“Which is why we’ll offer cooking classes, too,” Dana Sue said eagerly.
“Let me guess. New Southern Cuisine,” Maddie said.
“Southern cooking isn’t all about lima beans swimming in butter or green beans cooked with fatback,” Dana Sue said. “Haven’t I taught you anything?”
“Me, yes, absolutely,” Maddie assured her. “But the general population of Serenity still craves their mashed potatoes and fried chicken.”
“So do I,” Dana Sue said. “But ovenbaked’s not half-bad if you do it right.”
“We’re losing focus,” Helen cut in. “There’s a building available over on Palmetto Lane that would be just right for what we have in mind. I think we should take a look at it in the morning. Dana Sue and I fell in love with it right away, Maddie, but we want your opinion.”
“Why? It’s not as if I have anything to compare it to. Besides, I don’t even know what your vision is, not entirely anyway.”
“You know how to make a place cozy and inviting, don’t you?” Helen said. “After all, you took that mausoleum that was the Townsend family home and made it real welcoming.”
“Right,” Dana Sue said. “And you have all sorts of business savvy from helping Bill get his practice established.”
“I put some systems into place for him nearly twenty years ago,” Maddie said, downplaying her contribution to setting up the office. “I’m hardly an expert. If you’re going to do this, you should hire a consultant, devise a business plan, do cost projections. You can’t do something like this on a whim just because you don’t like the way Dexter’s gym smells.”
“Actually, we can,” Helen insisted. “I have enough money saved for a down payment on the building, plus capital expenses for equipment and an operating budget for the first year. Let’s face it, I can use the tax write-off, though I predict this won’t be a losing proposition for long.”
“And I’m going to invest some cash, but mostly my time and my expertise in cooking and nutrition to design a little café and offer classes,” Dana Sue added.
They both looked at Maddie expectantly.
“What?” she demanded. “I don’t have any expertise and I certainly don’t have any money to throw at something this speculative.”
Helen grinned. “You have a bit more than you think, thanks to your fabulous attorney, but we don’t really want your money. We want you to be in charge.”
Maddie regarded them incredulously. “Me? I hate to exercise. I only do it because I know I have to.” She gestured at the cellulite firmly clinging to her thighs. “And we can see how much good that’s doing.”
“Then you’re perfect for this job, because you’ll work really, really hard to make this a place women just like you will want to join,” Helen said.
Maddie shook her head. “Forget it. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Why not?” Dana demanded. “You need work. We need a manager. It’s a perfect match.”
“It feels like some scheme you devised to keep me from starving to death,” Maddie said.
“I already told you that you won’t be starving,” Helen said. “And you get to keep the house, which is long since paid for. Bill was very reasonable once I laid out a few facts for him.”
Maddie studied her friend’s face. Not many people tried explaining anything to Bill, since he was convinced he knew it all. A medical degree did that to some men. And what the degree didn’t accomplish, adoring nurses like Noreen did.
“Such as?” Maddie asked.
“How the news of his impending fatherhood with his unmarried nurse might impact his practice here in the conservative, family-oriented town of Serenity,” Helen said without the slightest hint of remorse. “People might not want to take their darling little kiddies to a pediatrician who has demonstrated a complete lack of scruples.”
“You blackmailed him?” Maddie wasn’t sure whether she was shocked or awed.
Helen shrugged. “I prefer to think of it as educating him on the value of the right PR spin. So far people in town haven’t taken sides, but that could change in a heartbeat.”
“I’m surprised his attorney let you get away with that,” Maddie said.
“That’s because you don’t know everything your brilliant attorney knew walking into that room,” Helen said.
“Such as?” Maddie asked again.
“Bill’s nurse had a little thing going with his attorney once upon a time. Tom Patterson had his own reasons for wanting to see Bill screwed to the wall.”
“Isn’t that unethical?” Maddie asked. “Shouldn’t he have refused to take Bill’s case or something?”
“He did, but Bill insisted. Tom disclosed his connection to Noreen, but Bill continued to insist. He thought Tom’s thing with Noreen would make him more understanding of his eagerness to get on with life with her. Which just proves that when it comes to human nature your soon-to-be ex really doesn’t have a clue.”
“And you took advantage of all those shenanigans to get Maddie the money she deserves,” Dana Sue said admiringly.
“I did,” Helen confirmed with satisfaction. “If we’d had to go in front of a judge, it might have gone differently, but Bill was especially anxious for a settlement so he could be a proper daddy to his new baby before the ink is dry on the birth certificate. As you reminded him on your way out the door, Maddie, he’s the one in a hurry.”
Helen regarded Maddie intently. “It’s not a fortune, mind you, but you don’t have to worry about money for the time being.”
“I still think I ought to look for a real job,” Maddie said. “However much the settlement is, it won’t last forever, and I’m not likely to have a lot of earning power, not right at first, anyway.”
