Crazy for You Read online

  “Screw what he realized,” Nick said. “He goes to jail.”

  Darla stole a look at Max as the truck bumped down the road. She didn’t think he was mad, but he wasn’t saying anything and she didn’t know what to say, so she couldn’t start a conversation. She’d already tried “Quinn needs me,” and gotten back “Nick’s there,” so now she sat silent wondering how she’d gotten into this mess.

  She’d wanted excitement. Well, she’d gotten that. And now she’d gotten an orchid and been kidnapped by her own husband. That was interesting, even if they were going back to the same old life at home—

  It was right about then that she noticed they weren’t on their way home.

  “Max, where are we going?”

  He turned instead of answering, and she realized they were out on the edge of town, and then he hung a sharp right and skidded into the first lane of the old drive-in.

  “This has been padlocked for years,” she said. “Max, look out!”

  He kept driving toward the padlocked chain, and she flinched when they hit it, breaking it and a headlight at the same time.

  Maybe he was mad.

  He drove straight for the back of the lot, and she thought for a moment that they were going to go through the back fence the way they’d gone through the chain, but he swerved at the last minute, making the truck fishtail in a half circle, and brought them to a stop in the last row of the theater.

  “Haven’t done that in twenty years,” he said, his voice deep with satisfaction.

  “More like fifteen,” Darla said.

  The lot stretched out for an acre, ghostly posts marking row after row of parking spaces, the speakers long gone, some broken spiral cords still bouncing in the wind. The screen ahead was smaller than she remembered it, but the old concession stand was about right, a cinder-block rectangle with the best barbecue and the worst restrooms in Tibbett. They’d come here a lot, both of them just babies, seventeen, amazed by life and by each other and especially by sex.

  Maybe that’s why Max had brought her out here, sex in the front seat again. Well, it was a nice idea, she thought tiredly, but they could just go home to bed. That’s where she’d be for the rest of her life anyway, home. Why put it off?

  Max cut the engine and turned to her, leaning back against the seat. “We had some good times here.” He smiled at her, acting a little nervous, which was the way he’d been back then, come to think of it. “Remember?”

  “Yes,” Darla said. “Pretty exciting.”

  “Yeah.” Max nodded, clearly at a loss for what to say next, and she felt awful for him. He’d gotten her an orchid, for heaven’s sake. That was enough.

  “It’s okay, Max,” Darla said. “I know we can’t get that back. And it’s pretty sweet of you to bring me out here to remember.”

  “No problem.” He shrugged.

  His voice was offhand, but the way he sat wasn’t, his hand tense on the steering wheel, so clearly unsure that her heart melted. He was so much dearer now than when he’d made her shiver here all those years ago. You got some good tradeoffs when the excitement went, she realized. He might have been more exciting in high school, but she’d never trade the man he was now for the boy he’d been then, sweet as that boy had been.

  “So.” He turned to look at her and then evidently lost his courage. “What’s new?”

  “Aside from Bill mugging Quinn?” she said. “Not much. And you?”

  He shrugged again. “Oh, I’ve made some changes.”

  “Right.” Darla sighed, feeling sorry for both of them. “It’s okay, Max. I give up. I’ll come home.”

  “You don’t have to give up,” he protested. “I’ve taken some risks. Hell, I took Barbara to dinner. That was a change.”

  “Yeah, I loved that one,” Darla said flatly.

  “And the play.” Max sounded as if he was digging for stuff. Probably was, poor schmuck. “I really am into that play. That’s a big change.” He nodded in the dark. “And I’m cooking dinner, did I tell you that?” He nodded some more. “Buying stuff and cooking it. I’m not bad, too.”

  “I’m not surprised.” Darla felt her throat catch. He was trying so hard. “You’ve always been good at everything. It’s okay, I’m coming home, you don’t have to—”

  “And I”—he looked around a little wildly—“and I bought this drive-in.” Darla jerked back. “You what?”

  Max nodded, now a lot surer. “I bought this drive-in.” He looked at her and nodded again. “Bought it this afternoon. The station’s doing good, no point in risking that, but I thought, ‘Well, a new generation ought to have what we had,’ so I bought it. Took a chance, what the hell.”

  Darla’s mouth fell open. He’d bought a drive-in. In a million years, she’d never have seen this one coming. Just like she hadn’t seen the orchid coming, but this—

  This was huge. Sweeping. “Max,” she said, her voice breathless.

  He swallowed. “ ’Course I’m going to need help with it. Can’t start a business by myself.” He turned to her, looking as vulnerable as a seventeen-year-old. “I thought we could do it together. Like the old days when you ran the register at the station.” He tried to look offhand, but she could see the tension in his eyes. “You in?”

  “Of course I’m in,” she said, surprised to find tears choking her voice. “I can’t believe—”

  He leaned over and kissed her then, solid and so Max, and he felt so good she grabbed onto him, kissing him back, holding on to him for dear life.

  “Don’t leave me again,” he said into her hair. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t leave you alone, you’re too unpredictable. God knows what you’d buy next.” She kissed him again, hard, so glad she could, so glad she was with him again. “Oh, I missed you. I’m so happy. I can’t believe it, I’m so happy.”

  He laughed, and she could hear the relief there, and with the relief all the tension left him, and he was Max again. “Have I ever told you how sexy you look in a T-shirt?” he said, and she shivered as she felt his hands move down her back.

  “No.” She shook her head, swallowing tears. This was no time to cry. “You never did.”

  “You’re even sexier out of it,” he said and slid his hands under her shirt.

  She moved closer to him and breathed him in, closing her eyes as she felt his hands move against her skin. “I missed you so much.”

  “Thank God,” he said and stripped the T-shirt up over her head.

  “Max, we’re in public.” She shivered in the cool air, crossing her arms over her bra.

  “No, we own this place, it’s not public.” He was looking at her in the twilight, his eyes roaming hot on her, really looking at her, and she stopped covering herself. “I know you’re hard to get,” he went on and flipped open her bra catch, one-handed, just like the old days. “I know you don’t put out.” He pulled her bra off her shoulders and slid his hand to her breast and she closed her eyes. “So we can just pet until you say stop.” He bent his head and kissed her breast. “I swear I’ll stop when you say stop.” He leaned over her, so close he was almost on top of her, his hand sliding her zipper down, his body hot against hers.

  “Don’t stop,” she said, as he bent to her again. “Do it all.” She started on his buttons by feel since his head was in her way. “Just don’t tell the kids at school. I want them to think I’m still a good girl.”

  “Best I know,” Max said breathlessly, and she pulled his shirt open and climbed into his lap.

  Outside Quinn’s house, Bill watched through his shutter. Quinn and Nick were in the living room where he couldn’t see—he should have broken a shutter in there, too, should have thought ahead, he could do that tomorrow—but they might come back through when Nick went home, so he stood and watched an empty room. Then they did come in, heading for the kitchen, and he slipped into the backyard to look through the lace curtains of that window. Nick was opening a cupboard. Quinn had her wrists unde