Elliot was obviously trying hard not to laugh. “I’ve never seen one with a top crust before,” he said as seriously as he could. “It does have a certain… unique prettiness about it. I bet all the top chefs will be making quiches this way, once they discover Cassie’s idea.”
“Hey, are you two mocking my quiche?” Cassie sounded slightly hurt.
“Not at all.” Elliot’s voice was almost serious, but Rebecca could see one end of his mouth quirking up. “Are you ready to go? I’m starved.”
***
Elliot disappeared when they arrived at the restaurant, saying he was going to fetch some drinks. When they were seated, Jaime came over with their menus.
“Are you expecting someone else?” Jaime asked, eyeing the empty spot next to Rebecca.
“Elliot’s at the bar,” Cassie told him. “He should be here soon.”
A mischievous expression flitted across Jaime’s face. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said before trotting away.
A few seconds later, another waiter was at their table. He looked like a much younger and thinner version of Jaime. “Hello,” he said. “My name’s Rob. My uncle was busy and asked me to take care of your table.” He glanced at Cassie and Michael briefly before focusing on Rebecca. He looked at her for a moment and an appreciative glint appeared in his eyes. He sat down in the empty chair. “May I recommend the special tonight?” he asked.
“Sure.” Rebecca wasn’t sure what was going on until Rob slid a little too close to her and draped his arm over the back of her chair. “The carne asada is excellent this evening,” he murmured, his hand closing around her shoulder. “Good enough to sink your teeth into.” He bent over, his breath tickling her ear.
It was at that moment that Elliot reappeared. He stopped cold behind Cassie and Michael and stared pointedly at Rob. “Isn’t that seat supposed to be for me?” he asked. He sounded a bit confrontational.
“Sorry, man,” Rob said easily, not moving an inch. “I was just helping Rebecca here with the menu.”
“She knows what she wants.” Elliot placed the glasses he was carrying on the table next to Cassie, reached over, and took the menu from Rebecca. She looked up at him in surprise. “Are we ready to order?”
Cassie shot Rebecca a knowing look when Rob stood up and Elliot slid into his chair. He left it where it was, although he didn’t put his arm across the back of Rebecca’s seat. She looked around the restaurant while the others placed their orders and spotted Jaime across the room. He was watching them, and when he caught Rebecca’s eye, he grinned and winked.
When they were finished eating, Elliot leaned his elbows on the table and cleared his throat. “Do you guys have anything going on next week?” he asked, not looking at Rebecca.
“I don’t think so,” Michael said. “I was thinking of taking a few days off. Why do you want to know? Did you want to go clubbing? I haven’t done that in ages.” He sounded a little wistful.
Cassie kicked her husband under the table. “We’re not busy,” she said firmly. “Although if you want to go to a club, I might leave the country.”
Elliot half-laughed. “I need to visit a friend from college,” he said. “He’s going through a rough spot and needs some cheering up. I was hoping that if all of us went–including Nicole and Haley, naturally–we could help him take his mind off his troubles.”
“Where does your friend live?” Michael asked.
“Mackinac Island, up in Michigan.”
Rebecca’s eyes lit up. “I haven’t been to Mackinac in ages!” she said. “Does he actually live on the island?”
“Wait a minute,” Cassie interrupted. “Where’s Mackinac Island?”
“It’s in Michigan, almost to the Canadian border,” Rebecca explained. “You can only get to it by ferry, and there are no cars allowed. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.”
Cassie looked at Elliot. “And your friend lives there?”
“Kind of. His parents own a house on the island, and Locke lives in it when there aren’t any renters. His mom called me the other day and said he’d be there all next week.”
Michael snorted into his drink. “Your friend’s name is Locke?”
Elliot made a face. “His parents were philosophy students when he was born, and their favorite was John Locke. He didn’t stand a chance.”
“What happened to him to make you need to visit him all of a sudden?” Cassie asked.
“Six months ago, he and his fiancée were on the lake, and somehow the fiancée fell into the water and drowned. Locke hasn’t recovered from the guilt; he was driving the boat when it happened.”
“Oh.” Cassie’s voice was small. “Of course we’d love to come, if you think we’d be any help. Michael and I were thinking about taking a vacation anyway, weren’t we?”
Michael shrugged. “As long as I don’t have to share a room with Nicole, I don’t care where we go.”
Elliot turned to Rebecca. “Are you in?”
Rebecca hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said slowly, thinking of her dwindling bank account. “I still need to find an apartment and get settled before my job starts. I should probably stay home.”
Cassie kicked her sister under the table and stood up. “Well, I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “I’ll be in the restroom if you need me.” She looked pointedly at Rebecca before she walked away.
Rebecca sighed. “I think she wants me to follow her,” she told Michael. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Jaime accosted her in front of the restroom. “What did you think of Rob?” he asked. The mischievous expression was still very apparent on his face. “He’s a charmer, isn’t he?”
“I know you sent him over on purpose,” Rebecca told him. “And no, he’s not a charmer. He’s a flirt. You should keep your matchmaking to people who appreciate it.”
