Free Maid for Love (A Romantic Comedy) by Caroline Mickelson Page B

wordlessly.
    "What?"
    Michael closed the space between them with one quick step. He took her wine glass and set it on the table next to his. "Let me kiss you and then I'll tell you about the surprise."
    Zoe reached up and linked her hands around his neck. "You drive a hard bargain."
    She could have stayed lost in Michael's embrace forever, it felt that good to be in his arms. But the doorbell rang and interrupted her bliss. Reluctantly she pulled back out of his arms.
    "That would be your surprise," Michael said. He headed toward the front door but halfway there he turned around and came back for another kiss. "Hold on."
    "Wait," Zoe called after him but he didn't answer. Instead, she heard the front door open and the sound of whispered voices. Perhaps it was the kids back from where ever they'd gone. Either way, time would tell. She reached down for her glass and took a sip of wine. And then promptly choked on it when she saw the 'surprise' that Michael ushered into the room.
    "Ta da!" A vision in sapphire blue silk and an obscene amount of pearls threw open her arms as if it were opening night on Broadway. "Surprised, darling?"
    Zoe gasped for air, grateful she hadn't just spewed wine all over the carpet.
    Michael rushed over to her side and slid his arm around her shoulders. "Zoe, sweetheart, are you okay?"
    She nodded at the same time she took a few gulps of air to steady her breathing. All the while she kept her eyes fixed on her mother. This was so not happening. Except that it was. "Mother?"
    Her mother held up a hand. "Darling, if you'd just answered your cell phone, none of this would have happened."
    Zoe cursed her bad judgment. "You mean that if I'd answered any one of those calls, you wouldn't be here?"
    Her mother laughed. "No, of course not. I just meant that you wouldn't have been so surprised, that's all. I left Miami before dawn."
    Zoe narrowed her eyes. "So you were already on your way up here when we spoke earlier? And you didn't say anything?"
    Marlene shrugged. "I daresay I'd have worked it into the conversation if you hadn't been in such an awful hurry to get rid of me." She dropped her gaze to the bottle of wine on the table. "Would I be imposing too terribly if I asked for a drop of Chardonnay?"
    Michael looked between them both. "Of course, Marlene. I'm sorry, I should have offered. Have a seat and I'll get another glass."
    Once he disappeared into the kitchen Zoe made a beeline for her parent. "Mother, I swear I could just...I could just...I could just...-"
    Her mother sank into a cushioned chair. "Let me know when you figure out what you want to do to me. Heaven knows I deserve the punishment for dropping everything to rush up here to save you."
    “From Michael?”
    “No, darling, from yourself.”
    Zoe slid into the chair across from her. "Why are you doing this?" She kept her voice low. "You know I wanted to spend this evening with Michael before-"
    "Just stop it, Zoe." Her mother's face was suddenly grave. "If I didn't love you so very much I'd think you deserved to be as miserable as you are trying to make yourself. I haven't yet had the chance to tell you what your Aunt Matilda told me about your gift. You need to hear me out."
    Michael's return with a wine glass stopped Zoe from giving her mother an earful. Instead she sat back and struggled to compose herself, which was no easy task. She'd never been so livid with anyone before in her life. Ever. But what could she do short of driving her mother back to the airport and putting her on the next Cape Air flight back to Boston?
    She only half listened as Michael and her mother made small talk. How had she tracked them down? And what on earth did her Aunt Matilda have to say that couldn't wait?
    An even more pressing question weighed on her mind. How was she going to get rid of her mother?           
    ***
    Michael wasn't surprised when Zoe insisted on driving Marlene to the restaurant in her own car. Judging by her reaction, she'd been