OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE

by Lindsey Brookes

  “Okay,” she finally relented. “But it’s a little bit of a drive up here.”

  “Where is here?”

  “Kelley’s Island.” She and her mother and Nanci usually went there every fall when the leaves were changing to tour the wineries. It was the first place she thought of when she’d driven out of town.

  “I should’ve known. I’ll throw a few things in a suitcase and be there in a few hours.”

  Kelsie gave her the name of the bed and breakfast she was staying at before hanging up. Then she poured herself a glass of the wine she’d picked up on the island and walked out onto the balcony.

  The view of Lake Erie from the spacious Victorian Suite was beautiful. She’d been lucky to even find a room available at that time of year, but someone had cancelled last minute and she was at the right place at the right time. It was costing her an arm and a leg to stay there, but it was money well spent. The tiny town’s relaxed atmosphere helped to soothe her frazzled nerves.

  She took a sip of her wine, certain she had made the right decision in telling Nanci where she was. Her best friend was never short on advice and that’s exactly what she needed right now.

  *

  A knock at the door had Kelsie racing towards it. Nanci had called from the parking lot to say she had arrived and get the room number. She threw open the door, her eyes filling up with tears again. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Nanci dropped her overnight bag onto the floor by her feet and held out her arms. “Give me a hug before I’m tempted to strangle you for what you’ve put me through.”

  Kelsie hugged her friend and then stepped back to smile at her friend. “How was the drive?”

  “Long, but worth it. At least, I can see with my own eyes how you’re doing. And I’m going to start by telling you how bad you look.”

  “Thanks.” Always the honest one.

  “I’m serious, Kels. Football players wouldn’t have to paint black stripes under their eyes if they had your dark circles.”

  “They’re not that bad,” she argued as she turned to eye her reflection in the gold filigreed mirror hanging on the wall a few feet away.

  “Have you slept at all since you’ve been here?”

  “A little.”

  “Not enough.” Nanci picked up her bag and carried it into the room, setting it on the floor by the bed. “You are getting some sleep tonight, even if I have to ply you with wine until you pass out.”

  “Speaking of wine, can I pour you a glass? You can probably use it after that drive.”

  “Just give me the bottle,” he friend said with a grin.

  “And waste the opportunity to use the gorgeous antique wine glasses that came with this very expensive room? Not a chance.” Kelsie walked over to the mini-bar and poured Nanci a glass of the semi-sweet red wine she’d picked up at the winery the night before. Then she refilled her own glass.

  “You know,” Nanci said as she scanned the room, “if you’re going to pick somewhere to wallow in misery, you might as well choose a place like this to do it in.”

  “I wasn’t…” she started to argue then stopped. There had been a good amount of wallowing going on since she’d arrived. “Thanks for the sympathy,” she said, handing Nanci her glass of wine.

  “You’ll get that later. First, I intend to make you pay for stressing me out. If I get grey hair prematurely I’m blaming it on you.”

  “I’ll pay for the dye job,” she told her with a smile. She was feeling better already.

  “Before you ask, because I know you will, I didn’t tell anyone where you are. I did, however, tell them I was going to see you.”

  “Nanci,” she groaned.

  “I had to, or else they’d be worried about me, too. Joe’s got enough to worry about with Cole.”

  Kelsie bit her lip to keep from asking, but the need to know won out. “How is he?”

  “Let’s see, the last time he called me…”

  “Cole called you?”

  “Multiple times. He’s convinced I’m hiding you somewhere. What the hell happened between you two? Everything seemed great at the picnic.”

  “It was,” she said with a sigh.

  “So how do you go from perfect to leaving town?” Nanci asked.

  Kelsie walked over to the window, looking out over the lake. “I panicked,” she admitted, her voice catching. “The next thing I knew I was running.”

  “I pieced some of that together from Cole’s phone calls. What’s going on with you? What was so bad that you felt the need to leave town without a word to anyone?”

  She turned to face her friend. “Cole and I made love again.”

  “Gee, that would make me run, too.”

  “Do you want to hear this or not?” she said with a frown.

  “Sorry. Go on.”

  “That night with Cole was… Well, it was the hottest sex I’ve ever had in my life.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “No, it was incredible.”

  “So let me get this straight. Sex with Cole was so good it sent you running out of town? Glad I’ve never had sex that good.”

  “It had nothing to do with the sex,” she explained, her frustrating growing.

  “Then why?”

  “I panicked because Cole told me he thought he was falling in love with me.”

  Nanci’s eyes widened. “No shit!”

  She nodded.

  “Oh my God. I can’t believe you. You have this incredibly gorgeous man, one who according to you is fantastic in bed, tell you he thinks he’s falling in love with you and what do you do? You leave him standing in your dust.”

  “I admit I could’ve handled the situation better than I did,” Kelsie said as she stepped out onto the balcony, wine glass in hand.

