Maddie held the door for Papa Ron and offered him another sympathetic smile before she side-stepped the mountain of supplies and walked to the kitchen.
“Happy Fourth.” She accepted Edie’s hug before she offered the requisite bouquet. “Hey, Bren.”
Brenna flashed a smile from the counter where she stirred what Maddie identified as potato salad.
“Red, white, and blue mums. Beautiful!” Edie’s bright smile stayed in place while she filled a vase with water.
“You’re sure in a good mood,” Maddie said.
“Of course I’m in a good mood, my darling.” She hummed the melody to “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” set the vase of flowers in the center of the kitchen table, and manipulated the blooms into a pleasing circle of color. “Today is the celebration of our great nation and I’m expecting fantastic fireworks before the sun goes down.” Her eyes twinkled, twin sapphires lighting her face with a happy glow.
Maddie grabbed a fork to test the potato salad. “Mm, good,” she said to Brenna, and nodded her head at Edie with a look.
Brenna just smiled and shrugged.
“Sean should be here any minute,” Edie said. Her smile slipped and she wrinkled her nose as if smelling spoiled haddock. “He’s bringing that woman.”
Maddie looked askance first at Edie and then Brenna. “Who is that woman? And why don’t we like her?”
“Her name is Cynthia. She’s a corporate attorney, and I’m being kind when I say she has a stick up her ass. Cynthia graduated from Hah-vahd. Sean says she’s brilliant, which I take to mean she’s given him an all-day pass to her very impressive rack.” Brenna plucked the fork from Maddie’s hand and stuck it in the dishwasher. She leaned her back against the counter and crossed her arms before adding with a meaningful arch of her brows, “The rack, and all that that entails.”
“She’s a tad snooty, bless her heart.” Edie’s lips stretched taut.
“Maybe she’s not so bad once you get to know her.” Maddie lifted her brows and gave them what she hoped was an optimistic smile.
Brenna and Edie exchanged a smirk, and Brenna said, “I’ll look forward to your opinion at the end of the day.”
Papa Ron stuck his head in the kitchen. “Anything else you want me to pack up? The bathtub, the fridge, the kitchen sink?”
“Did you get the extra blanket and the chairs?”
“Didn’t you ask me to, beloved?”
“Thank you.” Edie patted his broad cheeks with her hands. “You’re a good helpmate. It’s one of the reasons I love you so.”
“If you really loved me, we’d be staying home today so I could pop back a few beers and watch the Braves beat the Marlins.”
Edie smiled. “You’re so cute when you’re aggravated, sweetheart.”
“Then I’m cute all the time. When do you want to go?”
“We’re waiting for Sean,” Brenna said.
“He called a while ago, said he and that woman will meet us there. Something about mimosas and how parades make her sick.”
“Of course they do. And when were you intending to share that information?” Edie said.
“I just did.”
Edie had no comment for that, just a dramatic rolling of her eyes.
Maddie stopped at her car to collect the twelve-pack of bottled water she had purchased and hoped there would be room for it in one of the coolers. She also grabbed two grocery bags full of hamburger and hot dog buns, and an assortment of cookies. She had offered to contribute more, but Edie assured her everything else was covered.
“No, no, dear, put your keys away and grab the groceries. We’re all going to ride together. It will be much easier that way. Parking is going to be hard to find, so it makes good sense for us to ride together in one car.”
“I don’t want Pirate to get your car all doggy,” Maddie said.
“No worries. We love Pirate, don’t we, Ron?”
“Well, if he sheds a lot—” Papa Ron began.
“He doesn’t,” Edie snapped. “Let’s go, let’s go. Times a-wasting. We want to make sure we find parking.”
Buckling into the back of Edie and Papa Ron’s SUV, Maddie said, “Can’t we just park behind the L&G? Brenna has her own spaces back there.” She looked at Brenna, confused. “Don’t you?”
“Why, that’s a fine idea,” Edie said as if no one had thought of it before in the history of mankind. “Did you hear Maddie’s suggestion? Just park behind the L&G, Ron.”
“I already thought I was,” he muttered.
