She gripped the phone tightly. “What can I do for you, Daniel?”
“I’m calling with an invitation,” he said. “But I thought it only fair to give you a heads-up since this concerns Lizzie.”
“Lizzie? You’re inviting my daughter somewhere?” She instantly began to come up with reasons why she wouldn’t allow such a thing. “Daniel, I don’t think...”
“No, no. You misunderstand, Alex. I’m not inviting Lizzie to go somewhere just the two of us. I have tickets to Les Mis at the Cleveland Auditorium. I thought Lizzie would enjoy it.”
“Well, yes, but still...”
“Alex, let me finish. I have three tickets. I’m inviting both of you to go along with me. The performance is Friday night. It’s the perfect break for all of us who have been working at the Red Barn. What do you say? I can pick you ladies up at Dancing Falls.”
The three of them out on the town together? It was unthinkable. Alex couldn’t allow it. They would be attending the theater almost like a family... Alex concentrated on drawing a deep breath so that her next words wouldn’t come out sounding rushed and panicky.
“Alex? You there?”
“Yes, I’m here. It’s a nice idea, Daniel, but I’m afraid we can’t make it Friday night. We have plans.” Her brain scrambled to come up with a reasonable excuse if he asked.
“Can’t you change your plans? I’d hate for Lizzie to miss out. The reviews of Les Mis have been spectacular. This is the Broadway performance.”
What kind of a mother was she to prevent her daughter from attending a special theatrical event? Alex quickly pushed the guilty thought from her consciousness. A careful, protective mother—that was what kind. One who wouldn’t play games with fate by putting the three of them in a social situation. A slip of the tongue, a chance remembrance of past encounters, the uncanny resemblance between father and daughter...
“No, Daniel, we can’t change our plans. I appreciate your offer, but it’s just not possible.” She sucked in a breath between her teeth. Even after keeping this secret for eighteen years, she was a terrible liar. And, at times, an awful mother.
“Okay, if you’re sure...” Daniel said.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Lizzie’s voice permeated the charged air of Martin’s study. “You’re as white as a sheet.” Lizzie came into the room. “Who’s on the phone?”
“It’s Daniel Chandler, Lizzie,” Alex replied. “But we’re done talking. I was about to hang up. Go on back to the dining room and I’ll be there shortly.”
Daniel’s subtle accusation came over the line. “You’re not going to tell her, Alex?”
Lizzie reached for the phone. “Can I speak to him, please? I want to ask him something about tomorrow’s work schedule.”
“No, now’s not a good time,” Alex said. “Daniel is busy.”
“No, I’m not,” he said.
“Daniel, please, I’m talking to my daughter,” Alex said.
Lizzie grinned and mouthed the words, “Did he ask you out? I knew it!”
“I’m hanging up now, Daniel.”
“Then I suppose I am, too. If you change your mind—”
“I won’t.”
Alex replaced the receiver on the cradle. The walk back to the dining room seemed to take forever as she dodged Lizzie’s questions.
“What did he want?”
“Where did he ask you to go?”
“You said yes, didn’t you?”
“Mom, talk to me!”
“What’s going on?” Martin asked when they’d returned. He took a large helping of peach cobbler. “Who was on the phone?”
“It was Daniel Chandler,” Lizzie said. “And Mom won’t tell me what he wanted. I think he called to ask her on a date.”
“He did not,” Alex protested, though she couldn’t come up with any other reason why Daniel would call. And since her daughter saw him nearly every day, she would probably hear about the invitation to Les Mis anyway.
“A date?” Jude said. “How exciting. You’re going, aren’t you?”
“There’s no date!” Alex said again.
“Then what did he want?” Lizzie asked.
Alex let out a long, defeated sigh. “All right, I’ll tell you. He has three tickets to Les Misérables at the Cleveland Auditorium for Friday night. He asked us to go. Both of us,” she said with a pointed stare at her daughter.
