Stealing Home

by Sherryl Woods

Helen looked disappointed. “No kissing?”

  “None.”

  “No hand-holding?”

  “Afraid not.”

  “Long, smoldering looks?”

  Maddie hesitated just long enough for Helen to seize on it. “I knew it! There is something between you and the coach. Way to go, Maddie!”

  “Oh, come on. He’s a nice guy, but he’s at least ten years younger than I am. He’s worried about his star player, that’s all.”

  “If he was only worried about Ty, he’d be giving him extra practice time, not huddling over pizza with his mom.”

  “And Katie,” Maddie reminded her.

  “Yes, I’m sure your six-year-old was an excellent chaperone,” Helen conceded dryly. “Did she ask him what his intentions were toward her mom?”

  “Hardly.”

  “Then you can’t say for sure that Cal didn’t think of it as a date or at least a pre-date.”

  “What on earth is a pre-date?”

  “An innocent meeting between two people who are seriously considering dating,” Helen explained. “To test the waters, so to speak. Will you admit to that much, at least?”

  “Obviously last night was a mistake,” Maddie muttered.

  Helen regarded her incredulously. “Why? You were out with a gorgeous guy who jump-started your hormones. What’s so bad about that?”

  “I never said he jump-started my hormones,” Maddie objected.

  “Oh, please, not even twenty years with Bill the Dull could have wiped out all your libido,” Helen said, using the nickname she’d pinned on Bill long before she’d begun to think of him as Bill the Scumbag. “And you wouldn’t be this uptight about all my questions if there was zero attraction.”

  Maddie gave in to the chuckle. “Okay, I have noticed that Cal is attractive. It’s possible I might have had one or two erotic daydreams about him, but that’s it. You’ve admitted to having a few hot and steamy thoughts about him yourself. I doubt we’re alone.”

  “But he never invited me out for pizza,” Helen reminded her. “Or any other woman in town that I’m aware of.”

  Maddie shook her head. “Forget it, Helen. The situation is impossible.”

  “Not so impossible,” Helen argued. “He asked you out after the game, didn’t he?”

  “I explained that,” Maddie retorted, relieved that apparently no one in the neighborhood had noticed Cal’s late-night visit and reported on that, too. It would be a whole lot harder to explain why she’d called him, not Bill or even Helen or Dana Sue, in a crisis.

  “Not very effectively,” Helen said.

  “My point is, if you’ve heard all about this innocent evening less than twenty-four hours later, then the entire town will know by noon. The last thing I want or need right now is to be the subject of more gossip. Bill’s caused more than enough of that.”

  “Oh, but this is such a nice way to even the score,” Helen told her. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall when Bill hears about this.”

  Maddie was forced to admit—at least to herself—that she wouldn’t mind being one, as well. Last night with Cal hadn’t been about revenge, but if a couple of hours with a gorgeous man annoyed her soon-to-be ex, so much the better.

  Deliberately changing the subject, she said, “As long as you’re here, let’s make a few plans for the spa. I could use some idea of your budget for the renovations. Were you thinking of applying for a small-business loan? We could qualify. I can pick up the paperwork first thing Monday.”

  Helen regarded her knowingly, but didn’t call her on the abrupt change of topic. “We don’t have time to waste applying for a loan. On Monday the three of us can go down to the bank and open an account for the business. I’ll put fifty thousand dollars in there to get us started. Then you’ll be able to pay the contractors and give yourself a salary.”

  “Absolutely not,” Maddie said, trying not to show her surprise at the figure Helen had tossed out with such nonchalance. Add in the down payment on the building, and she was putting serious money into this project. “I’m not going to take one dime out of the business until it’s up and running. It’s bad enough that you’re providing almost all the financial backing. I don’t want you supporting me, too.”

  “But you’re going to be putting in all the hours,” Helen argued. “Obviously you should get paid. That way you won’t have to touch the alimony and child support Bill will be paying except for emergencies.”