  Nanci followed her outside. “Maybe you should think about getting some sort of counseling. I mean if─”

  “He said he thinks,” she said, cutting her friend off.

  “What?”

  “Cole thinks he’s falling for me. That’s not the same as being in love with me.”

  “For a man it is.”

  “And what if I’m right?” she asked, sipping at her wine. “What if Cole thinks he’s fallen for me? Then after a few years of us being together he suddenly realizes he’d thought wrong?”

  “He’s not Kyle.”

  “I know that.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I never felt for Kyle the way I feel for Cole. I thought I knew what love was before. What if I’m wrong again and I’m not really in love with Cole?”

  “You’ve hardly given Cole a chance to…” Nanci choked on her wine. “Hold on. Back up! What did you just say?”

  Kelsie turned to her, leaning back against the railing. “I said I never felt the−”

  “Not that part,” her friend said, cutting her off. “The last part.”

  She had to think for a moment of what it was she’d said. Then it sank in. Granted she’d thought about her feelings for Cole more than once since running out on him, but having spoken the words aloud made them real. “I’m in love with Cole,” she said, feeling a bit dazed. She looked to her friend. “I love him. Oh, shit.”

  “Oh shit? Love is supposed to be a good thing. Not an ‘oh shit’ thing.”

  When it was something as huge as this was it was definitely an ‘oh, shit’ moment. “What have I done?”

  “I can tell you what you didn’t do. And that’s tell Cole you were in love with him when he opened up to you about his feelings? Am I right?”

  “I didn’t really know how deep my feelings were for him until…” She groaned. “I’m in love with Cole.”

  “This is sooo great!” Nanci exclaimed. “I thought I’d never hear you say those words. And it couldn’t be with a better guy. Cole’s perfect for you. And patient. A huge requirement for a guy you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. Just remember when we go to pick out bridesmaid dresses that I look like hell in
blues and yellows. Any other color─”

  “Nanci,” she groaned, interrupting her friend’s animated rambling.

  “What?”

  “Don’t get too excited. For all I know it might be too late for hope for a future with Cole. All things considered.” She just prayed that it wasn’t.

  “You are kidding me, right?”

  Kelsie shook her head. “I wouldn’t blame him if he never wanted to see me again.”

  “The man’s been doing everything he can to find you. Calling me. Calling your mother, who you really should let know you’re okay.”

  “I can’t,” Kelsie said with a worried frown. “Not yet. She’ll ask too many questions. Ones I might not even have answers for yet.”

  “Tell you what,” Nanci said. “How about I call and tell her I’ve heard from you, no details whatsoever. I’ll simply tell her you promise to call her when you get home tomorrow.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to go home yet.” With the realization that she was in love with Cole, her life as she’d been determined to keep it - man-free, had changed. Her biggest fear now was that she’d pushed him too far this time. She couldn’t really blame him if he chose not to give her another chance.

  “Do you love him?”

  Tear of happiness filled her eyes. “Yes.”

  Nanci smiled. “Then go home tomorrow and get your man.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Kelsie walked into her apartment, feeling lighter emotionally than she had in years. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and she was in love with a man who knew what trust and commitment meant. And he loved her back. Or at least he had before she’d left. Now it was up to her to make things right.

  She tossed her purse onto the kitchen counter and walked over to her answering machine where the message light was blinking rapidly.

  Pressing play, she listened to her messages one by one. Most of them were from Cole, calling to make sure she was all right and asking her to call him at the station when she had time. Just hearing his voice made her stomach flutter with excitement.

  As expected, several of them were from her mother demanding Kelsie call her as soon as she got home. There were two from Nanci that had been left before her friend had come to the island to help her sort through things.

  The last call, however, came as a surprise. A really big one. It was from an editor at one of the publishing houses she’d sent OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE to. She loved the whole date escape guide concept and wanted to make an offer on the book.

  Heart racing, she played that last message over again, certain she hadn’t heard it right. Truth was she never expected anything to come of it.

  Stunned by the news, sank down onto one of the kitchen chairs. Her bad date book was actually going to be published. Who would’ve ever thought that would happen? Certainly, not her.

  “This is what you wanted,” she reminded herself, her stomach in knots. To help all those women out there who find themselves stuck on a date from hell. It was why she’d suffered through all those awful blind dates her mother, and sometimes Nanci, had set her up on after her divorce.

  Every miserable moment she’d spent out with men who were not even close to being her ‘type’ had been done in the name of research. And it had all paid off. She was actually going to have a book out there that people would pay money for. How unreal was that?

  Kelsie sighed. She’d just gotten an offer on her book. She should be more excited by the unexpected news. But for the first time since she’d started writing her bad date survival guidebook there was something more important in her life. Make that someone. Cole.

  The very man she had walked out on days before and hadn’t spoken to since. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t exactly walked. Driven was more like it. But it was what she’d had to do at the time. Mental self-preservation.

