Maddie blinked away a tear. She wanted to trust. Really. But Kyle was different. He was her brother, her only living relative besides her worthless father. God was certainly big and powerful and could do whatever He wished with the situation. But deep in her soul, she feared He would drop the ball. That He would let her down just like everyone else had.
“I’ll ask you one last time before we end the service. Do you trust Him?”
Would she go to hell if she said no?
Reuben passed the butter to his mother and took the bowl of mashed potatoes from Livy. The movements represented a normal Sunday lunch with his family, except today, Maddie sat across from him, attracting his eyes more often than was appropriate. Livy sat beside him, her gaze drilling into the side of his head as if surveying for oil, and his conscience screamed at him, especially after that grueling sermon.
He trusted God with his life, sure. But how often had he worried about the restaurant expansion? About his relationship with Livy? About his mom and her new husband?
Not to mention the question that hung over his head about his dad.
The answer was easy. Give it all to God. The execution was the part that tripped him up.
His mother leaned toward him and patted his arm. “Reuben, any more news on the restaurants?”
“Not really. Still working out the details.” That things were stalled due to financing wasn’t something he was broadcasting yet.
“I’m praying those details work themselves out soon. You have the potential to go really big with this.” Gary spoke up from the other end of the table where he sat next to Allie and Stewart, Reuben’s brother-in-law and best friend. The children all sat at the “kids” table in the kitchen.
Who did the guy think he was? Like he knew about business and the potential of anything. All he did everyday was piddle around the house and mooch off Reuben’s father’s years of hard work. And then he sat there, at the head of the table, like he was replacing him.
No one could replace Matthew Callahan.
Reuben’s mom smiled at Gary from across the table. “That’s so sweet of you, dear.”
Reuben stabbed another piece of chicken with his fork. Did his mom have to be all mushy in public? Did she have no respect? She always called Dad “dear” and to hear it out of her lips for Gary was just gross. Next they’d probably start making out in the kitchen.
He’d give up on Sunday dinners if that ever happened.
Allie broke the silence when she turned toward their guest of honor. “So, Maddie, Reuben treating you okay at the Emporium? Not being too much of a grump?”
Maddie nodded. “He’s greatly improved, thank you.”
Improved? Had he been that bad? “Hey now. That implies I was less than perfect before, an accusation I resent.”
His mother wagged her fork at him. “Now, Reuben, no fibbing at the dinner table. We all know the real story of how you got your haircut.”
He narrowed his eyes at Maddie. Livy was the only one he’d confided the complete truth to, and he trusted her not to say anything. “The haircut story?”
“Don’t go blaming Maddie. Miss Agnes from the Cut ‘N’ Style told me the whole story. You should be ashamed of yourself, although,” she looked over at the poor girl with tomato-red cheeks, “I think you’re much better off working for Reuben over here than Judy the Grouch.”
“Mom!” She never said a mean word about another human being.
“Just stating a fact. Now, Maddie, I’ve been meaning to ask. Everything okay with the cottage? If you need anything, just holler.”
Maddie shook her head and started to speak, but Reuben interrupted her. “Actually, she needed to discuss that with you.” He ignored the telepathic message his assistant was sending him across the table with the sharp shake of her head and narrowed eyes. “She’s going to start looking for a different place tomorrow.”
His mother’s eyes darted back and forth between Reuben and Maddie. “Is something wrong?”
Maddie cast Reuben a look hot enough to melt provolone cheese. “Nothing’s wrong. The room is perfect. But other circumstances have come up that require me to have a place just a little bigger.”
Livy stood up and tossed her napkin on her plate. “I need to go. I’m sorry … I forgot, uh, something I had to do this afternoon.”
The table was silent as she pushed back her chair and raced from the room. Reuben rose and followed her through the living room and out the front door. He caught up with her next to her little Mazda.
“Livy, what’s wrong?”
She spun around, fire leaping from her eyes. “What’s wrong? Really, Reuben? You have the nerve to ask me that?”
Females. Why did they expect men to know exactly what they were thinking, especially when they made no sense whatsoever?
“I really don’t know, Livy. We were having a normal Sunday dinner and—”
She stomped her foot. “Normal? You’d call that normal? You couldn’t keep your eyes off her.”
Now she was talking crazy. “Off who?”
“Maddie! I’m not stupid, Reub. I have eyes. First you set her up with a place to live, now you’re helping her find something bigger? What’s really going on, Reuben?”
