If only he could make sure she was happy
again before he left this time.
Maddox was accustomed to not being able to
move from one place to another without fans following him, so being
alone as he walked from the RV park to the local diner made him
feel almost naked. Of course, he’d left his signature cowboy hat in
the RV, replacing it with a gimme cap for a boat motor company. He
couldn’t find his sunglasses, so squinted against the bright early
morning sun. He’d forgotten how early the sun rose this far north
as summer approached.
A moment passed before his eyes adjusted when
he stepped inside the diner. He took off his cap and hung it on a
hook by the door before choosing to sit at the counter. He eyed the
specials spelled out in plastic letters, on a sign that had been in
place when he’d worked here as a bus boy every summer. He’d had to
continue the practice in Nashville, too, working the breakfast
shift after playing all night in different bars, trying to get a
break. Oddly, the memory held warmth for him, back when he was
young and innocent and the music was the most important thing. A
long time—and a lot of trouble—had passed along the way.
A waitress approached and he automatically
straightened. Maggie hadn’t been young when he worked here, but she
loved her job, and loved snapping bus boys in two.
“Maggie. Good to see you,” he said.
She looked up from her pad, startled, and
took a minute before recognition hit. A smile spread across her
broad face.
“Maddox! What are you doing here?”
He glanced around at the breakfast crowd, who
all seemed to be minding their own business. “I thought maybe you’d
heard I stopped by Quinn’s last night.”
“I heard you were supposed to play a concert
there, but backed out at the last minute and had everyone
scrambling.”
He didn’t want to go into the logistics
behind that, didn’t want to look like he was ducking blame, so he
just nodded, his gaze on the counter. “I’m trying to make up for
that now. Thought I’d play a few nights, draw people into town.
That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
She looked past him toward the door. “Are you
here alone?”
“Sure.”
“No manservant or driver or any of that?”
A flush crept up his neck, because most of
the time he did have people to do the mundane jobs for him. He’d
had some trepidation about hooking up his own fifth-wheel and
driving it up here. He’d had a hell of a time keeping the damn
thing in the lane and wished he’d had his driver. But he loved the
freedom of not having anyone looking over his shoulder, of having
to follow any schedule, not have someone following him around
telling him what to do, where to be next.
“I kind of took off.”
She raised blonde eyebrows. “You ran
away.”
Heat crept up his throat at the honesty
there. “I guess there’s some truth to that.”
She patted his hand on the counter, odd since
she hadn’t been much in the way of affection back when he worked
here. “We heard about the car accident. Were you drinking?”
He’d already tired of answering that
question. Maybe he should have gone someplace where people didn’t
feel so free to stick their noses in his business. But Bluestone,
the place he’d loved so much growing up, was the only place that
held any kind of peace for him.
“I wasn’t.”
She considered him a long moment, as if
assessing the truth of his statement. “Nothing good comes from
hiding. You play at Quinn’s and word will get back. They’ll come
find you and drag you back.”
Before he could respond, the bell over the
door rang, and a vision from his past walked in. A second passed
before he realized it was Linda, Beth’s sister. He glanced at the
clock over the register.
“School start later here than it used to?” he
asked Maggie.
“That one,” Maggie replied low, though not
low enough that Linda didn’t hear her. “Trouble with a capital
T.”
Maddox pushed off the stool before Linda
could take a seat. She glanced up, then a smile spread over her
face and she swayed forward to hook an arm through his.
“I didn’t think I’d see you here,” she said
in a sing-song voice.
Maddox frowned. Shit, was the kid drunk
already? He closed his hand around her upper arm. “Shouldn’t you be
in school?”
She waved a hand. “There’s only a few more
days before summer vacation. We’re not doing anything anyway.”
He looked past her to the boy she was with,
who was watching Maddox with a mixture of jealousy and envy.
“Doesn’t matter. Your sister thinks you’re at school, and that’s
where you’re going.”
