No Fox to Give
Page 11
Instead of a chat over lunch with his girl about his uncertain future, he ended up sharing the rabbit stew with Ellie and Emma before storing the leftovers in the freezer and packing a bag for the weekend. If he dreaded anything, it was the three-hour ride to Dallas, an endeavor best undertaken after rush hour, when the interstate was dark but quiet and most drivers were off the road.
When he reached his brother’s place at a quarter past ten, Pete cocked a brow.
“Weren’t you supposed to be here before dinner? The hell happened to you?”
“Bullshit happened.”
“The kind of bullshit that requires a beer?”
“Oh yeah.”
Because Dean had yet to meet anyone who gave better advice than his brother—with the exception of Ellie, despite how much of a shock that had been—they sat down in his brother’s mancave and cracked open a pair of cold beers.
They drank and they talked, the subjects ranging from Swan Lake to distrustful women.
After all, a woman with trust issues was a woman who had been hurt before. Dean didn’t know who had fucked with Maddie, but he didn’t care about her past. What mattered now was that he treated her the way a woman deserved.
“You love her, right?”
“I do.”
Pete nodded his approval. “Guess this means you’ll be staying down in Swan Lake for a while?”
For a while? Shit, he’d put down roots there if it was the only way to see Maddie’s smiling face every day. “I think I’m there for good. If she’ll have me. The place I’m renting may not be much, but it isn’t about the place where you live. It’s what you do to make it home.”
That night, as he lay in his brother’s guestroom, the phone chimed with an incoming text from the woman he wanted to hear from most. Her single-word greeting meant she cared.
Reading between the lines of the messages that followed told him she was expecting him to cut and run.
Maddie: Good luck in Dallas. We’ll talk when you’re back, if that’s okay.
Dean: I’d like that. I have some shit to take care of before I can return to Swan Lake. When I come back, we can talk about whatever you want.
* * *
Madeleine spent much of the weekend debating if she should be the first to call, and she wasted more time than she cared to admit composing and deleting text messages.
Every apology sounded stupider than the last.
I’m sorry I doubted you and called you a liar to your face.
I miss you and wish you were here.
I compared you to every cheating bastard I’ve ever dated.
Sleeping without you next to me is impossible now.
It wasn’t impossible, but she thought he’d appreciate the exaggeration. Then she deleted it like all the other messages.
When his motorcycle failed to appear by Tuesday, she had her doubts and wondered if she’d really chased him away. That afternoon, she finally poured her heart into a single message.
Maddie: I didn’t want to do this in text with you because you deserve better than that. I wanted to wait until you were home again with me, but losing my father showed me you don’t always have until later to apologize. I’m sorry, Dean. I jumped to conclusions and was an ass, but I don’t repeat my mistakes. Doubting you was one I won’t make again.
Before she could change her mind, she hit the send button. Then she waited.
Two hours later, she was convinced she’d waited too long.
“He’s handling some matters in Dallas and probably ridiculously busy,” Ellie told her. “Give him a chance to see the damn message.”
“He texts you?”
“Of course.”
“Oh.”
“And you could do the same, you know. If you weren’t so proud.”
“I feel like an idiot. He hasn’t said a word to me since the night he left.”
“As you should, girl. I mean, I told you to give him a chance to explain.”
“You did.” Maddie rubbed her face with the heel of her palm to avoid smudging clay on her cheek. Lately, she’d had no interest in throwing pottery from the wheel. Instead, she’d taken up sculpting figures again, an art she hadn’t practiced in years. The work in front of her was supposed to be a wolf, but it had morphed at some point into a fox in mid-prance. Then she’d added a swan, graceful of form with wings half-spread, deciding the two were meant to be together as part of the same piece.
“Is this for him?”
“Maybe.” Maddie skated her teeth over her lower lip. “Or maybe it’s just for me.”
A rumble passed by the house. Maddie sprang from her stool and dashed into the living room to peer out the window, just in time to watch Dean dismount from his bike. He’d parked it in her drive.
She threw open the door and stepped onto the porch, bare feet against cool wood. “You’re back!”
“Yeah, of course. Told you I would be.” His long steps made short work of the distance between the drive and her steps.
“But you’re here.”
“Yup. You’re the first face I wanna see in Swan Lake.”
Her expression must have summed up every thought in her mind.
“Did you really think I was going to just walk away from you after one argument? Baby. Come on.” He gave her a look, but all she could do was laugh and throw herself from the top of the porch and into his arms. He caught her and swung her around, making her feel weightless and lighter than air. She laughed against his cheek and just soaked in the heat on his jacket from the long ride.
“Why didn’t you answer my text messages?”
“Answer text messages on a bike?”
