It's a Love Thing (45 page)

“
Hi, Drake. Anytime you
want to get out of the salty sea and into some fresh water, just
come by and you can use the pool.”

“
Thanks,” he
muttered.

“
How’s Kevin?” Megan
asked.

“
A jerk, as usual,” Sandy
said angrily. “Tell me why I put up with his crap.”

“
You love him?” Megan
ventured.

“
Yeah,” Sandy sighed,
looking off dreamily. She turned her gaze back to Megan. “You home
for good?”

“
Nope, just the summer.
Then I go back.”

Drake’s gaze jerked to Megan. He
continued to stare at her as Sandy walked away after they finished
their conversation.

“
What?” she said, catching
his look.

“
Go back where?” he
asked.

“
School.”

“
You’re in school?” Drake
was incredulous. He’d thought she might be younger than him, but .
. . “How old
are
you?”

“
I’m in college, Drake.
I’ll be a senior this fall.” She leaned forward, “That makes me
twenty-one, almost twenty-two in case you’re still trying to do the
math.”

“
Thanks,” he said
sarcastically. “So where do you go to school?”

She let out a breath, looking at him
as if deciding if she should tell him. Was she afraid he’d stalk
her there? “Harvard,” she admitted, then quickly held a hand up.
“Don’t make fun of me. I worked really hard to get into
Harvard.”

He shook his head. “Why would I make
fun of you? You have to be really smart to get into Harvard, right?
I think that’s cool.”

Megan smiled, her cheeks
pinkening.”I’m sorry. I assumed you’d think it was kind of . . .
snobby or something, I guess.”

Drake thought back to his initial
assessment of their beach house. He couldn’t really blame her for
thinking someone like him would make fun of a Harvard attendee. Not
so long ago, he would have. “What are you studying?” he
asked.

She glanced away as she said,
“Law.”

“
Law?” he repeated. “As in,
you’re going to be a lawyer?”

She nodded and brought her gaze back
to his. He was suddenly struck with a sense of recognition as he
looked into her blue eyes. He wondered if he’d ever had occasion to
run into her at some point in his life. He doubted it. He’d never
been to California until a few years ago, just before his arrest.
And he’d been in juvie during her time at Harvard. Not that he’d
ever been to . . . Boston, or wherever it was anyway.

“
Maybe I can avail myself
of your services someday,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes as she studied
him, and he shifted uncomfortably under her perusal. “No, I don’t
think so,” she said slowly. “I don’t think you’ll need my help, or
anyone else’s, again.”

“
What do you mean?” he
heard himself ask, not sure he wanted the answer.

“
You were referred
specifically to my dad, right?”

Drake shrugged. He just went where
they’d told him to go and didn’t ask questions.

“
My dad doesn’t take on a
lot of new . . . um, parolees.” She looked uncomfortable with the
word, but Drake couldn’t exactly argue it. “They only send him ones
that are special cases.”

Okay, Drake didn’t
like
that
phrase.
“Special cases?”

“
Yeah, guys—or sometimes
girls—who are really good people but maybe just lost their way, and
maybe they just need someone to remind them of their true
value.”

Drake pushed away from the table and
strode from the store. He expected her to come after him, he really
did. But when he’d gone two blocks and she hadn’t caught up to him,
he dared a glance behind. She was nowhere to be seen.

He kept walking, no destination in
mind, just wanting to walk off some of the anger that came with her
words. Lost his way? Needed reminding of his value? So he was
nothing more than a charity case! Thought they could fix him by
sending him to surfer-dude and his far-too-attractive daughter as
the recipient of their good will. Well, he’d been victim to too
many do-gooders. He wasn’t about to fall for more.

He stopped, placing his hands on his
hips as he glanced around. He wasn’t really sure where he was. But
he figured he could just head toward the ocean and backtrack if he
couldn’t find his way home. As he looked around, he saw across the
street a place called “Seaside Rentals”. He wasn’t sure what they
rented, but in the window was a sign. Help Wanted.

Without any more thought, he began
across the street. Squealing tires brought the front bumper of a
beat up old Chevy to within inches of his legs. His heart pounding,
he glanced up at the driver. An old man leaned out the
window.

“
You okay?” the driver
called.

“
I’m fine,” Drake said.
“Sorry.”

The man waved back, surprising Drake
with his lack of a lecture. He waited until Drake made it safely to
the other sidewalk, then honked and drove away. Drake looked
around. It would be just his luck that Tom would be nearby and bust
him for jaywalking. He didn’t see many people, and no one was
looking his way, so he decided he was safe.

He walked into the store, and saw the
place filled with about ten mopeds. He walked up to the unmanned
counter and tapped the top of the little silver bell.

“
I’m coming,” he heard a
gruff female voice yell from somewhere behind the door at the rear
of the counter. Soon, a woman appeared. She was older, broad and
sturdy, her long gray hair pulled haphazardly back into a ponytail.
Drake sized her up. No doubt she could kick his butt if he crossed
her.

“
Can I help you?” she
asked, pasting a pleasant but forced smile on her face. Drake could
see how frazzled she was behind the faux smile.

“
I’m hoping I can help
you,” he said, waving a hand toward the sign. “I need a
job.”

The woman stood a little taller,
glancing him over from toes to the top of his head. Drake remained
steady while she did so. “You know how to work on these things?”
she asked, pointing to the mopeds.

“
I know how to work on
bikes. I’d guess I probably could.”

“
You got good people
skills?”

Drake wanted to say,
Compared to you?
Instead,
he said, “I do when I need to.”

That brought a small smile to her
face. “You definitely got the looks that will please people,” she
said, and Drake could swear he blushed. “When can you
start?”

