Unlike the rare bad haircut she gave that could always be fixed one way or another, life didn’t give do-overs.
Even after Russ disappeared around the corner, Jeff continued looking. She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard, then he turned to her, dark eyebrows and sculpted shoulders rising and falling in a connected movement. “You ready?”
Her voice remained trapped deep in her chest, but she managed a nod.
He stayed quiet, too, until they got outside, where the suffocating early August afternoon heat had started giving way to the evening breeze. “Now, that’s more like it.” Jeff slipped his sunglasses on, looking every inch like a movie star.
Maggie, on the other hand, felt like a contestant at the end of Survivor. “Can we walk slow?” she pleaded. “I can’t take another run in these shoes.”
Jeff pointed to her feet as he slowed his step. “Women and their sexy sandals. It’s a wonder your feet last your entire lifetime with the torture you put them through.”
Had he just referred to her footwear as sexy? Some spring returned to her step. “I didn’t realize we were going to be participating in a cross-country event, or I would’ve opted for something flatter and fully attached.”
He snorted. “Being from Kentucky, you could probably get away with going barefoot.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Jeff gave her a look that said you wouldn’t dare, and she arched an eyebrow in response.
He changed the subject. “Are you going to be okay with Russ’s living up here?”
The people and traffic on Michigan Avenue had thinned some since two hours ago, but it was still difficult to imagine Russ enjoying this crowded place for very long. A weekend was one thing, but four years was entirely different.
“I don’t like it,” she admitted. “I would’ve preferred the University of Kentucky. But we both know the scholarship was the key factor. He thinks he’s going to love it, but he hasn’t experienced a winter up here yet.”
“I don’t think I could stand the cold.” Jeff pointed to a café they were passing. “Want to grab a snack? I know you’re hungry.”
His familiar grin brought a strange tightening to her chest that stalled her breath for a second. She shook her head and kept walking, waiting for the air that was slow but finally returned. “Everyone from here to Navy Pier knows I’m hungry. But I won’t be seen in a restaurant on the Magnificent Mile looking like this.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Mags. You look great.”
Her stomach flip-flopped this time at the compliment...confirming the extent of her hunger. “Well, thanks, but I’ve promised myself a hot shower and a nice relaxing room service experience tonight.”
Entering the hotel lobby brought a sudden chill as the cold air met her damp clothing. She shivered in response as they hurried to grab the elevator. Oddly, in the crowded elevator that was quite warm, Jeff’s arm brushing against hers brought another shiver, deeper and more pleasant—though vastly disturbing. It was as if her body remembered things she wouldn’t allow her mind to think about.
They retrieved their luggage from the car, keeping the chatter to innocuous talk as they returned to the lobby, checked in and gave their luggage over to the bellman.
Jeff finished first but waited for her at the elevator. “I’m in seven fourteen,” he told her as they stepped in.
“Three eleven for me.”
He punched the floor buttons, and they stood alone in awkward silence for a moment as the elevator started its ascent.
It occurred to her they hadn’t made plans for tomorrow yet. “I guess we’ll need to leave about eight-fifteen tomorrow morning. Want to just meet me at the car?”
He nodded as the door slid open on her floor.
“Okay, then.” She flashed him a smile. “See you later.” She stepped out.
“Mags.”
Jeff followed her out of the elevator, allowing the door to close. “I thought...uh...why don’t we have dinner together?”
Her stomach squeezed at the thought. “Oh, wow, Jeff. I don’t know...”
He rubbed the back of his neck before shoving his hands in his pockets. “It’s been a long time. We have a lot to catch up on.” His mouth rose at one corner. “Hell. It might actually be pleasant.”
“I...um.” Maggie searched for a reason other than the obvious—that they were exes and, as a rule, exes didn’t have pleasant dinners together.
“I have a reservation at eight at a fabulous restaurant just across the street. I should be able to add one easily.” He nodded toward her feet and grinned. “You won’t have to walk far.”
Her stomach chose that moment to let out a rumble, and Jeff tilted his head. “Was that a yes?”
She shook her head in resignation. “Oh, what the hell. Okay.”
The elevator door opened with a ding, and Jeff stepped back inside. “Meet you in the lobby at five till?”
She nodded and waited until the door closed before letting out a verbal groan.
Oddly, her stomach didn’t answer back. No, it had drawn much too tight to make a sound.
She didn’t have much of an appetite anymore, either.
* * *
“FINALLY!” ROSEMARY RUSSELL stopped walking long enough to retrieve her phone from the purse swinging on her arm.
“I told you she’d call.” Her husband, Eli, sounded completely cool and unbothered. But all through supper at the diner, she could tell he’d been just as worried as she was about their daughter and grandson’s trip today. She couldn’t imagine driving all the way up to Chicago with that horrible traffic. They’d expected the call hours ago.
She’d just about worried herself sick.
When she pulled the phone out, the caller ID confirmed it was, indeed, Maggie, thank heavens!
“Hello, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Mom.” Maggie sounded out of breath. “Just wanted to let y’all know we got here in one piece.”
“How was the traffic?”
“Worse than you could ever imagine.”
That wasn’t what Rosemary wanted to hear. “Oh, dear. And you have to drive in it for two more days.”
“I did fine.” A door closed and Maggie gave a long sigh. “Jeff offered to take the wheel—I’m sure my driving wasn’t suiting him—but I was determined to prove to myself I could do it. I’ll be making this trip a lot over the next four years. I might as well get used to it.”
“How is Jeff?” Rosemary shot a glance Eli’s way and watched his jaw muscle tighten at the mention of their former son-in-law.
“He’s fine,” Maggie said, then added what sounded like an afterthought. “I guess. I mean, he looks great, but we haven’t had much time to talk. I was too nervous to be much of a conversationalist with the traffic and all. Oh, but, Mom, you should hear him and Russ together. It’s hard to tell their voices apart.”
“Did Russ do okay? With the other boys?” Rosemary had fretted about that, too—that her grandson from tiny Taylor’s Grove, Kentucky, would be thought of as a hick by his big-city teammates.