But the hours ticked by and he
didn’t
show up. When she glanced at the clock and saw it was after four, she realized the picnic plans would definitely have to be put off for another day.
She also realized she was hungry. She’d shopped for their special, romantic meal and hadn’t bought much in the way of groceries. Having no real food in the house, she decided to head into town and grab a bite to eat at one of the diners.
Not having heard from Mike, and assuming he was hanging out with his family, she didn’t want to go to the diner on Main Street. That was too close to his place and if she happened to end up at the same restaurant, it might seem too much like she was spying. Or merely desperate.
When she pulled into the parking lot of the diner just south of town a half hour later, she realized it was a good thing she’d come so early. She had heard stories about how the summer tourists filled every corner of the island from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Now she had proof. The roads were busy, the parking lots full. Tourists streamed into and out of the shops and several groups were awaiting tables in the diner.
Deciding to just order something to go, she walked up to the counter. But before she even caught a waitress’s attention, she heard her name.
“Lindsey!”
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Mike waving from across the crowded eatery. He sat with two
extremely
good-looking, dark-haired men, and two very pretty brunettes.
Mike got up and came over to her, maneuvering his way through the crowd. She noted how relaxed and happy he looked. Having his family visit had done him a lot of good. If she’d had any family she wanted to claim, she supposed she would feel the same way.
“Hi,” she said when he reached her.
“Hi. I tried to call you at the cottage a few minutes ago.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. My cousins and their wives have been harassing me and calling me the worst guy in the world for not inviting you to join us for dinner. They’re heading back on the seven o’clock ferry and really wanted to meet you.” He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “I couldn’t really explain...”
That they were secret lovers? That this was supposed to be a short-term fling, and she and Mike might not see each other again once she left the island in another week?
Oh, God, the very thought of that stabbed her in the heart. She was shocked to find moisture in her eyes, and blinked rapidly to keep him from noticing it.
What was happening to her? If just the idea of losing Mike was enough to make her tear up—yes, she, Lindsey, who never cried—what on earth was going to happen when she actually had to leave here? When reality came knocking and she stopped having the luxury of a secret affair with the man of her dreams, and instead had to return to her competitive job and her high-stress life. How would she possibly survive? Most of all, how would she survive
without him?
“Hey, are you okay?” He took her arm, obviously concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she insisted, not wanting to reveal how fragile she was feeling. “I’m fine.”
Across the restaurant, she noticed four faces watching them avidly. Their heads came together to whisper, and they all offered her welcoming smiles and gestures. It appeared they really did want her to join them.
And suddenly, she wanted to. She was so tired of sneaking around, never being able to risk a smile at him for fear it would be correctly interpreted. Never able to show that she and Mike had more than a passing acquaintance, though she knew him more intimately than she’d ever known anyone in her life. She was sick of all of it.
“Yes, Mike, I’d love to join you,” she said, making her decision. Then, just as quickly, she backpedaled a little. “I mean, as long as it’s okay with you.”
“Are you kidding?” he asked, giving her a disbelieving look. “I’d love it. And for what it’s worth, nearly all the people in this restaurant are outsiders. Other than the waitresses, I don’t recognize any locals.”
Oh. So he
was
still worried about that.
She sighed inwardly, knowing it wasn’t fair to be bothered by it. Mike was just playing by the rules she, herself, had laid down. Perhaps as the end of his six-month probationary period drew closer, he was becoming more concerned about keeping his job. He wouldn’t want any kind of scandal or gossip to interfere with that, especially since he’d already made an enemy of Mrs. Franklin over her book.
“Come on, we have an extra chair already.”
With his hand on the small of her back, he led her through the crowded place. Lindsey’s steps slowed the closer they got.
The whole family thing had sounded fine a minute ago. Now, though, she had begun to feel like an inmate walking toward an execution.
This was so far out of her realm of experience. She had never once been introduced to the family of someone she was dating. And of course she’d never introduced hers to anyone.
The closest she’d come to having a family was when she’d been with Callie and her parents. Even then, she’d always been aware that she was an outsider. She’d never quite fit in. This close-knit Italian clan would take one look at her and realize she was not the right woman for Mike—not warm enough, not nice enough, not loving enough.
