Heart and Sole Read online

  Footsteps pounded behind her. When she glanced back, it wasn’t Alex but Nick, dangling buck-naked Alex upside down over his shoulder, both of them hollering right along through the tree-covered yard.

  For the second time in two days, Nick’s laughter caught her off guard. Effusive, contagious. Fun. Something she hadn’t had in quite a while.

  “Daddy, daddy, daddy!” Logan squealed. Rounding the corner to the backyard, Maddie saw the puzzled expression on her older brother Derrick’s face as he sat up in his lawn chair, his newspaper scattering on the breeze. Logan jumped into a baby pool and waded through it before catapulting himself into his father’s arms.

  “Aunt Maddie’s attacking me,” he fake whined.

  Maddie reached the pool, which had pictures of red and blue cartoon fish emblazoned on the bottom. She reached across to grab Logan but lost her balance and slipped on the smooth latex bottom, landing on her butt in the middle.

  Logan giggled.

  “Okay, you’re gonna get it!” She stood, dripping wet, and swooped up her nephew, taking him down with her into the shallow pool. Alex tore away from Nick’s arms and jumped in after them.

  “Let’s splash Aunt Maddie!” one of them screamed.

  Before she could cry foul play, Logan and Alex thrashed around the pool, stirring up enough water to create a small tsunami while Nick supplied them with water toys.

  “You all are ganging up on me!” she said through a curtain of water that was splashed and kicked at her by tiny hands and feet going full force. “This is not fair.”

  In self-defense, she grabbed hold of Logan’s squirt gun and blasted Nick in the chest. A wicked glint in his eyes, he scooped up a bucket full of water and dumped it on her head.

  The shock of icy water cascading onto her hair and flowing down her back momentarily paralyzed her. But she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if he got off scot-free. So she pretended outrage, standing in the middle of the pool and flapping her hands. Just when Nick thought the fight was over, she stepped out and gave him a full body hug, plastering her sopping wet self against him.

  Her intent was to make him wet. Make him pay as she splashed waves of water onto his fine Italian loafers, pressed her wet head solidly against his cheek and wrapped her arms around his premium polo.

  “Whoa there, what are you—” His body tensed in surprise and shock. His arm went protectively around her waist to prevent them from toppling. Their gazes locked and Maddie froze for she wasn’t sure how long. She found herself staring into eyes containing fascinating shades of chestnut and cocoa and lovely little golden flecks she’d never noticed before. Tiny little crinkles gathered in the outside corners, a maturing trait that made him a thousand times sexier than when he was younger.

  She was chilled and hot at the same time. Her heart knocked against her chest loud enough to block out the noises of the little boys’ laughter. She’d meant only to make him sufficiently wet to pay for his bad deeds. Except now it seemed as though she were the one paying.

  She looked away, and her gaze lit on his wrist. “Your Rolex is wet. Is it ruined?”

  He wiped it on his pants, which were damp. “Nah, it’s pretty indestructible.”

  Her brother cleared his throat. “Alex, Logan! Out now to dry off before your mother gets home!”

  The screen door to the house slammed.

  “What on earth is going on here?”

  Maddie looked up to see the most elegant woman south of the Mason-Dixon line looking like a Talbot’s ad tapping her red pumps, showing off her still-trim figure in red capri pants and a navy sleeveless blouse.

  “Gran!” Grandmother Amelia, she’d wanted to be called, but that had quickly gotten shortened to Grandmeel when they were kids since no one could say such a heinous mouthful.

  “Madison?” Grandmeel’s steely gaze took in her dripping wet hair, soggy clothes, and bare feet.

  It shouldn’t have hurt that her own grandmother didn’t move to hug her. “Oh. I—I’m sorry, Gran.” That awful word screwup echoed in her mind. She should have made a more proper entrance, and she’d acted like one of the little kids instead.

  Nick had crossed his arms and wore a dark frown. Either he was bristling at her undignified behavior or her grandmother’s iciness, she couldn’t tell. Or maybe he sensed he’d be the next to fall under her scrutiny.