  Cole had come into her life, one she’d worked very hard to maintain control of emotionally after her failed marriage, and he’d turned her safe little world upside down. He was everything she’d always wanted in a man, but was afraid to hope for. And to think how close she’d come to throwing it all away.

  Her cell rang. Kelsie grabbed for her purse and dug inside for her phone. “Hello?” she said, catching it third ring.

  “You made it home I see,” Nanci said at the other end. She’d left the island a few hours before Kelsie had.

  “Just got in. You get your laundry done?”

  “Working on it.”

  “Have you called your mom?”

  “Not yet. I wanted to listen to my messages first.”

  “I wouldn’t tell her that.”

  “I think she’s going to find out when I call to tell her my news.”

  “About grabbing life by the horns and riding the hell out of it?”

  Kelsie smiled. “That too, but I was referring to the book offer that was made on Operation: Date Escape.”

  “Must be the connection. I could’ve sworn you said something about a book offer.”

  “I did. A publisher wants to buy my book.”

  “No shit! Oh my God! No way!”

  Her friend’s reaction had her laughing. “Way. The editor left her number. I’m supposed to call her for the details, but it’s really happening.”

  “I’m so excited for you. I can see it now, radio and television interviews, multi-city book tours, the works. Can I be your personal assistant?”

  “Let’s not get too carried away. It’s a date book, not a Stephenie Meyer novel. Although some of my blind dates could’ve been characters in her novels. Not the good ones.”

  “Wait until she hears your news! You’d better call her as soon as we hang up and get me off her shit-list.”

  “Why are you on her shit-list?”

  “She wasn’t too happy with me for not telling her where you were when I called her last night. I really want back in her good graces.”

  Kelsie laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “When are you going to call Cole?”

  “What are you? My mother?” she replied with a grin.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t call him.”

  After she’d spent the last two days telling her to call him? “Why not?” Had Joe told her something to make her feel differently?

  “I’m thinking you should go see him in person. Talk, have sex, whatever comes to mind.”

  Why wasn’t she surprised that having sex was included in Nanci’s list of possibilities? “I don’t think the sex thing’s going to be happening today.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Cole’s on duty.”

  “That’s right. Damn. That means no sex for me and Joe either. At least, not in person.”

  “I think you’ll survive. Besides, you have an arsenal of back ups in your livingroom should the need arise.”

  A beep sounded on the line.

  “That’s Joe calling,” Nanci announced. “Gotta go.”

  “Nanci…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Please don’t tell Joe I’m back. I want to surprise Cole.”

  “I won’t. Call me later. I’ll want details.”

  She hurried to her room to unpack. “I will.”

  “Love you!”

  “Love you, too.”

  “And call your mother!” Nanci said before hanging up.

  Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, sending Kelsie’s heart into a thudding frenzy. No, she told herself. It couldn’t be Cole. He didn’t even know she was home.

  The doorbell rang again, this time more insistently.

  It had to be Nanci. She was the only person who knew she was back. She went to answer the door, surprised to find her mother standing there.

  “Mom?”

  “Ah, you do remember who I am,” her mother said, moving past her into the apartment.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Making sure you’re alive with my own eyes,” she replied with a frown.

  Why had her leaving town made both her mother
and Nanci worry she was in some sort of physical danger? “I’m fine. How did you know I was home?”

  “I was in the neighborhood showing a house and saw your car in the parking lot. I’ve been worried sick about you.” Proof of that was in the lines of tension creasing her mother’s brows. “You might have called to let me know you were home.”

  “I intended to.”

  “When?”

  “As soon as I finished unpacking.”

  “But you had time to pick up the phone and call Nanci to let her know you were back,” she said, sounding hurt. “That’s okay. I see where I fit into your life.”

  “I didn’t call Nanci. She called me.”

  “And you answered. I’ve been calling you for days and you never once picked up.”

  Now her mother was being dramatic. “I only answered because I turned the ringer on my cell back on when I got back home. If it would have been you I would have answered, too.”

  “I’m sorry, honey. It’s just that I’ve been going crazy for days, worrying about you.” Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around her in a warm embrace. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Her mother released her and stepped back, eyeing her skeptically. “You picked up and left town and didn’t answer any calls. That sort of behavior is not what I’d call ‘fine’ in my book.”

  “I needed to get away for a few days to think. My life’s been pretty complicated lately.”

  “Only because you make it that way.”

  There was definitely some truth to that.

  “And for your information,” her mother continued, “those few days felt like weeks to me.”

  “I’m sorry. I never meant to worry you. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight when I left town.”

  “I’m assuming by the calls I’ve received from Cole that your leaving had something to do with him.”

  Kelsie nodded. “He’s falling in love with me.”

  “What?” her mother gasped, her frown morphed instantly into a smile.

  “At least he was before I took off out of town the way I did.”

  “Oh, honey.” Her mother reached out, laying a comforting hand on Kelsie’s arm. “Are you in love with him?”