Chapter Two

       “I already have a date for the Ball,” Max said, chewing on her lower lip and looking very
apologetic.  Jake's expression clouded over and she whimpered in disappointment. 
“Aw, Jake, I'm sorry.  I didn't know you had tickets and one of the teachers from school
asked me if I'd go with him.  It's not a real date, you know. He — well, he'd bought the
tickets months ago for himself and his girlfriend and they broke up last month. I was just
kind of doing him a favour by going with him so he wouldn't have to go alone.  If I'd
known you were going to ask me, you know I would have gone with you instead!”
	Jake grumbled under his breath. He was feeling like a complete fool.  He'd gotten
comfortable with the idea of going to the ball with Max, but he shouldn't have assumed
that she would be available.  Why had he waited until the last minute to ask her anyway? 
It wasn't like there would be millions of other available women just waiting for a call from
Jake Forrester asking them to attend the Charity Ball with him!  When he thought about
it, he hadn't actually dated anyone since he's started hanging out with Max.   Sure, he'd
taken a few women to movies, but — he paused to try to remember the last time.  No,
every time he thought about himself going anywhere with a woman, it was Max.  Max at
the tennis court, Max at the gym, Max jogging.  They’d even gone to the movies together
when they'd both wanted to see the same show and hadn't wanted to go alone. He went
everywhere with Max, in fact, why on earth hadn't she realized that he would ask her to
the Charity Ball!
	“I'm sorry, Jake,” she was saying again, and he grunted and shrugged.  
	“Don't worry about it,”  he said, reminding himself that it really wasn't her fault. 
Someone else asked her first, that’s all there was to it.  It was his fault for waiting so
long.  He didn't own her!  If he'd wanted to take her, he should have asked her a long
time ago. It had been silly of him to think that a  woman as pretty as Maxine McGreggor
wouldn't have men banging down her door to ask her to the Ball.  Despite her
complaints about men and dating, she was one of the most attractive women Jake had
ever met.  He frowned and looked at her.  No, he'd take that back.  She was the most
attractive woman he'd ever met.
	“I'll find someone else,” he said, and shuffled his feet like a teenager.
	“Oh, Jake, I really do wish I'd known!”  She was frowning, and Jake didn't like it
one bit.
	Pity.  That was one thing he certainly didn't need from Max.  He'd just have to
find someone else to take to the Ball.  In all of Elmdale, there had to be a single woman
who wasn't already going to the Charity Ball with someone else.  “Hey, it's no sweat,
really.  I just thought that since I had two free tickets through the company, you might
like to go because Mikki was going.  Since you're going anyway, then there’s no
problem, is there?  I can just ask someone else, don't worry about me.”  He smiled, and
started to inch his way away from her. “I guess I'll see you there then?”
	“Yeah, I guess I will,” Max agreed, smiling now, and Jake gave her a wave and
turned his back to walk away. With a deep breath he shoved his hands deep in his
pockets.  
	All right, Jake, he muttered to himself.  Put your thinking cap on, there must be
somebody! 
	Jake spent the better part of that afternoon trying to think of who he might be
able to ask to the Charity Ball with him on such short notice.  Every guy should have that
old stand-by; that one woman he could always count on to be there for him if ever he
needed anything; the one he could call on in just such an emergency as this.  He
grumbled at this thought.  Oh, he had such a woman, alright.  It was Max! 

	In the end, he thought himself quite fortuitous.  A date for the Ball  practically
dropped in his lap!  On the Thursday before the event he was packing up his equipment
after spending a hard working day installing stone edging around  Mrs. Miller’s gardens,
when the old woman appeared at his side with a glass of some red coloured fruit drink
with ice in it.  
	“It was a hot one today, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Miller asked, and he nodded breathlessly
as he reached for the glass, thanking her for her kindness.  Although things like this
often surprised him, he realized that they shouldn’t.  The old women amongst their
clients were mostly a thoughtful lot, and it  really wasn’t unusual for any of them,
including Mrs. Miller, to offer him refreshments.  He was just mulling this thought over in
his mind while the cool liquid soothed his parched throat, when he realized the woman
was talking to him again.