“There’s plenty of space for me to park back there, too. I’ll be happy to drive myself. It will be easier to get home after the fireworks show if I have my own car. Let me out, Papa Ron, and I’ll follow you in my car.” Maddie unbuckled her seatbelt.
Papa Ron braked and Edie shoved his shoulder, whispering, “Keep going.”
He exhaled a longsuffering sigh. “I can’t take instructions from both of you.”
“I’ll just get out here and meet you over—” Maddie began.
“We’re driving together and that’s that,” Edie said. “Let’s go. Ron, is there something wrong with your right foot? Hit the gas, already.”
Maddie opened her mouth, thought better of pursuing any questioning, and snapped her mouth shut with a click of her teeth. The car lurched forward. She grabbed the driver’s seat to stop her forward motion, and drew Pirate against her to prevent the dog from sliding off the seat and onto the floor.
“Buckle up, dear,” Edie said over her shoulder, cheerful once again.
By the time Papa Ron turned left out of the driveway, Edie had begun a brand new chorus of “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”
Bemused, Maddie nudged Brenna with her sandaled foot and gave her a look. Brenna leaned toward Maddie, and Maddie did the same. Their heads met halfway across the backseat with Pirate panting between them.
“What the heck is going on?” Maddie said.
Brenna whispered back, “Go with the flow, Mads.”
“What flow? What is the big deal?”
“All things will be revealed in time, Grasshopper. I’m sworn to secrecy, so don’t even ask me.”
“Oh, sweet Lord. She’s not playing matchmaker again is she? Please say she’s not,” Maddie begged. “The last guy she tried to fix me up with turned out to be married, remember?”
“My lips are sealed. All I’m going to say is that you won’t be disappointed.”
“Brenna, please. I can’t spend all day being thrown together with some strange guy.” She cast a cautious glance toward the front seat and lowered her voice further. “I invited Caleb and TJ to join us this afternoon.”
Brenna grinned. “Just do what Jack told you and go with the flow. Trust me. And since you brought it up, how are things going with your handsome carpenter?”
“Wonderful.” Maddie’s face lit with a blissful smile. “He’s amazing. He’s funny and smart, and sexy and sweet, and you should see him with TJ. He’s such a fantastic dad.”
“Don’t forget crazy hot.”
“He is crazy hot,” Maddie nodded, happy. “All big and muscular. Sizzling.”
Brenna smirked. “Now you’re just bragging. We’re having a girls’ night, and soon, because I want all the details.”
“There aren’t any details. Nothing’s really happened yet. Since his dad’s surgery he’s been dividing his time between the family business and his own business. The poor man never has a second to spare. And TJ has some kind of radar. The little guy always manages to cold shower us.” Maddie laughed and lowered her voice another notch. “Whenever we reach a stage of…um…oh, let’s say…situational developments, TJ shows up.”
“Situational developments? Really? That sounds about as sexy as a tax audit. Tell me the nitty-gritty. Have you done the big nasty yet?”
“Sweet Lord, Brenna, no! We’ve only just started sort of seeing each other.”
“That may be, but you’ve got those ‘situational developments’ going on.
So what’s the big hold up?”
“We’re never alone long enough. Either TJ is nearby or we only have a five or ten minute window, long enough for—” Maddie shifted in her seat and cast an uncomfortable glance toward the front. “—you know.”
“Situational developments, but no situational solutions.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I just hope that underneath that pretty embroidered shirt and those way-adorable capris—a nice step up from your usual ratty cut-offs and tee, by the way—that you look like an advertisement for Victoria’s Secret.”
“What? Why?”
Brenna straightened in her seat, slipped her Ray-Bans on, and smiled.
Papa Ron waited in traffic, inching along, until he found an open spot near the curb where they could unload their considerable Fourth of July supplies. All the holiday paraphernalia was emptied from the back of the SUV and deposited in the grass. The ladies stayed with the stuff while Papa Ron drove off, still crunched by traffic, to park behind the Lump & Grind.
