by Cameron Dane
For one reason only, the revelers inside became important to Maddie. “Do you feel okay enough to face the party again?”
Wyn swung to look at the cabin, took a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
“Good.” Nodding too, Maddie took a position at the center of the stairs and crooked her arm to him in welcome. “Let’s go.”
Looking skyward again, Wyn muttered something she couldn’t decipher, and then linked his elbow to hers. “You’re a special person, Maddie. A rare find.” He laughed out loud, something from deep in his gut. “I knew it the first time you called me a douche.”
Waggling her brows, soaring on the inside, Maddie regally escorted Wyn up the steps. “Here’s hoping you still think that when we kiss again in three years.”
“Good Christ.” Wyn crossed himself, but she knew he wasn’t religious or truly offended by her cheekiness. “You are too much.”
“I know.” One last time to sustain her for the next one thousand and ninety five days ahead she would have to hold back, Maddie leaned up and pressed a fast kiss to Wyn’s stubbly jaw. “But that’s why you like me.” Before he could protest that she’d broken any rules, Maddie pushed open the front door to Aidan and Ethan’s party and dragged Wyn back inside. “Come on. Let’s get you a drink.”
They entered the wave of partiers and pushed through the wall of music and people, without a soul looking up at them, nobody the wiser that Maddie and Wyn had ever been gone. But Maddie knew. And Wyn did too. Everything had changed tonight. The world ahead for the two of them was wonderful. Neither one of them would ever be able to go back. They couldn’t…
* * * *
…Wyn’s voice broke through Maddie’s memories and wrenched her back to the present.
Standing at the entry to her kitchen, in sweats and a faded Redemption Police T-shirt, Wyn watched Maddie with an intensity that quickened her pulse.
“Your cheeks have the same pretty coloring on them right now as they did the first time you kissed me.” Scratching his hand over his heart, something almost wistful softened his blunt features. “Christ, you were sexier and more tempting to me in those ten layers of clothes that night than any picture or movie I’ve seen with a woman in a bikini since. You were captivating, Maddie.” His Adam’s apple moving hard, Wyn stepped into the kitchen and took a seat across from her at the table, his voice rough as he added, “You still are.”
A different picture from the past flashed before Maddie’s eyes, and the too-vivid sight from four years ago stabbed at her soul.
She shot up, his flattery already a distant memory. “You have a funny way of showing it when it matters.” Dinner forgotten, she rushed to get away.
“I fucked up big time.” Wyn’s words stopped Maddie dead in her tracks, one step outside the kitchen. “I’m sorry about what happened that night. Truly I am.”
Maddie’s chest squeezed unbearably, with what exactly this time she didn’t know. She closed her eyes, as if doing so would block out the pain. “That’s the first time you’ve said that to me.” Her back to him, her throat was so dry and tight it barely produced sound. “I always thought your apology would make me feel better, but I still hurt. Maybe more than it should to you, but it’s real for me.”
A chair scraped across the tile floor. “Maddie—”
“Good night.” With that Maddie ran up the stairs to her room, too raw to deal with Wyn tonight. By morning she would have her guard back up. She had to. She wouldn’t be able to live with him and keep her distance, especially if he was issuing real apologies. She would not crack and let him into her heart again. She couldn’t.
Chapter 3
The next afternoon, after having checked the various traps and baits he’d set throughout Maddie’s house—to which he’d found nothing to indicate an intruder—Wyn loped down the front steps, swung toward the rundown garden, and did a second evidence search within the wrought iron fences.
Maddie wasn’t home, but Wyn had worked an early shift today, which allowed him to return to the house earlier than usual. It wasn’t quite five o’clock, so he didn’t think Maddie was avoiding him—yet. He’d have to wait another hour to see if she’d come home on time, and if she did, if she would look him in the eye.
As if the exchange last night in the kitchen hadn’t put Maddie on edge enough, this morning they’d crossed paths in the hallway, which would likely happen a lot since they would share a single bathroom on the second level. Wyn had not been able to hide an erection from her. He’d ached physically for her, and she’d witnessed it. While neither one of them had acknowledged the display of his attraction, Maddie hadn’t said a single word, no longer even giving him her terse hellos or goodbyes anymore.
