Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,35
marry him, and then start the hunt for a job and new roommate before Kara got back from her honeymoon.
It was past time Maddie started her adult life and cutting ties with her past in Sandy Springs was the first step forward.
Thirteen
MJ yawned and hefted his suitcase down the stairs. Why did Rachael have to leave at the ass-crack of dawn?
When he got to the foyer, his suitcase clattered onto the marble floor. The Old Man looked over at him from where he stood near the door. “So, you’re leaving.”
He wanted to make some sarcastic remark, tell the Old Man not to shed any tears, but he couldn’t think of anything worth the time to say. He nodded.
His grandfather approached him with his hand extended to shake. “Tell your aunt and uncle hello and the kids that their granddad says to behave.” Enzo chuckled as he shook MJ’s hand.
“I will.” MJ fiddled with the luggage tag on the suitcase handle. He didn’t doubt his grandfather loved his aunt and his cousins, but it reinforced his own black-sheep status in the family hearing Enzo talk about them so fondly. He should be used to it by now, but maybe it wasn’t something you ever got used to.
He should at least suck it up. Be a man about it. Not let it get to him.
Rachael strode into the foyer with her hair pinned back in a messy bun, and her heels click-clacking on the marble floor. She looked tired and thrown together, but still beautiful. His dad had good taste in women.
“Do you have everything you need?” Enzo asked her, rubbing her back, still trying to make her an ally. Rachael took a step forward out of his reach.
“I think so,” she said, looking around distractedly until she saw him leaning against the newel post. “Are you ready?” she asked him.
“As I’ll ever be.” He rolled his suitcase over to where she stood. “So, is this place like some kind of tropical paradise, or what?”
Her eyes glazed over and a smile spread on her lips. “I think so.”
Jesus, he didn’t mean to make her all hot and bothered. “I’m sure it’s great.” He took her by the elbow, nodded goodbye to his grandfather, and led them out the front door to where Merrick stood waiting beside the black Mercedes sedan.
“Wait,” Rachael said, snapping out of her stupor and stopping in the driveway. “We need to tell Maddie goodbye.”
Enzo stepped out from the doorway. “Mr. Simcoe said she left early this morning.”
Maddie left for Michigan without getting her ring? The thought made MJ’s chest clench. How would she explain that to Talan—what a stupid name—unless she decided to keep it?
When she came for her ring, he’d planned on finally getting the truth about why she left him. She wasn’t supposed to bolt. What the hell was it with Maddie always running from him?
MJ pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed her number. It rang once, twice. He scuffed his foot on the concrete. Three times. Her voice mail picked up.
Even though it made him feel uneasy and sick to his stomach, he had to move on without her. She wasn’t coming back to him. No going backward, only forward.
He shoved his phone back into his pocket without leaving a message and turned to Rachael. “Let’s go.”
Merrick took them to breakfast before dropping them off at the airport. The three of them sat in a tight booth in a hole-in-the-wall diner just outside of Sandy Springs. The scenario felt a little too instant family for him. Even though he was coming around to the fact that his dad was here and in his life, being with Merrick and Rachael would take a little time to get used to.
Merrick leaned forward and tapped his fingertips on the table, eyeing MJ. “So, tell me about yourself. What’s your favorite food? Favorite movie? Sport? Tell me everything. I know nothing about you.”
MJ took a long sip of his orange juice. “Um… I like all food. I guess Italian is my favorite. The Matrix is probably my favorite movie, but Caddyshack is a close second.”
Merrick smiled. “Mine too, right behind the Godfather movies.”
“I play baseball. Or, I did. Not anymore.” MJ bit the inside of his cheek.
“College ball?” Merrick asked.
“Yeah. GSU.”
“What position?”
“Catcher.”
“Why don’t you play anymore? Injury?” Merrick tilted his head, concerned.
“Fight. Got kicked off the team.”
His dad sat back laughing. “Poor kid. You are like me. Stupid and impulsive, aren’t you?”