Wrong, wrong, wrong
.
“Linds?” he asked, as if sensing her tension. He leaned close to whisper, “It’ll be fine. They’re obnoxious but they’re also pretty great.”
Licking her lips and nodding, she let him pull out her chair then sat down. Mike introduced her to his cousins and their wives, and all four of them immediately tried to make her comfortable, just chatting and including her in their conversations. She listened quietly for a little while, though she waited for them to make her the full focus of their attention.
It didn’t take long.
“So, Lindsey, Mike says you met on the ferry?” said Noelle, Mark’s wife, who’d said she worked for a children’s charity organization in Chicago.
“Yes, on the day I first moved to the island.” She blew out a hard breath. “It was absolutely miserable, and he pretty much stopped me from leaping overboard.”
“I
know,
right?” said Izzie, who had one of those big, sexy personalities that drew the eyes of everyone in the room. Her formfitting shirt and tight cropped pants emphasized a va-va-voom figure, but she seemed so down to earth that Lindsey couldn’t help but like her. “I thought I was going to be sick all the way over.”
“And it’s beautiful out,” Mike interjected. “You should have come over on a stormy day in April.”
“Thanks but no thanks,” his cousin’s wife said.
Noelle’s turn to ask the next question. “And you’re substitute teaching for your friend, whose baby is in the hospital?”
Lindsey cast a quick glance at Mike. Obviously he’d been talking about her to his family. A lot.
He shrugged sheepishly, a sexy grin on his face. Oh, lord, a woman could forgive the man anything when he gave her that smile.
“Yes, I am.”
“How’s the baby doing?”
“Beautifully,” she said, probably sounding as relieved as she felt after each conversation she had with Callie. “The doctors say they’re going to let him come home next week. Callie and her husband are beyond thrilled.”
And she was thrilled for them. She had gotten together with Billy last week, and realized why Callie was so crazy about him. It was quite obvious that he adored Callie, and that made him good enough in Lindsey’s book.
She’d also taken the ferry over to visit Callie, Billy and the baby at the hospital. The young couple was stressed to the limits of any parents’ endurance, but they were still so hopeful for the future and so trusting that their son would be all right. Whenever she thought about her life, and the choices she’d made, she was reminded that she would never regret this small sacrifice that helped set her friends’ minds at ease.
Of course, how could she ever regret it when it had brought Mike into her world?
“What I want to know,” Nick said with a half smirk, “is how on earth did this ugly SOB ever talk you into going out with him?”
Her back stiffened. The others laughed, and she realized this good-natured joshing was all routine to them. Mike rolled his eyes, taking no offense. It was all just part of the family dynamic.
“Actually, it sort of started when he came to my door in an official capacity.” Pasting an innocent expression on her face, she glanced at Mike. “Remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” he told her, those brown eyes twinkling. “Lindsey dropped something in the municipal parking lot and caused quite a stir when a teenager found it.”
“What did you drop?” asked Izzie, looking titillated. “It wasn’t your underwear, was it?”
She laughed out loud. “Of course not. How would I drop my underwear in a public parking lot?”
“My wife is capable of dropping her underwear in many places.”
Izzie reached across the table and punched Nick in the shoulder. He grinned, apparently well used to it.
“It was just a book.”
Mike looked around the crowded diner, which was so loud it was hard to hear the person next to you, much less somebody at the next table. Still, to be safe, he leaned in and lowered his voice. “A very steamy book.”
“I love romance novels,” said Noelle with a happy sigh.
“Not that kind,” Lindsey said. Heat rose in her face and she wished she’d never started this conversation. “It was, uh, a copy of the
Kama Sutra,
” she admitted.
Izzie squealed, Nick and Mark both burst into laughter and Noelle giggled into her hand. Lindsey laughed with them, finding herself liking this quartet a lot. She wondered if Mike’s brothers were similar to Nick and Mark, and suspected they were.
“Now, give me some dirt,” she said. “What was Mike like as a little boy.”
“A pain in the ass,” said Nick with a shrug.
