by Grey, S. R.
I sighed in frustration, and he moved his hands to the sides of my face. “What is it? What are you thinking?”
I shrugged. “Why’d we stop?”
He kissed me softly, and against my lips, he said, “If we keep going, I might not be able to stop.” He pulled back and our eyes met. “It’s just… Maddy, I know you want more than—”
“Adam,” I broke in, “I don’t have any expectations. I mean, I do, but…”
I didn’t know what I wanted, not really. And that was the problem. Yes, I wanted Adam. But not like this. Not under the influence of alcohol, although my buzz was wearing off. But Adam was correct; I’d regret a hasty action.
Ducking my head, I muttered, embarrassed, “You’re right. At least one of us is thinking tonight.”
“Hey, hey.” Adam wrapped his arms around me. “We can talk about this stuff later. Why don’t we watch that movie?”
I nodded my head against his shoulder and held on, enjoying his warmth, a minute more. When we broke away, I scooted off of Adam and rose to my feet, straightening my clothes in the process.
Adam tried to be coy, but I caught him sneaking another peek as I adjusted my corset top. “What?” he asked, playing innocent oh so well.
“Nothing,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m going to grab something to drink. Do you want anything? Beer? Coke?”
Adam cocked an eyebrow. “What are you having?”
I was done with drinking for the night, so I answered, “I think I’m switching over to Coke.”
“Coke sounds good,” he said. “I’ll have the same.”
I started toward the kitchen, and halfway there I called back, “Oh, I have food too. If you’re hungry, I can heat up a pizza.”
“Sure.” I heard Adam say. “Do you need any help?”
“No, no, I’ve got it,” I yelled back. “Go ahead and pick a movie. There are some in the TV cabinet on the bottom shelf.”
Having reached the kitchen, I grabbed two cold Cokes out of the fridge. And then I pulled the pizza out of the freezer, unwrapped it, and slid it into the oven. The back of the box indicated it would take twelve to fifteen minutes for the pizza to be ready, so I set the timer and went back into the living room.
“How long is your sister staying on the island?” I asked Adam as I handed him one of the cold sodas. He was crouched down in front of the TV cabinet, thumbing through my limited DVD collection.
“Just ’til Monday,” he replied.
He opened the soda and took a drink, while I walked back to the doorway and leaned against the jamb. I had promised myself that I’d forget about the case for this one night, but if there was ever going to be an opportunity to spend some time with Trina, this weekend could be it. So I casually inquired, “Will Trina be at the café this weekend?”
“She’s hanging out with Helena most of the day tomorrow, so, yeah, probably,” Adam said as he rose from his kneeling position, two DVDs in hand.
Perfect! I thought, but to Adam I said, “Find anything good?” I nodded to the cases he held.
Holding up both a comedy selection and a classic Hitchcock film, he asked, “Funny or suspenseful?”
The oven chimed before I could answer, and Adam walked back to the sofa. The toe of his shoe hit something on the floor, and he stopped. To my dismay I saw it was one of the DVDs I didn’t want him to see. Crap, I thought I’d pushed them both under the sofa. Adam bent to pick it up, and I froze, catching the image on the cover. Oh no, it was the romantic tearjerker. “Um, we don’t have to watch that one,” I said in a rush of words.
“Is there some reason this one is halfway hidden under the sofa?” Adam smirked as he skimmed over the back cover.
“Um, no,” I muttered.
”Hiding your chick flicks, eh?” Adam teased in return. He was enjoying this way too much.
“I must have dropped it,” I mumbled, embarrassed for the second time in one night, because we both knew that wasn’t true.
The timer buzzed, so I made a quick escape to the kitchen. I’d literally been “saved by the bell.” Or maybe not. As I was getting the pizza out of the oven, Adam came into the kitchen.
He grabbed the paper plates I’d set out on the counter, and I slid the pizza onto a large cutting board. “I bet you’d never guess,” Adam said softly, “but I’ve always wanted to see that movie.”
