"Mmm. This is so yummy!" Hannah said as she took another bite of her Hawaiian style pizza. "Almost as good as my mom's." She looked at Sarah as she said this, and burst out laughing.
Sarah laughed as well, remembering Hannah's cheeky comments about her own pizzas that she'd made for Maddy's twelfth birthday party, which seemed so long ago now. So much had happened since then, but how happy they all were now! God had been good, and helped Maddy come to terms not only with her marriage to Hank, but also the prospect of leaving her hometown to move to the city for Hank's job at the hospital.
She looked at her beautiful daughter and her heart warmed. Thank you God for Maddy. And thank you so much for bringing Hank into my life. Such a wonderful husband and father.
"Sarah, can you pass the water?" She looked up at him, and smiled before passing the jug. "What you were thinking? You looked like you were miles away."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied teasingly, and took another mouthful of her grilled fish.
Following dinner, they strolled back to their villa along the boardwalk. Maddy and Hannah walked on ahead whilst Hank and Sarah walked slowly together, enjoying the coolness of the evening. A gentle breeze was blowing in from the ocean that was now almost as still as a mill pond. You could just hear the sound of the waves lapping at the edge of the sand if you listened hard enough. The silvery moonlight shimmering across the almost still water created a perfect setting for such a stroll on such a balmy night.
Maddy and Hannah were almost oblivious to their surroundings. They'd been promised another 'Shave Ice' from the Cafe on their way home, and they were hurrying to get there. Hannah did look up, however, just in time to see what she thought was a familiar figure walking the other way.
"Maddy, did you get a look at that guy?" She stopped and turned around to get a better look at the back of a boy that certainly did look a lot like Jake. But he was holding hands with another girl. So it couldn’t be Jake. Or could it?
"Quick, if we double back along the beach, we'll be able to hide between the rocks and have another look when they walk past," Maddy said after she'd agreed with Hannah that the boy they'd just seen holding hands with a girl that was not Lyndsay did indeed look suspiciously like Jake.
Maddy told her mom what they were doing, promising they'd catch up within a few minutes. They scooted off the path and onto the beach, but had to hug the rocks as they ran along so they wouldn’t be seen in the moonlight. They kept running until they knew they were ahead of the boy they thought was Jake, and found a crevice between two rocks where they could hide without being seen as he walked by.
"Shh," Maddy put her index finger to her lips and whispered to Hannah that she could see them coming. They peered out through the crevice as the couple approached. The boy was tall and had dark hair, but he had a shirt on so they couldn’t tell just from looking at his body if it was Jake or not. As he walked past, he turned his head slightly to look at the girl, and they could see the stubble on his chin, and they recognized his voice.
Hannah and Maddy nodded to each other, and then quickly glanced back again at the girl he was holding hands with. She looked all grown up, with high heels, a very short skirt revealing legs that seemed to go forever, long blond hair, and a face full of make-up. It definitely wasn't Lyndsay.
The girls climbed out from behind the rocks once the couple had passed and were out of view.
"Poor Lyndsay," Maddy said. "It doesn't matter that we don't really like her that much. It's just not fair!"
"I wonder if she knows?" Hannah asked as they started to jog along the boardwalk to catch up with Hank and Sarah.
"Probably not," Maddy replied. "She seemed to be fairly happy with him this afternoon on the beach."
"What should we do then?"
"Not sure. Maybe we should keep an eye on him for a while, and not say anything to her until we know more."
"That might mean hanging out with her." Hannah rolled her eyes and made a face at Maddy.
"Well, I guess it does, but maybe that's what we need to do."
Chapter 5
The next morning, the girls decided to wait on the far edge of the grassy area near the pool for Lyndsay to walk by, and then run to join her, pretending they were just on their way themselves. Their plan worked, and they only had to wait a few minutes before they saw her walking along by herself.
"I'm glad Jake's not with her," Hannah whispered. "That would be a bit awkward."
