OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE (20 page)

“We didn’t pick up any men if that’s what you’re asking.  We had appetizers and a few drinks and then went home.”  Make that a few too many drinks.

“I had hoped you might have met someone last night,” her mother said with a disappointed sigh.  “You didn’t wear that high-neck blouse you always like to wear.  The color doesn’t—”

“Mom, I have to get back to work
,” Kelsie muttered, in no mood to hear about her clearly unsexy fashion choices.

“Alright. 
We’ll talk more tonight.  Maybe over dinner.”

“Can’t.
” 
Thank goodness.
  “I have patients scheduled until eight.”

“You work too hard.  How are you ever going to find Mr. Right working some of the hours you do?”

“Bye, Mom.” 

“Bye, honey.”

She hung up with a groan.

“What’s wrong?” Doctor Andy asked as he stepped into
his office.

“What else?” she replied.  “My mother. 
She’s pushing me past my mental limits.”

“It’s their job
,” he told her with a grin.  “My mother used to make unannounced visits to my apartment when I was in dental school to do my laundry, dishes, whatever needed cleaning.  She’s a clean freak.”

Was he for real? 
“How can you compare that to what my mother does?”

“You seemed to
be missing the key word in my story –
unannounced
.  One day she walked in on me and a girl I was dating at the time.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“We were in bed.”

“No,” she gasped.

“Yes,” he said with a chuckle.  He walked over to stand at the window.  “I don’t know who was more shocked.  Her or us.”

“
Oh my God, how embarrassing,” she groaned.  “What did your mother do?”

He turned, leaning back against the windowsill
, arms crossed.  “She grabbed my dirty clothes basket and announced she would be doing my laundry back at her house.  She told me I could pick it up there whenever I had time.  It was the last time she ever did one of her impromptu housecleaning runs to my place.  You should try it.”

She snorted.  “Are you serious?  H
ave
my
mother find me in bed with a guy?”

“Okay, maybe not the best way to get her to back off.”

Kelsie shook her head.  “Not at all.  My mother would be ready to marry me off to the guy.”  Sighing softly, she stood and rounded his desk, pausing at the door.  “If you don’t mind my asking, whatever happened to the girl your mom walked in on you with?”

“I married her.”

“Your mom walked in on you and Lisa?”  Okay, so maybe she wasn’t the only person in the world who had to deal with awkward situations brought on by a parent.

“Kelsie,
” Nanci said, joining them in the doorway, “Mrs. Jenkins is here.”

She glanced
down at her watch and then back at her friend.  “She’s early.”

Nanci nodded.

“Well, back to work.”  She turned to Andy who was settling in behind his desk.  “Thanks for the talk.”

“Any time.”

“You okay?” Nanci asked as she walked with her down the hallway toward the waiting room door.

“
I’ve had better days.”  Take away her mother’s endless prodding to find a man, her Ultimate Colada hangover, and Cole’s ability to make her do something so foolish as to risk her heart again, and her life would be unbelievably perfect. 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Cole
tapped his fingers nervously on the menu in front of him, glancing at the clock on his cell phone for the fifth time.  She should be there any minute. 

The thought had barely formed in his mind when the bell over the diner door jingled, drawing his gaze that
direction.

She’d come.

He stood up from the chair he’d been seated in and extended his hand.  “I appreciate your taking the time to meet with me.”

Melinda Collins smiled
, slipping her hand into his.  “I’m so glad you called.”

“I wasn’t sure where else to turn
,” he answered honestly, the frustration clear in his voice.

“Well, I’m glad you turned my way
,” she said as he helped her into the chair across from his.  “You said on the phone you wanted to talk to me about my daughter.”

When he’d first dialed Melinda’s number, he
had to admit he’d had second thoughts.  But his determination to win Kelsie over overrode any of the doubts plaguing him.  “She doesn’t know I called you,” he admitted as he returned to his seat.  “I think you should know that up front.”

“
Honesty,” she murmured.  “A good trait in a man.  Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“
I want to take your daughter out on a date again.”

“Shouldn’t you be asking her instead?”

“I would, but you and I both know how Kelsie feels about having a man in her life.”

Her smile sagged.  “I keep hoping she’ll get past
that.”

“
You and me both.”

“
I’m glad you’re not giving up on her,” she said, looking up at him with eyes the same shade of green as Kelsie’s.  “She really likes you.”

“I like her
, too.  A lot.  That’s why I need your help.” 