“Oh, my gosh, Les Mis!” Lizzie clasped her hands together. “How great is this!”
“I told him no,” Alex said, pretending not to notice the look of shock on Lizzie’s face. “You and I had talked about going to dinner and a movie on Friday, honey, remember? I thought you wanted to do that.”
“Instead of Les Mis? Are you kidding, Mom? Call him back. Tell him we’ll go.”
“It’s too late,” Alex said. “I already turned down the invitation.”
“You could at least have asked me!” Lizzie said.
That was true, and any other time, under any other circumstances, Alex would have consulted her daughter. But not this time, and that did seem strange. “I’m sorry. I thought...”
“Mom! I’d give anything to see Les Mis.”
“Maybe it’s not too late,” Jude said. “Call him back right now.”
“Yes, Mom! Do it.”
Alex didn’t speak. She just drummed her fingernails on the tabletop.
After a moment Jude said, “Tell you what, Allie-belle. Call him back and tell him I’ll go. If you’ll watch Wesley, sis, I’ll attend the play with Daniel and Lizzie.”
“You? When’s the last time you saw a Broadway production?” Alex regretted the snarky tone as soon as she’d spoken.
“So? What difference does that make? I don’t think Lizzie should miss this.” She winked at Lizzie. “I promise not to wear my denim skirt.”
Alex knew she was defeated, and she almost didn’t care anymore. Where just a few moments ago panic had seized her limbs, now a spark of excitement flamed to life. It was only a play. Just one night. And it was Daniel. “All right, I’ll call him back,” she said. “And I’ll go.”
“Thanks, Mom! We’ll have a great time.”
“I’m sure we will.”
What was she doing? Walking to the study again. Dialing the last known caller back. Listening for Daniel’s voice. Telling him she’d moved her schedule around. And hearing his enthusiastic response.
She realized that she had butterflies in her stomach like she had as a teenager whenever she was with Daniel. And she’d most definitely lost her appetite like she had during that first meal with him at Birch Shore.
Eighteen years earlier
“SO YOU’RE FROM Fox Creek?” Daniel said. “That’s really close to my town of Greenfield.”
Alex took a nervous swallow of iced tea so she wouldn’t talk with her mouth full. So far, during this meal together, Daniel had gotten up and refilled her tea glass twice. He must think I’m a bottomless pit, she thought. “I know. My dad used to go to your father’s hardware store.”
“What’s your primary job at the resort this summer?” he asked, showing no sign of the anxiety she was experiencing. Daniel seemed as if he’d be at home in any environment.
“I’ll be working in the gift shop,” she said. “I start learning the inventory and pricing system tomorrow.” Another sip of tea. “What about you?”
“Glorified bellhop,” he said. “I greet the guests, find out their room numbers in the hotel and arrange to have their bags brought up. Then I see if they have any special needs or requirements.” He smiled. “I’m basically making tips this summer, but after working in the buffet last year, I wanted this assignment. If you’re nice to people, they can be quite generous.”
Probably doesn’t hurt that you’re so gorgeous, she thought. �
��Are you saving for college?”
“Yep. Taking political science courses at Ohio State. I’ll be a junior this year. What about you?”
Her parents had agreed to pay for whatever her scholarship and this job didn’t cover. Still, she knew a private school might seem an extravagance to this boy. “I...ah, I’ll be going to Wittenberg as a freshman.”
He nodded. “Good school. What are you taking?”
“Art history courses.” Why did her chosen major suddenly seem like a course in looking at pretty pictures? “I want to have a career in museum acquisitions.”
“Cool. Sounds interesting.”
Daniel just had a way of taking everything in his stride. He didn’t even raise an eyebrow at her college choice. And if he wasn’t impressed with her career decision, he didn’t react in a negative way. He was just...well, nice. He’d seemed nice when she first met him, and she had no reason to change that opinion now.