"Yes, but we're going to have to see him at some stage if we're going to keep a watch on him," Maddy said.
"I know. I'm just not ready at the moment."
"Okay, let's catch up with her," Maddy said, and they began to walk briskly until they were almost behind her, when they slowed down to her pace.
"Lyndsay!" Maddy called out. "Wait for us."
She turned around and looked at the girls before glancing from one side of the path to the other. Maddy thought it looked like she was checking to see if anyone was watching. Was she embarrassed to be seen with them?
"Hi there," she eventually said as the girls caught up with her.
"You going to the pool?" Hannah asked.
"Yes. Just for a while. I need to get back in time to go for lunch with Jake," she replied.
"That sounds nice," Maddy said, opening her eyes wide. "Where did you meet him?" she asked as they walked along together.
"On the beach, not long after we arrived. He came over and introduced himself to me." She adjusted her sunglasses and her hat before continuing. "He's pretty cool, isn't he?"
Maddy didn't really know how she should answer that question. "No, he's two timing you! He's a rat bag. You should just walk away from him. He's no good." Instead, she replied, "Yes, you're not wrong. He's pretty cool."
Maddy took a quick look at Hannah. It seemed she wasn't going to say anything.
"Would you like to get some sun lounges together?" Maddy asked.
"Okay. That would be nice," Lyndsay replied as they entered the pool area.
The girls found three vacant sun lounges near where they'd been the day before. Maddy and Hannah removed their shirts and shorts and gave each other a look. They wanted to go back onto the slides, but they weren't sure that Lyndsay would be keen to join them.
They sat on the edge of their sun lounges, swinging their legs. Lyndsay had also removed her sun dress, and was settling herself onto her lounge. It didn't look like she was planning on going into the water.
"Do you ever go in?" Maddy asked her.
She shook her head. "No. I don't like getting my hair wet," she replied.
Hannah turned her head away and held her sides to stop herself from laughing.
"Really?" Maddy managed to say. "So you've never been on those slides?"
"No. They're just for little kids."
"No they're not!" Hannah couldn’t stop herself. "Take a look! There are big kids coming down. We were on them yesterday, and we had a lot of fun. Why don't you come down with us?"
"No. I think I'll just sit here and watch," she replied. "You go. Don't worry about me."
Hannah looked at Maddy, not sure what they should do.
"How about we sit here for a while, Han, and then go in later?" Maddy suggested.
"Okay," she agreed reluctantly.
The girls wiggled themselves into position on the sun lounges, and sat there beside Lyndsay for several minutes before Maddy broke the silence.
"You know, I think you're in the villa next door to ours."
"Really? What makes you think that?"
"We were behind you yesterday and saw you turn off into it. We were too far back to call out, though."
"Fancy that. Neighbors." She laughed and shook her head. "Does that mean you're going to spy on Jake and me?"
Maddy was taken by surprise. "No. Of course not," she managed to say without giving themselves away. "We weren't going to spy on you, Lyndsay, just Jake," she would have liked to have said, but didn't.
"Is it just yo
u there with your mom and dad?" Hannah asked, sitting up a little so she could see Lyndsay's face.
"Yes. Just me and my mom and dad. Boring. We come here every year, but this year they're fighting, so it's even worse. I'm surprised they came."
"Oh, that's sad," Hannah said. "Has it been going on for long?"
"A few months, I guess. Not even sure what it's about. They just seem to be angry at each other all the time. But I shouldn't be saying anything about it. They don't like me telling other people their business." She sighed deeply and leant back on her sun lounge, closing her eyes for a moment.
"Why don't we go for a swim? We can just stay in the shallow part if you like. We don't need to go down the slides today," Maddy said.
Lyndsay looked like she was thinking about it for a moment, and then agreed to join them. She sat on the edge of the pool, her legs dangling in the water while Maddy and Hannah swam around in the warm, shallow water.
"Come on in, Lyndsay. The water's really nice," Hannah called out to her.