“The chick flick?” I looked up, shooting him a look of disbelief.
Adam tapped the paper plates against the counter and smiled. “I’ll admit, maybe it won’t make my life complete. But judging from your reaction, it seems like it would be something you’d enjoy watching.”
“It’s only one of my favorite movies, like ever,” I said under my breath as I pulled a cabinet drawer open and rummaged for the pizza slicer.
Adam’s hand stilled mine. “Then let’s watch it.”
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I was going to watch such a romantic movie with such a gorgeous guy. Maybe he was starting to fall for me too. A girl could only hope, right?
In the end we watched the “chick flick.” And not surprisingly I cried at all the touching and sad parts, of which there were many. And Adam was sweet, wiping my tears away and showering me with tender kisses. By the end of the movie, I was curled up with Adam on the sofa, wrapped up in his strong arms, feeling happier than I’d felt in a very long time. If only things could have remained so blissful.
Chapter 11
The next afternoon, as I hurried into the toasty warmth of the café, a cold shiver coursed down my spine. Unfortunately it wasn’t just a reaction to the icy drizzle and frigid temperatures that had blown in off the sea. Though the weather did indeed add to my uneasiness, I had this feeling I just couldn’t shake that something bad was about to happen. But I had to put my worries aside for now.
Helena was behind the coffee bar, leaning on the counter and laughing along with a tall, smartly dressed woman with short, dark hair. Though she looked different than I remembered—more chic, more polished—I recognized that she was Adam’s sister, Trina.
Glancing up as I approached, Helena called out a cheerful, “Maddy!”
Trina smiled as I reached the counter, and Helena turned to her and asked, “You remember Maddy Fitch, right?”
“Of course I remember,” Trina said warmly. “It’s good to see you again.”
The next few minutes were spent engaged in reintroductions and small talk. Trina confirmed she was staying until Monday and then confessed she had come up to the island a day early because she’d gotten into an argument with Walker. Helena asked her if it had been about anything serious, but Trina said no. They’d just been getting on each other’s nerves with all the planning for the upcoming wedding.
“Men,” Helena said exasperatedly, shooting Trina a look of solidarity.
“Speaking of which,” Trina said slowly as she turned to face me, her stunning blue eyes so similar to Adam’s that I had to keep myself from staring. “I want to know your secret for getting my boring brother out on a Friday night. If he’s not out of town on business, he’s usually holed up in his study working.”
Helena broke in with, “Aha, I heard you two had made up. But Nate didn’t tell me you had another date.”
“It wasn’t really a date,” I explained. “We just watched a movie together at my place.”
“That sounds cozy.” Helena nudged Trina’s arm. “Come on, tell us all the gory details.”
“Uh, maybe not everything, Maddy.” Trina grimaced. “We are talking about my brother here.”
“It’s not like that anyway,” I insisted. “We watched the movie, and then Adam left.”
Sure there’d been a little bit more than that, like some amazing kissing, but I had no desire to share those details.
�
�Oh sure,” Helena said with a roll of her eyes. “Editing for Trina’s sake is fine for now. But you know I’ll be expecting the unrated version later.”
“Um…” I trailed off.
Thankfully Trina saved the day when she said, “Really, Helena, leave Maddy alone. You really need to get off this island more often.”
Helena laughed and agreed, and I jumped at the chance to ask how she and Nate had come to live on Fade Island.
She explained that after college, Nate, who’d been trying to get picked up as a quarterback, was drafted by an NFL team across the country. But during training camp, he suffered a career-ending injury, thus halting their plans to move west. Adam, who had moved out to the island following Chelsea’s disappearance, then asked Nate if he’d be interested in “managing” Fade Island. Nate had a degree in a computer-related discipline as well, so Adam went even further, offering Nate a chance to do some work for him on the side. Made sense, and I’d already suspected as much. Nate and Adam had been computer whizzes back in school. But it made me wonder once again just how involved Nate was in Adam’s business. That would better explain why they so often traveled together.