This might be a lot harder to manage than I imagined it would be. With that thought, Wyn winced and groaned. He was a thirty year old man, and could no longer control when he got hard and when he didn’t. It didn’t matter that Maddie was rightfully angry and antagonistic. Not where I expected to be with her at this time of my life.
A half dozen years ago, Wyn had been mired in grief, still dealing with the loss of his mother more than a year after her death, the only parent he’d acknowledged or respected for over half of his life. He’d never thought his growing friendship with Maddie back then would have become one of the best times in his life, a beacon while suffering through the worst…
* * * *
…Having dragged himself to his door to let Maddie in after her incessant banging outside his small cottage, Wyn trudged back to the couch and dumped himself across its length, the way he’d done every night after work for nearly a week.
Before his head could hit the armrest, Maddie grabbed his hand and forced him to sit up. “Come on.” With her hip jutted and her sunglasses pushed into her wavy tresses like a headband, she tugged at his dead weight. “Get off the couch and go get dressed. I don’t care that you told me you don’t want to do anything. We’re going out.”
Digging in—they’d had this conversation on the phone last night after all—Wyn scowled at the chipper woman. “We closed the deal on the sale of my mother’s house. It’s gone forever. It’s a big deal.” Morbidly, Wyn had driven past his childhood home countless times since he and Ethan had accepted an offer for the place. This was the house where his and Ethan’s father had left them, the place where Jayne Ashworth had spent the bulk of her two bouts with cancer, the structure where Wyn had watched his mother slowly die but still love him and parent him and guide him until the very end. He had not been able to stop looking at the old place or stay away.
He glared at Maddie now, although at this point she’d seen him in bad moods and dark head spaces at least a dozen times since becoming friends; she rarely flinched at the sight anymore. “I’m allowed to be in a funk about the sale.”
Strolling the living room, Maddie said, “Of course you are. I don’t deny that one bit.” Pausing, she yanked open curtains with one rough pull and flooded half the home in light. “But what you’re not allowed to do is mope in your house with all the curtains and shades closed for one of the rare full weekends you have off from work.” Riiippp. She pulled another curtain across its rod with dramatic flair and washed the rest of the space with blinding brightness. “There is a gorgeous, rare March day outside where you don’t have to wear a coat or boots, but you do have to wear shades or you’re likely to get blinded by the sun. I’m not going to let you miss it.” Before he could blink enough to get his sight back, Maddie strode up behind the couch, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and pinned his head back against the top of the cushions.
Leaning over him from above, looking way too glowing with no makeup to sound like such a drill sergeant, Maddie tightened her hold in his hair. “While I didn’t know your mom, based on everything you’ve told me about her, I have to imagine Jayne would kick your ass if you didn’t get out and enjoy this weekend for her.” Dipping down even lower, her gaze glinting with hints of smoke, Maddie put them nose to nose. “So how about doi
ng the right thing here by getting your ass off this couch?”
A pang hit Wyn’s gut hard. He reached up and tangled his hand in Maddie’s hair too. “Low blow, Maddie.” Even as he growled, pictures of his mother tending to her garden as well as his on early spring days expanded painfully in his chest. “Very low.”
Maddie stood up, crossed her arms under her breasts, and raised her eyebrows at him. “Did it work?”
Wyn’s lip curled. If such a thing were possible, steam would have puffed out of his flared nostrils, but he still muttered, “Yes,” and reluctantly pushed himself to his feet.
“Then get dressed and bitch about it to me in my truck.”
Just as he reached the door to his bedroom, he swung around and zeroed in on Maddie. “Where are we going?”
Her eyes shimmering like crazy, grinning like the Cheshire cat, Maddie wagged her finger in his direction. “You’ll know when we get there.”