"Yes, come on, Lyndsay. It's really nice. We won't splash, you, honest!" Maddy added.
She finally agreed to go in, and then Maddy and Hannah discovered why she didn't like swimming. It wasn't really because of her hair, although that might have been a reason as well. It was because she couldn’t swim! She had no idea how to float, or even how to do simple breaststroke. She just sat in the water and moved her arms around, making sure her hair didn't get wet.
"Have you never learnt to swim?" Hannah asked.
She shook her head. "No. I had a few lessons when I was a kid, but I hated it so much my mom gave up taking me. I've hardly been in the water since."
"That's really sad," Hannah said. "You can have heaps of fun in the water. We go swimming all the time with our friends back home in summer, don't we, Mad?"
Whoops! She'd stuffed up again. When would she get it into her head that 'home' for Maddy was no longer Riversleigh, but Smithtown? She looked at Maddy apologetically. "Sorry Mad."
"It's okay, Han," Maddy replied.
"What are you two going on about?" Lyndsay asked, looking first at Hannah and then at Maddy.
"Maddy's mom just got married, and they're moving to Smithtown when we get back from here, and I keep on forgetting," Hannah answered.
"Oh. You looking forward to it?" she asked Maddy.
"Not really, but there's nothing we can do about it, although we tried, didn't we, Han?" Maddy looked at Hannah and they both started to giggle.
"What did you do?" Lyndsay asked, for the first time sounding as if she was really interested in what they had to say.
Maddy told her about their adventure into the mountains, and the storm that came along that almost washed them away, and how their parents had sent out a search party for them.
"Wow! You must have gotten into trouble!"
"Kind of. We weren't allowed to ride our bikes for two weeks, but that was about all. My parents were actually really good about it. I think they were so relieved that we were found and were okay, that they were fairly light on the punishment," Hannah explained as she floated around in circles.
"And I just had to accept that we were moving, although I still wasn't too happy about it," Maddy added. She wanted to tell Lyndsay about what had happened to her at the youth group concert, about how she now knew that God would be with her, and that she was okay with everything, but she didn't think that Lyndsay would understand and it would just sound funny, so she didn't say anything. Maybe another time.
"You're going to miss each other, I can tell. I don't have any really good friends. You two are lucky to have each other." She paused for a moment, and Maddy thought she looked quite sad. She suddenly looked up and continued. "And so is your mom on her honeymoon, and you're here with them?"
Maddy nodded. "Yes. They surprised us at the end of the wedding. We didn't know we were coming until Mom told us to go home and pack our bags. It was a huge surprise! And here we are!"
"Wow! Your new step dad must be alright, then. I don't think my dad would have been happy for me to go on their honeymoon." She stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, you know what I mean. I wasn't around then." She laughed, but then Maddy noticed another sad look briefly flitting across her face.
"Yes, he's pretty cool. He's a doctor in the Emergency Department at Smithtown General. He's really good at his job, so Mom says. What does your dad do, Lyndsay?"
"Oh, he researches things. Fairly top secret stuff. I usually don't even know what he's working on," she replied.
"That sounds exciting," Hannah said. "I wonder what kind of stuff he's researching?"
"I don't know. Sometimes I try to guess, but he never tells me. Anyway, I've got to go. Jake's picking me up at midday. It's been nice talking with you. Really. I know I was a bit rude yesterday. I hope we can be friends?"
Maddy and Hannah both nodded and smiled at her. They both felt sorry for her. She seemed so lonely. Maddy's mom had been right. And now here she was, being duped by Jake. It just didn’t seem fair.
As soon as Lyndsay left, the girls headed straight for the slides, and spent the next ten minutes doing the circuit before deciding to go back to the villa so they could see Jake.
"He really is low life," Hannah said to Maddy as they walked back together.
"She actually seems like quite a nice girl, once you get past that put on stuff," Maddy said. "Seems lonely, though. Which is how I'm going to be when we leave here." She looked at Hannah, who immediately threw her arms around her and then said, "Race you back!"