She leaned against him, her breast brushing
his arm, intentionally, he was sure. He edged back, putting some
distance between them. All he needed was for someone to think he
was taking advantage of a sixteen-year-old girl.
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“What makes you think I won’t tell her? Come
on. I’ll take you to school.”
Linda hung back, her jaw tight, mutinous.
He’d seen that expression before on her sister.
“I haven’t eaten yet.”
Maddox inclined his head to a rack with
individual-sized cereals. “Maggie, would you get me some of those
Cheerios and add it to my bill? I’ll be back for my omelet in about
fifteen.”
“You take me anywhere, I’ll scream,” Linda
warned.
Maddox nodded to the people in the diner
watching them. “I think everyone here’s pretty well versed with
your drama. They don’t seem to be rushing to your aid now.” He
accepted the bag that Maggie handed him, and checked to see she’d
included individual milks and spoons for the two truants. “Let’s
go.”
For a moment, Linda glared at him, and he
thought she might make good on her threat to start screaming. He
wondered if someone would stop him. Nonetheless, he propelled her
out the door, sending the bell ringing, and started walking toward
the school.
She dug in her heels. “Wait. You said you’d
take me to school. Where’s your car?”
“We’re walking. It’s just three blocks.” He
pointed up the hill, away from the lake. At least, he hoped it was
still there. He hadn’t had much time to explore since he’d been
back.
“So? I want a ride.”
“I don’t have my truck here.”
“God, I never thought you’d be such a
dick.”
“I never thought Beth would raise such a
brat,” he tossed back.
Linda started walking again, but something
about the way she did it made him wary. “So you slept with my
sister?”
He did not want to discuss his past with Beth
with her sister. He doubted Beth would appreciate it, either. “Who
takes care of Jonas during the day?”
“Beth, until she goes to work, and a neighbor
for a few hours until I get home.”
Poor Beth. Working until late, then being
saddled with an infant all day. No wonder she looked so tired.
Pretty soon school would be out and Linda could take full
responsibility. Not that he believed she would.
He’d tried to smell alcohol on her breath but
couldn’t. Was she adept enough at hiding it, at only sixteen? Had
she gotten drunk when she was pregnant? What would the school do to
her if she showed up drunk? A sick thought hit him that they might
take her away from Beth. As much stress as the girl and her baby
put on Beth, he knew she would be devastated.
He should have let the girl eat at the diner,
but was pretty sure she’d weasel out of getting to school. No, best
to get her there and go back to minding his own business.
“Are you planning on working this summer?” he
asked as they crossed the first street.
“Heck, no. I have a baby to take care of. And
they’re making me go to summer school since I had to miss so much
when Jonas was born.” She made a face.
“And yet you’re willing to leave him with
your sister while you play hooky.” How many times had she done that
in the past?
“I was hungry for pancakes. Beth only buys
the frozen ones.”
They walked past more empty storefronts than
Maddox wanted to count. He remembered the five and dime from when
he was a kid, the book store, the grocer, the florist. All gone.
Nothing he could do could help bring them back, but maybe he could
stop more from leaving. Of course, like Maggie said, it was only a
matter of time before he was located and dragged back to his
obligations.
“I read an interview where you said you
weren’t the best student.” Linda’s tone was accusing. “So who made
you the truant officer?”
“Knowing what happens when you don’t go to
school. You already have some strikes against you, being a single
mom. You’re lucky to have a sister who’s willing to help you.” He
couldn’t stop himself from asking the question that had been
bugging him since he’d been back. “Where are Adam and Joey?”
Linda waved a hand. “Joey’s in Massachusetts
running a restaurant, and Adam’s out west somewhere racing cars. We
haven’t heard from him in a while.”
No doubt that made Beth even more tense. “Do
they visit? Send money?”
Linda shrugged. “Don’t know. Doubt it.”
Anger bubbled in his gut, and he wanted to go
talk to Beth again. He doubted she’d appreciate his interference,
though.
He stopped in front of the school, quiet out
here, all the kids in class. “Do I have to go in with you, make
sure you get where you’re supposed to be, or can I get back to my
breakfast?”
