She rolled her eyes. The man and his oversized toy. “Your precious car will be just fine.”
He turned and walked toward the door, and Maddie followed. Her eyes were drawn to Reuben’s khaki slacks, more specifically to his hindquarters. Were they … moving?
She averted her eyes. Good Christian women didn’t look at men’s behinds. Or did they? No, surely it was a sin to notice how nice it looked and how he must work out to have …
God, please help me. I know I’m lusting kinda…. Is this where I’m supposed to pluck out my eye?
The movement drew her eyes again. “Uh, Reuben?”
“Hold on a sec.” He reached for his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Maddie ducked her head. God would forgive sins of ignorance, right?
When she looked up, Reuben was tapping on the screen with his thumbs. He looked up at her. “That was Livy. I just want to tell her I’ll call her back later.”
“That’s fine. Do you want me to go in without you?” Please say no. The thought of walking into a strange house by herself made her want to hop back in her car and drive over a cliff. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but she really didn’t want to.
“No, I just texted her. You were saying?” He put the phone back in his pocket and held the door open for her.
Maddie shook her head. “Not a thing.” She exited and started down the walk leading to the back patio before he could question her.
Maddie lifted her fork to her mouth to savor her last bite of the most delicious lasagna she’d ever tasted. She’d be a stray cat more often if it meant she could eat like this. Especially in this picture-perfect setting. Their dining room looked like something out of a sitcom, with the farmhouse table and Reuben’s stepdad, who’d introduced himself as Gary Luther, sitting at the head. A hutch filled with china lined one wall with the swinging door that led to the kitchen next to it.
Gary set his fork on his empty plate and patted his slightly paunched stomach. “Betty, love, you’ve done it again. I believe I might have to unbuckle my belt after that one.”
Maddie shifted in her chair. She hated belts. They reminded her of her father.
“Oh, hush. You say that every time, and you’re not even wearing one. But I’m glad you enjoyed it.” The hostess stood and took his plate. “Anyone else done?”
Maddie chewed her last bite and stood up as well. “Let me help you with the dishes, Betty.”
“Absolutely not. Guests of mine are not put to work.”
Reuben stood and took the plate from his mom’s hands. “You cooked. Go sit and I’ll help clean up.”
Betty patted his cheek. “You’re so sweet, my dear.” She let him take the dish, but still picked up leftovers from the table, then leaned over and nudged Maddie with her elbow. “You know they say you can tell what kind of husband a man will be by how he treats his mother. My Reuben’s going to make a wife very happy someday.”
Maddie didn’t love the direction of this conversation. “I’m sure Livy will appreciate that.”
Not the thing to say, given the silence that flooded the room for several awkward moments.
Allie cleared her throat and took the plate from Reuben’s hands, her eyes boring into his. “As chivalrous as my brother is, I agree with Mom. Guests, men, and children need to leave the room. The faster we get done with this, the sooner we get dessert.” She shot Maddie a grin and winked.
Maddie gulped and forced a smile. She’d examine the whole Livy-awkward thing later. Right now, sleep sounded so much nicer than even dessert, but she needed to be sociable. These people had gone out of their way to be hospitable. Making nice was the least she could do.
In the living room, she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs at her ankles. Her body screamed for sleep, and she stifled a yawn. Reuben joined her, sitting on the opposite side of the sofa.
Gary lounged in a brown leather recliner next to a large stone fireplace. “I hear you’re working for Reub now. You a waitress?”
Reuben cast a glance at Maddie, his eyes conveying an apology. “No, Maddie’s my new assistant. With the new restaurants next year, I needed help with the office work. It’ll let me be able to be on-site more when the building starts.”
Gary nodded. “Good idea. How’s it coming with the business plans?”
Reuben’s face hardened, much like it did with her at times. What had Gary done to illicit such a response? “Everything’s fine. Nothing for you to worry about.”
The hurt in Gary’s eyes was disguised unsuccessfully by his smile. “Not worried. I’m sure you have it handled. You’re a good businessman. Your dad would be proud.”
Betty walked into the room, followed by Allie, both oblivious to the tension that could be cut with a steak knife. “The kids are upstairs playing so we can all visit for a bit.” She sat in the burgundy Queen Anne chair on the other side of the fireplace, and Allie joined Reuben and Maddie on the couch, sitting between them, much to Maddie’s relief.
Reuben shifted in his seat and stretched an arm across the back of the couch. “Mom, let’s not play twenty questions tonight.”
Ditto that. Those words were the best she’d heard all night.
“Oh, posh, I wasn’t planning on grilling her, Reuben. Just a little conversation is all.” Betty crossed her legs, her blue jeans a sharp contrast to the Victorian-style chair. “Maddie, Allie said you grew up in Chicago?”
“Yes ma’am. I lived there all my life and just graduated from cosmetology school last spring.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Really? How wonderful! Too bad Reuben already snatched you up. I hear Judy’s looking for another stylist at the—”
“Mom.” Reuben’s sharp voice stopped his mother short. “Maddie’s already met Judy.”
“Oh, I see.” Betty narrowed her eyes at Reuben, then shifted in her chair and looked again at Maddie. “What of your family, dear? Are they still in Chicago?”
