The Beginning of Us (189 page)

I chuckle lightly at her misunderstanding of the situation. “Maddy, believe me. You did absolutely nothing wrong.” We stand under the water, just holding one another, basking in the bliss we’ve just shared. When the water turns cold, we rush to finish getting cleaned up.

I wrap a towel around my waist and drape one over her shoulders. Pulling her into my embrace and resting my chin on the top of her head, I realize that, while last night was a rather obvious first for her, this morning was a first for me, too. It was the first time I’ve told someone that I loved them; it was the first time I ever told anyone about Shane and Alex; it was the first time I felt love in return, despite all of the demons of my past.

I can’t help but feel that the shower did more than wash my body. With Maddy at my side, I feel like my soul has been cleansed and my heart has been given a second chance.

When a smile curves my lips at these thoughts, for the first time in a long time, I don’t try to push it down.

Chapter 13

Maddy

I am in awe of everything before me, and not just because the girls and I put together a pretty impressive spread for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s the love and feeling of family that makes my insides get all mushy. The boys have been in the living room watching football all day. A bit sexist, sure, but I’d be lying if I said my heart doesn’t melt a little each time I hear them yell at the television. My dad used to get like that about football, well, any sport, really. What is it about men and yelling at a game on television? Don’t they realize they can’t change the outcome, no matter how loudly they yell?

Silly boy
s
.

“ Okay, so the table is all set and all the side dishes are all ready. I think we’re good to go.” Melanie informs me of the status in the dining room. I honestly couldn’t have done any of this without her and the girls. I’ve never really cooked more than mac and cheese. God, I hope I don’t poison anyone!

Momma C has been cute as a button, too. Even though she swore up and down that she wasn’t going to lift a finger, she’s been hanging around the kitchen like a hawk all day long. I see her tasting things and adding dashes of this and pinches of that along the way.

I pulled the gargantuan bird out of the oven a few minutes ago, and now I’m staring it down, wondering how the hell I’m going to get it inside in one piece. Forget carving it; I have no clue where to even start with that.

Maybe the guys have a chainsaw. That ought to work.

Just as I’m about to have a mini panic attack over it, Reid struts into the kitchen. He’s been amazing all day, too. Every twenty minutes or so, he comes into the kitchen to help us out. He never intended for me to do all of the work, but after about five or six times of me insisting that I wanted to do it, he finally stopped trying to help.

But, boy is he a welcome sight now. “Need some help there, Maddy?” He’s being a little devil, playing on my earlier insistence that he stay away.

“Why, yes, dear.” I arch a playful eyebrow in his direction. “Can you carry this to the table and carve it for me?” I try for my best June Cleaver impression, which has him laughing in hysterics.

I shouldn’t be getting turned on at the sight of him carrying a turkey into the dining room, but watching his biceps flex as he effortlessly lifts the heavy tray makes my blood flame. Watching his taut, perfect ass sway out of the room is also a fairly yummy treat.

I love that everyone decided to keep everything casual and low-key. I never understood why some people get so dressed up just to eat. Give me elastic waistbands, please. 

When I enter the dining room, my breath catches in my throat behind thick emotion when I see the scene before me. Everyone is seated around the table, which is beautifully set; it kind of looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Reid is sitting at the head of the table, and he pats the seat next to him for me to sit.

Before he sits, he raises his glass and clears his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Before we eat, I’d just like to say a few things. First, I want to say thank you to all of you for making today possible. I know I kind of threw this in everyone’s lap at the last minute, but you all pulled together, and I just hope you had fun in the process.”

Jack chimes in, ribbing Reid. “Yeah, nothing says fun like hauling a freaking six-foot pine tree off the roof of my car and into the house.”

Logan adds, “I can’t complain. This house is cleaner than a freaking Pine-Sol commercial!”

Reid just shoots them a playful look and continues with his speech. “Mrs. Crane, I really can’t thank you enough for coming out here. It wouldn’t be the same for Maddy and Mel, and I know I speak for everyone else when I say that we love having you here.”

Momma C winks at him. I think she’s a little smitten, because I see her holding back the tears at how sweet and kind he is.

“And last, but certainly not least, Maddy, thank you so much for coming into my life. I have no clue what I did to deserve you. I’m not even sure that I do, but I will spend every minute of the rest of my life making sure that I do everything in my power to keep you by my side. I love you, baby, and I hope you have a perfect Thanksgiving.”

At his last word, he bends down to kiss me sweetly on the cheek. Everyone erupts in “hear, hear”s, and they all clink their glasses together.

Momma C leads us in a blessing before we eat, and my heart swells with love for this woman who has been my surrogate mother for the last eight years.

When she finishes, Reid carves the turkey, and everyone begins passing dishes back and forth. My plate is full to the brim, and so is my heart. I’ve gotten everything I’ve ever wanted because of Reid.

I reach my hand out to grab his and squeeze gently. “Reid, I love you. Thank you. This has been the best surprise, the best weekend, in my whole life.”

He winks at me and says, “Anything for you, Maddy. Anything at all.”

“Oh, I’m so glad you said that, because if you think I’m cleaning all of this up after cooking all day long, well, then, you are sorely mistaken.”

He laughs and offers me up a sexy lopsided grin. “I got the dishes, babe. You’re off for the rest of the night. Well, at least until everyone goes home. Then you’re all mine.”

*****

We’re all sitting in the living room watching
The Wizard of Oz
, and while everyone is lost in conversation, I can’t help but notice that Reid has been checking his phone nonstop all night. Come to think of it, he’s never really on his phone, but the last few weeks it’s been like a constant presence – always in his hand, always buzzing away on whatever surface he’s left it on.

