“And when you’re near, fucking.”

All part of the Gabriel Banner diet plan, she thought, but she didn’t want to sound stupid, so she refrained from voicing her thoughts.

He went to a narrow door off the kitchen and disappeared.

“Let’s see,” he called out to her. “We have beans, peaches, and spaghetti sauce. What sounds good?”

“Protein shots.”

He popped his head out of the pantry to look at her in surprise, and then he laughed. “That can be dessert. I don’t think you should swallow that stuff on an empty stomach.”

“I don’t think I should swallow it at all. Do you have any pasta to go with that spaghetti sauce?”

He brought out a mostly empty box of penne, a bit of elbow macaroni in a cellophane bag and half a serving of fettuccini. “This should be interesting,” he said.

She followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the counter to watch him as he set a pot of water to boil.

“Did you get in touch with the police about that kid?” she asked, thinking he must have because his mood had improved significantly.

“Yeah, the truck was impounded and his grandfather came to pick the kid up from the station,” he said. “I bet he’ll think twice before getting wasted and stealing his grandfather’s truck in the future.”

“I’m glad he’s safe.”

“Me too,” Gabe said and rummaged through the freezer until he found some frozen meatballs, frozen garlic bread, and frozen vegetables.

“So that’s where you hide all the food,” she said.

“I guess I should have gone shopping this afternoon instead of making you go swimming against your will.”

“I had fun at the lake,” she said.

“I’m glad you’re easy to satisfy.” He tossed the frozen meatballs into the microwave.

“I wouldn’t say that. I’d say it’s the company I’ve been keeping that made today perfect.”

She caught his pleased smile as he wrested a cookie sheet out of a cabinet with a loud clatter. She knew people complimented him all the time about his musical talent, but she got the feeling that few truly appreciated him for who he was off tour.

The doorbell rang, and Melanie stiffened, acutely aware that she was naked and that the entire front of Gabe’s house was glass.

“Who would be visiting at this hour?” she said, hurrying toward the bedroom for clothes.

Gabe was right on her heels. “It can only be one person,” he said.

A female voice called from the foyer. “I saw your lights on. Are you fit for company?”

“Who is it?” Melanie said, thinking it awfully rude for someone to barge into someone else’s house without an invitation at almost eleven o’clock at night. She shimmied into a clean pair of panties and hunted through her suitcase for an outfit that sort of matched.

“That would be my mother,” Gabe said, tossing a long-sleeved T-shirt over his head. He was fully dressed and rushing out the bedroom door before Melanie could get her arm in a single sleeve.

“His mother?” she said under her breath. She eyed his bed, not because she wanted to roll around in the sheets with him, but because it looked like a decent place to hide.

Chapter Nineteen

Gabe found his mother in the living room, holding up Melanie’s discarded bra with one finger.

“I see you’ve been busy,” she said, her tone disapproving.

Gabe scooped up the clothes scattered all over the room and hurried to hide them in the half-bath.

“Is she still here?”

“Don’t embarrass her,” Gabe said. He was used to the constant condemnation of being a disappointment to his mother, but Melanie wouldn’t know what hit her when Katherine Banner let loose her better-than-thou routine.

“Well,” his mother said. “Where is she? In your bedroom, I suppose.”

“If I’d known you’d stop by unannounced, I’d have hidden her in the barn.”

“Will you cover up those horrible tattoos?” she said. “You know I can’t stand to look at them.”

She was referring to the ones on his head. He’d already covered the ones on his body with long sleeves. He didn’t bother to argue since they’d been over this a thousand times in the past. She treated him almost normal as long as she wasn’t confronted by his body modifications. He slipped a baseball cap onto his head and heard the hiss of water hitting the hot burner in the kitchen.

“I have something boiling over on the stove,” he said and jogged to the kitchen.

He was glad to see Melanie taking care of his forgotten meal, but not glad that his mother had followed him.

“And you would be…?” his mom said in a tone dripping with disapproval.

“I’m Melanie.” She extended her hand toward his mother and they exchanged a terse handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Banner.”

“Kathy,” she said.

Gabe was a bit surprised that she’d offered up her name so readily. She smiled warmly at Melanie.

“You look positively normal,” she said, her body going limp. “The last girl he brought home had pink hair and her nose pierced.”

Melanie looked to Gabe for guidance. He shrugged slightly. His mother had never taken a shine to any woman he dated.

“Well, I must warn you,” Melanie said. “I do have my navel pierced.”

His mom patted Melanie’s arm as if a pierced navel was the least of her concerns. “That’s nothing. My son has tattoos on his head.” She pointed to her own mass of short light brown curls. “On. His. Head.”

Melanie chuckled. “Yeah, I noticed that.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“I was a bit startled by them at first,” Melanie admitted, “but I’d already seen what he was like on the inside and the outer package was just gravy.”

Gabe smiled to himself, loving that Melanie was unashamed to speak of her attraction to him. Could she tell how much his mother abhorred his tattoos? If Melanie truly wanted to gain his mother’s favor all she had to do was agree that the only thing worse than Gabe dropping out of college to become a drummer-of-all-things was having his scalp tattooed. Apparently, Melanie declaring that she liked who he was on the inside was a good strategy as well.

Gabe watched dumbfounded as his mom looped an arm through Melanie’s and sat with her at the breakfast bar, leaving him to finish cooking.

“He had such a promising future before he joined that rock band,” his mother said, as if she were trying to talk Melanie out of doing something foolish, like fall in love with her rock star son. “We all thought he was going to follow in his father’s footsteps, though Gabe was always more interested in the application of physics than in the theory behind it.”

Melanie choked, no doubt thinking about how he applied physics. The tips of his ears burned with embarrassment. He in no way wanted his mother to know about his little hobby.

“I think he’s doing all right for himself,” Melanie said, and offered Gabe a wink. “Are you a nurse, then?” Melanie asked, examining his mother’s dark blue scrubs.

Gabe cringed. Melanie’s honeymoon period with his mother was about to come to a crashing end.

His mom clicked her tongue against her teeth in disapproval.

“And you were doing so well, Melanie. If I was a man in scrubs, you’d have thought I was…”

“A dentist?” Melanie guessed.

“A doctor.”

“My mother is a surgeon,” Gabe said, to let Melanie off the hook. His mother always played these little games with people. It drove him nuts.

“Oh,” Melanie said, looking impressed, “what kind of surgeon?”

“Heart surgeon. I was on my way home from the hospital after an emergency procedure when I saw Gabe’s lights on and thought I’d stop in to say hello. Doesn’t my son talk about his family?”

“A bit,” Melanie lied kindly.

“Where are you from?” his mom asked. “You don’t sound local.”

“Kansas.”

In the ten minutes it took Gabe to finish cooking their meal, his mother questioned Melanie about her education, her career, her family, her health, her parents’ health, her grandparents’ health, and her future prospects. Gabe’s head was spinning just from hearing the interview. He assumed Melanie would be exhausted after the extensive third degree.