Her appearance in a white peasant blouse, jeans, moccasin loafers, scrubbed-fresh face, hair down and flowing, didn’t give Wyn a single clue to their destination. She perhaps looked slightly more put together than normal, but then again this was how Maddie tended to look for the most part if she wasn’t grungy from working at the garage—that is, except for the time he’d seen her all done up when he’d crossed paths with her when she’d been out on a date a few months ago.
The memory of seeing Maddie with that too-good-looking guy brought forth a low growl in Wyn. Witnessing Maddie’s accomplished and attractive date place his hand on the small of her back as they exited the movie theater and walked to a way-too-cool car that Maddie would surely drool over had set Wyn on edge for the rest of that particular weekend. Hypocritical and ironic he knew, since he was the one who’d told her to get out more. And she did need to, but that didn’t mean Wyn liked seeing it.
“Come on,” Wyn grumbled, a little bit of his latent irritation slipping into his tone. “Seriously? You’re not going to tell me where we’re going?”
Maddie’s stance became that of the drill sergeant again. “No.”
Wyn rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why I ever agreed to a friendship with you.”
Fast as lightning, Maddie said back, “Yeah you do,” and lifted her shirt real fast, flashing him a very functional, not-at-all-meant-to-be-seductive bra fully covering her breasts.
Chuckling, Wyn rubbed his face. “Good Christ.”
“No.” After straightening her shirt, Maddie plopped back into one of his chairs. “Good Maddie.” She offered a goofy-as-hell, big smile.
“Jesus, woman.” Wyn slipped into the bathroom to shower before he did something stupid—like grab Maddie and drag her into his bed and keep her there forever.
* * * *
Much later that afternoon Wyn savored the last bite of mac-n-cheese with bacon and lobster, the tangy tartness of the cheese mingling with the sweetness of the lobster meat and saltiness of the bacon sending his taste buds into heaven, and then tossed the plastic sample-size bowl and spoon into a nearby trashcan.
Next to him Maddie did the same, smacking her lips and ooh-ooh-ooing the whole way. “That might have been my favorite. Of course, I have a weakness for mac-n-cheese so it already had an edge over everything else.” She rubbed her stomach and made an enticing little sound before adding, “That marinated brisket slider we tried is right up at the top of the list too.”
Having wandered around the food festival and expo for hours, Wyn grinned as Maddie very discreetly burped. “Are you up for trying more?” Although sample sizes, they’d both eaten quite a lot of those ‘bites’ since arriving, and he wasn’t sure how much more his stomach, let alone hers, could take. “There are probably still a good two dozen vendors whose samples we haven’t tasted yet. And I think we still have plenty of vouchers.”
Maddie pulled the book of vouchers she’d purchased from her back pocket and waved them at Wyn like a wad of hundred-dollar bills. “Lead the way.”
They strolled close to each other, loosely connected arm-in-arm in order to keep from getting separated amongst the tight crowd. With each booth they slowed to study, deciding if the food offered was worth the last of their coupons, a sweet, nostalgic pain pierced Wyn’s chest. Surprisingly, though, the sting of tears stayed away.
Clearing his throat, Wyn kept looking forward, but his throat tightened with appreciation for the young woman walking next to him. “Thank you for pulling my ass off the couch,” he told Maddie, his voice gritty. “My mom used to love coming to this festival. Too often when I was a kid I thought I was too cool to spend a whole day with her—with your mom out in public when you’re a teenager, you know.” All the time wasted rushed through Wyn, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. “But eventually I stopped being an idiot, and I was smart enough to come a few times before she passed. They’re good memories, being at this event with her.” He finally looked at Maddie, and the easy camaraderie and open affection emanating from her swirled around Wyn like a warm embrace, choking him up a little bit. “Thanks for opening me up to the festival again.”
New hints of pink blossomed on Maddie’s cheeks, and she shared, “I was hanging out with Aidan and Ethan last week, and after reading an article about the festival, Ethan mentioned how you guys came here with your mom sometimes. I know you’ve been having a hard time since officially letting go of the house.” Her voice became a little husky. “I guess I was trying to show you there are plenty of other places in Redemption where you can have fond memories of Jayne. They don’t have to all be tied up in your childhood home.” She shrugged, and finished, “Maybe you wouldn’t have heard me if I’d just said it. You needed to be shown.”