Edie pulled out her cell and punched out a text, giddy when she received a reply. She giggled and hid the phone behind her hand as if it harbored state secrets. Pacing, she watched for Papa Ron, and when he appeared, motioned for him to speed up. “Okay, girls, let’s go! Everybody grab something. We’ve got a spot in front of the gazebo.”
“Are we meeting someone?” Maddie held tight to Pirate’s leash and hefted a couple of queen-sized blankets and some plastic grocery sacks.
“Hm.” Edie’s non-reply accompanied a bright smile. She stacked some things on top of the wheeled cooler, grabbed the handle, and set off. No doubt about it. She was a woman on a mission.
“This is going to take more than one trip,” Papa Ron groused. “Enough stuff here for an army. Brenna, stay with this crap, will you? I’ll be right back and you can help me with the rest.”
“Okay by me.” Brenna sat on one of the coolers and crossed her legs.
“I’ll wait, too.” Maddie dropped the blankets and put the bags down. “Pirate needs to sniff a little.” She walked the dog in the vicinity of their stuff and marveled at his ability to leave his scent on every bush and lamppost with what appeared to be a limitless supply of pee. About the time he began producing drips instead of drops, Papa Ron reappeared, huffing over the green with perspiration dotting his face.
He commandeered the big cooler Brenna had used as a seat, stacked atop it the blankets Maddie had discarded, and motioned with his hand. “Let’s roll, girls.”
Maddie collected the plastic bags for a second time, secured her purse over her shoulder, and set off after Papa Ron. They neared the gazebo and Pirate strained against the leash, whining, tail wagging, ears twitching.
“Hold up, Pirate,” Maddie commanded. She stumbled after him when he pulled. The grocery bags swayed and slid down her arm, along with her purse, dropping heavy on her wrist. “Pirate, stop. Sit.” She waited for him to obey so she could readjust her purse and the bags. “What’s your deal all of a sudden?” Maddie frowned when Pirate’s excitement increased. “Too many people?”
Pirate let out a mighty bark and leapt forward. The leash pulled free from Maddie’s grip, and her mutt was off, a bullet of wolfish gray, disappearing over the populated expanse of green.
“Pirate, come back here!” She jogged the rest of the way to where Edie stood talking to another woman, dropped everything onto a blanket, and took off after Pirate. “My dog!” She yelled over her shoulder by way of explanation. Thank goodness she’d worn her flats.
Maddie upped her game from a jog to a full run. How could a dog with only three legs move so fast? He jumped with such finesse over two people making out on a blanket that the pair never even came up for air. He rocketed between two lawn chairs, knocked a soft-drink can to the ground, and galloped straight toward the sidelines of a touch football game.
“Pirate!” Maddie called. She stopped running and doubled over to catch her breath. She apologized to the people in the lawn chairs and then jogged off again to catch up with Pirate who had, praise the sweet Lord, stopped running.
“TJ? What are you doing here?” Surprised to see the boy, she loped over and knelt to give him a hug. “Where’s your dad?”
“Playing football.” He cast a glance at the field and then brought his attention back to the happy dog, rubbing Pirate’s back and ribs with enthusiasm. “I’m helping Grampa Boone be referee. That’s him right there.” He indicated a man sitting in a canvas chair with his back to them. TJ leaned toward Maddie and whispered, “I think he’s really taking a nap.”
Maddie grinned and rewarded Pirate with a quick rubdown. How could she be mad when he’d brought her to the best spot in the park?
She looked past TJ to the field and squinted to find Cal. There he was, arm poised to give the football a mighty throw. Two guys downfield began running back in anticipation of his pass. Before the ball left his hands, a gorgeous redhead came from out of nowhere and ran at him with the force of a tank. They tumbled down. Cal twisted to take the brunt of the fall and the redhead, unappreciative, used his chest for leverage to stand up. She held a hand out to help him up, which he accepted, and then he caught her in a headlock and proceeded to give her a noogie.
“You’re such an asshole,” she said, but her voice held humor as she rubbed the spot on her head where he’d knuckled her. “I was just doing my job.”
“And you’re a pain in my ass. Don’t you know girls aren’t supposed to play football?”