  The boys flopped out of the pool like wet fish and bounded to their mother, who stood next to her grandmother, holding a towel for each of them.

  “Hey, Jenna.” Maddie waved, remembering to suction-extract her wet T-shirt from her skin before anyone commented. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Nick staring. Too late. Oh, well, her face was already red from Grandmeel’s disapproval.

  Fortunately, Jenna spoke. “Derrick, why are these boys naked as newborns? And I’m sure you failed to put sunblock on their nether regions.”

  “Daddy told us to be naked and proud,” Logan said.

  “Nekked and pwoud,” echoed his cohort in crime.

  Jenna rolled her eyes, but bit back a smile.

  Maddie had never seen her big brother, the two hundred twenty-pound Army Captain fresh from Fort Bragg, look sheepish. “I’m sorry, baby,” he told his wife. “I must’ve dozed off for a sec, and when I woke up, they’d taken off their suits and were streaking around the yard.”

  “Enough apologizing. Let’s get this mayhem under control.” Grandmeel waved her hands about like she was conducting a symphony. Maddie swallowed past an obstruction lodged in her throat. This was not the homecoming she’d imagined, with her mom and dad and sister and brother welcoming her lovingly into their arms. Nick would see the loving tenderness they all had for one another, agree to stop pursuing their company like a rabid dog, and mission would be accomplished. She wasn’t that naïve, but she’d at least hoped her family would appear sort of normal.

  Gran stepped carefully on the lawn, avoiding placing her shiny red shoes in any wet spots. Her perfectly made-up face turned as bright red as her lipstick as she came to a halt in front of them and turned to Maddie. “Why in God’s name would you bring a Holter here?”

  Nick bristled but cast a weary eye over Amelia’s outraged form. Maddie spoke quickly to diffuse the bomb about to blow.

  “Um, because we’re friends, Gran. Nick is here to…give us some ideas about the company. He specializes in business financial planning.”

  Business decimation more likely, but of course she couldn’t say that.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Kingston,” he said with a surprisingly relaxed grin. But Amelia Scarlett O’Hanlon Kingston was having none of it. She looked like she’d been bitten by a snake….and the venom was spreading.

  Her usually cool grandmother looked shaken. “You are the spitting image of your grandfather when he was your age.”

  Maddie feared she was going to reach out and touch Nick’s face. She studied every feature carefully, as if she didn’t trust her own senses. As if she were seeing a mirage.

  At last she turned to Maddie. “Madison, you’ve shown your usual poor judgment in bringing this traitor into our midst. Surely, he can stay in town at the bed and breakfast.”

  “Amelia, come cool off with some sweet tea.” Maddie’s mother ran out of the house with a tray containing a pitcher of tea with bobbing lemon slices and a huge plate of cookies. Maddie could bet the business they were warm, too. Mom baked when she was stressed, and Amelia had always been a continual burr in her sneaker.

  Her mom wore a frilly pink and green apron over jean shorts and flip-flops. She brushed an errant curl off her forehead as she stepped down onto the deck.

  A big black-and-white dog bounded alongside her.

  “Hughie!” Madison ran forward to embrace the dog she’d rescued her senior year in high school and soon found herself covered with licks and kisses. Hughie could always be counted on to provide the affection Grandmeel lacked.

  Amelia spoke to Maddie’s mother. “I thought you were at the hos
p—”

  “Well, I’m back now,” Rosalyn Kingston quickly but cheerily cut her off. “C’mon, everyone, let’s have some refreshments.”

  Maddie ran to take the tray from her mother, but Nick had already set it on the wrought-iron patio table. She hugged and kissed her mother and exchanged a look that said, “one disaster averted.”

  Too bad there were too many to count ahead.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve spiked her tea,” her mother whispered in the sweetest southern drawl ever. No one would suspect this gentle, unassuming woman doubled as a badass judge on the county’s district court.

  “Nicholas. It’s been way too long.” Despite him being wet, Maddie’s mother enveloped him in a warm hug Maddie hoped would erase her grandmother’s cold welcome. Even if Nick was a rat at heart, he’d fulfilled his side of the bargain and didn’t deserve to be treated inhospitably.

