Almost Perfect by Julie Ortolon Read Free Book Online Page B

hamburger cookout by the river."
    "So we're free to go?" Dana asked.
    "You're dismissed," Joe confirmed.
    "Woo-hoo!" Dana jumped up and turned to Bobbi. "You know what that means."
    "Badminton rematch," Bobbi answered. "Prepare to get trounced."
    "In your dreams!" The two took off at a full run.
    The other counselors followed at a more sedate pace. Joe had an uneasy moment when Maddy didn't immediately stand. Surely she wasn't going to sit there with nothing but his mother as a buffer between them. Luckily, Carol turned when she reached the edge of the patio. "Maddy, aren't you coming?"
    "Oh." She straightened as if surprised they would include her. "Yes, of course." She grabbed -her enormous hippie purse and followed. Apparently her fondness for funky, out-of-date clothes hadn't faded.
    Now that her back was to him, he watched her openly. The others quickly closed ranks around her, and she laughed at something one of them said. The sound sent him hurtling back to the first time he'd seen her. It was right after he'd moved from Albuquerque to Austin. He was walking down the hall of his new high school with his head down, his hands in his pocket, and a hitch in his step that let everyone know "Yeah, I'm bad." He heard a laugh, not a girly giggle but an all-out laugh.
    He looked up and saw Maddy walking toward him with a pack of girls. The sight of her throwing back her head and laughing stopped him in his tracks. He stood there bug-eyed as she continued past him, sucker punched by something that went beyond the normal adolescent-hormones-gone-haywire. One thought rang in his brain : I want . The wanting filled him with an intensity he rarely allowed. Couldn't afford to allow. But with Maddy, he'd dared more than want. He'd dared to have.
    And he'd relearned one of life's cruelest lessons, that having and keeping are not the same thing.
    He turned to his mother, who sat calmly watching him.
    "I have one question," he finally said.
    "Yes?"
    "What is she doing here?"
    "Maddy?" His mother blinked her blue eyes as if the question confused her. Which he knew it didn't. Not for a minute. "She's here to work as our new A and C coordinator."
    "But why? It's been bugging me all afternoon. Considering the way she dumped me, I have a hard time believing that she came out here hoping to take up where we left off. And if that was what she wanted, why the job? Why not just contact me?"
    His mother pursed her lips, considering. "And if she had called, what would you have said?"
    "Nothing. I would have hung up." Then promptly had heart failure.
    "Exactly. It's a little harder to hang up when she's here in person."
    "Conflicting emotions clamped about his chest.
    "Are you saying she does want to get back together?"
    "I didn't 'say' that."
    "Okay—" He ran a hand over his hair and tried to think. "Let's say she does, which blows my mind to even think about. Why the job? Why not come out here on the pretext of visiting you? Why would a thirty-two-year-old woman travel hundreds of miles to take a job at a summer camp? It can't be for the money. The job doesn't pay that much. So what is she doing here?"
    "Why don't you ask her?"
    Because that would involve talking to her.
    Leaning forward, she patted his hand. "Ask her, Joe. Otherwise you're just going to drive yourself crazy wondering."
    He dropped his head forward in defeat. "I hate it when you're right."
    "Yes, I know." She rose and kissed the top -of his head.
    After she left, he sat a long time—driving himself crazy.
     
    Maddy returned to her apartment after a miserably awkward evening and checked her e-mail. Christine had finally chimed in on her earlier exchange with Amy.
    Message: Come on, Mad, how bad can it be? So the man was startled to see you. He'll recover and things will be fine .
    Maddy : I don't think so. We just spent three hours together at a hamburger cookout where we managed to not exchange one single word .
    Christine, who was apparently online, responded right away : I