My Secret Boyfriend by Lurlene McDaniel Page A

she’d caught a nine-pound fish, then let it get away because it was too yucky to take off the hook? That the only male she’d seen besides her father and brother was an old man who ran the general store where they bought supplies once a week?
    And while she’d gone off into the wilderness to battle boredom and mosquitoes, Laurie had stayed home and met Wade Matthews. And Jennifer had gotten together with Glen Lockwood.
    Jordan managed to make it through the first day of classes and head homeward without running into Laurie again. She didn’t want to have to talk to Laurie about a summer romance that never happened.
    When she got home, her mother was sitting at the breakfast bar sorting through an enormous stack of unopened mail. “Boy, the junk mail doesn’t take a vacation,” Mrs. Starling said as Jordan opened the refrigerator and grabbed a can of juice. “How was school?”
    “Same old teachers. Same old faces. I didn’t really have time to get ready for classes, so I felt lost all day long.”
    “Stop complaining, Jordan,” Mrs. Starling said absently. “You’re not the only one who’s been inconvenienced because we didn’t get home in time from vacation. Your Dad’s supposed to fly out in two days for a month in the fields.”
    Jordan’s father was a consultant to a large Dallas oil firm and he traveled frequently. He was often gone four to six weeks at a time. But he always brought his family something back from his travels. Jordan had a wonderful collection of dolls that her father had brought her from all over the world.
    “Oh, my! Jordan, look at this letter!”
    “What is it?” Jordan asked as her mother opened an envelope.
    “It’s a letter from Beth Elliot. You remember her, don’t you?”
    Jordan tried to remember the face of her mother’s former college roommate. “Sort of.”
    “We went to college together and even got married within a month of each other. When she got pregnant, I’d thought I’d die if I didn’t have a baby, too.”
    Jordan remembered the familiar story. The two young couples had lived next door to each other in the same apartment complex in Michigan before the Elliots moved to Washington, D.C., and the Starlings moved to Dallas. The Elliots had a baby boy, and then nine months later, Jordan had been born. Jordan and Ryan Elliot had played together in playpens and wading pools and even (heaven forbid!) in the bathtub. Jordan felt a flush of red creep up her cheeks recalling the embarrassing photos in the family album. There were several pictures of her and a pudgy boy with round blue eyes playing naked in frothy bathwater amid rubber ducks and floating plastic boats.
    She cleared her throat. “So, what’s new with Mrs. Elliot?”
    Her mother pulled out the letter and a photo fluttered to the kitchen floor. Jordan stooped to pick it up. A full-length snapshot of “baby” Ryan made her catch her breath. He wore a T-shirt and shorts, and had muscular arms and thighs. His hair was blond and his eyes, still round and blue, were generously fringed with lush lashes. Ad his smile was deep and piercing, exposing dimples on either side of his full lips. Ryan Elliot certainly had grown up!
    Jordan carefully put the photo on the table, hoping her mother hadn’t seen her reaction to the picture. Mrs. Starling’s eyes were glued to the pages of the letter. She was frowning slightly. “Uh—anything wrong?” Jordan asked.
    “Wrong?” Mrs. Starling said. “Oh, uh—no. Just the usual.”
    But Jordan knew that something in the letter was bothering her mother. She also knew that her mother wasn’t going to tell her about it. Jordan shrugged and scooted away from the table. “Well, I’m going to unpack. If Laurie calls, tell her I’ll call her back.”
    “Yes . . . I’ll do that . . . ” Her mother’s voice trailed off as she returned her attention to the letter. Jordan paused briefly at the table, unable to keep herself from stealing one more look at the smiling