“Oh, come on, Rebecca,” Jaime protested. “He’s my favorite nephew. He just wanted to get to know you, so I let him take your table. It was a personal favor to him.”
“Sure. Please tell him that I’m not interested in strange men breathing down my neck.”
“All right, all right.” Jaime held up his hands in defeat. “I’ll tell him. But he’ll have to be your waiter for the rest of the evening. I’m short staffed tonight.” He hurried away before Rebecca could argue that half of his family was loitering at the bar.
She pushed the restroom door open and found Cassie waiting for her. “The only person you haven’t kicked tonight is Elliot,” she pointed out. “You should keep your feet to yourself. People will start thinking you’re violent.
“I might kick him next,” Cassie retorted. “He’s acting like a ten-year-old.”
Rebecca couldn’t argue with that. “What do you want, anyway?” she asked wearily. “It must be something good to warrant that kick under the table. I may have a bruise in the morning.”
“You poor baby.” Cassie didn’t sound very sympathetic. “Why are you putting up a fight about going to Mackinac with everyone? It’ll be fun, and I know if you stay here by yourself, you’ll just sit around the apartment and be lonely. You need a break before your job starts.”
The two of them stared at each other for a minute. “It’ll just be too weird,” Rebecca finally said. “It’s one thing to go out to dinner with Elliot when you and Michael are there; it’s a whole different thing to go on vacation with him. You don’t understand.”
“Then tell me.”
Rebecca sighed in frustration. “I can’t,” she said. “Things are strange enough, what with the newspaper articles–” She stopped talking when she saw Cassie’s smile.
“I was wondering when you were going to mention that. I’ve been reading them too, you know.”
Rebecca leaned against the wall. “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed. “Half of me wants to smack him for writing about me for the entire city to read, and the other half–the sick half–wonders what he’ll write about next.”
; “At least there won’t be any columns while he’s on vacation.”
“That’s what I thought this morning. I don’t know how he does it. That party ended last night way past deadline.”
Cassie shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “I don’t know why you haven’t called him on it yet. If it were me, I’d probably stuff the paper up his–”
She stopped talking when the bathroom door opened. They let the woman go by, and then Cassie said in a lowered voice, “I think you should come. It’ll give you a break before you have to be so independent again. And it is for a good cause, after all. I wonder what Locke’s like. He’d probably really like you; you tend to attract people who are hurting. Maybe he just needs someone to care.”
Rebecca hesitated. “I don’t know...”
Cassie put her arm around her sister. “Please,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I can stand a whole week of Nicole without some help. And I know I’m not getting it from Michael.”
“There’s always Haley.”
Cassie shot her a frustrated look. “That’s not the same, and you know it. Besides, she’ll be on the phone with Ben the whole time.”
Looking into Cassie’s hopeful and somewhat exasperated face, Rebecca finally relented. “All right,” she said. “I’ll come.” Her bank balance reappeared in her mind. Somehow, she told herself.
When they made their way back to the table, Cassie told Elliot that Rebecca would be accompanying them. He looked over at Rebecca and said simply, “I’m glad.” Then he smiled, and for the first time in quite a while, it looked genuine.
He stayed near her the rest of the evening. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to warn off Rob or it was simply that they were the only unattached people in the group. When they reached Cassie’s door, he put a hand on her shoulder.
“Would you mind coming next door for a minute?” he asked quietly. “It won’t take long,” he reassured her when he saw her surprised expression. “I just need to ask you something.”
She let him lead her to his door and stood awkwardly in the foyer while he turned on the lights. It looked very different from the last time she had been there, she realized. The furniture had been pushed back into normal positions, and with the brighter lights she could see the artwork hung on the walls. She walked over to inspect the picture over the mantel. It was of an old-fashioned girl with dark red hair, probably in her early teens, sitting by a stream and reading a book.
“This is lovely,” she said in some surprise.
Elliot glanced up. “You sound shocked.”
“I’m not, at least not that you would have good taste in art. It’s just that the girl in the picture reminds me of one of the characters from Anne of Green Gables.”
“That’s why I bought it.”
Rebecca looked at him out of the corner of her eye. They had read the book together after he had protested that they were just silly things written for pre-adolescent girls. She had started reading them aloud initially to prove him wrong. She let her mind go back to the Sunday afternoon he had admitted that he liked the book…
They were in the park, on a blanket underneath a maple tree, the crimson leaves falling into the stream next to them. She stopped reading for a moment and glared down at him.
“You aren’t paying attention,” she accused him.
“I am.” His attempt to look sincere failed miserably.
“You were lying there with your eyes closed, and I know I heard deep breathing. You were asleep.”
“Really, I wasn’t. I was thinking, that’s all.”
Rebecca tilted her head and put the book down. “What were you thinking about?”
For a minute, the only sound was the gurgling of the stream as it meandered through the park. “I was thinking a couple of things,” Elliot said finally. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to tease.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Elliot sighed. “I was thinking that this book isn’t as bad as I originally told you. It might even be good.”
Rebecca tried to swallow her laughter. “I won’t tell you ‘I told you so.’”
