Thrill Me

by Susan Mallery

  “Oh, I know where this is going,” a woman said with a sigh. “It’s going to have a happy ending, I just know it.”

  Maya laughed. “You’re right. The ship’s captain, Ronan McGee, goes after her. He’d promised her father to deliver her safely to the wedding. When he finally catches up with her, Ciara refuses to go with him. She has a dream. Ronan says the dream is sheer folly, and then he promptly falls in love with her. They settle here, in Fool’s Gold.”

  Maya motioned to the lake. “Lake Ciara is named after her, of course. Some of you are staying in Ronan’s Lodge, which was their home. A big, beautiful mansion that people called Ronan’s Folly. Many of the streets in town are named after their ten children. Ronan and Ciara lived a long and happy life here.”

  Del listened to the history of the town and wondered how she’d remembered it all so easily. He could cough up a few facts on the Máa-zib artifacts in the museum, but he’d forgotten about Ciara and her determination to make her own way in the world.

  He had a feeling he would have liked the young woman. Or at least have admired her willingness to strike out in a time when women were expected to do what their fathers and older brothers told them.

  “Do they still have relatives here in town?” a woman asked Del.

  “The grandchildren were all girls,” he told her. “So the name died out. But many of their descendants still live in the area. My family has a few McGees in our history, as does the Hendrix family.”

  “That’s so nice,” the woman said with a sigh. “History and family traditions.”

  Maya grinned at him, then launched into a story about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and how a subsequent landslide revealed a cave filled with Máa-zib artifacts, including gold statues and jewelry.

  When they stopped for coffee and pastries at Brew-haha, Del moved next to Maya.

  “Nicely done,” he told her.

  “This is fun. I haven’t played tour guide since that summer. I had no idea I’d remember everything, but apparently it’s stored right next to the lyrics to songs that used to drive me crazy.”

  His cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and saw it was his attorney. “Can you handle this crowd for a second?” he asked.

  She pointed to the door. “Go take your call. I’ll make sure everyone gets their coffee.”

  He stepped outside and answered. “This is Del.”

  “You’re avoiding me,” Russell said. “You know that makes me nervous.”

  “You’re a lawyer. Everything makes you nervous.”

  “That makes me a good lawyer. Have you decided?”

  Just before returning to Fool’s Gold, Del had yet another offer to be part of a start-up. The ideas were good and he liked the guys involved. “I think they’re going to be successful,” he began.

  Russell groaned. “That’s a no. What is it with you?”

  “I’m not an entrepreneur.”

  “I’m getting that. Del, you’re too young to retire. You need to do something, and honestly, I can’t see you taking a job somewhere. It’s not your style.”

  “I know. I’ll figure it out.”

  “And I’ll tell them thanks but no thanks.”

  Del hung up. He turned and saw Maya watching him from the entrance to Brew-haha.

  “Want to talk about it?” she asked when he rejoined the group.

  “Not much to say. I got an offer to be part of a start-up and I said no.”

  “I figured that. Any particular reason?”

  “It’s not what I want to do. I’ve been lucky. I don’t have to take just anything. I can choose.”

  He waited for her to ask what that would be but she didn’t. Instead, she held out a latte. “Patience said to tell you it’s how you like it.”

  “She’s a good woman.”

  “Yes, well, you get to return the favor in a couple of days when we have to go talk about cameras with her daughter and her grove of Saplings.”

  “I thought you were going to do that.”

  She smiled. “I am and you’re coming with me.”

  He chuckled. “So that’s why you decided to help out today. So I’d owe you.”

  “That is very possible.”

  * * *

  TWO DAYS LATER Maya was incredibly grateful she’d asked Del along. In theory, facing eight girls shouldn’t have been a big deal. And it wasn’t. It was terrifying. Maya stared into their pretty faces, watching them watch her, and knew that if she was by herself, she would have been a stuttering mess. Ridiculous but true. Talking about the town was one thing. She supposed it was because history was impersonal. Explaining how to use a camera seemed more personal somehow. Or maybe it was a passion thing. While the history was interesting, she didn’t care about it.

  But with Del to make jokes and deflect some of the attention, she found that she wasn’t all that nervous. Not if she kept focused on what she was doing.

  “Filters are a great way to manipulate a picture,” she said. “There are lots of free apps for your smartphones that can change a regular picture into something more fun.” She paused. “Be sure to check with your parents before downloading any apps, okay?”

  One of the Saplings raised her hand. “Not all apps are kid appropriate,” the girl said firmly.

  “That’s right. Now with your digital camera, you do the editing on your computer. With a couple of good programs and your mouse, you can work magic.”

  She’d hooked up her laptop to the screen provided. The meeting room where the Saplings met was surprisingly nice. There were desks and chairs, an area where the girls could sit on cushy carpeting and a craft station.

