by Olivia Miles
That was odd, she realized, immediately composing herself. Laughing at something Cole McCarthy had said? Cole didn’t make people laugh. He made people squirm.
“Candy isn’t a permanent hire,” she replied. At least, she didn’t think so, and she doubted Amelia did either. But Candy may have other plans, and Candy tended to get her way, didn’t she? “And it will be good for business,” she added.
Still, she now had visions of Candy floating through the open entrance at her every whim, pulling Maddie in for long, squishy hugs, and embarrassing her in front of her customers.
Business would slow, she reminded herself. With Amelia’s seasonal help gone, and Maddie too, it made sense for Candy to stay on through the fall.
Except that Maddie had been a year-round employee, hadn’t she?
She set a hand on her stomach. “Really, Candy is the least of my problems,” she told Cole. “I still have to place the order for furniture for this place and hire an assistant.” And about a hundred other things, too.
Her heart sped up. She took a sip of coffee, wishing it was something stronger.
“The kitchen is the top priority, though,” she was sure to mention.
“You know I have some thoughts about your kitchen,” Cole said as he leafed through the printed descriptions of the fixtures and appliances that she had already chosen. He pulled his measuring tape from his back pocket and disappeared into the storage room.
Reluctantly, Maddie followed. She had painstakingly chosen every last detail, down to the exact backsplash tile, comparing each item against her budget ten times over, so she was sure not to spend too much. With her opening date scheduled in a little over two weeks, now was not the time to be changing her plan.
Or doubting herself further.
Still, she had waited to place any orders until she had her contractor approve her final plans, and seeing as Cole was now filling that role, she supposed she should hear him out.
Cole consulted the blueprints that Matt had drawn up and double-checked the measurements of the wall that was meant to house the pantry. “If you’re willing to cut back on some cabinet space, you could fit two extra ovens right here, with a small cabinet on top.”
Maddie felt herself waver. And she didn’t want to waver. Extra ovens would speed up production, especially since she expected her staff to be lean, but that also meant more money, and less storage space.
“I’d rather just stick with the plan.” Her stomach was starting to hurt.
“I’m just pointing out that it’s something to consider,” Cole said with a shrug. “But it’s your call. I’m just thinking of efficiency.”
“And where am I supposed to store all my supplies?” She thought of the items she would order in bulk from Amelia’s trusted suppliers: sugar, flour, salt, and other dry goods.
“We could easily build out this broom closet for a second pantry,” Cole said, crossing the room and pulling open a door. “I could customize the shelving.” He looked at her for approval.
Maddie was not used to anyone looking to her for approval. They looked at Amelia. Or growing up, Britt, then Amelia, then Cora. Never Maddie.
Maddie put her hands to her forehead, not liking where this was going. The plans had been set. Painstakingly so. Now was the time to commit to them, not doubt them.
“I’m on a budget,” Maddie said. She wrung her hands, now imaging how increasing her oven space would increase productivity and make her mornings move a little quicker.
Cole snapped his measuring tape back into place. “Let me see what I can work out with your supplier. Contractor rates and all.”
Maddie felt touched. And humbled. “Thank you,” she said softly.
Cole shrugged, not making eye contact. “Just doing my job. Keeping the boss happy.” He walked out of the storage room, and before she could even make it to the main room, opened the front door. “I’ll head out for supplies and get started. I can probably get those extra ovens delivered with the rest of your order if we call them today. In the meantime, I can get started with the rest of the build out.”
“Any chance that the kitchen will be somewhat usable by the end of next week?”
Cole gave her a long look. “I thought the place wasn’t opening until the weekend after that.”
“It isn’t,” Maddie explained. “But the Harvest Fest is next weekend and I’m hosting a stand. Amelia offered to let me use her kitchen at the café for all the baking, but it would be a lot better for everyone if I had my own space.”
She’d taken enough of her sister’s generosity for a lifetime, and all she wanted was to finally have something all of her own.
She just hadn’t realized how difficult that would be.
“I’ll see what I can do,” was all Cole said.
Maddie nodded and watched him go, leaving her standing alone in the middle of her bakery, thinking that Cole McCarthy wasn’t quite as bad as she’d remembered him.
And that maybe Candy had helped her out after all. Not that she’d ever admit it.
*
“That you, Cole?”
Cole set his keys down on the small table in the front hall, wondering who else it could be, but knowing that even now, a good twenty years after his father had upped and left town, his mother was still holding out hope that Karl McCarthy would walk in the door and sit down at the dinner table, as if nothing had ever happened.
His mother was good at pretending that everything was okay. Always was, even back when he was just a kid and he could see the pain in her eyes, see the beer bottles in the trash that she tried to hide under paper towels, hear the door slam when his father came home late at night, or his mother pacing the creaking floors of her bedroom when he didn’t come home at all.
She was always good at pretending everything was okay. Then and now. And just like now, when she tried to bite her lip to stifle the pain he knew she was experiencing, he felt something build up inside of him. Frustration. Anger. He couldn’t help her, no matter how hard he tried.