  Rosalyn held him at arm’s length, studying him like a mom checks for drips of ice cream on her toddler’s chin. “Let me have a look at you. My, you’ve grown up handsome. And Maddie tells me you’re quite successful. Your grandfather must be so proud.”

  “Mrs. K.” Nick positively beamed under her scrutiny. Another surprise. Maddie recalled her mother always had a soft spot for Nick, but this was the first time she saw the feeling was absolutely mutual.

  Amelia scowled at the show of affection and grudgingly took a drink.

  Maddie was grateful for her mother’s kindness and gave her a big squeeze to prove it. “Madison. My baby,” her mother crooned, and Maddie found herself the current object of her mother’s encompassing affection. “We are so excited to see you and so delighted Nick is here. In my opinion, it’s about time.”

  Maddie started to say “Mom, we’re just friends—” but the words died in the crush of her embrace. She marveled at her strong mother, who had handled Dad’s illness mostly on her own these past months.

  “It’s so wonderful to have you kids home this weekend. Too bad Liz couldn’t make it.”

  “At least she has a great excuse.” Her overachieving big sister was off eradicating polio in West Africa with Doctors Without Borders. Liz had signed up right after her divorce finalized six months ago, eager to leave the tiny town where she couldn’t help but run into her police chief ex at every turn.

  “How long are you here for, Nick?” Derrick came forward to shake Nick’s hand. Nick raked back his wet hair before he extended his own hand. Despite the fact that he was pretty much soaked from his head to the toes of his expensive soggy loafers, he seemed remarkably composed.

  “Just for the weekend.”

  “Well, we appreciate your trying to help Madison with this crazy scheme of hers.”

  Maddie turned to Derrick. “What crazy scheme?”

  “You know. Taking over the company without any business experience.” He turned to Nick. “I told her we should have let Al take the helm, but she’s so stubborn—”

  “Derrick, please.” Maddie held up a hand to halt the verbal diarrhea. Uncle Al was pushing seventy. He’d done everything possible to keep the company afloat. All he wanted to do now was enjoy his grandkids and fish every day. He deserved to, and the company deserved a fresh start.

  And by default, that happened to be with her at the helm.

  “Well, you haven’t exactly had a track record of success—”

  Maddie clenched her hands into fists. Knowing her brother, he was going to illustrate his point with Crayola-colored examples of her past incompetence. She would not stand here like she was thirteen and suffer through it.

  “I have a great job now, Derrick.”

  “Had is what I heard.”

  She took a sip of tea, wishing she had what Grandmeel was having. “I’ve made some difficult decisions, but I believe they’re good ones.”

  He snorted. “Yeah. Like the website design start-up that failed after you borrowed money from Mom and Dad. Or that deadbeat rodeo wrangler.”

  Oh, God, no. Okay, so the start-up had tanked, but she’d paid every penny back. But why did he have to bring up her failed engagement from a year and a half ago? Maddie’s face heated. Derrick was playing dirty, in front of Nick. Why now? Especially now, when she needed solidarity and support from her family.

  Nick’s brow raised in a question, but maybe also in judgment. Soon he’d know all about her past mishaps and mistakes, and he’d gloat too.

  Derrick took a swig of beer and sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re foolish to quit the best job you’ve ever had to come back home and try to run the business. You need to find someone more competent, or we’re just going to lose it all.”

  Maddie looked at her mother. She was biting the inside of her cheek, a sure sign that she was upset. Maddie needed to be mature and change the topic before the truth came out about her dad, but her tongue seemed stuck to the roof of her mouth. Why, oh why was she one of these people that thought of snappy comebacks and shutdowns two hours late?

  Before Maddie could un-velcro her tongue, Nick spoke. “Actually, I believe Maddie’s more than qualified to step in, and she’s got a good plan. Trouble is, even the best plan may not be enough at this point to save the business.”

  Whoa. Say what? Nick had just defended her. Shut down her bully brother. Wow. The enemy wasn’t so…enemous.

  Maddie’s mom gave Derrick a little shove. “Why don’t you go help Jenna with the boys?”