“
Uh, now,” he said. “Don’t
you want to have me fill out an application or interview
me?”

“
Whatta ya think I just
did?”

“
Oh.” Drake shuffled.
“Well, there’s something I need to tell you before you hire me. Um,
I’m new in town, because . . . well, I . . . Tom Martin is
my—”

“
You planning to rob me?”
she interrupted.

“
No, of course
not.”

“
Are you going to try to
sabotage my business, or hurt me?”

“
No.”

“
Then that’s all I need to
know,” she said, walking around the counter. She held a hand out to
him. “My name is Andrea. C’mon, I’ll show you around.”

“
Uh, I’m Drake,” he said,
hurrying after her since she’d already started back around the
counter. He followed as she showed him around, explaining how she
ran her business, what she charged, how to make deals with the
tourists so they felt they were getting a deal but she wasn’t
“losing my pants” in the process. By the time she finished with the
tour, Drake admired Andrea. She was no-nonsense and straight
forward. She expected Drake to show up when he was scheduled and do
his job. Nothing more, nothing less.

He walked out of the rental store with
somewhere to go the next morning, and feeling more relaxed than he
had since arriving in this ocean side town.

*****

“
Knock-knock.” Megan
accompanied the word with the action. Drake turned from the sink to
see her standing at his doorway. He waved her in.

“
Hey,” she said as she
entered.

“
Hey,” Drake said without
turning her way, finishing washing the dishes.

“
Came to say I’m sorry,”
she said.

Drake turned at that. “For
what?”

“
For upsetting
you.”

Drake grimaced. “Don’t ever apologize
for being honest. There’s far too little honesty in the world as it
is.”

Megan nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn’t
mean I have the right to upset someone with my honesty.”

Drake walked to the fridge and pulled
out the pitcher of lemonade brought to him by his neighbor, Mrs.
Wattley. He poured two glasses and walked to the table, setting
them down.

“
Have a seat,” he said. She
walked over, sliding gracefully into the chair next to him. “You
didn’t upset me.”

“
Really?” she asked, taking
a sip of the lemonade. “Mrs. Wattley?” she asked, indicating the
lemonade. When he nodded, she said, “She makes the best lemonade
around. She won’t share her secret, though. Do you always walk away
from people when you’re not upset?”

Drake stared at her at the abrupt
change of topic. “No.”

“
So you were
upset?”

“
Yes, but I’m not now. I
mean, I shouldn’t have been then. I guess I should be grateful for
anyone thinking I might be worth a shot. No matter how wrong they
are.” Drake muttered the last line, hoping she wouldn’t
hear.

She was silent for a few minutes,
then, “You ever going to let me ride your bike?”

Drake set down the glass that he’d
just been about to take a sip from. “No.”

“
C’mon. I’m a good
rider.”

“
So you say. I’m not going
to take someone’s word for it and let them on my
Harley.”

“
Let’s go for a ride then,
and you can ride my bike and see how good I ride.”

Drake laughed. “No way. I
have no control over what you’re doing on
my
bike if I’m on yours.”

“
Fine,” she said, leaning
back in her chair and pouting. “I’ll ride mine, then, and you can
follow and watch me, and make a decision then.”

There was no way Drake was going to
let her ride his bike, but he could definitely use a ride right
now. He hadn’t been on the bike for a few days, and he was ready.
“Okay,” he said, and Megan lit up. She jumped up from her
chair.

“
Okay, I’ll go get ready
and you can meet me at my house as soon as you’re
ready.”

She didn’t wait for a response, just
hurried down the beach toward her own place. Drake sighed and got
up to change from his shorts and flip-flops into his riding gear.
He’d never admit it, but he was stoked just to go ride somewhere
away from this place.

When he got to the Martin’s, she was
already out front, dressed in black chaps and a pink leather
jacket. He rolled his eyes. Pink? At least her helmet was black.
She was wiping down her bike with a yellow rag as he came to a
stop.

“
Ready?” he
asked.

She nodded and tossed the rag back in
the general direction of the bungalow, swinging a leg over the bike
and pulling it upright in one smooth motion. She started the bike,
which could barely be heard above the rumble of the Harley’s
engine. She glanced back at him and at his nod, she began to
move.

She headed away from town, in the same
direction Drake had come into town. He knew this road. It was a
good one for a ride. But then she surprised him, taking a turn and
leading him up higher on the hillside. Once they reached the top,
another road stretched out in front of them that ran along the edge
of the hill, giving them a perfect view of the ocean.

Drake wanted to look at the view, but
he couldn’t take his eyes off Megan. She rode as well as anyone
he’d seen, relaxed and comfortable in her seat, her bike staying
true even in the sharp turns. After they’d gone a ways, she pulled
over onto an overlook and stopped her bike. Drake pulled up next to
her and killed the engine. Megan pulled her helmet off, a grin on
her face, looking flushed and happy.

“
Isn’t that a great ride?”
she asked him.

“
It is,” he
agreed.

“
Ready to let me ride your
bike yet?” she asked.

“
No.” His refusal was less
sure than it had been earlier.

“
What if you rode on the
back?” she asked, cocking her head.

“
You can ride with a
rider?” he asked, surprised.

“
Sure,” she said. “I give
others rides all the time.”

“
My bike’s a lot heavier
than yours,” he said.

“
Yeah, but the weight sits
lower, so it’ll ride smoother.”

Drake shook his head at the amazing
Megan.

“
The road that way,” she
said, pointing toward the road that continued from where they’d
stopped, “is pretty straight. I’ll just take you for a little ways,
and then we’ll come back.”