The only difference between then and now was that he was a grown man, not a scrappy, helpless kid. He’d learned how to curb his emotions. Learned to hide them much the way his mother had. Knew his limitations. Accepted his lot.
His mother wasn’t going to get any better this time. Every doctor he’d taken her to had said the same thing. And all he could do was try and make every day he had with her a little easier. Keep a roof over their heads. Pay off the mounting bills that came in every month from her treatments. Pick up her pain meds. Sometimes some flowers too.
He didn’t like to get them at the flower shop in town, though. Instead, he gathered her favorite blooms from the garden, sticking them in vases around the house, or picking up something nice from the grocery store, where he wouldn’t have to deal with Gabby Conway getting up in his business.
Not that there was anything wrong with Gabby. She was a nice girl. Pretty too. But she knew about as much as anyone could about people’s business. Professional hazard. She knew who was having a birthday, and who had some apologizing to do. She knew who was about to get engaged. And who was sick.
No, better to keep it simple. No middle-men. No cards. No questions. Or rumors.
“It’s me, Mom,” he called out. He slipped off his work boots and walked to the kitchen, where she was sitting at the table, sipping a mug of tea. Their next-door neighbor was sitting in his usual chair, not that he minded. She stopped by at least once a week, always bringing cookies, sometimes dinner, offering to tidy up, and always putting a smile on his mother’s face.
Today, his mother looked in better spirits. Her cheeks had color in them, and she seemed to sit a little straighter than usual. Immediately, he felt his shoulders relax.
“Hello, Janice,” he said to the other woman. “How’s Chris doing?”
Chris has moved to Philly years back and didn’t visit as much as Janice would have liked, he knew. He’d been friends with Chris when they were kids—or as close as a friend as he
had. Pushing people away had always been second nature, but his mother and Chris’s mother had pushed the boys together, and Janice had seen to it that her son invited Cole fishing or out to swim on those long summer days when he was too young to work and school was out of session, and his mother was worried that he’d get into trouble.
And trouble he did.
Now, shame tore through him when he thought of the worry he’d caused her. The way her expression would fold every time he got sent home from school or the principal called, summoning her for another meeting. He’d do anything to take it all back, to undo the additional unhappiness he’d caused her.
For now, some roses would have to do.
“My, you’re spoiled, Miriam,” Janice marveled as she stood to fill a vase with water. She knew her way around the kitchen, and Cole had grown to like having her in the house. For so long it had just been him and his mother, and a change in dynamic was always good. It had just taken him a long time to learn that human connection could be a good thing.
“It’s getting chilly out there,” Cole observed. “I’m going to put a fresh coat of paint on the house the moment I wrap up my project.”
“Cole is the contractor for the new bakery,” his mother informed Janice.
Janice set the vase on the center of the table and resumed her spot. “I’d heard that Maddie Conway was opening a spot next to her sister’s café. Wasn’t she in the same grade as you?” She sipped her tea, but Cole didn’t fail to notice the little glance she exchanged with his mother.
“She was,” he grunted. Eventually. “Think I’ll go shower now.”
“Oh, but don’t leave us hanging. When is the bakery opening?”
Cole paused in the doorway to the hall. He knew damn well that these two women were more interested in him working with Maddie than when the bakery would open. But seeing the light in his mother’s eyes, he decided to humor her.
“A couple weeks,” he said. He hesitated, and then decided to throw them another bone. “It’s a real nice place she has planned.”
And it was, or at least it would be. He’d make sure of that. He could see the potential. He wanted it to be a success. Maddie deserved that.
“Her mother was an angel,” Janice remarked, clucking her tongue sadly. “Always kept that house just so, especially at Christmastime, do you remember?”
Cole’s mother nodded sadly. “She was always sure to wave and smile. She was a good neighbor.”
Janice shook her head. “She would be really proud of those girls. It’s so sad that she’s not here to see it.”
A look passed between his mother and Cole, and he felt his jaw set, just as it always did when he thought of the reality of their circumstances. Still, he couldn’t quite believe it. A part of him still hoped for a miracle, he supposed. That one day she’d get better. That the doctors had been wrong.
That his father would walk through that front door, just as his mother had always hoped he would.
“What does she plan to call it?” Janice asked, clearly not willing to let him go just yet.
Cole scratched his jaw. “I didn’t ask. But thanks for the reminder. She’ll need to get a sign up, and I’ll have to be the one to hang it.”
He gave them a little smile and excused himself, leaving them to enjoy their conversation and tea, and as he climbed the stairs to the bedroom he’d lived in all his life, he smiled at the sound of his mother’s laughter, even if he couldn’t help noticing that they were still on the subject of Maddie Conway, and what a pretty girl she’d always been.
5
Maddie had spent all of Thursday scouring antique stores across the county for the dishes for the shop. Remembering her mother’s special tea party china had sparked an idea, and by Friday morning, she had two boxes of mix-matched plates, tea cups, and even three stunning hand-painted cake stands carefully wrapped and packed in the trunk of Amelia’s car, which Amelia let Maddie borrow whenever she needed it—which was rare, but certainly handy these days. It wasn’t exactly modern and fresh, but each piece told a story, and she liked to think that it would be something others would remember, years from now, just as she thought of those tea parties with her sisters.