Wyn gave her the side-eye. “Is that your way of saying I’m stubborn?”
“Yeah.” She nudged him with her shoulder, almost cajoling, and then added, “But no more than I am, so I’m not judging. We’re alike in that way. Ooh look!” She suddenly veered across traffic, walking in the opposite direction, dragging him through the flow of fellow eaters, to a crowded tent. “Want to try Cuban fusion?”
“Sure.” Wyn’s work phone vibrated in his back pocket just then. When he shifted to get it, he forgot about their linked elbows and twisted her arm halfway behind his back. “Oops, shoot. Sorry. Are you all right?” Redemption was still a small enough community that if an emergency situation arose all law enforcement was required to report for duty.
Once Maddie gave him the thumbs up that she was okay, he gestured toward to the other side of the tent while he stepped back outside. “Go ahead and get in line while I take this.”
Maddie gave him the okay sign. He watched her secure a place for them as he put the phone to his ear. “Hello. Officer Ashworth speaking.”
An unbearably deep voice Wyn would never get out of his head filled his ear. “Son, it’s time for us to talk.”
The upbeat joy of the day bleeding out of him in a torrent, Wyn hissed, “I told you never to call me again.” Rage at his father blew through Wyn, heating his core past its boiling point. “And how in the hell did you get my work number?” Wyn did not pause or want an answer; this lack of respect and breaking of boundaries only fueled the flames writhing out of control inside him over this man. “That is a violation of my job. You have no right.”
The coward on the other end of the line had the audacity to sigh before he said, “You won’t pick up my calls on your personal lines anymore, son.”
“Damn right I won’t.” Shoulders hunched in, closed in on himself like an island in a sea of people, Wyn lowered his voice to a damning whisper. “And I’m not changing today either. Good—”
“I loved her,” Graham Ashworth interjected, his low tone ragged. “I swear I did. I loved her so much it broke me when she got sick. I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t hold up under the level of love I felt and the pain she suffered. You—”
Sick to his stomach, Wyn ordered through clenched teeth, “Don’t ever call me again.” If he heard another word from this man right now, he wo
uld throw up. “Goodbye.” This time, Wyn didn’t wait for his father to get another word in. He jammed his finger on the End Call button and shoved the phone back into his pocket.
Standing still while the crowd moved like fish swimming upstream around him, Wyn inhaled and exhaled fast and hard, struggling to normalize his breathing. Every time his father called, every time the guy managed to wiggle past Wyn’s paralyzing shock to spill more of his tale of unfathomable love that had crippled him and forced him to walk away from his wife or die himself through watching her suffer, Wyn grew more disgusted, not less, and an insidious poison inked into his bloodstream a little bit more.
Wyn remembered being a kid. He recalled how much he looked like his father, and how similar their demeanors were. People had often told him they were so much alike.
Maddie came up beside him and touched his elbow, jerking him out of his stupor.
“Hey?” A couple of small plates in hand, looking up at him with too much knowledge deepening the gray in her eyes, Maddie rubbed her shoulder against his arm. “Are you okay?”
Still tight all over, Wyn jerked his head in a nod. “I’m fine.”
“Liar,” Maddie said back, no hesitation or backing down one bit.
With her heels dug in, Maddie looked up at him without blinking, somehow menacing with her hippie chic getup and two small plates of delicious smelling food in her hands.
“Okay, fine,” Wyn backtracked, knowing he could either do it now or after ten minutes of steely looks from her that would break him down. “I had a shit moment of dealing with a phone call from my father—” he put a finger on her lips before she could get a word out, “—but we’re having a good time today, and you’ve planned a good time for the rest of the night,” they still had music and some sort of horror treasure hunt to do, “so I’ve shaken his intrusion off and am going to get on with the task of eating some great food with you.”