“Hey,” he said. “You should join the revue. The summer employees put on a show six nights a week. We start rehearsals tomorrow, but we only have a week to get ready.”
A show! Unless the revue had a full orchestra and needed a violinist, Alex couldn’t see a role for herself. “I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t sing. I can’t dance.”
He grinned. “Anybody can dance, Alex. I can teach you in one lesson. And you can always work backstage. It’s a great way to earn some extra money in the evenings. Better than hanging out with the other kids and playing cards or going into town for a movie.”
She didn’t know what to say. She’d looked forward to her free time here when she could read and listen to music. But this boy... There was something special about him.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you to the auditorium myself, introduce you to Glen Spenser. He’s the director. He’ll love you.”
Alex sighed. This was going to be the best summer ever.
CHAPTER SIX
DANIEL PUT THE kitchen wall phone back on the hook and went to the refrigerator. He realized he was smiling as he cut a slice of cherry pie for his father and scooped vanilla ice cream on top. He hadn’t thought Alex would say yes, and in fact, she hadn’t. The return phone call had been a wonderful surprise. He wondered what changed her mind. Lizzie probably, but he hoped it might be him.
He handed his father the dessert.
“Looks good, son, but you don’t have to wait on me,” Gus said.
“After force-feeding you my special recipe meat loaf,” Daniel said, “it’s the least I can do.”
His father chuckled and dug into the pie.
Daniel sat in one of the easy chairs that had flanked the practical plaid sofa as long as he could remember. “Pop, I have to ask you something. I’ve got a busy weekend coming up, and I need to know if you’ll be okay here by yourself.”
Gus wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Danny, I know I’m going to die, but I’m not dying yet. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Besides, you’ve got every neighbor on this block and my sister on call for emergencies. So you go and do what you have to do.”
“Okay, then. I will.”
“Just to satisfy my curiosity, what plans have you made?”
“I’ve got town hall meetings on Thursday and Saturday nights. Going to concentrate on the millage proposal for the new recreation area at Crabapple Lake. I really want the voters to approve the raise. Residents of the entire district will benefit from the improvements.”
“You’ve got my vote,” Gus said, causing Daniel to wonder if his dad would still be here when voting came around in November. “You going out Friday night, too?”
“Yes, but this time it’s not business as usual for me. I’m taking Alexis and her daughter to the theater in Cleveland.”
“Good for you, Danny. You should get out and have some fun.” They discussed the musical and possible plans for afterward, and then Gus said, “So what about Alexis’s daughter? Is she as pretty as her mother?”
“She’s a cutie,” Daniel said as an image of Lizzie came to mind. “But now that I think about it, she doesn’t look like her mother. You know Alex has that fair skin and blond hair. And she has blue eyes. Lizzie is darker. Her hair is brown and her eyes, well, I don’t know. I think they’re green, but an unusual shade.”
“She must look like her daddy, then,” Gus said.
“I suppose.” Daniel scratched the back of his neck. Odd that Lizzie didn’t display many characteristics of her mom. She was pretty in her own right, sure, but usually daughters looked more like their mothers than their fathers, right?
Daniel picked up the empty pie plate and headed to the kitchen. He’d just gone through the door when he stopped, took a deep breath and held it. When exactly did Alex marry Teddy Pope? He knew it was at the very beginning of fall—just after Daniel had experienced the most memorable few months of his life with a girl he thought he could love forever. And why would they have a child right away? Because Teddy was older? Well, sure, that was a reason to hurry up with a family. Still, Daniel couldn’t keep his thoughts from going back to that one special night under the pier.
Eighteen years earlier
THE BREEZE OFF Lake Erie was cool, but the temperature of the sand, warmed from a day of bright sun, seeped through the blanket and erased any chill. Daniel reached into a cooler and removed another beer. He didn’t drink much, but tonight he had two reasons to commemorate the occasion. This was their last night at Birch Shore, his last night with Alex, for a while at least.