	“I’m sorry, Mrs. Miller, I missed that?”  he said, in apology, and she smiled as if
his lack of attention didn’t offend her at all.
	“I was just saying that the weather doesn’t look too promising the next few days.
It’s a good thing you got this all finished up today.”
	“Yes, it is indeed,” Jake said with a smile. “But I hope the rain holds off until after
Saturday night.”
	“Got plans for the weekend have you?” she asked.
	Jake shrugged. “It’s the Charity Ball this Saturday.”
	Mrs. Miller smiled and nodded. “Oh yes, that’s true.  They hold that in the garden
outside the Grand Hotel, don’t they?”
	“As long as the weather co-operates,” Jake nodded.
	“And you’re going I take it?”
	“I am at that,”  he said with a nod, handing the empty glass back to the woman
with a smile of gratitude.
	She smiled, and he thought for a moment that he saw her almost wink at him.
“With a beautiful young lady on your arm, I’m sure, Mr. Forrester, a fine handsome man
like yourself!”
	He chuckled. “No Ma’am," he said, shaking his head.    "Company tickets, but I
have no date. I’ll be going alone this year.”  He nodded to her as he prepared to take his
leave, bending to pick up the last of his tools that were laying on the ground.
	“Alone! Why, we can’t have that!”  the woman exclaimed, shaking her head and
clicking her tongue.  “No man should go to the Charity Ball without a date! It's just not
right."  She looked at him like it was a great injustice, then suddenly her eyes lit up.  
"Why, my daughter is staying with me for a few weeks this summer, and I’m sure she
would be delighted to go to the Ball with you.”
	“Thank you, Mrs. Miller, but really, I don’t mind.  It’s not the end of the world you
know, there’s no need to bother — “
	“Hogwash!  It’s no bother at all!”  Mrs. Miller insisted, and as she spoke she
turned on her heel and practically raced up the front walk and threw open the front door.
“Esther?  Esther, come outside will you?”  She turned a bright smile towards Jake and
waited by the open door.  Jake shook himself and hoped the woman hadn’t noticed a
look of complete shock on his face.  Mrs. Miller looked not a day under sixty.  How old
would this daughter named Esther be?  He opened his mouth to protest once again
when a mousy looking woman appeared in the doorway. 
	“This is my Esther,”  Mrs. Miller beamed with pride. “She’s my youngest you
know.  Esther, Mr. Forrester doesn’t have a date for the Charity Ball this weekend, can
you believe that!  I told him I was sure you wouldn’t mind accompanying him.”
	Esther was younger than he had expected.  Jake decided she was probably
around thirty.  When she lifted her eyes to his she had a pretty enough face, which had
been hidden by her long, loose, brown hair, although it seemed to be clouded by some
perpetual sadness.  Even when she smiled at him, her smile didn’t reach her eyes.  
With a sigh, he shrugged to himself and resigned himself to the fact that Mrs. Miller
probably wasn’t going to take no for an answer.  It seemed that Esther felt the same way
for she agreed with her mother, and Jake left the two women with a date for the Ball that
he hadn’t had when he’d arrived.
	By the time he reached the shop he was feeling quite smug with himself, and
was even smiling.  Afterall, he hadn’t really wanted to go to the Ball alone, and Mrs.
Miller had actually solved a problem for him.  He should be grateful to her.  Esther
looked like a pleasant enough girl.  How bad could an evening in her company be?
	
	"You look smashing!" Ethan Graham said, his eyes doing an obvious appraisal
up and down Max from his vantage point outside her door. She was dressed in a
strapless black satin dress with a fitted bodice and flowing skirt layered with sashes of
satin and filmy black fabric that swayed when she walked and gave the bottom of the
dress an enticingly irregular hem line. From there, her well toned legs were sheathed in
sheer black stockings until they ended at her feet in strappy high heels.  Her red hair
was dotted with white beads and flowers, although Max had the feeling that Ethan hadn't
really looked at any part of her above her neck.  Uncomfortable under his scrutiny,  she
smiled and thanked him, hoping to move things along. When his eyes didn't stop
wandering, she cleared her throat and spoke up.
	"So let's go then," she said cheerily, and her date coughed slightly.
