“What?”
“You’re the one who said I should add excitement to your boring life. Well, I’m doing that.” She was smiling now.
“I don’t know…” he said, putting his hand to his chin. “Do you really think-”
“Got you.” She burst out laughing. “You’re so gullible.”
By this time he was laughing, too. “My one major flaw. I need to work on that.”
After that, the tension dissipated and it was as if Drake had never brought up the sensitive subject of his disaster marriage at the hands of a femme fatale. They fell into comfortable conversation and lost track of time so that when Jessie burst into the waiting lounge with the rest of her group in tow they looked at each other, surprised.
“Has it been forty-five minutes already?” Meg couldn’t help asking.
“Guess so,” Drake said, then opened his arms as Jessie ran toward him.
She hopped onto his lap as if she’d been doing that all her life then whipped a toy out of her pocket. “Look what I got. A baby dinosaur.” She reached over and shook the green soft toy under Meg’s nose. “Here, Mommy, I’ll let you play with it first.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” Meg took it and smiled her gratitude.
“Hey, didn’t you bring me anything?” Drake put on a sad face and even added a pout.
Meg had to laugh. He was actually a good actor. Move over, Brad Pitt.
“I’m sorry, I only got one toy,” Jessie said, her eyes full of regret. “Don’t be sad. You can play with it after Mommy’s done. I’ll go last, okay.”
“You’re such a sweetheart,” Drake said. “Now you’ve made me so happy I don’t even need a dinosaur anymore. Not when I have you to play with.” And he tickled her till she giggled and writhed and squealed for him to stop.
That evening as Drake drove them home with Jessie snoring softly in the back, Meg leaned back in her seat and sighed. It had been a wonderful day and she could not have asked for more. Did she dare hope that he would spend more time with them? She would love many more days like this and so would Jessie.
For now, though, she would savor the afterglow of this one. She glanced over at Drake as he drove and, as if he felt her eyes on him, he looked across at her and smiled.
And that smile, simple as it seemed, was all it took to make her spirit soar.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Meg was on a high for days after the outing with Drake. She was in such a good mood that she’d got up before dawn each morning and worked for three solid hours before Jessie even began to stir. Then once she’d dropped her off at school she went right back on the job, not budging from her computer till it was time to get Jessie. Then, when her daughter was asleep, she worked for two or three hours more as if she’d been shot with a double dose of adrenalin. For two weeks she kept up the pace so that long before the date she’d set, she had Drake’s first draft ready.
During this productive period Drake called a few times and each time she’d been happy to give him a positive progress report. What made her even happier was that he never forgot to ask for Jessie.
Finally, the day came when she would see him again. She would be presenting him with the completed first draft of his memoir. First, though, she had to drop her daughter off at her parents’ house in Woodridge. The little girl would be spending the weekend with her grandparents as she did every so often. She loved roaming the wide-open spaces of her grandparents’ property and playing with the many pets they had. She loved Alexis, the german shepherd and Caleb, the rooster but her absolute favorite was Sasha, the siamese cat who was queen of the home. She was a mild mannered cat who would allow Jessie to put a bonnet on her head and place her in her toy pram and push her around the yard.
“Yay,” Jessie yelled as they pulled into the yard.
Before Meg even got a chance to go around and open the door for her Jessie had pulled her seatbelt, opened the door and hopped out. She dashed up the winding gravel road.
“Wait for me,” Meg called to her but as usual Jessie had more pressing things on her mind than waiting for her mom. Meg sighed and opened the back door to get Jessie’s bag then she followed her daughter at a slower pace. As she climbed the steps Jessie rang the bell. The door opened immediately. Patrick and Juliet Donovan stood in the doorway, all smiles. Patrick bent down to gather his only grandchild into his arms while Meg stepped into her mother’s hug. Then she dropped Jessie’s bag in the corner.
“I’ve got to go, guys. I have a meeting downtown.” She leaned over to her daughter who still clung to her grandfather's shoulder.
“Kiss?” Meg was awarded with a big fat wet one on the cheek.
An hour later Meg arrived at Drake’s office, the completed first draft in hand. For the first time since she’d been visiting his office he was late. She was sitting alone in the waiting lounge, absorbed in a story on her Kindle ebook reader, when a deep voice made her jump.
“I would love to know what you’re reading.”
When Meg looked up Drake was smiling down at her, his briefcase still in hand. He looked like he’d just come in from a meeting.
“You should have seen your face,” he said. “I hope I didn’t catch you in the middle of a love scene.”
Meg could feel her face color but she got up and laughed it off. “Only a mild one,” she said as she picked up her bag. Actually, he'd guessed right. She’d been enjoying the love scene of a juicy romance novel and it had been anything but mild.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, as they headed for his office. “My meeting went longer than expected.”
“Not a problem. Business first,” she said, giving him a cheeky look, “or else you won’t be able to pay me the balance on my ghostwriting fee. So meet away.”
He laughed at that. “There may be a recession on but I think I’ll be able to manage your fee.”
They settled down in the office and skimmed through the first few chapters together, with Drake filling in the blanks for some areas where she’d had questions. But then in the middle of the fourth chapter he stopped her.
“I’ve been talking all day. I could do with a drink. What would you like?”
“Oh, ginger ale please, if you have it.”
Drake’s office was equipped with an alcove into which he disappeared. When he came out he was carrying two cans of ginger ale and two glasses filled with ice. After he’d served her he walked over to the plush sofa by the window and sank into it with a sigh.
“Long day?” she asked as she took a sip of the bubbly liquid.
“Yes, one of those days.” He began to loosen his tie then he stopped and looked at her. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.”
He pulled off the tie and opened a couple of buttons at his collar, revealing just a hint of broad chest, then he sighed and relaxed into the chair. He took a long drink of his ginger ale. “I needed that.” He rested the glass on the coffee table. “How’s Jessie? Created any art masterpieces lately?”
“She’s fine, thanks. She’s working on a paper mache duck at school this week so she took it with her to show my parents.”
“Oh, she’s with her grandparents today?”
“For the weekend,” Meg told him. “I like to let her spend time with them every few weeks. The house is big and there’s a lot of space where she can play. She and the neighbourhood kids are good friends, too. She loves going there to play.”
Drake nodded as he sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I guess she gets lonely sometimes, not having a sibling to play with?”
“You’ve got that right,” Meg said emphatically. “She keeps pestering me for a little brother or sister. I don’t know why because she’s now old enough to know it takes a mommy and a daddy to make a baby…” Her voice trailed off and her heart did a skip as she stared at Drake. Now how had she ended up down that garden path? What had they been talking about again?
Meg breathed a sigh of relief when Drake rescued her from the foot she’d put in her mouth.
“Have you ever heard of the South African Dance Troupe, The Leaping Lions?”
She shook her head. “No, never.”
“I’ve seen them perform once. Excellent group. They’ll be in Wisconsin this Saturday, performing in Muskego, a small town just outside of Milwaukee. Would you like to go with me?”
“To Milwaukee? That’s two hours away.”
“So?” he said with a shrug. “It’s the weekend. We can take our time and cruise over to Wisconsin then cruise right back. It will be a nice drive.”
She thought about it a moment. Of course she would love to go. She hadn’t gone out in ages, and to see an international dance group? That had to be good. But the question was, what effect would it have on her? With each passing week it was as if she’d grown more and more emotionally attached to this man. But one day the memoir project would be over and then what? She knew she'd better be careful or else she’d be in for a bad fall. And going out on a second date with Drake might just be the thing to send her over that cliff.