  “No way. Not until we open our doors,” Maddie insisted. “That’s a deal breaker for me. I will not be your personal charity case.”

  Helen looked as if she wanted to continue the debate, but finally, obviously noting the stubborn set of Maddie’s chin, she backed down. “Then we’ll just have to schedule the opening in two months, instead of six.”

  Maddie stared at her in shock. “Two? Are you crazy? No contractor around here can work that fast. We haven’t even closed on the house yet.” She frowned at Helen. “Is there something I’m missing? Do the alimony payments only last a few months?”

  “With me as your lawyer?” Helen scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. That money will roll in for ten years or until you remarry. And it’s not a pittance, either. I’m talking about what’s fair here. If you do the work, you should be paid. As for the closing on the house, I can hurry that along. And the contractors will do whatever we need them to do, if we pay them enough.”

  “You’ll blow the budget to smithereens,” Maddie protested.

  “It’s only money,” Helen said with a shrug. “And as my doctor has been reminding me lately, my obsession with acquiring money is likely to drive me into an early grave. I figure spending some of it might counteract that.”

  Maddie studied her friend. “Just how bad is your blood pressure?”

  “Bad enough,” Helen said. “Working out at the spa is going to fix me right up, though, which is another reason for rushing things along.”

  Maddie frowned at her. “Maybe in the meantime, you should dump out that coffee. Caffeine can’t be good for you.”

  Helen clutched her mug of coffee a little more tightly. “I need the caffeine.”

  Maddie plucked the mug out of her grasp and poured the coffee down the drain. She did the same with what remained in the pot, just so there’d be no temptation.

  “I could really hate you for that,” Helen grumbled.

  “You’ll thank me when you get a good report from Doc Marshall next time you see him. Now, I think we should go for a long walk. I’ll go get dressed. You call Dana Sue.”

  “Fine, whatever,” Helen responded. “Just hurry up so we can get out of here before it gets so hot we melt. You know how Dana Sue complains if she sweats.”

  “Well, she’ll just have to get over it. From now on we’re all about sweat,” Maddie said. “Isn’t that the whole point of our spa?”

  “I imagine our mamas would insist we merely glow. Southern girls are not meant to sweat,” Helen drawled, sounding exactly like her mother, who was now “glowing” at a retirement community in Boca Raton, where she spent her days playing tennis and golf, all thanks to Helen’s money.

  “We won’t get in shape by just glowing,” Maddie countered. “I’ll be back down here in ten minutes. Tell Dana Sue we’ll be by to pick her up in twenty.”

  “It takes twenty minutes to walk to her house,” Helen protested.

  Maddie grinned. “Exactly, which is why we’re going to jog.”

  Helen groaned. “My God, we’ve created a monster.”

  Bill was sitting in the living room when Maddie got home from her walk with Helen and Dana Sue. She’d left the two of them at Dana Sue’s commiserating about her conversion into a drill sergeant.

  “I didn’t expect to find you here,” she told Bill after she’d grabbed a towel out of the guest bathroom and dried her face. “I thought you were going to call before coming by.”

  “I’m scheduled to pick up the kids,” he said. “Do you want me to call for that, too?”

&n
bsp; “No, I suppose not. Aren’t they ready to go?”

  “I told them I needed a few minutes alone with you first,” Bill explained.

  “Oh?”

  “I didn’t expect to hear about you cavorting around town with Cal Maddox, Maddie.” Bill’s tone was scathing. “What on earth were you thinking? He’s our son’s coach, for god’s sake!”

  “And your point is?”

  “You’ll embarrass Ty.”

  She cut him off. “You really do not want to go there,” she said. “If you do, I’ll be forced to say some very unpleasant things about Noreen’s untimely arrival at the ball field last night.” Ty had admitted to her that that had been the reason for his disappearance. He’d gone to the ball field to think things through. She’d promised not to tell his dad, but maybe Bill needed to hear about it.

  “I know it was a bad scene,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. I had no idea she was going to show up. She’s not the least bit interested in baseball.”