  Derrick frowned at Maddie but did as their mother said.

  “I think your grandmother is right,” Nick said. “I’m happy to get a room at the B and B.”

  Grandmeel gave an I-told-you-so smirk, but Maddie’s mom patted Nick on the back. “You’ll stay with us. We positively wouldn’t have it any other way. Now let’s sit and enjoy these cookies while they’re fresh out of the oven.”

  Maddie handed Nick a sweet tea and a cookie, which he took with a huge grin. Despite her resolve, it made her feel all melty inside—just like the chocolate chips—and helped erase some of her embarrassment at her family’s antics.

  As she sat on her parents’ deck, a voice in her head niggled. This is not real. Nick was not here to offer advice or to analyze where the business was turning south. He was here because she’d paid for him to be, with all her money and some of Cat’s. She could not allow herself to get lulled into thinking otherwise.

  Grandmeel with all her iciness was the only one with a real handle on this wacky situation. Yet Maddie’s heart rebelled, begging to get caught up in the fantasy.

  That was what had always gotten her into trouble in the past. Her stupid heart, so quick to trust and believe. Her family would shake their heads and think, There she goes again. Following her impulses instead of her sense.

  Maddie knew that heart could not be trusted. She looked over at her grandmother and tried to adopt her same strict posture. If she didn’t shove that same steel rod up her backside, she would ruin the one chance she had to save her family.

  The little boys greedily grabbed for cookies, and Jenna gave them each a juice box. Maddie noticed they now wore swim trunks as they padded across the deck in their bare feet to sit in the corner near a pile of action figures and toy cars. Hughie, smart dog that he was, eagerly followed the trail of cookie crumbs behind them.

  The tea tasted like home, the cookies were comforting in their warm deliciousness, and Maddie finally felt herself relaxing.

  Until Derrick spoke again. “So, are you two back together?” He always was as subtle as an eighteen-wheeler blasting around the curves of a mountainous West Virginia highway.

  “No, we are not.” Maddie decided to stomp this one down fast before it grew into a disaster. “Nick is here to see his grandfather.”

  “Well, I remember that thing you two had in high school.”

  Ah, yes, that thing. That combustible, explosive thing that flared and burst brighter and louder than fireworks over New York Harbor. And left her heart charred and shattered for years.

  Derrick stood, probably
just to intimidate further. “Just to be clear, Nick can sleep in the family room.”

  Who did Derrick think he was, anyway, her father? Suddenly the reason for his bad cop routine became more obvious. Maybe he was trying to step in for Dad. In his usual blunt scary way. It was half touching and half horrifying.

  “I’ll sleep anywhere,” Nick said, unfazed. “Couch, floor, anything’s fine.”

  Derrick slapped Nick on the back a little too hard. “Just not in my sister’s bed.”

  Maddie choked on her sweet tea. She used the coughing and sputtering as an excuse to head into the house for a real drink.

  Where the hell was the scotch? It had always been in the liquor cabinet in the family room, but her mom must have moved it out of reach of the little kids. She headed to the tiny pantry off the kitchen, where she strained on tiptoes to wrap her fingers around the bottle.

  “Want me to reach that for you?” a familiar masculine voice asked from the pantry doorway.

  Nick.

  He leaned casually against the painted doorframe, arms crossed, biceps in full view. Seeing him all strong and tall and handsome, relaxed and still half wet, fired up a hormone storm inside her that made her want to do something really crazy like wrap her body around his hard toned one and drag him down among the Diet Coke cans and the tin of dog biscuits without a second thought.

  Funny how your own family could make you want to run screaming into the arms of the enemy.

  “Only if you’ll join me.” She tried to sound cool and in control but she was anything but.

  “Oh, I’d love to join you.” He flashed a devilish grin that made her pulse jump and stepped up close behind her in the tight space to reach over her head. She vaguely registered the bag of flour at eye level because most of her focus was on the hard muscular body pressing her into the shelf.

  “Hurry up,” she said, mainly to distract herself. “I need it fast before my mom discovers I’m drinking in the closet.”