“You’re a dick,” she said again, but there
was less heat in her tone as she walked up the sidewalk to the
school.
Beth paced back and forth at the entrance of
the RV court. She knew which was Maddox’s of course. It was the big
fancy one, all black and sleek, with three slides that almost
doubled its size on the lot. The pick-up truck he’d pulled it with
was equally shiny and new, and parked beside it. No, finding him
wasn’t the problem. Actually, finding him was the problem. She
should have just waited, sent his shirt home with someone else, or
waited until he came into Quinn’s and given it to him. But having
it around the house just made her itchy, like he was in her house,
watching her, judging her choices. She needed to be rid of it.
Squaring her shoulders, she marched toward
the door of the RV and rapped, very businesslike. Right, she’d just
hand over the shirt, turn around and leave. No answer. She rapped
again, harder. Just her luck, he was asleep, or listening to music.
She lifted her hand to knock again, and—
“Are you looking for me?”
She pivoted, clutching the formerly
neatly-pressed shirt against her chest, and looked up into Maddox’s
shadowed brown eyes. He leaned against a brace holding up the
canopy shading the door. Great. She’d been all prepared to meet him
one way and he snuck up on her. Just like him to keep her
off-balance.
“I brought you your shirt.” She shoved it at
him, wadded now, despite her earlier care.
He closed his fingers around it but didn’t
take his gaze from her. “Want to come in, see the place?”
She wanted to, curiosity eating at her to see
what he’d become. But she shook her head and tried to ease around
him, but he blocked her escape with just a subtle shift of his
weight.
“Come in, Beth. I won’t bite.”
He said it in that smooth way of his, almost
a drawl. She should leave. She should run away and not look back.
But she could imagine what he’d say to her, how he’d call her a
coward and she didn’t want him to think she was afraid. So she
nodded, looking away, but not before she saw his quick smile when
he reached around her to open the door. She walked up the steps,
feeling the heat of his body right behind her.
The place was almost as big as her house, and
twice as nice, with cherry cabinets, black-flecked countertops that
she suspected were granite on one wall, and long, low, plush gray
couches on the other. A flat-screen TV was mounted at one end of
the room, and—
“Are those sliding glass doors?”
“Yeah. Cool, huh?”
She moved down the narrow walkway until she
realized she was heading toward his bedroom. Through the doorway,
she caught a glimpse of a big bed, with a gray comforter to match
the couches. She hurried back toward the kitchen.
“You don’t actually cook in here, do
you?”
“If I did, it wouldn’t be so clean.” He
tossed the shirt on the counter and leaned one hand beside it,
watching her. “You want something? Something to drink?”
“No, I need to go. I just wanted to bring you
that.”
“Sit down a minute. I’ll get you a bottle of
water.”
Had he always done that, run over what she’d
wanted to get his own way? She didn’t think he had. He walked to
the stainless steel fridge and opened it, revealing a variety of
beverages—juices, waters, pops. No beer. She knew he’d been in
rehab, but she hadn’t thought it through to its logical conclusion.
Would he be able to resist temptation while playing in a bar? How
long had it been since he’d gone into rehab? She’d lost track.
He selected a bottle for her and another for
himself, handed one to her and hitched his hip against the counter
before twisting open his own.
“So, do you take this thing with you when you
travel?”
“Only sometimes, if the venue’s nearby, or
there’s a series of shows in a local area. Usually I fly and stay
in hotels.”
She crumpled the plastic between her fingers,
then winced at the noise and at the nervousness it revealed. “Must
be nice. Room service and all that.”
“Yeah, but I like this better. It’s familiar.
And I’m alone.”
She sat back and lifted her bottle to her
lips, surprised. “You don’t like the crowds?”
That blasted half-smile. “I have people
around me all the time. It’s kinda nice to be able to escape.”
“Is that why you’re here in Bluestone?” Her
own curiosity would be the death of her.