	"We don't have to leave quite yet do we, Maxine?  Aren't you going to invite me
in?" He looked at her with a wicked grin and winked at her several times.  It was clear to
Max just why he wanted to come inside, and she wasn’t having any part of it.  Though
she knew the guy from work, she didn’t know him well enough to hop into bed with him
before they’d even started their date!  Not that she really considered this a real date
anyway, she reminded herself.  It was more like a favour, and though she’d agreed to do
him a favour, she certainly didn’t intend to give him any favours.
	"Uhh — no,"  Max said,  the bluntness in her voice sweetened with only a little
honey, and followed up with a cheery smile.  "You’re here to take me to the Charity Ball,
Ethan, remember?  I’d hate to have to start fixing my hair and make-up all over again. 
And please, call me Max."  Ethan shrugged and stepped aside, allowing her to step
through her door and close it behind herself.
	"Perhaps later, when I bring you home," he said, as if her refusal hadn’t really
phased him.  It was more a statement than a question, and Max noted that he
accentuated his comment with a raise of his brows and the same silly grin he’d had on
his face since he’d arrived. My God, she thought, as she tried to keep the shakiness out
of her smile. What have I got myself into?  At school, Ethan was a decent, polite
co-worker, and that was all she knew of him.  He'd kept to himself mostly, but then Max
hadn't spent much time in the staff room.  Any time she'd had that she wasn't  in a class,
had been spent in the gym office, or coaching basketball.  
	When Ethan's engagement had been broken off, a few of the other women
teachers had started mentioning him to Max.  It had become apparent  that she was the
only currently unattached female teacher on staff at  Elmdale Secondary School, and
the others felt it was their duty to rectify that fact.  But she’d been ready for them, having
done her fair share of match-making in her time.  Thankfully, Max thought,  they never
took it to the same extremes that she and Joey had done with Mikki!  	
	Max chuckled to herself as Ethan drove through the streets of Elmdale. Oh how
they had hounded Mikki!  Thinking back on it now, they'd been relentless in their quest
for a man for Mikki, and their friend had been a saint to put up with them as much as she
had.  Although their efforts had only indirectly resulted in Reese and Mikki's marriage,
Max still liked to take the credit. 
	"Something funny?" Ethan asked, glancing her way and failing to return his eyes
to the road as quickly as she might have liked. 
	"I was just thinking about something," Max replied.  "Watch out for that car."
Ethan turned back to the road and straightened his vehicle, then rounded the corner and
pulled up in front of the Grand Hotel. 
	The Grand was the oldest landmark in Elmdale but it's elegance hadn't suffered
with age. It was a landmark that had been well looked after, and Max loved its character. 
It always made her feel like royalty whenever she entered the place.  Guests were met
by a pillared canopy projecting from the front entry that was lighted with a warm glow of
yellow lights.  Inside the heavy oak and glass doors with their heavy brass handles,  Max
felt her shoes sink into the plush carpeting. Hosts and hostesses awaited them and
escorted each party of guests to the ballroom, where tables shrouded in crisp white linen
were decorated with bowls of red or salmon coloured rose buds.  The weather had
co-operated so far, and the large French doors on the far side of the room were thrown
open.  Outside in the garden, more tables were placed among the trees and flowers.  
	"Shall we take a table in the garden?" Ethan asked, and Max heard warning
signals go off in her brain.  All she needed was to spend the evening in the garden alone
with Ethan!  She looked around quickly for a way out of it, and was glad to see Mikki and
Reese standing near the garden doors. 
	"Oh look, there's my friends.  I’ve really been looking forward to sharing this
evening with them.  You won't mind joining them, will you, Ethan?"  she said, and with
only a quick glance at her date, she headed to safety.
	Although Ethan seemed slightly disappointed at the prospect of sharing Max with
anyone for the evening, he followed behind her without a word and was a perfect
gentleman with her friends.  When they sat down, he conspicuously draped his arm
possessively across Max's chair, and sat quietly listening to the conversation from the
rest of them.  Within a few minutes, however, Max realized his hand had moved from the
chair to her shoulder, and he was rather seductively caressing her with his thumb.  With
a sweet smile in his direction, she leaned forward as if to listen more closely to
something Mikki was saying, and his hand returned to the chair. 