  “But you are,” Maddie said. “And she knew I would be there. Do you honestly think she wants the two of us there together without her supervision?”

  “Apparently not,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Maddie, I have no idea what to do. I really don’t.”

  “Oh, please, you’re not some helpless victim, Bill. Just tell her to stay away,” she suggested. “She’s a grown-up. I’m sure she can handle it. Those games are about your son, not about her insecurities. Her presence on his turf upsets him even more than when you insist on trying to throw them together. Surely you saw that for yourself.”

  “Of course I did,” he said. “And if I hadn’t, Coach Maddox made it plain enough after he had his chat with Ty on the field.” He gave her a weary look. “I heard he pitched great after we left.”

  “He did. I’m sorry you had to miss it.”

  “Maybe you and I could alternate going to the games,” he suggested.

  She stared at him incredulously. “Just so you can take Noreen? I don’t think so.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that if you’re not going to be there, maybe she won’t feel so insecure about me going without her.”

  Maddie hated letting that woman have that much power over them, but after some thought, she was forced to concede that maybe a compromise was in Ty’s best interests. “I’ll go along with that for now, but only for Ty’s sake, not yours and not Noreen’s,” she said. “That changes at the end of the season if they’re playing for the championship. We both need to be there for those games.”

  “Sure,” he said, looking relieved. “Maybe by then the divorce will be final. I think that will help, too. Noreen’s still got it in her head that you want me back. I doubt she’ll believe otherwise till the ink’s dry on the divorce decree.”

  Maddie gave him a bland look. “Want me to put it in writing for you now? I don’t want you back, Bill.”

  “Because you’ve suddenly developed the hots for Coach Maddox?”

  She held on to her temper by a very fragile thread. “No, because you’re an idiot,” she snapped and headed for the stairs. “Get the kids and let yourself out. And leave your key on the table. Don’t come by again without calling first, not even for one of your scheduled visits with the kids.”

  “Maddie…” he called after her.

  Ignoring him, she went into the bathroom and turned on the shower so it would drown out whatever excuses he might be making for having suddenly turned into the biggest jerk in all of South Carolina.

  Well, that certainly hadn’t gone the way he’d expected, Bill thought as he drove away from home. Not home, he corrected. Maddie’s house. He had to get used to the idea that he no longer lived there, no longer had the right to come and go as he pleased, even if it was the home that his parents had lived in before them, and his dad’s folks before that. Maddie had certainly made it abundantly clear that he was no longer welcome there. Reluctantly, he’d left his key behind, just as she’d asked.

  Worse, the kids had refused to go with him. Apparently they’d overheard enough of his argument with Maddie to be more ticked off at him than usual. Maybe not Katie, but she wouldn’t go, either, not with Ty and Kyle giving her warning looks.

  He debated going back to Noreen’s apartment, but the prospect of being shut inside that cramped space all afternoon set his teeth on edge. He’d promised her weeks ago that they’d find someplace bigger before the baby came, but he’d been putting it off. Maybe on some level, he was the one who kept hoping Maddie would decide she wanted him back. Hearing about her date with Cal had pretty much squelched that fantasy.

  Helen, who normally got on his last nerve with her smug, wise-ass mouth, had been right about one thing during that acrimonious settlement meeting. He and he alone was responsible for the mess his life had become. It was up to him to make the best of it.

  Hitting speed dial on his cell phone, he called Noreen. For better or worse, she was the woman in his life now. He owed her. And if he thought about it hard enough, he could even recall a time when he’d loved her or at least been infatuated enough to leave his marriage for her.

  “Hey, sweetie, where are you?” she asked.

  He bit back an impatient retort, telling himself it was entirely possible her question had been nothing more than an innocent inquiry. “I was just driving back home and decided I’m starved. Want to meet me for lunch? The kids aren’t with me.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  Bill winced at the pleased surprise in her voice. When had she realized that their relationship no longer meant as much to him as it did to her? He needed to work harder at changing that, for both their sakes.

