“I still work there actually. I am working both jobs.”
“Must take up all your time then.”
Maddie sat up straighter. “I work hard, yes, and am saving up money while I have the time. Eventually, I’ll quit one of them so I can be home more often.”
Reuben’s heart thudded in his chest. She’d said “one of them.” Surely she wouldn’t quit on him.
“You might not want to say that with your boss sitting right here, girl.”
“Reuben knows where we stand. I’m not worried about it.” He did? She wasn’t? A private talk would be needed, as Reuben didn’t have a clue what was going on under that adorable brown hair of hers.
Kyle pushed his chair back. “Ready to go. My stuff’s already by the door.”
Mrs. Blakely pointed at his plate. “You know the rules.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” But he still threw the paper plate in the trash.
Reuben stood and held a hand out to Mrs. Blakely. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
She grasped his hand and held tight. “You better not hurt either of them, you hear?”
“Wouldn’t think of it. I’ll protect them with my life.” And he meant it too. A fierce sense of obligation overtook him when he saw Maddie trying to help Kyle with his things, and the boy refusing assistance. The two were special, and God and Mrs. Blakely held him responsible for their well-being. He determined not to let either of them down.
33
Maddie unlocked the front door and stood aside as Kyle and Reuben brought the luggage in. She could barely keep still. Her little brother was here. How cool was that!
Kyle tossed a duffle bag onto the floor. “So, where do I sleep? And what’s for dinner? Cool, at least you have a TV. Any video games?”
Typical boy. “I only have the one bed, but you can take it while you’re here, I’ll sleep on the couch. I’m ordering a pizza for dinner and no video games. Sorry.” She’d tell Allie to help her keep an eye out for some at garage sales.
“Pineapple and ham?”
She laughed. “Is there any other?” They’d survived on ham and pineapple pizza after Mom died. The Pizza Hut guy in their old neighborhood knew them by name.
Kyle shouldered the duffle and took his other bag and pillow from Reuben and headed down the hall. Her boss stood in the middle of the room looking ultra-hot in his jeans and button-up plaid shirt.
Maddie set her purse down and fished out her wallet from the chaos. She really needed to learn to throw away old receipts and church bulletins. “Thanks for driving me. How much do I owe you for gas?”
He tucked his thumbs into his jean pockets. “Not a dime, and you know it. I enjoyed it.”
“Driving for me and listening to me whine the whole time? If that’s enjoyable, you seriously need to rethink your brand of entertainment. I insist on paying you something.”
“How about we use the barter system?”
Maddie turned from him and headed for the kitchen, trying to create distance between them. “I’m not paying you with a kiss, so you can just forget about it.”
He’d followed her and took a seat at the table. “That wasn’t what I had in mind, but now that you mention it—”
“I’m not a rebound girl, Reub. In fact, I’m not going to be any man’s girl. Ever.”
“So I’ve heard. Why not?”
“Because men are pigs.”
He turned in his seat. “Well, thanks a lot.”
She picked up the phone book she’d found in a drawer and flipped through the yellow pages. “It’s not your fault. You can’t help that you were born into the male species. But as nice as you are sometimes, you do have some jerkish qualities.”
He drummed his fingers against the table. “Like?”
The list was quite long. Where to start? “For one, you think you can tell me what to do.”
He shrugged. “I’ve just been trying to help.”
“And there’s another one. You butt your nose into my business even when I don’t ask for it. You kiss me like you have this God-given right to claim whichever woman’s lips you’d like. And really, you just make me crazy sometimes.”
He stood and scooted his chair back. “All horrible things, I must admit. See you later then.” He walked toward the front door as Kyle was returning.
“Where you going, man? Thought you’d stay for pizza.”
“Your sister isn’t too keen on jerkish men, so I’m letting myself out.”
The preteen shrugged. “Maddie can be weird sometimes. Sorry.”
“Not your fault.” He slapped him on the back. “See you around.”
She wanted him to leave, but curiosity and guilt won out. “Wait.”
He opened the door, but turned to face her. “Yes?”
“The barter. If it wasn’t, uh, the other thing, then what did you have in mind?”
“Pizza. Thought I’d stay over and eat with you guys, but not sure I want to stay where I’m not welcome.”
Kyle flopped onto the couch. “Mad, be nice and let the dude stay. He seems cool.”
She did owe him for the gas. “Reuben, we’d be delighted if you stayed and ate pizza with us.”
The door closed. “Even if I’m a jerk?”
She shrugged. “Kyle’s here anyway. Might as well make it two.” A cushion from the couch flew through the air and hit her in the leg. “I was going to get some cheesy bread, but if you keep that up, you can forget it.”
“Sorry, sis. Won’t happen again. But you did just call me a jerk.”
“Call ’em like I see ’em.” She laughed as she ducked into the kitchen to side-step another cushion.
That settled, she called in the order as the guys settled on the couch and turned on the TV. Typical men/boys. But there wasn’t much else to do. For the first time, it hit her that Kyle would be there for two days and she had no clue how to keep him entertained.
What if he went back to Chicago and begged Mrs. Blakely to not make him come back? What if he hated it here? She needed to find some video games, pronto.