“
You want me to ask her for you?”

“Sort of
,” he admitted.  “But she can’t know it’s me who’s wanting to take her out.”

She arched a
neatly plucked brow.  “You want me to lie to her?”

“
Absolutely not,” he said without hesitation.  “You can tell her a guy called Max wants to take her out.  That’s what some of the guys call me.”

She nodded in understanding.  “Short for Maxwell.”

“As far as Kelsie will know it’ll be just another blind date.”

Melinda Collins’ smile widened. 
“I can do that.  So what’s your plan?”

“
The station’s annual summer picnic is coming up next weekend and I’d really like to take your daughter to it.”

“Is this going to be a masked picnic?”

He laughed.  “No.”

“But s
he’ll know who you are the second she sees you there.”

“The plan has its flaws.  As long as
you can help me get her to the picnic, I’ll take it from there.”

She
studied him for a long moment.

Had he made a mistake asking her to help him? 
“If you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand.”

“Not on your life,” she replied, waving the suggestion away with a slender, manicured hand.  “
I’d do anything to see my daughter truly happy again and I think you might be the man to make that happen.”

“I know I am,” he told her.  He’d never meant anything more.  “Now all I have to do is convince your daughter of that.”

*              *              *

Kelsie
turned into Nanci’s drive, waving to her friend who stood waiting on the front porch.

Nanci practically flew to the car.  An amazing feat considering the height of the heels her friend was wearing.  Then again, she was used to wearing ‘hooker’ pumps.  The higher the heel the better.

“A little hungry?” Kelsie asked with a grin as her friend settled into the passenger seat beside her.

“Starving
.  Especially for your mom’s cooking.  I’m so glad she still invites me over.”

“Why wouldn’t she?  It’s a family dinner and you’re family.”

“Don’t go getting me all teary-eyed.” She made like she was joking, but there was no missing the emotion in her voice.  It meant a lot to Nanci to be included.

“It’s true
,” Kelsie told her.  “You’re the sister I never had.” 

Nanci laughed softly. 
“This reminds me of that beer commercial.  You know the one where everyone’s saying - I love you, man.”

“
Well, we do.  So get used to it.”  She backed out onto the street and headed for her mother’s.

“When your mo
m called to invite me to dinner, she said we were going to be celebrating.  You run off and get married and not tell me about it?”

“
Only in my mother’s dreams.”

“So what’s going on
?  She was beyond her normal happy state when she called.”

“
She closed on the Danver place today.”

“
House hell.  That place is a mansion,” Nanci said excitedly.  “No wonder she was in such a good mood.  That place has been up for sale forever.”

“I know.  There aren’t that many people around with that kind of money
to shell out.”

Nanci whistled.  “Yo
ur mom must have made a killing on that deal.”

“No doubt.”

“Pull over,” her friend said as they drove through town. 

“
What for?”

“I want to pick up a bottle of wine for t
onight’s celebration.”

Kelsie pulled up in front of the liquor store
and waited while Nanci ran inside to make her purchase.  Five minutes later, her friend was jumping back into the car, smiling and clutching a brown paper bag.

“Mission accomplished,” Nanci announced. 

“You look like a wino, holding onto that bag like that,” Kelsie noted with a grin as she pulled back out onto the main street. 

Nanci set
her purchase on the floor by her feet.  “I’ll have you know I went for the good stuff this time around.  Not the usual chug-it-down-in-a-back-alley kind of wine.”

“
Meaning the bottle has a cork instead of a screw off lid?”

“Exactly
.”

“I’m impressed.
”

A few blocks later they pulled up to
her mother’s condo.

Nanci leaned her head out the open passenger side window
and inhaled with a groan.  “Mmm...I can smell the garlic bread from here.”

“Homemade lasagna and garlic bread,” Kelsie said, her stomach growling in anticipation.  “Doesn’t get any better than that.”

Her friend reached for the wine she’d purchased and pulled the bottle from the bag before following Kelsie up the flagstone walkway.

The
front door to the condo swung open and her mother stepped out to greet them.  “Come on in.  You two have perfect timing.  I just took the garlic bread out of the oven.”

“
We know.  We could smell it from the car.”  Kelsie exchanged smiles with Nanci as they stepped inside. 

“This is for you,”
her friend said, handing her mother the bottle of Chianti she’d purchased.

“What’s this for?”

“To help celebrate your big closing today.  Thought it would go well with the lasagna.”