He popped the cap. “Here, Alex, one isn’t going to hurt you.”
She took a long swallow while he quickly finished his fourth. He’d probably polish off the six-pack. Heck, he needed something to help him deal with leaving Alex. She would be several hours away at Wittenberg.
He would stick around Birch Shore for three days to clean up and store summer furniture, and then his dad was picking him up to take him directly to Ohio State. Daniel didn’t have a car. All the great tips he’d made had gone right into his college savings. If he wanted to see Alex, he’d have to make friends with someone who owned a vehicle and didn’t mind lending it out.
Alex nuzzled her long, sweet-smelling hair under his chin. With his arm around her, he gently traced a line from her shoulder to her elbow. He’d fallen hard for her.
She drank the entire beer and giggled when she burped. “It was good,” she said.
He kissed the top of her head. They’d found moments and private places to be together during the summer. Some of their kisses had turned passionate, but Daniel knew she didn’t have much experience and respected that. Tonight he’d have to watch himself. Five beers were like a stiff shot to a guy’s libido.
His intentions were noble. He and Alex would spend their last night, precious hours under the dock, hugging, kissing and holding hands. They would discuss the future and make plans to see each other again. He would make it clear to her that he wanted what they’d found together this summer to be permanent. He would ask her not to date at Wittenberg. He was a one-woman guy, and he hoped she’d treat him the same way.
She turned her face up to his and offered her lips. As he kissed her, he realized something had changed. The kiss was like no other. Alex poured her heart and soul into it, and it lasted for the sweetest, longest forever Daniel could remember. She seemed to melt into him, her body fitting perfectly to his. And his hands started to wander. She felt so good, so warm.
She didn’t stop him, and it took all of his willpower to put the brakes on his desire. “I’m sorry, Alex,” he said. “I didn’t mean...”
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I want this.”
“We can’t,” he said. “I don’t have a... What if you get pregnant?”
She was silent a moment, her hand splayed over his chest. “I won’t get pregnant,” she s
aid. “I’m on the pill.”
“What? Why are you on the pill?”
“It was for irregular periods, but I’m protected.”
His heart beat furiously. “Are you sure, Alex? Is this what you want?”
“Yes, I’m sure...” Her voice was a gentle hiss, a perfect blend with the waves rolling on shore. He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her as if his life depended on it.
As clear as that cloudless summer night, Daniel recalled making love to Alex as he’d recalled it so many times since that night. What if...
“You’re nuts,” he said aloud in his father’s kitchen. “No way. Alex would have told you if she’d gotten pregnant. She wasn’t the kind of girl to keep something like that bottled up inside. She was honest and principled.” Wasn’t she?
He made up his mind to find out what he could about Dr. Theodore Pope. He hoped the good doctor had tan skin and brown hair. Besides, Alex told him she was on the pill, and that was practically foolproof, wasn’t it? Daniel wasn’t Lizzie’s father. It simply couldn’t be.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE THEATER BUZZED with anticipation, and despite her misgivings, Alex was pleased to be a part of it. What Daniel hadn’t mentioned was this was opening night. Wearing press credentials, critics from newspapers and online blogs were in the front-row seats. Wine was served in sparkling glasses. The musicians tuned their instruments to the rhythm of a sea of excitement. Daniel’s tickets were for the sixth-row center.
With a quick glance over her shoulder at her mother, Lizzie carefully and quickly maneuvered her way into the row of seats first. Daniel waited politely while Alex went in next, and then he followed. When they were settled, Alex pretended to look at her playbill, though she wasn’t focusing on any of the words.
Only an hour and a half ago, Lizzie had lain on Alex’s bed as Alex dressed in her basic black sheath and rhinestone-studded heels. She added a black-and-white bolero jacket at the last moment. “I guess this will do,” she’d said to her daughter.
“It’s nice,” Lizzie said. “But why don’t you wear a scarf instead of that jacket?”
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