Maddie laughed and kissed his face again, breathing in leather, the smoky scent of the road, and woodsy cologne. All of those things together had become her favorite smell. “Don’t do that. I prefer you like this, and alive. God, I thought I ran you off.”
“Like I said, it’ll take more than one argument to chase me away. I love this place, Mads. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, Swan Lake became home. As long as you’re here, there’s nowhere else I want to be.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later
A scarlet banner stretched above the entrance of Art in Crisis, announcing the grand opening event in bold white letters. Maddie had barely slept more than two hours the previous night, fretting about the dozens of things that could go wrong.
Now Dean wanted her to pose in front of the shop. He was right, of course. The new Instagram account needed pictures.
“You got to pose like you mean it, woman!” he coaxed from where he stood in an empty parking spot. “Smile bigger. Do it for the ’Gram!”
Widening her grin didn’t take any effort at all when the cars began to arrive. A Buick pulled into one empty spot, then a beat-up Ford Ranger slid into another. She recognized most of the people leaving their cars, and it warmed her heart to see them on her big day.
“There’s the smile I knew you could give me.”
Dean took about a dozen photographs. She’d taught him to always take several, allowing her to select the one she liked the most. After he passed the phone back to her, she scrolled through them. Most were acceptable for posting on her social media accounts.
Inside, the place was bustling with people eager to learn about affordable art projects and evening entertainment. Ellie had baked an enormous sheet cake, and the marvel of buttercream icing was waiting on a long table for everyone to partake. Free cake and food were a great way to get people to a new business.
Tonight, she was going to lead a painting course at a discounted price, for the sheer fun of getting as many people involved as possible.
“Hey, what if I wanna glaze a pot instead?” Dean asked. “Can I do that?”
“I mean, you can if you want. You gonna pay me?”
“Of course. Boyfriends don’t get free goodies.”
Dean had been living with her for the past two months, fixing up her place in his spare
time, when he wasn’t hiring out his services to the people of Swan Lake. He’d become everyone’s favorite handyman, and now he was going by his real name again. The case had gone to trial without a hitch, and Dean, along with a dozen other witnesses, guaranteed Daniel Carlisle would never walk on Texas soil as a free man again.
Life was good.
Dean approached her with a vase. It was a slim, elegant piece with a narrow neck. “What do you think of this one?”
“A little delicate, but it’ll be nice for flowers.”
When the pot exchanged hands, something clinked inside it. Bewildered, she turned it upside down and tipped the contents into her hand. A cool piece of metal slid into her palm.
Metal with a diamond.
Metal with a big diamond.
For a moment, she stood there staring at it, a startling combination of disbelief and joy warring against one another.
“Is this—?”
She didn’t get the chance to finish, as Dean was already lowering to one knee in front of her. In front of every potential customer inside the shop enjoying slices of Ellie’s homemade cake and punch.
“Baby, these past months in Crisis with you is all I need to know I never want to go anywhere else.”
Ellie beamed at her. She and Emma were each holding one end of a banner that said “Will You Marry Me?” with a big golden ring painted around the question mark.
Her friend mouthed, “You better say yes.”
As if there were any other answer to give.
“Yes!”
The ring was so strange and unusual in her palm, absolutely beautiful. Dean slid it onto her finger. Before he could rise, she dropped down to her knees, threaded her fingers through his ginger hair, and kissed him hard.
Six months ago, a stranger had blown into their town. Despite her every attempt to ignore him, he’d burrowed a little place into her heart. And now, she couldn’t imagine ever being without him.
* * *
For another story in the fictional community of Swan Lake, go check out Ellie and Griffin’s tale.
Check out my newsletter and keep up to date at http://www.dominotaylor.com/newsletter
Other Books by Vivienne
For similar stories set in a small town co-authored by Domino as Vivienne Savage, check out these hot military shifters.
The Right to Bear Arms (Book #1)
Let Us Prey (Book #2)
The Purr-fect Soldier (Book #3)
Old Dog New Tricks (Book #4)
Texas Pride (Book #5)
A Man of Many Talons
If you loved the hell out of this and want to read another romance with fantasy elements, check my series, Daughter of Fortune.
For fantasy romance with mermaids and the like, read Kingdom in the Sea.
Check out my newsletter and keep up to date at http://www.dominotaylor.com/newsletter
About the Author
Domino Taylor is one-half of the pen name Vivienne Savage. This is her debut as a solo author and her first complete, unassisted work. A video gamer by nature, she considers herself a horror movie aficionado and spends her evenings reading historical romance. She also enjoys the outdoors, jogging with her dog, riding horses, and going to renaissance fairs. Domino is a former correctional officer, registered nurse, and the mother of a brilliant son and daughter.
For more information
www.dominotaylor.com
author@dominotaylor.com