Who could be calling him, anyway? We’re all here. 

Something’s not adding up here.

Unpleasant thoughts take root in my head. Is he cheating on me? God knows he’s got plenty of women to choose from – all of them certainly hotter and more experienced than I am. Maybe he’s been keeping some of them on the side all this time. I try not to let my mind go there. I remind myself of all of the sweet gestures that Reid’s done for me since we’ve been together. A cheater doesn’t text nearly every hour to see how you’re doing. He wouldn’t buy me flowers at every opportunity – at times just a single red rose – if he was sleeping with someone else.

When would he sleep with someone else, anyway? We’ve spent practically every night together.

But you only had sex with him once.

You don’t have to spend the night to have sex.

At the thought of him sleeping with someone else, I can’t help but think about how foolish I was to insist that we didn’t need a condom. My heart and mind are battling fiercely over what to believe. One thing is for certain, I do not like this version of myself - this questioning, insecure, uncertain version of the Maddy that I’ve been trying to erase over the last few months.

It’s stupid, really. I have no reason to think he would hold on to his old ways. I’ve let him in and he’s let me in, and now all of a sudden I’m a scared little girl who is just making up excuses to make things seem imperfect. It’s just like what I did with Jay before I left.

Shake yourself out of this. He’s a good man, Maddy. He wouldn’t do that to you.

He catches me looking at him, and his brows furrow into a quizzical stare. I smile quickly at him, letting him know that everything is okay. I fake a yawn to play it off that I’m just tired. He smiles back and resumes his conversation with Logan and Bryan. They’re probably still analyzing every little detail of the football game from before.

When everyone finally does leave, it’s almost ten o’clock, and I am bone tired. Between last night – and then again this morning in the shower – plus all of Reid’s revelations, and this new crap with the phone calls, I’m surprised I even have the strength to walk up the stairs and crawl into bed.

He called it
our
bed – a bed he bought so we could have our own beautiful memories.

He wouldn’t do all of that for me, tell me his darkest secrets, and throw it all away on some other woman.

I fucking hope not.

I’m just about to pass out when Reid says, “I’m going to grab a quick shower before bed.” He adds a sultry smile, and his eyes go all hooded before he adds, “Want to join me?”

“Reid, I really would love to, but I’m so exhausted. I really just want to curl up in bed and pass out for about twelve hours. I’m sorry, babe, but can I take a rain check?”

“Of course, sweetheart. How about a back rub when I get done? It’ll help you relax.”

Oh, my God, he’s so adorable when he’s this sweet. I force down my earlier doubts and try to hold on to the idea that he really does love me.

I’m being stupid, really. I’ll just talk to him about it in the morning, because just thinking about diving head first into an “are you cheating” conversation exhausts me even more.

“That sounds amazing.” I stand to get one of his T-shirts out of his dresser.

“Great. Be out in a few minutes, then.” He pulls his shirt over his head in that sexy-as-hell one-handed grab from behind move that guys do. I wonder if they realize how sexy that is. It’s probably the same for them watching us unhook and take off our bras without having to take our shirts off. I laugh at my pointless, although still funny, musings.

My whimsy is erased completely when I hear Reid’s phone buzzing away on the dresser. I don’t want to look.

Yes, you do.

No, you don’t.

Crap.

While I’m stuck debating, the phone stops vibrating. I guess that solves the dilemma, then – as if picking it up under the reasoning that it was ringing would make my snooping less offensive.

Then it rings again, and I can’t help but go to it. I’m like Sleeping Beauty drawn to the spindle I know I shouldn’t touch. Nothing good can come of this. That much I know, but I can’t help it. I’ve spent so long guarding my heart that the smallest suggestion, no matter how ridiculous it sounds even in my own head, that Reid is doing something wrong has me questioning everything.

I pick up the phone and slide the icon at the bottom to answer it. I open my mouth to say something, but no words come out. What do I say? There’s no name attached to the number, and for a moment I think that’s a good thing. If it was someone he spoke with or saw regularly, surely he would have her name and contact information saved. And then there’s the small voice in the back of my head that’s suddenly growing louder in volume, that’s telling me saving her information, whoever she is, would be the last thing he would want to do.

What would he file it under anyway?

Cheater?

The other woman?

Not Maddy?

I’m thinking of all of this as I wait silently for some kind of answer to this fucked-up situation that I’ve gotten myself into. I still can’t say anything, but when a young woman’s voice comes through on the line, I can’t help feel that wall around my heart snap back into place. Even though I’m rendered completely speechless, I sit and eagerly listen to the woman on the other end.

“Hello? Reid? Is that you? Hello? Is anyone there?” and then the line goes dead.

Before putting the phone back on his dresser, I look into his missed calls log. I’m a horrible girlfriend for this, I know, but my self-preservation is all I’m thinking about here. I am beyond shocked when I see that he has forty-five calls from the same number. I hear him getting out of the shower, so I don’t have much time to look for more information – how long the calls lasted, how many times he called her, exchanges of text messages. Instead of all of that, I quickly save the number in my phone. I bury whatever conflicted emotions I’m having over all of this. I need to be alone and figure out what the hell to do about it all.

I just don’t have the energy – physically or emotionally – to confront him about it tonight. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to hear his excuses. Maybe it’s because I just don’t want to learn the truth. But I choose to ignore it for the time being. Ignorance is bliss and all that crap.