“Hey sis.”
She peeked out of the kitchen. “Yes?”
“What we doin’ tomorrow?”
And it started. “I’m not sure yet. Why?”
“Reuben was saying maybe we could go hiking or something. He knows some trails….”
Not her first choice of activities, especially if her boss was along, but anything was better than sitting here all day and counting the flecks of gold in the carpet. “Sure, that sounds fun.” About as exciting as a root canal.
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I know you aren’t, like, a hiking kinda girl.”
What was that supposed to mean? Did he think her a stuffy diva who spent her days getting her nails and hair done? Sure, that sounded really nice right now, but … “I wouldn’t mind going. Reub, what time you thinking?”
“Earlier the better, before the heat of the day.”
Scratch any ideas of shopping garage sales with Allie for video games. “Okay, like eight?”
“Uh, thinking more like six.”
Maybe she needed to take a few Q-tips to her ears. “In the morning?”
“Too early for you?”
“You do realize you’re asking me to go hiking with a broken arm, right?” She turned, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes. Her broken arm was a convenient, and true, excuse to get out of hours of walking, getting dirty, and spending two insanely early Saturdays in a row.
“Sorry. I forgot about your arm. If you want, I can take Kyle. But if you have plans—”
She shook her head. “No, if Kyle wants to go, that’s fine. Allie and I might go garage saling anyway.” Maddie would put her foot down though. She wasn’t getting out of bed a minute before eight.
Kyle beamed at her. “Thanks, sis.”
“Do you all want something to drink? I have pop.”
They both replied in the affirmative, and Maddie reentered the kitchen to fix the
ir drinks. As she took them into the living room, the doorbell and her cell phone rang simultaneously.
Reuben stood and took the drinks from her. “You answer your phone, I’ll get the door.”
Who would be calling her? Maybe Allie about the morning. She picked her phone out of her purse and stilled when she saw the number on caller ID. She’d screen the call if Reuben wouldn’t become suspicious.
She answered, despite her desire to throw the phone through the window and be done with it.
“Maddie, it’s Livy.” No, really? She never would have guessed. “I just want to let you know that I know what you did.”
Maddie glanced at the guys in the living room, starting to dig into the pizza. It irked her to no end that Reuben had probably paid for it. So much for the barter system. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Don’t play innocent with me. If you don’t tell him, I will.”
What was the woman talking about? Had she officially gone bonkers? “I—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Tell him by Monday, or I will.”
A click signaled the end of the call.
Fear clutched its talons into her heart. She had no clue what was going on. How could she confess something she didn’t do, or didn’t know that she did? What did Livy know? Surely it wasn’t—
The room began to spin, and she leaned on the table for support.
“Maddie?” Reuben’s concerned voice made it to her ears, but she couldn’t respond, her throat like rough sandpaper.
A moment later arms closed around her and she was pressed against his chest. “Who was it? What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. No way could she explain Livy’s phone call without raising his suspicions. No, she had to figure it out first. “Nothing. I, just, I got dizzy all the sudden.”
“Let’s get you to bed. I think we’ve overexerted you for the day.”
She shook her head. Tonight was Kyle’s first night here. She wouldn’t bail. “I’ll be fine if I can just sit down for a bit.”
Before she could protest, Reuben swung her up in his arms, his arm supporting her knees like a little baby. How humiliating.
But thankfully he set her down on the couch beside Kyle, then took the place on the other side of her. “There’s a movie on TV. We can all watch that while we pig out on pizza. Okay?”
Maddie nodded, trying not to think of Livy or of how good it felt to be snuggled between her two favorite men.
Even though she’d never let one of them know that. Just like she couldn’t let him know about her past. But if Livy had found out, there might not be any other choice.
And if that happened, she might just lose everything.
Reuben pressed a sleeping Maddie closer to his chest. She fit perfectly against him, and he would be just fine to keep her there for a long time to come.
On the other side of her, Kyle stood and stretched. “Well, I better get to bed.”
“Hey, man. Do you mind taking the couch? Maddie’s still in pain from last weekend, and I think she’d sleep better on the bed.”
“Yeah, I planned to make her sleep there anyway. I put my stuff in the empty room.”
The boy had a lot more respect than Reuben expected for a foster kid. He obviously thought the world of his big sister. He nodded his head in approval, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
“Can you go turn down her bed? I’ll carry her in there.”
The boy paused. “You two aren’t sleeping together, are you?”
Hearing the words from an eleven-year-old tore at his heart. That he even had to ask was sad. “No, we aren’t. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t like your sister. But I believe in respecting women and not sleeping with a woman unless she’s my wife.”
“Do you, like, wanna marry her?”
This conversation wasn’t taking the greatest of directions. He shook his head. “I’ve only known her a couple of months, and just recently broke up with my fiancée. Plus, your sister has some issues with guys. Seems to think she’s destined to be single.”
The boy laughed. “That’d be a switch. Maddie hasn’t been without a guy in her bed in I don’t know how long.”
That he talked about it with no embarrassment worried Reuben even more. “Well, she’s been alone since she moved here and is doing pretty good.”
