Off the Rails by Isabelle Drake Page A

another obvious once-over. But this time her gaze was ruthless, the way a woman’s was when she was examining every detail of another woman. Another woman who was going out on her first date with Daddy .
    This isn’t happening. If we leave now, everything will be fine. I can forget this ever happened .
    Madison glanced over at Marcus. As long as he didn’t peel out a strip of family photos at the reunion, everything would be okay. Nobody else would have to know the man she was showing off had a daughter her age…
    Carol finally shifted her gaze away from Madison and turned back to Daddy . “I’ll have her call you in the morning when she gets up.”
    “Tell Nancy to pass the call on through—unless I’m in the middle of a procedure, of course.” He stretched forward to kiss Carol on the cheek and give her a quick hug. “It took me forever to find it. I’m dying to know if she likes it.”
    “I’m sure she will,” Carol gushed.
    Within seconds, Madison and Marcus were shown to the door and the whole sorry episode was, thankfully, over. The Cadillac waited at the curb, promising protection from further scrutiny and speculation. Madison climbed in gratefully.
    “So,” Marcus started once they were on their way. “What do you think of my daughter? Isn’t she great? Too bad Amelia was already in bed. You’d love her, too. She has her mom’s looks”—he tapped his temple—“but her grandpa’s brains.”
    While Marcus sat puffed up with pride behind the wheel of his overpriced car, Madison reeled at the truth. She’d only just accepted the fact that her date was Daddy , but add to that the unspeakable fact that he was a grandpa ? Well, those pre-dinner drinks would not be coming too soon.
    Madison let the whole aren’t-the-girls-in-my-life-wonderful subject drop and switched to the one that actually mattered. “How much farther to the yacht club?”
    “Not much. Do you need me to stop somewhere?” When she remained silent, he added, “For you to use the bathroom?”
    His question only served to increase the urgency with which Madison needed to get out of the car, get a drink and regroup. What kind of grown man dated women half his age? Madison winced. Ones who are all about image. Ones who don’t care about developing a meaningful relationship.
    Ones who wanted to impress other people.
    How odd. That motivation had seemed okay when she’d told Tia she was going to find a guy awesome enough to impress people. It had seemed kind of cool, even. Modern. Hip. But to think a grown man—somebody’s dad—would do it? A successful man who had gone all the way through medical school?
    Well, for him…it was not okay. But just because he looked stupid for doing it, didn’t mean that she shouldn’t do it.
    Did it?
    Why did life have to be so confusing?
    Why did a woman have to be driven to such strategies?
    It was those reunion witches.
    Madison imagined them hunched around a caldron, laughing at all the people whose lives they were throwing into chaos. Boil, boil, toil and trouble, they howled, then turned to her and laughed the cruel laugh of the girls teachers actually like.
    Them and their stupid, stinking invitation.
    What choice did Madison have?
    None, thanks that damn reunion.
    She turned a winning smile to Marcus. “No. I don’t need you to stop. But thanks.” She leaned closer. “I guess I’m just anxious.”
    He looked away from the road long enough to smile back. “I’m anxious to get to know you better, too. You’ll like the club. It’s quiet, but, not, um, boring. Sometimes there’s a band. Do you like to dance?”
    Madison had enough sense to know he wasn’t talking about the kind of dancing she and Tia did at The Fifth Quarter after they’d had one too many shots of Jaeger. But she’d done dance scenes in West Side Story , so she’d be able to fake real dancing. Hopefully. “Sure. I love to dance.”
    “My first wife couldn’t dance at all,” he replied, exiting smoothly