“Damn, lady, you haven’t changed,” Eli said, setting her back on her feet, his face transformed from his usual scowl. “God, it’s good to see you.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist for another squeeze. “You too. Monroe says hello.”
Eli laughed out loud. “He probably said a few other things, too. We’ve been trying to get together for a beer for the last year.”
“Yeah, he said that’s your fault,” Maddi said, tilting her head and bringing another laugh from Eli as he patted her cheek.
Zach looked away, focusing on a stick in the yard just outside the window. Every muscle in his neck felt ready to pop. He had to quit. He had to fucking quit. She was business now. Taking a slow breath, he let the stick go and turned back. Unfortunately, Nicole’s sharp gaze was the first thing he snagged on.
“You’re the one she dated, right?” Nicole said under her breath as the chatter continued.
Zach forced a soft laugh. “That was a long time ago. And her brother, Monroe, is Eli’s best friend.”
“Since childhood?”
“Since forever,” he answered.
“And the sappy little reunion over there?” she asked, gesturing with her head.
Didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. Zach shrugged and sat on the back of the couch. “She was always his little sister, too, I guess. Felt he needed to protect her.”
Nicole chuckled in her husky, throaty way. “From what—you?”
A bitterness filled his mouth that he couldn’t swallow away. “No, he failed there,” Zach said, his voice sounding odd to his own ears. But watching the two of them laugh it up and catch up in their comfortable easy way tugged at his gut in ways he couldn’t put logical thought to.
“Jealous?” Nicole asked, bringing his internal battle to the surface.
“Hell, no,” Zach said, done with the conversation.
Nicole opened her mouth to respond, clearly unable to pick up on subtlety, but Zach was saved by his mother swatting at his ass.
“Get up, you heathen, you weren’t raised in a barn,” she said, pushing him off the back of her precious couch.
“I want to meet these barn people you always talk about,” Zach said, trying to shake off the irritation simmering under his skin, stepping aside before his mom could hit him again.
“Hush, smartie,” Lou said, affection sparkling in her blue eyes. Simon’s eyes. “Plenty of cushions on the other side, and enough chairs to sit an army.”
“And yet you let Cracker reign on here like he’s a king,” Zach said. “Where is he, by the way?”
“Closed him in my room,” she said, smiling at Maddi and Eli as they walked up arm in arm like it was completely normal to do so. “All these new people would freak him out.”
“Cracker?” Nicole asked.
“Mom’s dog,” Zach said, meeting Eli’s eyes, amazed at the openness there and wanting to smack him more than ever.
Maddi looked like she was holding her breath, Zach noticed. Like an actor thrown into a play at the last minute, expected to know all the lines. She was trying to fit in, trying to appease her boss, and when her eyes met his, he saw something else. Panic. All her coolness from earlier was a front. She didn’t want to be there any more than he wanted her there.
“Our dog,” his mother corrected. “He’s part of the family.”
“Mom’s dog,” Zach and Eli said in unison, making everyone laugh. Zach continued, “He’s deaf and ornery.”
“Hush,” Lou said, with swats to both men’s stomachs. “I’ll be deaf and ornery one day, too, you know.”
“And we’ll lock you in your room when company comes over,” Eli said, putting an arm around her and kissing the top of her head.
“Yeah, you try that, and I’ll pull out my ninja moves,” Lou said, poking him in the ribs till he let go.
“Hey, we missing a party?”
All heads turned to see a gorgeous tiny blonde woman making her way through a line of uneasy-looking crew members hovering in the doorway. Parting like the Red Sea, they hurried away from said doorway as a jubilant if not apologetic Simon followed in her wake. Pushing Gran.
“Quinn!” Lou bellowed at first sight of her, leaving them behind in search of new hugs. “Come on in, honey.” She stopped short at the sight of Annabelle riding her throne and glanced up at Simon, who was mouthing an I’m sorry at that very moment. “Annabelle, I didn’t know you were coming.”
Gran laughed, her white pin curls trembling around her face while the rest of her hair didn’t dare move from the chignon she’d worn publicly since the dawn of time.