“Yeah, she said she got Jesus or something like that and wasn’t gonna sleep around anymore. I didn’t believe her though.”
“Why do you think she was like that? I mean, with so many guys.”
Kyle shrugged. “I dunno. Dad was such a jerk, I figured she’d hate guys forever. Anyway, I never realized what she was doing, making me sleep over at friend’s houses all the time. But then we went into our first foster home, and she got caught sneaking out at night. I heard them yelling about it all the time. Then I went to the Blakelys and Maddie went to some other place. I heard Sarge tell Sid she was gonna get pregnant or sick if she didn’t stop.”
Reuben had no clue who Sarge and Sid were, but his stomach churned at the thought of Maddie as a teen. “How old is your sister?” He already knew the answer, but right now, he just wanted to get the subject off of sex.
“I dunno. Her birthday is in September, that’s all I know. That’s why Corina is gonna let me come back over Labor Day. Her birthday is on Monday.”
“We’ll have to throw her a party, won’t we?”
“Okay, but just a small one. She isn’t big into parties.”
She had been a bit out of place last week at her house-warming party. “Why not?”
“Dad used to throw some with his drinking buddies. They’d drink all night and get real mean. Pretty scary. We both decided that parties weren’t all that great.”
He wanted to find the guy and clobber him. “It’ll just be small, with my family and you. Okay?”
“Whatever.” He nods toward the hallway. “You can bring her? I’ll go get the bed ready.”
Reuben lifted her and smiled when her arms went around his neck, her cast rubbing against his skin. She was a hundred-ten pounds, if that, and looked too cute asleep against him.
He could get used to this way too easily.
The covers were turned down when he got into the room, and he laid her on the bed and took her sandals off her feet. Her toenails, a pink metallic color, sparkled against the white sheet before he tucked the bedding around her.
Kyle stood beside him, hovering as if to protect her if he tried anything.
Reuben motioned him out of the room and switched off the light as he closed the door. No need to tell the boy this wasn’t the first time he’d carried his sister to bed. That first night at his mom’s house still stirred his senses. She’d clung to him just like tonight, and he’d taken off her shoes and socks, something oh-so-personal for a guy to his new assistant.
If he were honest, in that moment he’d started to question his relationship with Livy.
Now he was single.
But Maddie still held a lot of hurt and a lot of questions. She was young. Almost seven years his junior. She’d been through more in her life than he could even imagine. Would he be able to help her heal? Could he deal with the issues she was bound to have pent up inside of her?
He just wasn’t sure.
Kyle plopped back on the couch and used a cushion as a pillow. “I’m beat.”
“You get some sleep, I’ll just clean up here and let myself out. See you bright and early at six, okay?”
“Sure. If I’m asleep, wake me up.”
Reuben was glad he had a spare key. “Will do.”
He picked up the empty pizza box from the floor and tossed it in the kitchen trash. He put the cups in the sink, rinsed them, and added them to the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Maddie could start it in the morning.
Turning to leave, he noticed her cell phone sitting on the kitchen table.
Whoever had called had disturbed Maddie more than she let on.
A glance at Kyle told
him the boy was already asleep, the sound of his snores drifting into the kitchen.
It’d be an invasion of privacy to look. But fierce protection smoldered inside of him. It was for her good.
He picked it up, then set it back down. It was wrong. He wiped his sweaty palm against his pants. If she wanted to tell him, she could.
34
I’m bored.” Kyle lay on the couch, one arm under his head and the other flung across his body.
If Maddie heard those words one more time, she might give up and scream. Older boys were so much harder. Had it only been a few years ago when he would entertain himself with Tonka trucks and playing cowboys and Indians?
The video game system she and Allie had scrounged up that morning worked for about an hour and a half after Reuben dropped him back off this afternoon. But now she was out of ideas. If he were here permanently, she’d put him to work around the house, and there’d be school for him soon, friends he’d make.
But a visit was harder than she’d imagined.
“You wanna watch a movie?” She’d also splurged and bought a DVD player at Walmart. Using the TV to entertain probably wasn’t the wisest parenting decision she could make, but desperate times called for whatever would keep Kyle happy.
“I guess. We gonna go rent one?”
“Yeah, and we can stop by the grocery store too. Maybe bring back chicken for dinner?”
He shrugged. “Fine.”
They headed to her Tracker and were on the road when Maddie finally worked up the nerve to ask the question she’d being dying to know the answer to. “So, what do you think of Sandwich?”
The shrug of his shoulders made her stomach tighten. “It’s cool, I guess. Hiking was fun this morning.”
He likes it here! Thank you, Jesus! She’d have to tell Reuben.
She turned into the parking lot of Art’s Supermarket. Making sure her short list was in hand, they walked into the store. Buying with an eleven-year-old boy in mind was much different than for just herself.
Halfway through the shopping trip, it became clear that grocery shopping with Kyle was a monumental error in judgment. Her cart was full of junk food. Somewhere buried down there was a bunch of bananas, but other than that, not a healthy item in the bunch.
Sandwich, With a Side of Romance Page 22
