Pamela Bauer - 15 Valentine Place

“You want me to fill them and bring them home?”

“Or you can leave them with Maddie and she’ll take care of it.”

“She works at the co-op?”

“Mmm-hmm. In the deli.”

So Maddie was a belly-dancing teacher at night and a deli clerk during the day. Not exactly what he had expected she’d be doing for a living.

“You need me to pick up anything else?” he asked.

“No, that’ll do it.” She placed her fingers on the upper portion of the refrigerator. “There are frozen dinners in here and there are cold cuts, too, if you want to make yourself a sandwich for dinner.”

“Dinner? Aren’t you going to be here?”

She shook her head. “Tonight’s my class at the community center. I would have canceled, but it’s my first one and I thought I’d better not.”

“What class is that?”

“The keys to making love last.”

“They actually offer a class like that through community ed?”

She gave him a look of admonition. “Love is a very important thing in people’s lives. If you look at the statistics, Dylan, you’ll see that most people still believe in marriage.” She gave him a gentle shove so she could get to the door. “I’ll tell you more about it when we have more time. I have all sorts of interesting statistics I can share with you.”

Dylan didn’t want to tell her that he really wasn’t interested in hearing any numbers when it came to love and marriage. Fortunately, the phone rang and he didn’t have to come up with a response.

The call was brief and as soon as she’d hung up, she said, “I have to get going. I have an extra stop to make. Try not to leave the kitchen a mess, will you? We have a rule around here. Everyone cleans up after herself.”

“Mom, I haven’t become a slob since I left home,” he told her.

“I didn’t think you had, but I need to consider my tenants.”

He frowned. “Are you saying they’ll be eating their meals in the kitchen?”

“Krystal won’t be home tonight. She’s going to a convention in Saint Cloud and will be staying overnight, but Maddie should be back after she finishes her classes.”

He wanted to ask his mother about Maddie’s classes, but swallowed his curiosity. He didn’t think she would understand the reason for his inquisitiveness.

He didn’t understand it himself. All he knew was that since he’d seen Maddie in those harem pants with that turquoise jewel winking at him from her navel, he’d had trouble forgetting that she lived upstairs. And now that he knew she ate her meals in the kitchen, his imagination was already working on possible scenarios in which he might see her again.

As he left the house, he made sure he took the plastic jugs.

DYLAN WASN’T QUITE SURE what kind of a reception he’d get from Garret, but he was glad when it turned out to be a warm one. As the young doctor came down the hall toward him, he wore a big grin.

“I can tell you’re a doctor now, Garret. You’re late,” Dylan said with a teasing grin.

The younger man smiled, then gave him a bear hug. “There literally aren’t enough hours in a day in this profession. Welcome home, Dylan. It’s good to see you. How’s the shoulder?”

“Your friend Pete says it’ll be as good as new after he goes in and does his handiwork,” he answered, stepping aside so they were no longer in the center of the corridor. He studied his brother. “You look tired.”

“That’s the way I’m supposed to look. I’m a resident.” He nudged Dylan toward the stairs. “You look like you’ve been leading the good life.”

He spread his hands. “What can I say? I live on an island in the Caribbean. I thought by now you would have come to visit me.”

“Don’t think I wouldn’t have liked to, but I’m short on two things. Time and money. And until I’m finished with my residency, that’s not going to change.”

“I could help you out in the money department,” Dylan offered.

“Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but time is the real villain here. Speaking of which,” he glanced at his watch. “We need to make this lunch a quick one.”

“I guess that means we don’t get to pop across the street for a big thick juicy burger?” he quipped.

Garret smiled apologetically and said, “The hospital cafeteria makes a great tuna hot dish.”

Dylan grimaced, then followed his brother into the dining area. “I guess I should get used to this,” he said as they passed a section of Jell-O and pudding. “It’s going to be my diet while I’m here.”

Garret chuckled. “I hope you’re going to be a better patient than Jason was. You should have heard the moaning and groaning that kid did when he had his appendix out.”

Since Garret had mentioned their youngest brother, Dylan decided to steer the conversation toward family. As they sat down at a small table, he asked, “Is Jason doing all right? I know he was in some trouble last semester with his grades.”

“Mom told you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s not a secret, is it?”

Garret shrugged. “No. I just didn’t think you knew about it, that’s all,” he said as he removed the items from his tray and set it aside.

“So is Jason doing all right?”

“Yeah. He’s just trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. There are so many opportunities, so many choices to make. It isn’t easy being nineteen.”

“As we both know,” Dylan agreed, slipping his jacket over the back of the chair before sitting down.

“It’s that emotional tug-of-war every college kid goes through—wanting to be independent, yet liking the security of still being able to be a dependent on the folks. One minute he’s saying, “I can take care of myself. The next he’s calling Mom and moaning about the latest crisis in his life.”

“You mean like when he needs money,” Dylan remarked dryly.

“It’s not just money. Mom handles things pretty well, but it’s too bad Dad isn’t here. Jason could use a good role model,” he said, ripping open the cellophane wrapping on his soda crackers and crumbling them into his soup.

Dylan would have liked to point out that their father wasn’t exactly a good role model, but he didn’t want their reunion to be spoiled by the animosity such a remark would create.

So he let the comment about their father slide and said, “I’ll talk to Jason while I’m here and see what I can do.”

“You don’t need to worry about it. Shane and I are keeping an eye on him.”

“You don’t want me talking to him?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t say that. I just think it might be better if you didn’t try to be an authority figure.”

Dylan frowned. “Why not?”

“He’s belligerent enough the way it is and you two haven’t exactly been close. You left home when he was only six.”

Dylan felt the hairs on his neck raise. He knew he had no reason to be defensive, but that didn’t matter. “It’s not my fault that there are twelve years difference in our ages. I left home at eighteen because it was time for me to leave.”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t say you abandoned him,” he reminded Dylan. “I just said you weren’t here when he was growing up.”

“He’s still my brother and I care about him.”

“All of us do. And as I said, Shane and I have already had a talk with him about his grades.”

So you don’t need to, was the unspoken message that came through loud and clear. “I still would like to take a drive over to Wisconsin to see him. I’ll have the time once the surgery’s over.”

“Mom would probably appreciate it if you did, but you’d better be prepared to get a lecture from him on how he’s not a kid anymore and he can take care of himself. He doesn’t want anyone checking up on him,” he warned.