“Yes, I gathered that, by the lack of an invitation,” she said, clasping her hands together. “Luckily, I happened to call Simon on his way out. Quinn, sweetheart, can you go find me a glass of something cold? In an actual glass, not those tacky plastic things.”
“Absolutely,” Quinn said, biting back a smile as she rolled her eyes in apology and made for the kitchen.
“Glad to help out, Gran,” Simon said, resting his hands on her shoulders and tilting his head at his mother with another I’m so sorry silently formed on his lips.
Lou grinned. It wasn’t her first dressing-down from Annabelle, and barring cardiac arrest there in the family room, it wouldn’t be the last, probably not even in the next ten minutes.
“There was nothing to invite you to, Annabelle, this isn’t an event,” she said.
“We’re just getting together to go over the contract, Gran,” Zach said. “Dotting and crossing and getting on the same page.”
“And working out the filming schedule,” Nicole piped up, coming forward with a hand outstretched. “I’m Nicole Brian, associate producer of—”
“The Chase,” Gran finished, her eyes taking in Nicole as she squeezed her fingers. “Yes, I heard. Clever name. So, you’re in charge?”
“Well, indirectly,” Nicole said, looking the tiniest bit flustered. Zach had to stifle a grin. Gran had that talent. “Madison will actually be handling things on-site.”
Quinn came back with a glass-glass of ice water.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Gran said. “You are just a doll. Zach—where’s Zach?”
“Right here, Gran,” Zach said, lifting a hand.
“Zach, you need to snatch this precious woman up right now before that fiancé of hers gets around to sealing the deal,” she said, amidst Quinn’s reddening cheeks and laughter. “She’s beautiful! You’re single! What’s wrong with you?”
Simon looked like he could slide his hands right up to her neck without a second thought, but Zach latched on to the hook like a drowning man. He needed something to pull his manhood out from wherever it was hiding.
“Oh, I don’t think Quinn would know what to do with me, Gran,” Zach said with a grin and a wink at Quinn. She’d never surpassed the sister role in his head for some reason. Probably because she was Hannah’s best friend and Hannah’d castrate him if he tried anything.
“Really?” Quinn said, twisting her face into a mock grimace.
“Really?” Simon echoed under his breath, smiling daggers at Zach.
Zach laughed until a certain voice made his blood warm under his skin.
“Eli and Simon?” Maddi began, turning both men around to where she stood next to Nicole. “I want to introduce you to my boss, Nicole Brian,” she said, all passive and professional again as Nicole held out her hand and lifted one eyebrow.
“My goodness, this family has amazing genetics,” she said as both Eli and Simon took her hand in turn. “Made for the camera, that’s for sure.”
Eli’s expression went cooler as his eyes glazed back into the mask Zach recognized. The one saying he was perpetually unhappy with anything Zach did, and mention of a camera clearly reminded him that Nicole fit that bill.
“Miss Brian,” Eli said.
&
nbsp; “Mr. Chase,” she responded, her whole tone and stance changing as she held eye contact with him. Maybe she wanted to provoke him. Maybe she knew he was the holdout vote. Hell, maybe she just wanted to ride him like a prize bull, by the seductive twist in her voice. Whatever it was lit a fire in Eli’s eyes, and it looked like he accepted the challenge. “Great to finally meet you,” she said.
Even Simon looked back and forth between them as if a remote had gotten stuck on pause, and then shook his head in resignation.
“Am I the invisible man today?” he muttered to Maddi, who laughed and took his arm.
“Hardly,” she said.
“Maddi Hayes, my goodness,” Gran said, her voice low enough to stay under the chatter of the room, but loud enough to catch Maddi’s attention. And Zach’s. And his mother’s too, by the way she pivoted right out of a conversation with Quinn to lay eyes on her mother-in-law. “How many years has it been?”
Maddi chuckled nervously and tucked her hair behind her ears. “A few,” she said on a laugh, leaning over to pat the older woman’s hand.
“So you will be running this shindig?” Gran said.