"You're just trying to get my mind off moving, I know you!" Maddy called out as she tried to catch her. "It's working!"
Chapter 6
When they arrived at the villa they were both panting, even though it wasn't that far. They'd run as fast as they could, dodging people along the way, and they reached the villa together.
"You two look like you've had fun," Sarah said as they flopped onto the cane lounge in the living area. "I hope you're not wet!"
"No, we dried off on the way back," Maddy replied.
"We thought we'd eat in for lunch today, since we're going to the Luau tonight. I'll get it ready shortly," Sarah said. "In the meantime, we're just relaxing out the back if you'd like to join us."
"Thanks Mom, but we might just hang here for a while. Let us know if we can help with lunch."
Maddy had realized they could just see the entrance to Lyndsay's villa from the living room window. It wasn't a clear view, as each villa was separated with trees and shrubs, but it was enough to get an idea of what was going on without being seen.
"She said midday, didn't she?" Hannah asked.
"Yes, I think so," Maddy said as she peered out the window to see if she could see anything. "It's almost that now. Wait – there he is! He's coming."
Hannah jumped up and joined Maddy at the window. "Look at him! The two-timing rat bag!"
"Hannah! I've never heard you talk like that before!" Maddy exclaimed.
"Well, I just don't think it's right what he's doing," she said. "I think we're going to have to tell Lyndsay."
"Not before we're absolutely sure. Maybe it wasn't him after all last night," Maddy said hopefully.
"Yes it was. It was him."
"Look! There they go. She's all dressed up. Must be going somewhere fancy," Maddy said.
"I don't know how we're going to catch him out again. I guess we could follow him this afternoon when they come back. Do you think we'd be allowed to go out on our own for a while?" Hannah asked, lying back down on the lounge, her legs dangling over the end.
"We could say we're going shopping," Maddy said. "And make sure we do, so we're not lying. We could have a look through the shopping mall across the road on our way back. I think we'd be allowed to do that."
"Sounds like a plan," Hannah said.
Shortly after, the girls helped Sarah put together a simple lunch which they ate outside on their patio.
"This is very pleasant," Hank said, s
tretching back in his chair once he'd finished eating. "Sure beats being in the Emergency Department!"
"And at school!" Maddy said. "I wish we could stay here longer than just a week. It's such a nice place."
"It is, isn't it?" Sarah joined in. "You chose well, my darling!" She leaned over and gave Hank a kiss on his cheek.
"Mom! Not in front of us!" Maddy said in disgust. She still hadn't really got used to her mom being with Hank, although she did really like him now. Especially after that dance at the wedding. Something had clicked between them then. But she couldn't get used to them kissing in front of her. Yuck!
"Okay! Sorry!" Sarah said. "Who's up for some ice cream?"
"Me!" Maddy shouted.
"And me!" Hannah followed suit.
"And me!" Hank called out.
"I guess that's everyone then," Sarah said as she gathered the empty lunch plates.
Once they had their ice-creams, Maddy asked her mom if she and Hannah could go to the shops for a while.
"I didn't think you were that keen on shopping?" she replied.
"We just want to have a look at all the different things. We probably won't buy anything though. Lyndsay said the shops are really good. And we'll be back in time to go to the beach for a while before we go to the Luau tonight. Is that okay?"
"I guess so, as long as you're back by mid-afternoon. You didn't tell me you met Lyndsay again today. Did you meet her at the pool?"
"Yes. And guess what? She’s in the villa beside us. It's just her and her mom and dad." Maddy almost let it slip that they were fighting, but managed to stop herself at the last moment.
"We'll have to invite them over for some drinks," Hank said. "Do you know what her dad does?"
"Lyndsay said he researches things. Top secret things!" Hannah piped up. "She doesn't even know what he's working on most of the time. It sounds pretty cool!"
The Madeleine Richards Box Set (The Madeleine Richards Series Book 4) Page 9