She carried the first box gingerly into the bakery on Friday morning, hoping to load them into the storage closet, and clean and organize them while Cole worked. The existing bathroom was only getting a new coat of paint, and the sink was in full working order for this sort of activity. Plus, she probably needed to keep an eye on the guy. Given his history, she half doubted he’d even shown up to the job yesterday while she was away, and she was a little surprised to see his truck parked on the gravel path when she arrived.
When she walked into the empty space, the sound of hammering greeted her, and she was pleased to see that the floorboards had been covered with a protective layer of paper and tape and that three shades of sunshine yellow paint were marked in neat squares on each wall, so she could see how they caught the light throughout the day.
Blinking in awe, she set the box of dishes on the floor in the corner where they wouldn’t be at risk of being tripped over and hesitantly made her way through the doorway to the kitchen, gasping at what she saw.
The storage space had been stripped out, the wall to the large closet had been broken down, and a new frame had been erected in its place for the smaller closet, allowing for more storage space and the extra ovens. It hadn’t been in Matt’s original design, and Maddie had been worried how Amelia or Matt would respond to that, until she told herself the entire drive back to Blue Harbor yesterday that it was her business, and her decision.
And she’d always had Amelia’s support. It was part of the reason she was so determined to do this on her own, without asking for any more help or generosity on her family’s part.
Now, as she looked at the changes to the kitchen, she was confident she had made the right decisions. There was a fresh coat of creamy white paint on the walls that immediately brightened the space, and a row of shelves was already hung on the short wall, where Maddie had planned to house all her mixing bowls for easy access.
Cole had read her notes. He seemed to almost be ahead of schedule.
And she was speechless.
Cole stood with his back to her, putting the last of the shelves into place. His shoulders strained against the fabric of his blue tee shirt, and Maddie hung back a moment to admire his muscular form. She could almost see what Gabby had been saying the other night about Cole being easy on the eye. Almost.
Noticing her, he turned, his brow furrowing in concentration. “Didn’t hear you come in. If you sneak up on me like that, I might end up dropping something next time. Don’t need a hammer on my foot.”
Well, so much for a friendly greeting. Maddie felt all her good will slip away.
“We never discussed those shelves, did we?” She motioned to the shelves, already envisioning her colorful bowls arranged on their surfaces.
His brow hooded. “No. I read the plans. Why?”
She smiled. “I’m just surprised is all. You’ve done more than I expected!”
His expression turned wary, as if he wasn’t sure she’d paid him a compliment or not. He picked up his toolbox, and slid a screwdriver back into its proper place. He was neat, and thorough, she realized, watching him.
“What did you expect? That I’d be sitting around, taking a cigarette break every fifteen minutes?” He managed his first grin of the day, but even it was gone so quickly she’d barely caught it.
She felt guilty that this thought had, in fact, crossed her mind.
“Don’t worry. I don’t smoke. And the way I see it, the sooner I get the job done, the sooner we’re both able to get on with things, right?”
Now she was the one who wasn’t so sure if he was insulting her or not. “That eager to get away from me, huh?”
He glanced her way, then back at the toolbox. “Never said that.”
Silence fell. Maddie told herself not to read into anything.
>
“Look,” she said, realizing that a formal apology was in order here. “I’m sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. I…” She hesitated, not quite sure how to finish that thought without making things worse, and that was certainly the last thing she wanted to do. Cole was right. She did want this project finished, and as quickly as possible, too.
He held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I get it.”
She studied him. “You do?”
He shrugged. “I have a reputation in this town. I’m not completely unaware of what people say about me, you know.”
“Oh.” Shame weighed on her as she searched for the best thing to say to smooth this all over. “I don’t know about that…”
He cocked an eyebrow. She resisted a smile, and failed.
“Don’t worry about it, Maddie. I get it.”
Did he? From the hurt that seemed to steep in his dark eyes, she wasn’t so sure about that, but there was no room to push further, and it was clear that Cole didn’t think so either. He jutted his chin to the main room. “What did you think of those paint colors?”
Maddie was relieved for the change of subject as she wandered back into the front room, aware of Cole’s tread close behind her. For some reason she wondered what her rear looked like in her jeans, and she wondered if she should have worn a dress or something more flattering instead. It wasn’t like she had time to work out these days, and she had been taste-testing a lot of new recipes…
But a dress? She shook that thought off immediately. Ridiculous! Cole was her contractor, not her boyfriend. Besides, he had a reputation. A bad one. Even he didn’t deny it.
Besides, this was a construction site. Not a bakery.
Yet.
Still, she folded her arms over her chest and stood where her rear was shielded by the windows. The colors he had painted in a neat row were similar, and she had a sneaking suspicion this was some sort of test, like possibly they were all the same color and he was waiting for a “told you so” moment. But her mind kept drifting to one in particular, and whether he liked it or not, she was going with it.