Maddi opened her mouth and glanced around the room, as if seeing Nicole would anchor that idea. “Yes, ma’am.” She smiled brightly. “I’m surprised you remember me. It was a long time ago.”
Gran laughed and took a sip of her water. “Well, of course I remember you, sweetheart. You’re the one that crushed my Zach’s heart like a Tic Tac. I wanted to hunt you down, but Zach and Eli forbade it. Building falling on you, and all.” She winked and smiled just as brilliantly. “Good to see you again.”
Maddi felt the smile freeze on her face as the bright-eyed old bitch patted her hand again and someone who was probably Zach cursed under their breath. She wasn’t sure because she didn’t dare look up to check. She was doing good enough just to occupy space in the room she’d once thought of as home, where she’d grown up and laughed and cried and fell in love. Someone pulled the wheelchair another direction and she slowly stood upright, turning to Miss Lou.
“Yay,” she whispered. And then realized that Miss Lou really probably shouldn’t or wouldn’t be her ally on this. If Granabelle felt that way, being once removed, how did Zach’s mother feel? Then again, that hug outside had been the real deal.
“Don’t you let that constipated old biddy get under your skin,” Miss Lou said under her breath, taking her hand. “Here, come with me for a second.”
Maddi found herself being led out the back patio doors into the thick muggy heat and the slightly sweet smell of damp earth and flowers. Miss Lou’s wild-growing flower beds weren’t anything to rave over, but they were as fragrant as ever. Tiger lilies and irises and gladiolas hugged the back of the house, circling around as if to point the way to the spring-fed pond that reached around a bend and sat framed between the two giant oak trees.
The same old dilapidated bench marked the place where the land ended and the water began. The bench where Zach had asked her something very important—in the rain, of course. And her favorite tree, the twin on the right, that had so many hidden cubbies and places to climb up in and get lost. She could still spot a good climbing tree—could tick off the possibilities before taking a full breath.
“Honey, I thought you could stand a chance to catch your wind,” Miss Lou said, sinking into a cushioned patio chair. “I know I could. It’s getting crazy in there, and Annabelle doesn’t help things one bit. They won’t miss us for a few minutes.”
Maddi laughed and glanced through the paned doors at Nicole animatedly chatting with Eli, and lowered herself into a seat next to Miss Lou. The quiet was welcoming, soothing, cathartic as always. She’d always loved this backyard, as if it were separate from the rest of the world. She’d wanted to get married back there, originally, but Zach had talked her into a quick courthouse ceremony and a fantastic party and honeymoon instead.
“How is your brother?” Miss Lou asked.
“He’s great,” Maddi said. “Out of the service now, and running his own gym in West Plano.”
“Good for him,” Miss Lou said. “You know, I think about him every time I look at those trees,” she said, pointing. “How he’d jump from one to the other like a monkey.”
Maddi chuckled. “Yeah, he was quite the skinny little acrobat.” She widened her eyes. “Not so much anymore. The Marines took care of the skinny.”
Miss Lou laughed, her eyes crinkling around her glasses. “It’s got to be a little bit overwhelming, huh? Coming back here?”
Maddi met her eyes, and there was no animosity or negativity there. Simply kindness and concern. She was hit with a wave of regret for not keeping in touch with the woman who taught her to be a woman. Her own parents were never people she could sit and talk like this with. Oh, her mom always gave the effort, but they just weren’t the warm-and-fuzzy kind of parents. They provided. They educated and loved Maddi and Monroe, but demonstrative love just wasn’t in their wheelhouse. And her dad’s quick temper made it easier to come to the Chase house.
Miss Lou always made it easy to be there.
“A little,” she said, releasing a breath and a chuckle. “You know, you think you’re all grown up and past things till you’re staring at them again.”
“Well,” Miss Lou said, crossing an ankle over her knee, “if it’s any consolation, those things are struggling a bit, too.”