As for the “managing” the island offer, Nate was immediately interested, but Helena wasn’t so sure. When she expressed concern that there’d be nothing for her to do on the island, Adam came up with the idea of running the café. Though it would be dead in the winter, the summer clientele promised to keep her plenty busy. Still waffling, Nate and Helena made up their minds without further ado once they saw Adam’s more-than-generous final offer. They quickly accepted, moved onto the island, and never looked back.
“I do love this island, don’t get me wrong, But it does get boring from time to time,” Helena confessed.
“You could always come down to Boston for a break,” Trina offered, her expression hopeful. “Help me with wedding stuff. There’s so much to do before spring.”
“Hmm, maybe,” Helena began. “This time of year, Adam wouldn’t care if I closed up the café for a week or two.” She paused and then, smacking her hand on the table, said, “Yeah, let’s do it!”
Trina looked delighted. “Oh, Helena, I promise we’ll have lots of fun. I’ll keep you plenty busy.” She then turned to me. “Maddy, you should come down for a few days too. You must be getting kind of bored yourself here on the island.”
“Oh, thank you,” —I had to think fast to get out of this one— “but I really need to stay here. I’m supposed to be trying to write—”
“Yeah, Maddy came here to cure her writer’s block,” Helena interrupted.
Uh-oh. Despite Adam’s claim that nobody but he knew why I was really here, I couldn’t help searching Helena’s face for any sign that she was onto me and my phony cover story. But thankfully she appeared to be none the wiser to my ruse.
“That’s right! You’re a writer,” Trina said. “I’m definitely going to check out your books as soon as I get back to Boston.”
“I started the first one,” Helena chimed in, surprising me completely with her admission. “It’s really good.” I met her eyes, and she smiled warmly. “I highly recommend them.”
How sweet! I thought. Helena was rapidly becoming my second favorite person on the island. Eventually the conversation veered away from my novels. Helena and Trina started to complain about their significant others, and I felt more and more out of place, having nothing to contribute.
“Just think,” Helena said, “give it a few more months with Adam, and you’ll be sitting here bitching about him right along with us.”
Certain I was blushing profusely, since Adam and I were nowhere near that point, I lowered my eyes. Helena must have forgotten that I had signed a lease for only three months. It was way too early to be making assumptions about where my relationship with Adam was heading. Not to mention she didn’t know the other half of why I was even here.
“Uh, I don’t know about that…” I trailed off.
“Well, I beg to differ,” Trina said, jumping into the conversation. “I know my brother, and he is definitely into you.”
“Did he say anything?” Helena asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“He doesn’t have to say anything. I can tell.” Trina paused. “Let’s just say he looks happier than he has in a long, long time.”
My heart soared to new heights thinking I could possibly be the reason for Adam’s newfound joy.
Trina patted my hand. “And, Maddy, you are the kind of woman Adam needs. Not someone like that wretched Chelsea,” she huffed, making a face.
Here was my chance to possibly uncover some more info. “You didn’t like her?” I ventured.
“Didn’t like her? Hell, I hated her.” Trina’s eyes darkened. “She was the worst thing that ever happened to my brother.”
Helena glanced away, biting down on her lower lip. After what she’d told me the other day, how she somehow felt she was to blame since she’d introduced Chelsea and Adam, I knew how hard it had to be for her to hear this.
Unaware, Trina said vehemently, “Thank God, the bitch is gone.”
Her tone was so cold and dispassionate as she uttered those words that a heavy silence fell over our table. It didn’t appear Trina was going to be as forthcoming with her reasons for hating Chelsea as Helena had been. The air was tense as none of us seemed to know what to say next.
Breaking the tension at last, Trina said, “Listen, I’m going to the ladies room.” She pushed back her chair. “And then I’m going to make us some cappuccinos, and when I get back we are so changing this subject.”