	It wasn't over there, however.  Although he seemed quite interested in what
Reese was saying to him, his hand continued to find its way to Max's shoulder, or her
back.  Once, he even rested his hand on her thigh under the table and began to slowly
slide her dress upwards along her leg,  at which point Max excused herself and dragged
Mikki to the ladies room.
	"Oh — my — God!"  Max groaned, when Mikki closed the door behind them. 
"Did you see him!"
	Mikki  grinned. "He seems quite infatuated with you, my Dear,"  her friend teased.
	Max rolled her eyes and groaned.  "I don't want him to be infatuated with me!  I
agreed to come to the Ball with him, not to let him man handle me everywhere, in public
no less!  I only said I would do this because he and his girlfriend broke up and he had an
extra ticket and no date."  She groaned and rolled her eyes.  “When he picked me up it
was obvious he wanted to come inside and get friendly!  I had hoped that staying among
the crouds inside the hotel would keep him in check! Obviously I was wrong about that.”  
Mikki  chuckled, but said nothing, and Max groaned again.  "I should never have
agreed to come here with him tonight. "  She paced the room, shaking her head.   "If I
hadn't, I'd be sitting out there with Jake right now and none of this would be happening! I
know I wouldn't have to worry about him pawing at me all night."
	"Jake?"  Mikki raised her brow, her interest peaked.  "Jake asked you to the
Ball?"
	Max shrugged.  "He asked me the other day.  I'd already agreed to come with
Ethan though."  She groaned and raised her eyes to the ceiling.
	Mikki's lips curled upwards a little more.  She was no longer interested in her
friend’s predicament with the octopus Ethan.   "Jake asked you on a date!"
	"No, silly!"  Max chuckled. "Not a date! He had those two tickets through the
company.  He thought I'd like to come to be here with you guys.  It wasn't a date,  just us
four friends together."
	"Ah, but Reese and I are on a date!"  Mikki's teased, a sparkle seeping into her
eyes.  “We hired a baby-sitter and everything.”
	Max glared at her friend.  "No you're not, you're married! This isn't a date, it's
going out for the evening,"  she said, and the two of them started to laugh. 
	"Well, whatever you call it," Mikki said with a grin, "I'm sure your real date is
waiting for you out there."
	Max rolled her eyes and sighed. Reluctantly she headed toward the door, with
one last glance at her friend.  "I'm telling you, I don't like this one bit.  Just keep your
eyes open and help me when I need it, Okay?" she pleaded.

	Jake leaned back in his chair and twirled his glass in his hand.  There wasn’t one
thing about this stupid Charity Ball that he could say he was enjoying. Not one!  He’d
picked up Esther from Mrs. Miller’s at half-past seven, and although he'd been
pleasantly surprised initially, the feeling hadn't lasted long.  
	“Doesn’t she look wonderful tonight?” Mrs. Miller had squealed when Esther had
appeared.  “I tell you, why this girl is still single, I just do not know!”
 	Esther had swept her hair up onto her head and put make-up on, and in her
strappy dress and high heels, and Jake had had to admit she  was really quite attractive. 
She’d smiled at him, too.  A real smile,  and he’d thought that maybe it would be a good
night afterall.
	He’d been wrong, of course.  It had had the makings of a bad night right from the
moment Max had announced she already had a date for the Ball.  It had been a bad
omen, and Mrs. Miller’s meddling certainly hadn’t helped.  The second Esther was
established beside him in his truck, she had opened her mouth and started to talk.  She
had talked all the way to the Grand, and was still talking as she stepped out of the truck
while Jake stood silently holding he door for her.  Once they’d moved inside, he’d
thought she was going to stop, and he was actually able to make some introductions as
he held out her chair for her next to Mikki and Reese.  Things had been looking up, or so
he'd thought.
 	She’d kept quiet while Max introduced her date, and Jake was thankful for that
because it had taken every ounce of concentration to listen to what Max was saying. 
His best friend had been standing in front of him with her mass of red curls piled high on
her head, laced with tiny beads and baby’s breath, and dressed in a knock-out strapless
black satin dress that took his breath away!  He hadn’t listened to a word she’d said. 