“
Well, aren’t you a sweetheart?”

“I drove her to the wine store to get it,” Kelsie cut in with a grin.

Her mother laughed.  “Well, thank you both.  Come on,” she said, motioning for them to follow her.  “Dinner’s ready.  I hope you’re hungry.”

“
Starving.”

“
I’m glad to hear it,” her mother said as they followed her back to the kitchen. 

“I need a corkscrew,” Nanci said, setting
the bottle of wine on the counter. 

“Top drawer by the dishwasher,”
her mother called out as she placed a piece of lasagna onto an empty plate.  “Kelsie, honey, you know where I keep the wineglasses.”

Kelsie
grabbed three crystal wine glasses from the cupboard and carried them back to the table where Nanci was opening the wine.  This night was just what she needed to get her mind off of Cole.  Off of men in general.

“Honey
...” her mother called back over her shoulder in that tone Kelsie had come to know all too well.

“Yes?”

“I have a favor to ask.”

She was afraid that was
what her mother was going to say.  She turned to Nanci who was pouring the wine.  “Fill mine to the top.”  Then she turned back to her mother.  “What favor?”

“There’s this really nice young man I met the other day.
”

Kelsie rolled her eyes.  “Not again.”
  There went any hope for a night a complete relaxation.

“Honey, just hear me out,” her mother said as she carried the plates over to the table.  “I really think you’ll like this man.  He’s perfect for you.”

“Mom,” she pleaded as a dull throbbing began at her temples.  She had seen firsthand the kind of men her mother thought were perfect for her. 

“Trust me, honey.  You’ll like
this one.”

No, she liked Cole. 
Too much.

“Nanci, help me out here,” her mother said
as she took her place at the table.

Nanci
held up a hand.  “Uh-uh.  I’m remaining neutral in this one.  Unless, my doing so means I won’t get dinner.  In that case, I’m on your side.”

“Nanci!” Kelsie exclaimed.  The traitor.  She reached for her glass of wine, taking several long swallows.

“Sorry, Kels, hunger calls.”

She
watched her best-friend-turned-traitor dig into the piece of lasagna her mother set on the table in front of her.  Unfortunately, she’d lost her appetite the second her mother had started on the date thing again.

“
Honey, I’ll admit I haven’t always picked the best men for you in the past...”

“You think?”
she muttered with a frown.  She loved her mother but the woman was like Cupid from Hell when it came to making matches.

“
Give me one more chance,” she pleaded.

“Mom−”

“Please say you’ll do this for me.”

“
My schedule’s pretty full right now,” she lied out of sheer desperation.

But her mother wasn’t letting it go.  “I swear it’ll be the last time I ever set you up with a blind date.  If you’ll just do me this one l
ast favor and go out with Max.”

“Max?” 

“He’s tall, dark and handsome,” her mother said, working hard to sell her on him.  “He has a good job.  Killer eyes.  And best of all he has great teeth.”

No man was that perfect.  Well, except one.  Her mother had a tendency to exaggerate when it came to describing the men she
wanted to set her up with.  This was clearly one of those exaggerations. 

“I think you should take her up on her offer,”
Nanci said between bites.  “Think about it, Kels.  No more blind dates.  All you have to do is go out this one last time. 

She
looked to her mother.  “This is the last one.  You promise?”

“Yes.”

The thought of never having to suffer through another one of her mother’s fix-ups again was enough to risk agreeing to go out on one more guaranteed bad date.  And seeing as how she’d recently finished writing her bad date survival guide there was no need to suffer through any more blind dates just for research purposes. 

“All right, I’ll do it.” 
One last date. 

“Oh, thank you, honey.  I knew I could count on you.  He need
s a date for his company picnic next weekend and I told him you’d go with him.”

Why didn’t it surprise her that her mother had already given the go ahead before asking? 
She took another drink of wine.  “What’s his number?”

Her mother paused mid-bite.  “His number?”

“So I can call to finalize things.”  Something told her that this was going to be another dud date.  Why else would her mother be acting so strange?

“I’m afraid
Max is going to be out of town on business, so you won’t be able to call him, but I have the date, the time and the address you’re supposed to meet him at.”  She stood and walked over to the counter where her purse sat.  Reaching in, she pulled out a piece of paper and carried it back to the table, handing it to Kelsie.  “Here you go.”

Kelsie looked down at the scrap of paper in her hand.  Her last blind date.  Thank God.  Then maybe she could live a normal life.