Helena and I both nodded in hearty agreement. Once Trina closed the restroom door, Helena began to quietly fill me in on why Trina despised Chelsea so very much. I thanked the heavens above that the beautiful Helena Jackson had a penchant for gossip when she began to tell this story:
Trina had never been fond of the flashy Chelsea Hannigan, but she grew to despise her when she started to believe Chelsea viewed Adam as just another prize possession to hold onto. In high school and throughout his early college years, Adam had genuinely cared for Chelsea. His intentions had been nothing but honorable back in those early days. As time wore on, though, he too grew to distrust Chelsea. He heard the rumors, but every time he’d confront her, Chelsea denied any wrongdoing. But, of course, his suspicions were confirmed with the incident at Billy’s.
Trina, like Nate and Helena, was absolutely stunned when Adam didn’t immediately break things off with Chelsea. Hell, she’d been caught red-handed. And adding insult to injury, she’d defended J.T. O’Brien. It was then that Trina came to believe Chelsea had something she was holding over Adam. There was no other plausible explanation for his behavior. Adam had never been one to allow himself to be told what to do, or be controlled in any way by anyone, particularly not Chelsea. It had always been Adam in control, calling all the shots. So it came as an even bigger shock when Adam asked Chelsea to marry him…just two days following the whole J.T.-Chelsea spring break fiasco. And as he’d done with Nate, Adam told Trina to mind her own business when she questioned his bizarre decision to get engaged to an unfaithful girlfriend.
But beyond that Trina had another reason to hate her brother’s fiancée. Apparently Chelsea had once tried to seduce Walker. Shortly following the engagement announcement, Adam had gone back to MIT. But while Adam’s spring break had ended, Trina and Walker’s had just begun, and they soon found themselves back in Harbour Falls.
Two days following their return, Chelsea called Trina—drunk and asking for a ride home from a bar in Cove Beach. It was after three in the morning, so Trina sent Walker to pick her “drunken ass up”—as Helena put it—and bring her back to the Ward house. That would allow Chelsea time to sleep it off, and Trina and Walker could drive her back to her car in the morning.
Trina heard Walker returning wit
h Chelsea, but when it seemed to be taking entirely too long for him to come back to their room, Trina got up to see what was going on. Making her way down the hall, she heard giggling coming from one of the guestrooms. When she flung open the door, she found a half-dressed Chelsea pressing herself up against Walker in front of the bed, trying to kiss him. And even though she knew nothing had happened yet, Trina—not one for subtlety—had marched right up to Chelsea, spun her around, and smacked her hard across the face.
The next day she told Adam everything. Trina became even more convinced that something was horribly awry when Adam still refused to dump Chelsea. In fact, he wouldn’t even consider calling off the engagement.
Helena stopped talking when Trina came out of the restroom and went behind the bar to start on our cappuccinos. After having heard this new information, I made a firm resolution to get the nerve up to talk to Adam. It had to be done. I needed to know what Chelsea had been holding over him. I couldn’t continue to pursue this relationship with him, knowing he’d been blackmailed and not knowing why.
When Trina returned to the table with the cappuccinos, the three of us sipped our steaming, hot drinks, and sat and talked until darkness began to fall. As our conversation began to wind down, Helena’s cell phone buzzed. It was Nate, calling to inform her that he was still with Adam, and they were running late. Unsure as to how much longer they would be, he asked if she could drive Trina back to Adam’s house.
I was readying to go myself, but Helena asked if I’d stay at the café until she got back. “I hate to ask,” she said, “but Brody Weston is supposed to be stopping here to pick up some hard-to-find part for the ferry that Nate tracked down for him.” She checked the time on her cell. “Actually he was supposed to by now, but I guess he got held up.”
I told her I had no problem with staying awhile longer and that I’d give the part to Brody when he arrived. Helena thanked me and placed a small cardboard box—I assumed it held the part for the ferry—on the counter.