“Which is why you should take us up on our offer,” Dana Sue said. “This health club could be a gold mine and you’d be a full partner. That’s what you’d get in return for your day-in, day-out running of it all—sweat equity.”
“I don’t see what’s in it for the two of you,” Maddie said. “Helen, you’re in Charleston all the time. There are some fine gyms over there, if you don’t want to go to Dexter’s. And Dana Sue, you could offer cooking classes at the restaurant. You don’t need a spa to do it.”
“We’re trying to be community minded,” Dana Sue said. “This town needs someone to invest in it.”
“I’m not buying it,” Maddie said. “This is about me. You both feel sorry for me.”
“We most certainly do not,” Helen said. “You’re going to be just fine.”
“Then there’s something else, something you’re not telling me,” Maddie persisted. “You didn’t just wake up one day and decide you wanted to open a health club, not even for some kind of tax shelter.”
Helen hesitated, then confessed. “Okay, here’s the whole truth. I need a place to go to work off the stress of my job. My doctor’s been on my case about my blood pressure. I flatly refuse to start taking a bunch of pills at my age, so he said he’d give me three months to see if a better diet and exercise would help. I’m trying to cut back on my cases in Charleston for a while, so I need a spa right here in Serenity.”
Maddie stared at her friend in alarm. If Helen was cutting back on work, then the doctor must have made quite a case for the risks to her health. “If your blood pressure is that high, why didn’t you say something? Not that I’m surprised given the way you obsess over your job.”
“I didn’t say anything because you’ve had enough on your plate,” Helen said. “Besides, I intend to take care of it.”
“By opening your own gym,” Maddie concluded. “Won’t getting a new business off the ground just add to the stress?”
“Not if you’re running it,” Helen said. “Besides, I think all of us doing this together will be fun.”
Maddie wasn’t entirely convinced about the fun factor, but she turned to
Dana Sue. “And you? What’s your excuse for wanting to open a new business? Isn’t the restaurant enough?”
“It’s making plenty of money, sure,” Dana Sue said. “But I’m around food all the time. I’ve gained a few pounds. You know my family history. Just about everybody had diabetes, so I need to get my weight under control. I’m not likely to stop eating, so I need to work out.”
“See, we both have our own reasons for wanting to make this happen,” Helen said. “Come on, Maddie. At least look at the building tomorrow. You don’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow. There’s time for you to mull it over in that cautious brain of yours.”
“I am not cautious,” Maddie protested, offended. Once she’d been the biggest risk-taker among them. All it had taken was the promise of fun and a dare. Had she really lost that? Judging from the expressions on her friends’ faces, she had.
“Oh, please, you weigh the pros and cons and calorie content before you order lunch,” Dana Sue said. “But we love you just the same.”
“Which is why we won’t do this without you,” Helen said. “Even if it does put our health at risk.”
Maddie looked from one to the other. “No pressure there,” she said dryly.
“Not a bit,” Helen said. “I have a career. And the doctor says there are all sorts of pills for controlling blood pressure these days.”
“And I have a business,” Dana Sue added. “As for my weight, I suppose we can just continue walking together a couple of times a week.” She sighed dramatically.
“Despite what y’all have said, I’m not entirely convinced it isn’t charity,” Maddie repeated. “The timing is awfully suspicious.”
“It would only be charity if we didn’t expect you to work your butt off to make a success of it,” Helen said. “So, are you in or out?”
Maddie gave it some thought. “I’ll look at the building,” she finally conceded. “But that’s all I’m promising.”
Helen swung her gaze to Dana Sue. “If we’d waited till she had that second margarita, she would have said yes,” Helen claimed, feigning disappointment.
Maddie laughed. “But if I’d had two, you couldn’t have held me to anything I said.”
“She has a point,” Dana Sue agreed. “Let’s be grateful we got a maybe.”
“Have I told you two how glad I am that you’re my friends?” Maddie said, feeling her eyes well up with tears yet again.
“Uh-oh, here she goes again,” Dana Sue said, getting to her feet. “I need to get to work before we all start crying.”
“I never cry,” Helen declared.
Dana Sue groaned. “Don’t even start. Maddie will be forced to challenge you, and before you know it, all of Serenity will be flooded and you’ll both look like complete wrecks when we meet in the morning. Maddie, do you want me to drop you off at home?”
She shook her head. “I’ll walk. It’ll give me time to think.”
“And to sober up before her mama sees her,” Helen taunted.
“That, too,” Maddie agreed.
Mostly, though, she wanted time to absorb the fact that on one of the worst days of her life she’d been surrounded by friends who’d given her a glimmer of hope that her future wasn’t going to be quite as bleak as she’d imagined.
Stealing Home
By #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods, available now wherever MIRA Books are sold!
Copyright © 2007 by Sherryl Woods
ISBN: 9781488075698
White Pines Summer
Copyright © 2020 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Unexpected Mommy
Copyright © 1998 by Sherryl Woods
The Cowgirl & the Unexpected Wedding
Copyright © 1998 by Sherryl Woods
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