  Maya clicked with her mouse and rotated the picture on the screen. It was a group shot of all eight girls. She’d taken it when she first arrived and now used it to demonstrate different ways to make an image more interesting.

  She changed the picture to black-and-white, brightened the lighting, added a few special effects, then turned the girls loose on the computer.

  She and Del had their smartphones with them. Each took a couple of girls and used pictures already on the phone to demonstrate different apps.

  “This is fun,” one of the girls said. “We were worried because Taryn’s away for a while.”

  Maya knew that Taryn was one of the Grove Leaders. Her husband, Angel, was the other.

  “Taryn had a baby, didn’t she?” Maya asked.

  “Uh-huh. A boy. Bryce. He’s really cute. She’ll be back soon. It’s nice that they have a baby.” The girl, Chloe, glanced pointedly at the man next to Angel.

  Kenny, Maya thought, remembering him introducing himself when she and Del had arrived. Chloe’s stepfather.

  The eight-year-old narrowed her gaze. “I’d like a little brother or sister,” she said loudly.

  Kenny groaned. “I’m working on it. I’m working on it.”

  “Work faster.”

  Angel snickered.

  Maya quickly pointed at Del’s phone. “Oh, look. He has pictures from his travels. Del, show us the pictures.”

  Del hadn’t heard the baby conversation so looked a little confused, but he nodded, anyway.

  “Sure. Let me hook my phone up to the computer.”

  He pulled a cord from her tote and plugged in his phone. Seconds later, a slide show started on the big screen. The girls all stared at photos of mountains, capped in snow. They laughed when they saw a big yak.

  “Where is that?” one of the girls asked.

  “Tibet. Who knows where that is?”

  Del went through about a hundred pictures. He explained about life in the village and talked about the different kids he’d met. The girls were enthralled—their photograph-editing session forgotten.

  Maya watched and listened. She knew that a
video would be even more compelling than still pictures. Del was on the right track with his idea to create videos for schoolkids.

  She found herself wondering what it would be like to be a part of that. Not that he was asking. Or she was offering. Fool’s Gold was her home now, but it would sure be nice...

  * * *

  DEL TYPED ON his laptop on the porch of his cabin. Call him crazy, but he couldn’t get China off the brain. The country was geographically massive and diverse, and they were changing economically. Rural villages were giving way to factory jobs. Was it like postwar America in the 1950s or completely different? How did the rapid changes affect the children of the country?

  China, he thought again, typing in the document. That was where he wanted to start with his video series.

  Travel could be a challenge. Many areas were completely open for travel by westerners, but there would be parts that wouldn’t be. He made a list of people he knew in the State Department. Maya might have some contacts. Celebrities often traveled to unexpected places.

  He would need her help with equipment. How little could he get by with? Probably some kind of satellite uplink would be best, so he could send footage back to a safe location, in case some local official took issue with what he was doing and confiscated their cameras.

  The team would have to be small. In a perfect world, it would be him and Maya and—

  He stopped typing and stared at the lake. Him and Maya? No. That wasn’t happening. They weren’t together, or even business partners. He was helping her with the town videos because the mayor had asked him. The fact that he’d gotten sucked in deeper than he’d planned was just one of those things. Working with Maya was fun. They got along. But he wasn’t taking her to China with him.

  Still, they’d been good with those kids the other day, he thought. And on the tour. They worked well together. They understood and respected each other. Because of their past, he thought.

  Once again he wondered how things would have been different if he’d realized she’d broken up with him out of fear and not because she didn’t care. If he’d been able to see that, to reach out to her. Would they have stayed together? He could have transferred to her college. And then what? He wouldn’t have enjoyed settling in LA any more than he would have been able to stay here. So eventually he would have had to leave.

  Would she have gone with him? A question with no answer, he thought. Because the past was done and there was no changing it.

  He looked up at the sound of an SUV driving toward his cabin. He recognized the battered vehicle and saved his work before closing his laptop. What he wanted to do was slip out the back door and not be seen. Only the cabin didn’t have a back door and he was too old to be hiding from his father.

  So instead he waited and watched until Ceallach walked up the front steps and took the seat opposite his.

  “So this is where you’re staying.”

  “It is.”

  Ceallach looked around. “Too many people.”

  Del didn’t bother saying the people around him were a part of what he liked. His father wouldn’t get it or care.

  “How can I help you, Dad?”

  “Something’s wrong with your mother.”

  That got Del’s attention. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know. She’s a woman. A mystery. But there’s something. She’s not herself.” He hesitated, as if he were going to say more.

  “Do you think she’s sick?”

  Ceallach shook his head. “She’s more quiet than usual. She’s gone a lot. Into town. I’ve asked her what’s going on, but she says she’s fine. I have to do something.”

  “Okay,” Del said slowly. “Like take her away for a vacation?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I have to work. She hasn’t said anything to you?”

  “No.”

