . . . my mom can’t stand Adam. I’ll tell you precisely why.” Meredith’s blue eyes blazed as she continued talking. “Adam is in a profession that doesn’t pay all that well. That, of course, isn’t sitting well with my mother. And then there’s the fact that he’s of Native American decent. According to her, they’re all alcoholics.”
Although Meredith laughed with them at the comment, as Kelsey studied the pained expression on her friend’s face, she realized the toll Katrina’s judgmental attitude was taking on Meredith.
This was so over the top, so incredibly ridiculous, it was hard to digest. “Sorry, Mere. It’s just that Katrina sounds like a woman fifty years behind the times. I have difficulty believing she’s that backward.”
“My mother disrespects the man I love. It hurts me, but that’s nothing in comparison to what it does to Adam. I doubt he’ll ever be able to forgive her,” Meredith said as she shook her head and shrugged.
“Don’t give up on your mom. She’ll come around. In the meantime, follow your heart.” Kelsey patted Mere’s hand as she spoke, hoping she’d be able to offer some comfort to a woman whose heart seemed to be broken. While she initially had her own misgivings about Adam, it was obvious his influence was having a very positive effect on Meredith.
Meredith stared outside and continued talking. “My mother has threatened to cut off my inheritance. As things stand, I’ve been borrowing from my parents just to make ends meet. If they cut me off, I—”
“Oh, honey, stop worrying so much.” Rachel had reached over and linked her fingers through Meredith’s.
“We’re really so different, Adam and me. Maybe this whole thing is just a phase I’m going through. My mother seems to think so.”
Kelsey refused to allow Meredith to play down her feelings for Adam. “You need to follow your heart. You need to give this relationship a fighting chance. People talk, and truth be told, you haven’t been divorced for all that long. But there’s no time table for falling in love, Meredith. Don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“What do you think, Rachel? What’s your take on all this?” Meredith asked.
Rachel sat up straighter in her chair. She folded her arms and shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter what I think. The relationship that Jake and I have is very different from either of yours. I’m a lifelong educator, he’s a washed-up rodeo-rider-turned bartender. I have no allusions. As harsh as it sounds, Jake’s good in bed. And right now, that’s all I’m looking for, a guy who can satisfy me physically. I said when Michael walked out on me, I’d never marry again. And that’s a promise I intend to keep.”
Kelsey looked over at Rachel and felt a deep sense of sadness. As she glanced up at the dream catcher hanging from a hook in the kitchen, she wondered if the Navajo legend had any truth to it. The web on the dream catcher was intended to trap the bad dreams, only leaving room for the good ones.
At that moment, Kelsey realized that of the three, she was probably the only one who had found true happiness when she’d moved to Alpine. Meredith was at a crossroads, having to choose between Adam Lightfoot and her mother. Odds were that her mother would win. And as for Rachel, the girl who up until now had been a hopeless romantic, well, she’d clearly lost her way.
Chapter 16
Two days later, Adam stared out the window of Meredith’s apartment and checked his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. Meredith’s parents were only a couple of hours away from Alpine, and the thought of seeing Katrina Gustafson again left him nauseous.
Meredith raced up behind him. Wrapping her arms about him, she pressed her body against him.
&nb
sp; “A girl could get in trouble that way, you know.” He pulled her against him and kissed her deeply. Although he considered making love to her again, he decided that having spent most of the day with her legs wrapped about his back had left him exhausted.
Her lips parted into what he considered a lewd grin, and he exhaled, pleased she seemed unable to keep her hands off him.
“I love you, Adam.” She backed away from him suddenly and stared up at him, her eyes sparkling. “You take my breath away. I know it sounds cliché, but you really do.”
“That’s my line, Mere. Seriously, I’m the luckiest guy alive.”
He started to trace her lips with the pad of his thumb, but she suddenly moved away again. “I probably better check the load of laundry and see if it’s done.”
His eyes followed her as she left the room, her hips swaying gently as she headed to the dryer. Every time he watched her move, he desired her even more.
The last week had been a whirlwind, a sex marathon that he never wanted to end. Judging by her response when they made love, Meredith was as sexually satisfied as he was. Crazy, really, that two people could be so totally on the same page.
But she hadn’t mentioned moving in with him ever since her mom had phoned, announcing she’d be returning to Alpine early. And that troubled him.
Hoping to assuage her worry, to keep her from fretting over her parents’ upcoming visit, Adam walked into the laundry room, grabbed a shirt, and began folding it.
“I can manage, Adam. You don’t have to...”
“Let’s put our plans to move in together on hold for now. We can talk about it after your folks leave. And in all honesty, we probably need to make sure the kids are good with this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
He hugged her after he said it and could literally hear her exhale. Obviously, his suggestion came as a huge relief. He would have preferred that she’d protested vehemently, begging him to stick to their original plan. But she didn’t.