“That’s big of you.” He reached out and swatted her arm.
They were quiet again after that. Rebecca leaned back against the tree and looked up at the leaves. It was very peaceful, she thought dreamily. I think I could stay like this for a very long time. She was almost asleep when he spoke again.
“And I was thinking that I’m in love with you.”
Rebecca raised her head and opened her eyes. Elliot was sitting up, his brown eyes staring straight into hers.
“I–”
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”
She sat all the way up and brushed a leaf out of his hair. Then her hand drifted to his cheek. She leaned forward and smiled slightly. “I do,” she breathed. “I do love you.”
Elliot caught his breath and moved toward her until their noses were almost touching. “I’m so glad to hear you say that,” he whispered, “because I’ve wanted to do this for the longest time.” Then he tilted his head, placed his hand on the back of her neck, and kissed her.
Elliot’s cough brought her out of her reverie. She blinked a few times and was surprised to feel tears swimming in her eyes. She looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Before she turned away, though, she let her fingers trail across the bottom of the painting. “It fits the books,” she said when she was sure her voice would be steady. “I can see why you like it.”
Elliot looked at her sharply. “Are you all right?”
Rebecca let out a shaky laugh. The memory of that first kiss was so sweet; she couldn’t shake it from her mind. “I’m fine,” she said before sinking onto the chair across from him. Then, remembering why she was there, she looked at him expectantly. “What did you want to ask me about?”
Elliot seemed nervous. “I was wondering how you would feel if… if I… How are you planning on getting to Mackinac?”
Rebecca was startled by his abrupt question. “I hadn’t come up with anything yet.”
Elliot took a deep breath. “Well, how would you feel if I told you I’d already paid for your plane fare?”
Rebecca opened and closed her mouth. When she finally found her voice, she was sure it didn’t sound natural. “I would say that you were awfully cocky to assume I’d go in the first place,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Why are you asking? Have you already bought my ticket?”
Reaching into his pocket, Elliot pulled out a piece of paper. “I knew you would be tight on funds before your job starts,” he said in a rush. “And before you get mad, please hear me out. I want to do this to make up for the way I’ve been treating you. I have been mean for no good reason other than my misguided assumptions, and I want to show you that I can do better.”
Rebecca almost suggested that he stop alluding to her in the newspaper but caught herself before the words escaped. She needed to decide what she thought about those columns, but now was not the time. “You don’t have to make such a grand gesture just to apologize for a few rude comments,” she said at last. “It seems a little extreme.”
Elliot looked away in embarrassment. “Well, you don’t know what I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks.”
Her eyes flew to his. Was he admitting to worse things than those he had said out loud? “You must really think I’m horrible,” she said quietly.
“But I don’t!” Elliot rose to his feet and ran his hand distractedly through his hair, making it stand on end. It made her think of his constantly disheveled state in high school. “I think you’re a wonderful person. I just happened to see things that most normal people wouldn’t think twice about, and I twisted them into something completely… completely...”
“Unforgivable.”
Elliot winced. “Yes.”
“That still doesn’t mean you need to spend all that money just to say you were wrong.”
Elliot sat down, covered his face with his hands, and then stood back up
again. “I need to do something!” he burst out. “You’re too sweet to let me apologize the way I should. Would it help if I groveled?”
Rebecca shuddered. “Please don’t.”
“Then what can I do? If you won’t take the ticket I’ll have to swallow it since it’s non-refundable. And I promised Locke I would–” He stopped talking abruptly and walked behind the couch.
“You promised him what?”
“It’s nothing,” he muttered.
Rebecca didn’t know what to say. It would probably help, she thought, if he knew she’d been reading his columns all along. Then he’d know that she’d already seen his many apologies. But did she want him to know? She asked herself again. She wasn’t sure. It went back to what she had been talking to Cassie about that evening in the restroom. She wanted too many things.
“I can’t accept this,” she said, but she could tell that Elliot knew she was starting to waver. “It’s too much, and I know you’re sorry–”
Elliot waved the paper under her nose. “Please take it,” he said softly. “Do it to ease my conscience. Then maybe we can move on and forget this whole mess ever started.”
I highly doubt that, Rebecca thought, but took the paper with her flight information anyway. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I appreciate this more than I can say.”
***
Before she knew it, all the arrangements had been made and they were setting off for the airport. Nicole, naturally, had been enthusiastic about the trip and wasted no time attaching herself to Elliot’s side.
“Why do we have to go to Midway?” she said in a petulant voice. Rebecca assumed she was trying to sound cute and a little girlish.
“Because this flight had enough seats for everyone,” Elliot explained patiently.
“Well, I still don’t see why we have to be on such a small plane.”
“We’re flying to a very small city. Pellston is the closest airport to Mackinac, and it isn’t very big.”
Haley caught Rebecca’s eye and grinned at her. She walked slowly past Elliot and Nicole on her way to Rebecca, and when she stood next to her, the grin had turned wicked. “I’m just waiting for him to tell her there are no cars on the island,” Haley whispered.
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