The redhead let out a whoop and jumped on his back. She held on like a python when he bucked to get her off. She knuckled down on his skull to repay the noogie and didn’t jump down until he reached around to give her arm a solid pinch. She squealed, hopped off his back and punched his arm.
“You hit like a girl,” he said with an over-the-top sneer.
This earned him another solid whack and her comment, delivered with a cheerful laugh, “You’re such a moron, Caleb. We both know you’re lucky I’m going easy on you.”
One of the other players made a comment, and the woman said something in reply that resulted in raucous laughter from all of them.
Maddie shifted on her feet. Cal had no idea she was there. How could he? Maybe the redhead was the reason he’d been so iffy about meeting her. Maybe he’d already made plans. After all, he was single and male, and free to see any woman he chose. Maddie had no real claim to him.
Unless you counted the fact that they’d been all over each other for the last two weeks and had already talked about going away together somewhere.
She eyed the willowy redhead and bit her lip.
Cal had to know there was every chance they’d run into each other at the park during the course of the day. She looked around. There were a lot of people here, and it was crowding up fast, everyone jockeying into position for the eventual fireworks show. Maybe he thought they wouldn’t meet. Or worse, didn’t care if they did.
Her chest tightened and she bit down on jealous misery.
Maddie knelt back down and said to TJ, “Hey, sweetheart. Say goodbye to Pirate for now, okay? I need to take him with me.”
“How come? Don’t you wanna watch Dad play football?”
“He looks pretty busy right now.” With the Nicole Kidman wannabe. “I think it would be better if I just go.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Not this time.”
He pouted. “I bet if we ask Dad, he’ll say yes. He doesn’t let me go with people, except Miss Shelley, but he let me stay with you that time. I bet he would again.” He changed tactics. The pout disappeared, replaced by an angelic smile. “We could ask him. He really likes you, Miss Maddie. A lot. I know he’ll say yes.”
TJ’s eyes, filled with pleading, stared into Maddie’s.
And she made a decision. “You know what? You’re right. Let’s ask him.” The words blurted out, fueled by a combination of burgeoning jealousy and the sudden and powerful need to stand her ground. If this relations
hip with Caleb was going to be more than just a spark in the wind—please, oh please, let it be more—then walking away without a peep while he frolicked and played touch football with some beautiful redhead Was. Not. Happening.
Make a strong stand and a big statement. That’s what Jack would say.
Maddie stood and dusted off the front of her capris. She bemoaned her inability to toss her wavy mane over her shoulders with an air of look-what-you’re-missing-out-on-mister, but it trailed down her back in a single braid, so she settled for straightening her spine instead.
She held out a hand for Pirate’s leash and TJ gave it over. In the next second the dog sniffed the wind, cocked his head, twitched his ears, and leapt off galloping full bore toward Cal. The leash snapped from Maddie’s grasp and she squealed at the wrenching of her arm. She stumbled forward, rotated her arms like airplane propellers in an unsuccessful effort to retrieve her balance, and landed flat on her back in the grass. Gasping to reclaim her breath, she stared up in surprise at the wide expanse of sky, blue as Jack’s eyes.
Chapter 11
Maddie, already gasping for air with the wind knocked out of her lungs, became something akin to a suffocation victim two seconds later when Pirate bounded over and plopped his butt down on her legs. His front paws dropped onto her boobs, squishing them into twin peaks of pain. His slobbery tongue flopped toward her cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face away. Lungs deflating, a squeak of protest hummed in her throat.
And then ran a stampede of feet—thump, thump, thump. The vibration of the ground fluttered along her spine. Sweet Lord, had half the people in the park witnessed her humiliation and come running to gawk? But no. When she opened her eyes only four faces stared down at her: Cal, TJ, the beautiful redhead, and the elderly man TJ referred to as Grampa Boone, whose white brows winged over narrowed eyes and hinted at murderous things. Well, after all, she had disrupted his nap.
Cal tugged at Pirate’s collar. “C’mon, boy. Off.”
Love Built to Last Page 18