  “Sure. What sounds good to you?” he asked.

  “Just about everything,” she admitted. “My appetite’s gone through the roof.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I remember…” His voice trailed off as he realized she wouldn’t want to hear about his memories of Maddie’s pregnancies. “How about we take a drive over to the coast? We’ll find someplace outside to have a burger and fries, maybe take a walk along the beach.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” she said, though her voice had gone flat. She must’ve known he’d been about to talk about Maddie.

  “I’ll swing by and pick you up. I should be there in a couple of minutes.”

  “I’ll be ready,” she promised. “Love you.”

  “You, too,” he said, regretting he couldn’t put more feeling into the words.

  God, he’d made such a mess of things, and all because for a very short time Noreen had made him feel young again. Maddie was right. He was an idiot. And now a whole lot of people he cared about were paying the price.

  “I never liked him,” Maddie’s mother declared when Maddie stopped by to pick up the kids from another consolation visit after they’d refused to go anywhere with Bill.

  When Maddie had asked them what they wanted to do, all three said they wanted to spend time with their grandmother. Fortunately her mother had readily agreed to take them to lunch and rent a video for them, once again surprising Maddie. She was equally surprised by her mother’s claim that she’d never liked Bill.

  “You did, too,” Maddie said. “You adored Bill.”

  “Did not,” Paula insisted, sitting back on her heels in her garden, her gloved hands covered with dirt and her eyes flashing.

  There was no question that this well-tended garden with its bright splashes of snapdragons, delphinium, verbena and exotic flowers Maddie couldn’t even name was her mother’s milieu. And even streaked with dirt, she looked amazing. Wisps of hair had escaped her straw hat and curled about her cheeks. Her dark blue eyes were the same shade as the delphiniums.

  “I said I liked him for your sake, because for some inexplicable reason he seemed to make you happy,” her mother told her. “Your father and I always thought you deserved better.”

  “At the moment, I can’t argue that,” Maddie said. “But I loved Bill. For most of the last twenty years he was
a great husband and a terrific dad. When I’m not busy being furious, I can admit that a part of me still loves him.”

  “You’ll get over it,” her mother said brusquely. “Just think about him cheating on you. That ought to keep your dander up and your sorrow at bay.”

  Maddie shook her head. “You’re not being overly sympathetic, Mom.”

  “You don’t need sympathy. You need a swift kick in the pants. Find a job you love, then go out and find yourself someone new. I always liked what that writer Dorothy Parker had to say.”

  “Which was?”

  “Living well is the best revenge.”

  “I have a job. I’m surprised you haven’t heard.”

  Her mother met her gaze. “You mean that spa you, Helen and Dana Sue intend to open?”

  “Then you did hear.”

  “I had no idea you were serious about that.”

  “Well, we are,” she replied with a touch of defiance.

  “It’s a great idea,” her mother said.

  Expecting disapproval, Maddie was about to utter another defiant comment when she realized what her mother had said. “You think so?”

  “Well, of course I do. The town can use a place like that.” She pulled the gardening gloves off her hands, which were rough and worn from yard work, despite her sporadic attempts to protect them. She held them out for Maddie’s inspection. “I would give anything to have someone do a warm-wax treatment on these poor old hands of mine, then give me a proper manicure.”

  Maddie grinned at her. “Your first one’s on the house,” she promised.

  “You all won’t get rich giving things away,” her mother chided.

  “We will if you go out and tell your friends how fabulous we are,” Maddie countered.

  Her mother chuckled. “I knew that business degree wasn’t a total waste.”

  “Then you were the only one holding out hope it would come in handy,” Maddie said dryly. “At least a few things are coming back to me. I just wish I knew how to handle everything else that’s going on.”

  “Such as?”

  “I think Ty’s in real trouble,” she admitted.

  “He’s a teenager. It comes with the territory,” her mother replied. “Maybe you don’t remember your teens that well, but I do.”