Echoes of Summer (13 page)

Milo looked at the two of them then asked, “Are you getting married?”

Madison’s mouth dropped open, and her head whipped around to look at Stephen with what he could only describe as panic. She shook her head. “No, Milo. We’re not getting married.” She turned to the stove and started stirring, ignoring the looks directed at her.

“Then why were you kissing?” Milo asked, fixing his gaze on Stephen.

Stephen took a slow breath, wondering how on earth to answer that question. He looked at Madison’s back. “It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.” But with that question in the air, did Milo expect them to be together? He wasn’t ready for marriage. Not right away. He wanted to make sure they could make things work. Would she give him a chance?

Madison turned to meet his gaze, and Milo, apparently accepting that answer, moved over to the table and pulled out his chair. “Is dinner ready? I’m hungry.”

***

Madison looked at the two men at her table: her little man she’d loved all alone for so long and the grown man she’d loved and cried over so many times. And now they were together, but just not whole. And that kiss. What did it mean? Had he only kissed her because it felt right? Was there any commitment to it? Because she was not willing to go into this just for fun. If she let him into her heart again, she wouldn’t let him go. It had hurt too much the first time to lose him.

Right now, Milo’s interactions and relationship with Stephen needed to come first. She couldn’t do anything to jeopardize their connection. Milo needed to know he was important to both his parents, and if they were too busy with each other, he might fall by the wayside, and she didn’t want that.

Chapter Twenty

Friday morning, Steven poked his head in Madison’s office door but didn’t need to knock to get her attention. It was as if she had felt him there and looked up just as he arrived.

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

Madison tilted her head to the side as if she didn’t trust his question or the chipper way he’d said it. “No.”

“I was wondering what you’d think about doing a movie in. We could do my place or yours.” Stephen had hoped she’d say his but wasn’t surprised when she answered with a question.

“What movie and is Milo invited?”

“For sure. I need to introduce the kid to
Star Wars.
Can’t have a birthday like that and not know about
the force
.” Stephen grinned at the mix of amusement on her face.

“I suppose. He’s not too young to see that. From what I remember, it doesn’t have too much violence in it, right?” Madison met his eye.

Stephen wondered if he should remind her about all the spaceships blowing up and the off-screen murders happening. “Yeah, totally appropriate for that age. A little bit of action and explosions, but it’s all good.”

“Okay,” Madison agreed. “But I think my place is better. That way I can still get him to bed on time. When should we start?”

Stephen quickly counted back the time in his head. The movie was about two hours, and if he needed to get it done so Milo could go to bed, it would need to start at seven. But he also hoped she’d invite him to stay for a double feature, since he would bring another movie for just the two of them, a romantic comedy he’d overheard her talking about to Kathryn, Mr. Carlson’s secretary.

“Is six or six-thirty too early? Or too late?”

“No, that should be fine. It’ll give us time to eat dinner and pop some popcorn.” She looked up at him. “Do you want to eat with us too?”

Stephen paused for a moment, not sure what to say. If he got there early to eat, would she push him out before the second movie?

“Milo would love to have you come again,” Madison added.

Stephen didn’t want to disappoint the boy, but also didn’t want to overstay his welcome or make her cook for him.

“What if I brought pizza?”

Madison smiled. “Chicago?”

“Absolutely.” Stephen pictured her eating it the way they’d done that first night he’d started working here. He hoped she’d make those same little noises as well.

“Sounds great. We’ll see you at six then.”

Stephen saluted as he left, falling back to the way he’d often said goodbye to her back in King, Montana. She saluted back, and he walked away with a smile on his face.

***

Madison hurried to her sister’s house to pick up Milo. She’d told Karen Thursday morning about the kiss Wednesday night so if Milo mentioned it, Karen wouldn’t call her at work. It had been hard to get her to stop asking questions long enough for Madison to leave to make it to the office in time. She’d promised to tell her more about it after work since Karen had needed to rush her kids to soccer practice the night before, but Madison was sure Karen would let her hold off on all the details because of the pizza date with Stephen in a few hours.

When she pulled up to the driveway, both Karen and Milo were standing on the front porch. Madison waved and got out of the car. “Hey kiddo, grab your stuff quick. We’re watching a movie tonight with Stephen.”

Milo clapped his hands together then turned on his heels and rushed into the house.

Karen’s eyes widened, and she gave Madison a long look. She glanced back into the house, not even bothering to close her door, and walked down the steps to meet Madison.

“A movie tonight, huh, and Milo’s coming too?”

“It will be at my house. Stephen wants to show Milo
Star Wars
because of his birthday.”

“Oh, right. May the fourth be with you.” Karen nodded.

“You know about that too?”

Karen giggled. “Jason’s a bit of a closet geek.”

“I can see that in him, I guess.” Madison smiled.

Milo bolted out the door with his backpack and stuff ready to go then joined them at the car and climbed in.

“Hurry, Mom.”

Karen leveled her gaze at her sister. “You’d better tell me everything.”

“Okay.” Madison shrugged. “But if you want to know about the movie, I’m sure you could convince Jason to see it.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“There won’t be anything to tell,” Madison insisted. “It’s just a movie. And Milo will be there with us.”

“Milo was there Wednesday too. That doesn’t mean anything.”

Madison glanced at her son in the car. “It was a good thing he was there.” She took a slow breath and whispered, “I didn’t want the kiss to end.”

“Good for you. You need a little romance in your life.”