  “She knows I’m working on several commissions. Big jobs. It’s not like her to distract me.”

  Because it was all about the art, Del thought grimly. All about Ceallach. He was the center of the known universe and life revolved around him.

  “These are important commissions,” his father added defensively, as if he knew what Del was thinking.

  “I’m sure they are.”

  “One’s for the French government. I have to be in my work. Elaine understands that.”

  After thirty-five years, she wouldn’t have much of a choice.

  Del had often wondered what it was about his father that had drawn his mother in the first place. She’d been a small-town girl. He was sure there were those who thought she’d been overwhelmed by Ceallach’s fame. Even in his early twenties, he’d been famous and successful.

  Del suspected that hadn’t impressed her. She would have been drawn to something else. Maybe Ceallach’s passion? Not that Del wanted to think about that too much. But whatever the appeal, she had been loyal and loving through all the difficult times. Even when his father’s art messed with his head and the drinking had made it worse—she’d been there.

  As a kid, Del had wondered how much of his father was in him. He was sure his brothers worried about the same thing, although they never discussed it. Would they grow up to be like him?

  Nick and the twins had inherited Ceallach’s artistic ability. Del and Aidan were more like their mother. Del saw some of his father in himself. The videos were probably an offshoot of the other man’s talent. The restlessness that Ceallach harnessed into his glasswork had manifested in other ways in Del.

  He hoped he didn’t have his father’s selfish streak. That he was more accepting of people. Difficult to know when it came to himself.

  “What are you doing?” his father asked. “You have a job yet?”

  “Not right this second,” Del said. “I’m still considering my options.” He thought about mentioning that he’d sold his company for enough money that, in theory, he never had to work again. At least not very hard. But his father wouldn’t see that as a positive. “I’ve had some offers.”

  “In business.” Ceallach’s tone was dismissive.

  “Yeah, Dad. In business.”

  “A necessary evil.”

  “But without the intrinsic value that art brings to the table.”

  His father brightened. “Exactly. Men of business don’t understand the genius required for art.”

  “What about women in business?” he asked, thinking Maya would appreciate the joke. His father, not so much.

  Ceallach stared at him.

  “Women in business?” Del repeated. “Because women and men do the same jobs these days.”

  “Ridiculous. Your mother always knew her most important job was to support me.”

  Which was probably true, Del thought, hoping his mother was happy with her choices. He wouldn’t want that, a woman who simply served him. While the theory of it was kind of fun, the reality would be very different. He wanted someone who was there for him as much as he was there for her, but he also wanted more. A partner in his work. Someone who cared as much as he did about what they were doing. A collaboration, he thought.

  Something else his father wouldn’t understand.

  “Are the twins coming for your birthday?” he asked.

  Ceallach dismissed the question with a shake of his head. “I have no idea.”

  “Where are they?”

  “You think I have time to keep track of things like that?”

  “Okay, I guess you also don’t know why they left town, then?”

  His father shifted in his seat and looked away. “I have no idea.”

  The statement was so at odds with the other man’s body language that Del nearly started laughing. Obviously Ceallach knew exactly why the twins had run off, but he wasn’t saying. Which was pretty typical for a family that loved to keep secrets, h
e thought.

  “I hope they’re coming to the party,” he said. “It would be good to see them.”

  He thought maybe his father would agree, but instead Ceallach stood. “I have to get back to work. Goodbye.”

  Not the most satisfying of meetings, he thought as the older man walked away. He still didn’t know exactly why his father had stopped by, except maybe to talk about Elaine.

  Del stood and moved around the porch. Restlessness threatened. Not to leave town—he wasn’t ready for that just yet. But for a calming force. A place to be that always made him feel better.

  Maya, he thought with relief. He needed to see Maya. Then everything would be fine.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “YOU WON’T BELIEVE the stuff we’re building,” Chase said, his tone excited, his hands barely able to keep up with his words. “We’re so over the robot cat. My team’s working on an underwater robot that does welding. It has to be light enough to be easily maneuverable, but also able to work with everything that goes with underwater welding. Just dealing with the currents. Because they’re always changing, right? And the tides have an influence.”

  Maya smiled at her younger stepbrother. “You exhaust me.”

  “It’s ’cause I’m so smart.”

  She laughed and hugged him. “That’s part of it.”

  Chase hung on for a second. “Have you seen Zane? He’s happy. It’s weird, but I like it.”

  “As much as you like your nerd camp?”

  The seventeen-year-old straightened and grinned. “Even more, but don’t tell him.”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  Chase ran off to the house. Maya turned to Del. “He’s happy.”

  “I can see that. The camp sounds intense.”

  “It is.”

  They were out by the barn, at the Nicholson family ranch. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner, which meant a small group. Maya and Del, Zane, Phoebe and Chase. Dellina was also there with her husband, Sam. The wedding would be a big affair with half the town showing up, but tonight was more intimate.