“Mom.” Reuben barked again.
While it was sweet that he wanted to rescue her, she didn’t need him butting in and making scene. “My mother passed away several years ago, and my dad has some problems. I’m not sure where he’s at right now.”
The room was quiet, interrupted only by the gargling of Gary’s stomach. Betty cast him a stern look. “Don’t tell me you’re hungry again.”
“Nope, just digesting. But dessert does sound good.”
Allie hopped up from her place between Reuben and Maddie. “That’s a wonderful idea. Mom, I’ll help you get it ready. Maddie, I hope you like strawberry shortcake?”
“Sounds delicious. I suppose you won’t let me help with this either?”
Betty tsked. “Not on your life. We’ll be back in a jiffy.”
The two walked out of the room, and Gary folded in the footrest and stood up as well. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see if I can sneak a bite from the cook. Wish me luck.”
When the room was empty except for Reuben and Maddie, she ventured a glance his way. He sat, his head leaned back on the couch and his eyes closed.
“That’s quite a family you have.”
He turned his head toward her and he opened one eye. “That’s the understatement of the century. They’re good people though. I’m sorry about—”
She held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t. You had the same questions. But you do need to tell them about the Cut ‘N’ Style incident before they hear it from the gossip channels.”
He groaned. “I was surprised they hadn’t heard already. I’ll tell my mom tonight, though.”
She raised her eyebrows. She’d assumed he’d put up a fight about it. “My version or yours?”
Reuben shifted guiltily. “Neither. I’ll give a brief summary that incriminates neither of us.”
Maddie wanted to push the issue but let it slide. “So how long have Gary and your mom been married?”
“A year and a half.” His voice sounded stilted to her ears, holding a false vibrato.
“Do you li
ke him? Gary, I mean?”
Reuben opened an eye again and glanced at her. “Why do you ask?”
“You didn’t seem thrilled with him.”
“Now who needs to mind her own business?”
“Touché.”
Maddie thought back to the string of “stepmoms” her dad had brought home. Each one got progressively worse until the last one. Rachel. She’d been normal but had seen her dad’s true colors. Just not fast enough.
Then Maddie’s fragile world had crumbled.
She shivered at the vivid memories. Ones she wished would fizzle up and die. But still they came. The pictures of her dad, his hands balled in anger, growling at Rachel. The poor woman had shielded Maddie as best she could, but the beating still came for both of them.
A hand pressed against her shoulder, and she jerked away. Maddie opened her eyes to see Reuben next to her, his eyes full of concern.
“You okay?” His low voice brought her back to the present. She was in a warm house surrounded by decent people. No one would hurt her.
She took a breath. “Yes. Just bad memories is all.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
It was the first question he’d asked her that seemed like he actually might have a caring bone somewhere under that thick skin.
It almost made her want to answer him, but she shook her head instead. “No, I—”
Betty’s singsong voice floated down the hallway. “Here comes dessert.” She entered the room moments later, carrying a large platter, which held several plates of shortcake covered in strawberries.
Allie trailed behind her carrying a can of whipped cream and a handful of forks. “Anyone hungry?”
As if on cue, Gary plodded in behind them. “That’d be me.” He approached Betty from behind and gave her a side hug. “You’ve outdone yourself tonight, Babe.”
The older woman pushed him away with her hip. “Go sit down, you big mooch. I already told you, our guest gets served first.”
He smacked a kiss on her cheek anyway and headed back to his recliner.
After everyone was served, Maddie munched on the most delicious strawberry shortcake she’d ever tasted. The homemade cake was moist and the strawberries ripe and sweet.
The conversation flowed again once everyone finished their dessert and had their mouths free, but thankfully it focused on mundane topics like the latest weather patterns and city politics. Maddie groaned when Reuben mentioned that the mayor took the tea-dousing incident well. She hadn’t known he’d been the mayor. No wonder Reuben had been so mad.
As much as Maddie was enjoying herself, the bed in her new digs called her name, and rather loudly at that. Reuben now sat next to her, and several times she tried to catch his eye to give him a hint of her exhausted condition, but he was talking about his business plans to his mom, so nothing could distract him.
Maybe if she closed her eyes for just a second, she’d get enough oomph to last another half hour. Maybe….
11
Maddie stretched and yawned. She snuggled into the soft pillow and smiled.
Her eyes popped open a moment later, and an unfamiliar room filled her view. She sat up, dazed and more than a little confused.
Where was she?
The evening before trickled back into her memory. A place to stay … dinner with the family … dessert … and then she was so tired….
Did she fall asleep?
Maddie raked her fingers through her hair and looked at her shirt, the same one she’d been wearing the night before. She wiggled her toes. No socks. She didn’t remember taking them off.
Surely Reuben hadn’t carried her to bed. A moment later she saw her socks lying on the floor. Would he have taken them off? The thought of his fingers on her toes made her stomach tighten.
That meant he’d handled her dirty socks.
The tightening morphed into nausea.
Or was it just hunger? She saw a trip to McDonald’s in her future again. Note for To-Do list: Go to grocery store.