Maddi felt her mouth drop open as her stomach made a diving move—like when you suddenly drop in an airplane or speed down a hill. What the hell was that? She wasn’t fifteen, hoping to hear that a boy liked her. She was a grown woman, and—
“You just never got closure, Maddi,” Miss Lou said, cutting into her thoughts. “You both have that same look about you. Like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Maddi laughed, the feeling warming her insides and releasing tension. “I guess.”
“I know,” she said. “Talk to each other a little, it’ll even out.”
Maddi nodded, not entirely sold on that theory. She didn’t think having a chitchat would settle the storm that churned between her and Zach every time they shared air, but she could give it a try. She did need to work with him, after all.
“But don’t listen to Annabelle,” Miss Lou said. “God knows that woman can make a stink when she wants to. Yes, Zach may have flopped around a bit when you left. As I’m sure you probably did, too. But you both survived to walk the earth today,” she said with a laugh and flip of her hand. “So don’t let her melodrama get to you.”
“You don’t hate me?” Maddi asked, surprised the question fell out of her mouth. This place had a way of loosening her defenses, that was for sure.
“Sweetheart,” Miss Lou said, putting a hand on her arm, “this life isn’t easy, and it isn’t for everyone. No one blamed you for needing out, especially after what you went through. And baby, look at you now. Standing up to what scares you and filming it. That takes guts.”
Maddi felt her breath quicken and the familiar fires under her skin at the memory of being buried under the rubble. She shook her head slightly to push it away.
“But that day—”
“Happened as God intended it to,” Miss Lou finished. “Sometimes he makes big statements.”
Maddi blinked, feeling the weight of those words. “Thank you.”
“Life’s messy, baby. It’s raw and gritty,” Miss Lou said. “The best stuff always is.”
Maddi smiled. “The best stuff, huh?”
“What I’ve always told my kids,” she said, squeezing Maddi’s arm. “So tell me about you. About this job.”
Maddi sighed. “Not much to tell. Yet, at least.”
“I remember you wanting to be a TV reporter,” Miss Lou said.
“Yeah,” Maddi said wistfully, recalling her childhood dreams of changing the world through broadcast journalism. “Real life tends to hand out diff
erent cards,” she said. “I started at the network as a lowly little sound tech, and then took a chance with the assistant position.” Maddi laughed and shook her head. “I thought my brilliance would shoot me right on up.”
“No shooting?” Miss Lou said, her blue eyes looking amused.
“Definitely no shooting.”
“Well, just give it time, sweetheart,” Miss Lou said, patting her hand. “You never know what doors it might open up.”
Maddi glanced behind her at the French doors. “Yes, ma’am. Open up.”
“Relax,” Miss Lou said, giving her hand a squeeze. “We’re family here, remember?”
“I know,” Maddi said, letting out a sigh. She felt herself slump, attempting a smile she didn’t quite feel. “That obvious?”
“Only when you breathe, baby.”
Maddi laughed as she covered her face with her hands. “God, I’m not pulling this off well, am I?”
“It’s just your history eating at you,” Miss Lou said. “You and Zach have an epic one. You just have to find a way to put that aside to do your job.”
Maddi nodded. “Exactly. And this show is kind of being dangled over my head like a carrot,” she said. “No pressure.”
“Well, I think it’s pretty exciting—Eli is the harder sell, by the way, so maybe you can work your magic on him.”
Maddi chuckled. “Will do.” She suddenly felt antsy, as if she couldn’t sit in that chair, in that backyard anymore. She needed something normal, something preferably miles away from where she currently existed, but that wasn’t going to happen. “I should probably get back to my boss before she reminds me we aren’t on a social visit. Now, about those lemon bars?”
“Come on,” Miss Lou said, rising to her feet with a hint of stiffness and a grunt. “Let’s see if we can part the masses and get to the kitchen. We can bring everything out to Zach’s table that your boss is so flustered over.”
Maddi laughed and rose with a turn toward the door, reaching for the handle just as it opened for her and Zach stood just inches away. Looking down at her with those eyes. And damn if her stomach didn’t do gymnastics all over again. But Miss Lou was right. They had to work together and find some sense of normal, so they both needed to quit this dance-around and rip off the Band-Aid.
Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1) Page 10