“Nah,” said Mark, “he was cute. Rafe was closer to our age, but we usually let Leo and Mikey tag along on our escapades.”
“Leo’s the middle brother?”
“Yeah,” said Mike.
“Leonardo,” said Nick. He crossed his arms, gave his cousin a sly look and added, “Raphael’s the oldest, and Michelangelo here is the baby.”
The waitress had just brought Lindsey a glass of water, and she’d been about to put it to her mouth. But she slowly lowered it, staring at Nick, then at Mike.
He just groaned, glaring at his older cousin.
“Are you serious? Your name is Michelangelo?”
A heavy sigh, then he admitted, “Yeah.”
“And your brothers are Leonardo and Raphael?”
She was about to ask if his family had a big thing for art when Nick spoke again. “Didn’t he ever mention that his parents had an obsession with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”
“How many times do I have to threaten your life before you stop telling people that?” asked Mike through a pasted-on smile.
Lindsey, who vaguely remembered the cartoon characters, had been trying to puzzle out the dates when she realized Nick was again yanking Mike’s chain. Feeling stupid, she slapped herself on the forehead. She was often accused of taking things too literally.
Maybe well justified
.
“Behave, boys, or we’ll tattle to your moms,” said Izzie.
“What will you do once you’ve finished the substitute teaching job, Lindsey?” asked Mark, who resembled Mike more than his twin did. Though they both had the big, solid build, incredibly broad shoulders and powerful chests.
“I’m not sure. I’m playing that by ear,” she said.
That was true. She had talked to one of the partners at the clinic last week, and he’d admitted that they really missed her. But since he’d also admitted that the senior partner was still very unhappy about that whole
Today
show thing, it may not have been long enough for them to welcome her back.
“But you’ll be returning to Chicago, right?” asked Izzie, who was exchanging knowing glances with her husband.
“I’m certain I will.”
“Oh, how nice. Too bad Mike doesn’t live there anymore,” said Izzie. “He just can’t stand the city, now that he’s all about small-town life and white picket fences. He’s found heaven, I guess.”
“White picket fences?” she asked, totally confused.
Mike was shaking his head, muttering under his breath about his pushy family.
“Is there something going on?” Lindsey asked.
“Yeah, my cousins are using
your
tricks and pulling some reverse psychology on me,” he said.
“Your tricks?” Nick asked, suddenly very alert. “What’s that mean?”
Mike sent her an apologetic wince, and she realized he hadn’t meant to reveal that bit of personal information. Sensing that being secretive would make it an even bigger deal, she shrugged it off and tried to sound blasé. “I’m not a teacher, really, I’m a psychologist.”
“Yeah, that’s Dr. Smith to you,” Mike said, dropping a hand on her shoulder as if showing the others he was proud of her.
It was a sweet gesture. Kinda nice and protective. Then again, that was Mike. Superprotective. She just wondered if he had any protective instincts when it came to his own well-being. If he did, he probably wouldn’t have gotten involved with a woman who was a tabloid scandal. Oh, and one who wasn’t even sure she was capable of letting anyone close enough to maintain a long-term relationship.
“Oh, my God!” Noelle said, her voice raised in surprise. Her mouth fell open as she stared at Lindsey. Her eyes had grown huge in her face, and she appeared stunned. “It’s
you
. You’re
the
Dr. Lindsey Smith!”
Lindsey grimaced, trying to shrink down in her seat.
“Shh,” Mike hissed. “That’s not common knowledge around here.”
Blanching, his cousin-in-law immediately stammered her apologizes. “I’m so sorry. It’s just, I was trying to figure out why you looked familiar to me. I didn’t put it together until he mentioned you were a doctor.”
“All right, what’s going on?” asked Izzie. “What are we missing? Who is she?”
Noelle leaned closer to her sister-in-law and whispered, “The Thinkgasm.”
Across the table, Mark and Nick both perked up, glancing at each other and then back at their wives. Lindsey wanted to sink into the floor since Noelle’s wording had made it sound as if she, Lindsey,
was
something called a Thinkgasm. God, could this get any worse?