She scanned the cheery room and saw a box on the small kitchen table.
Throwing back the covers, Maddie padded to the kitchenette and picked up a small note sitting on top of the box.
M, Hope you slept well. Mom put a few things together to tide you over. C-u at the restaurant in the a.m.—R
Maddie dropped the note and opened the box to find sugar, flour, salt, cereal, bananas, and bread. She reached over and opened the fridge. Three containers of leftovers filled one shelf and a pitcher of tea and gallon of milk sat on another.
God, you and I are going to have to have a serious talk about your chosen methods of provision.
She’d left Chicago to prove she could make it on her own. No judge would ever let her have Kyle while she was on welfare, church-style.
Every inch of her wanted to take the box and throw it in the trash.
Her stomach growled, protesting the idea.
It was right. No use wasting perfectly edible food. Maddie rummaged through the cupboards for a bowl then poured the cereal and drenched it in milk.
When she’d sipped the last drop of Frosted Flakes–flavored milk, she set it in the sink and headed for her suitcase. Her Bible taunted her from its spot on top of her clothes.
Okay, God. I know, I know.
She’d skipped the last two days, no doubt part of the reason for God’s unseemly behavior of late.
“And where would you like me to read today, oh Wise One?”
Maddie flipped through the Bible, undecided if she should continue on in the book of John or if she should go someplace new. Her flipping stopped in the Old Testament. “Moses, God? Okay, you’re the boss.”
She glanced at the door. Anyone who heard her converse with God would think her nuts and probably sacrilegious. But she and God had an agreement. She’d be real with Him if He’d be real with her. It fit them just fine, and no lightning bolts had been flung. Yet.
The verses in front of her blurred together, so she blinked and focused in at the beginning of the chapter. The story was vaguely familiar. She remembered her mom reading to her about the plagues and God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the Israelites, but after that everything blurred.
She read to herself for a few minutes, but when she got to chapter sixteen of Exodus, she gasped. After all God had done for them, how dare those selfish people complain. Didn’t they remember the sea, the plagues? To think they didn’t even trust God with something as silly as bread.
Her faith may be new, but at least she didn’t pout to God all the time.
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from Heaven for you—’ ”
Maddie blinked and reread the passage. Rain bread? Probably just a metaphor. She kept reading. God promised quail as well. Not too shabby of a meal. Sounded like something they’d serve at one of those fancy downtown Chicago restaurants. She was surprised Reuben hadn’t figured out how to make a quail sandwich yet.
Her mouth flung open as she continued to read. Quail covered the ground? Dew turned into bread?
Maddie glanced over at her dining room table, which still held the remnants of God’s provision to her. The same provision she’d resented and almost thrown away.
She closed her eyes.
She’d behaved no better than the greedy Israelites.
“Good morning, love of my life.”
Reuben looked up from his laptop to see Livy leaning against the office door. He glanced at the clock, which read eight-thirty. “Good morning to you too. You’re up bright and early.” She rarely arrived at the restaurant before ten.
She shrugged. “I had a few things I wanted to get done so I thought I’d get a head start. Plus, it gave me a chance to see you.” The sashay of her hips as she walked to his desk hinted at an ulterior motive.
He cleared his throat. “We still on for dinner tonight?”
Livy walked around his desk and hopped up, sitting directly on top of the papers he’d been working on. He tried no
t to be annoyed.
“Of course we are. I have the evening shift covered here.”
“Sounds great.” Now if she’d just move so he could finish his work….
Her legs began to travel back and forth, like a child dangling her feet on a swing. But this was his desk. In his office.
“How’s the new girl working out?” Her tone carried a casual note, almost too casual.
“She’s doing fine. Speaking of, I thought I should mention—”
Reuben heard the office door open, but Livy blocked his view.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know someone was in here. I’ll come back.”
Maddie! She was a half hour late, but he’d expected that. He stood up and held a hand to Livy and pulled her off the desk. Her bottom lip curled in a pout.
“No, come in. Livy just came in early to get caught up on work. Didn’t you, honey?”
His girlfriend frowned. “But you were saying—”
“We can finish talking tonight, okay?” She needed to know about Maddie’s living arrangements, but now was not the time. It would take a little smooth talking, without his assistant present, to get her to understand.
Livy reached up and planted a kiss directly on his lips, lingering longer than appropriate with an audience. His cheeks blazed hotter than the Panini grill in the kitchen when she released him and winked. “See you later, hun.”
His gaze flickered from the sculptured body of the blonde who just exited the room to the petite, wisp of a girl who stood before him. They were as different as peanut butter and jelly, but went together about as well as grease and water. Livy’s long, flowing locks curled to perfection contrasted sharply with Maddie’s chocolate brown hair cut in a short bob with bangs. He wanted to sweep the hair from her forehead and tuck it behind her ears.
Maddie’s lips curled into a smile, and she set her purse in the corner. “Sorry I’m late, boss.”
Reuben wanted to tell her that she should have slept in longer, but encouraging an employee to be late wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Rated right up there with carrying her to bed the night before. But his mother had insisted.
Sandwich, With a Side of Romance Page 6