Madison shook her head. “No, I need stability and commitment.”

Karen placed her hand on Madison’s shoulder. “Sometimes they can come from the same person.”

“Not so far.” Madison frowned.

“Give it a chance this time. Who knows what might happen if you let it.”

Madison nodded thoughtfully. That was what she was afraid of.

***

Stephen knocked on the door, and this time Madison opened it. She smiled at him and welcomed him into the house. He wondered for a second if she was happier to see him or the huge pizza box he held.

“It’s still hot. You ready to eat now?”

“Yes!” Milo hollered from the other room.

Madison giggled and shook her head gently then led him into her kitchen. She’d set the table and had a salad made and a pitcher full of some kind of juice. Milo volunteered to pray and was so quick Stephen wondered how long the kid had been waiting to eat. The second he said amen, he opened the box and pulled out a slice.

Milo placed most of it on his plate, only losing a few of the toppings, then proceeded to pick off the things he didn’t like. Madison quickly scooped up the topping he’d discarded and added them to her slice. She ate it with a fork this time and didn’t moan like she’d done before, but Stephen still watched her eat.

She savored every bite, enjoying the pleasure of the food. It was good to see such a healthy appetite. It made him sure she was the kind to enjoy other things in life.

They chatted happily over dinner, and Stephen helped clean up the table while Madison wrapped the remaining pizza in some tinfoil, separating some into helpings for her to keep and some to send home with Stephen.

“Can I put the movie in, Mom?” Milo asked.

Madison glanced at Stephen. “Is that okay?”

Stephen nodded.

Madison turned to Milo. “Make sure you open the case carefully. Don’t break the disk.”

“I won’t. I know how to do it now.”

Stephen hadn’t even considered there might be possible damage. Milo moved into the front room. He opened the DVD case and carefully popped the disk out. He slid it into the player and then did a running jump onto the loveseat, leaving the couch open. Stephen mentally thanked the boy and hoped Milo wouldn’t question if Stephen sat close to Madison. If he could convince her to let him.

“Should I push play?” Milo asked.

“In a second,” Madison said. She pulled out an air popper and a bag of popcorn kernels.

Even though Stephen had just had two slices of pizza, his mouth watered at the thought of fresh popcorn. She looked at Stephen. “Could you get a stick of butter out of the fridge? Top shelf inside the door.”

They worked together to the sound of the popper and had it ready and joined Milo in the front room before he’d asked more than a dozen times about when he could press start.

“Now?” He looked at Madison, and when she nodded, he pointed the remote at the television and started the show. As the familiar music filled the room and the words scrolled up the screen, Stephen glanced at Milo, who had leaned forward, staring at the words intently. He wasn’t sure how much a seven-year-old could read, so Stephen lowered his voice and read the words in his best movie voice-over voice.

“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base…” Stephen continued reading the lines, and Milo grinned at him.

As the movie began, Stephen answered a few questions Milo had about the show until Madison shushed him. “You can ask questions afterward. Just watch and see if the movie answers it for you.”

Milo leaned back and pulled the little throw blanket onto his legs and started munching on the bowl of popcorn Madison had given him. She’d placed the other bowl between them, making Stephen just a little disappointed since there wasn’t a sneaky way to move over closer to her with it there.

After a few minutes, Milo asked for seconds, so Stephen took the large bowl from the couch and passed it over so he could refill his bowl. When the kid was done, Stephen left it on the end table next to him then glanced at Madison.

“Did you want any more?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m stuffed.”

He smiled inwardly. Now that obstacle was out of the way, he just had to decide what kind of move to make. She was leaning against the armrest of the other side, with her bare feet tucked under her legs and a couch pillow on her lap.

The last time they’d watched this movie together, she had been leaning up against him with her legs tucked under her on the other side.

She shifted a few times as if trying to get comfortable, and tilted her head from side to side. He watched her, noticing she kept rolling her shoulders and stretching the back of her neck.

“You feeling okay?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah, just a little bit of a stiff neck. Probably from bending over a laptop so much.”

“I could help. I’ve been told I have magic fingers.” Stephen wiggled his fingers at her, smiling when she smiled back. She was the one who had told him his fingers were magic when he used to rub her neck before. He reached for her hand and pulled her toward him. She relented and moved forward then climbed off the couch and put the pillow on the floor at his feet.

He spread his knees open to give her room to sit between them, and she gracefully sat on the floor, her back to him. She reached up and grabbed her hair, twisting it quickly into a bun and tucking the ends underneath to hold it out of the way.

Stephen examined her graceful neck, exposed by her loose, off-the-shoulder shirt. The collar came down in a gentle curve, revealing part of her shoulders, giving him a hint her bra was pink.

He pressed his fingers firmly but gently on the base of her skull. Madison sighed, and Stephen’s chest tightened again. She had no idea what those sounds did to him, but he wanted to hear more of them, so he began working his magic, still very aware there was a child on the love seat next to them.

Chapter Twenty-one

Madison sighed. Stephen really did have magic fingers. The knots that had plagued her for days were finally loosening, and she thought she might actually get rid of the strain of the last few days. It was nice that the man who had put those knots there in the first place was taking them away.

He’d been working on the achy muscles for at least ten minutes and didn’t show any signs of stopping. She wasn’t going to tell him to quit either. He was better than a paid masseuse. Stephen moved from the base of her skull and the tight muscles around her spine to the shoulders, gently kneading them.