There wasn’t room in his head to process too much information at that moment.  In fact,
there was only room for one thought.   How could Max look like that!  
	He’d smiled politely and shaken hands with Harold — or Henry, or whatever
Max’s date’s name was, and had quickly deposited himself in his chair just as the music
had started to play again.  But if he’d thought he was going to have time to recover, he’d
been sorely mistaken.  As many of the other couples had begun to drift onto the dance
floor, Esther had tugged at Jake’s arm like an excited schoolgirl, and in no time he had
found himself up there with the rest of them.
	And then Esther had started to talk again.  She talked through the entire dance. 
When it was over, and Jake had attempted to return to his seat, she’d grabbed his arm
and pulled him back, announcing that she liked the next song that was starting and
wasn’t ready to go back to her seat yet.  And she talked through that one too.
	After quite a few dances like this, Jake had finally managed to make his way
back to their table. When Esther had announced that she saw someone she wanted to
talk to Jake had heaved a sigh of relief, and assured her that she could take as much
time as she liked.  It had now been an hour since he’d seen the woman last, although he
kept catching glimpses of her chatting with different people around the room.  He didn’t
miss her one bit!  He had half a mind to tell Mrs. Miller exactly why her daughter was still
single, but he knew he wouldn’t say a word of it.
	“Dance?”
	Jake lifted his eyes from his glass and found himself looking up at Max. "What
about Elliot?" he asked, looking around in a daze. 
	"Ethan," she said gently.
	"Whatever. What about him?"
	Her smile actually brightened.  "He's gone to get me a drink.  I thought you might
rescue me so I wasn't here when he got back."
	"Rescue you?"  Jake's eyebrows shot up, and he saw laughter in Max's eyes. 
Suddenly he realized she was standing and he was still sitting, and with a cough he
stood up and held out his hand.  "Tell me about this rescue."
	They drifted onto the dance floor and he slipped his arms around her waist,
keeping a decent amount of distance between them  befitting of their friendship, then
gave himself a mental flogging for wanting to draw her in closer.  An instinct, he
reminded himself. An instinct that hadn't once shown itself during his dances with
Esther!
	"This Ewan guy — "
	"Ethan."
	"Ethan."  Jake nodded. " He seems quite nice."
	"He's nice enough, but he can't keep his hands off me!"  Max whispered,
wrinkling her nose up in distaste.
	Jake raised his brows again.  "And you don't like that?"
	Max groaned.  "Not from him!"
	"From who then?"  he said, and Max noticed the familiar teasing gleam in his
eyes and laughed. She felt comfortable with Jake, and she was glad he'd been at the
Ball to rescue her. She could always count on Jake. That thought reminded her that he
must have felt the same way about her when he'd asked her to accompany him, and
she had let him down. She frowned slightly and the expression wasn't lost on her dance
partner. 
	"Hey, what's the matter?"
	"I must be keeping you from your date," she said.  Jake's was looking very
dashing in his tuxedo, topped off with a burgundy bow tie.   His dark hair was groomed
to perfection, and his equally dark eyes gleamed as he looked at her, but she was
surprised to see him almost laughing at her. 
	"Consider the rescue mutual," he said, and when Max smiled up at him this time,
Jake gave up trying to keep her at arms length and pulled her against his chest.  There
was no resistance, just a warm comfortable feeling as they danced in silence.
	"Nathan's looking for you,"  Jake said at last, and Max lifted her head from where
she had been resting it against his chest.
	"Who?
	"Your date."
	"Oh!  Ethan."
	"Whatever."
	She looked around the room.  Ethan was standing at their table with two drinks in
his hand, scanning the room.  "Don't let him see me!"  she said, with a giggle, tugging at
Jake's arms until they were well hidden behind the throng of dancers. 
	"That bad, huh?" Jake asked.
	Max shrugged.  "Well, maybe not that bad,  but I just don't feel like going back to
him  yet. I'm having more fun right here."
	Jake smiled.  "Me too," he said as he caught sight of Esther sitting at a table on
the far side of the room, carrying on an animated, although one-sided, conversation with
someone he didn't know.  He nodded gently and smiled. "Me too."