Heat twisted in his gut. “You have no idea what you’re saying. I don’t like Maddie, and I don’t cheat. And I don’t go around kissing other people’s fiancée’s either.”
The moment the words escaped his mouth he regretted them. He’d told himself it didn’t matter. It happened years ago. Livy had grown up since then. But his lips had a mind of their own.
Livy put a hand to her chest, her eyes bulging. “Excuse me?”
Now he was just plain mad. “I know about you and Stew.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who told you that? Since when do you listen to gossip, Reuben Callahan?”
“I wouldn’t call my sister, the wife of the guy you seduced, a gossip.”
She took a step closer to him. “You’re just trying to change the subject. This isn’t about me.”
“Maddie and I have nothing going on, Livy. She’s my assistant, and that’s it.”
“How can I believe you?”
He crossed his arms across his chest. “How can I believe you about Stewart? He was engaged to my sister, Liv.”
Her eye twitched. “I guess we have a problem then.”
“Yeah, I guess we do. Because I’m not marrying a woman who thinks I’m a cheater.”
Livy’s chin lifted an inch. “Are you breaking up with me? Just like that?”
A good question. Not one he could answer right now. “No, but I think we need to figure all this out before we announce something like an engagement.”
She nodded. “Agreed.” She turned to her car and opened up the driver’s door. Before she sat down, her eyes flickered to his. “Reuben? Do you still love me?”
The same question he’d been asking himself since picking out the ring. “Yes, I do love you, Liv.”
She stared at him another moment, then got in her car and sped away.
Reuben stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way back up the driveway. As he ascended the steps of his mother’s porch, the real question tugged on his mind.
He may love her, but was he still in love with her?
18
Thank you, God, for friends like Allie. And for places like the Yum-Yum shop on a sunny Saturday afternoon. And for ridiculously good chocolate ice cream.
Maddie took another bite of chocolate goodness and smiled at her new best friend. She tried to forget that said friend was sister of her boss and the guy her heart seemed to have a wee little crush on. That was one secret her new friend could never find out about, and one her brain had determined to put a stop to.
“I know I asked you this a few weeks ago, but there were too many observers for you to be honest. How do you really like working for Reuben?”
Revise that. One secret she prayed Allie would never find out about. She’d been at the restaura
nt for a month now, and her boss was one topic she determined not to dwell on. “I like it just fine. The man’s a little unorganized, but I’m working on that.”
Allie took another bite of her ice cream then turned to the kids at the next table over. “Cole, help your sister.” A glob of ice cream was ready to fall off Bethany’s spoon into her lap at any moment.
The ever-attentive mother turned back once disaster was averted. “So what about Livy?”
Just the name made Maddie want to scream. “Livy?”
Allie shrugged. “Just curious what you think about her.”
The descriptions that ran through Maddie’s head were the exact opposite of Christianlike words. None acceptable to speak aloud, ever, much less in the presence of children. Plus, she wasn’t sure of Allie’s relationship to the woman. Maybe they were friends too and this was a bait. Highly doubtful though. “She’s … interesting.”
Allie’s face turned into a smirk. “I can tell you skipped church last week, otherwise you wouldn’t let a fib roll off your tongue like that.”
Maddie’s opinion of her new friend inched up a few notches. “Your kids are in hearing distance. You don’t want me to voice my true feelings, believe me.”
She winked at her. “Now, Maddie. We do need to love people, even our enemies.”
“I wouldn’t say she’s an enemy. I just don’t think she cares for me that much.”
Allie lifted another spoonful of vanilla ice cream and licked it from her spoon. She pointed the utensil at Maddie. “You know why she doesn’t like you, right?”
“I guess she was mad that Reuben didn’t consult her about hiring me. And I don’t blame her really. She is the manager and his girlfriend.”
The spoon wagged in her face. “No. The real reason is that she’s intimidated by you.”
In Maddie’s dreams. “Why? I have nothing compared to her. Gorgeous, curvy, successful blonde versus short, flat, broke brunette. Ding, ding, we have a winner.”
“You, my friend, suffer from a bad self-esteem. You’re beautiful and don’t even know it. Besides, your looks don’t matter to her. You have the one thing that Livy always wanted and never really had, and she can’t stand it.”
“Fine, I’ll bite. What is this wonderful thing I possess that she’s envious of?”
Allie eyed the kids’ table and leaned forward, whispering in a conspiratorial voice. “Reuben’s attention.”
Maddie coughed, causing the ice cream she’d stuffed into her mouth to spray all over the table. Allie tossed her a napkin as she dodged the ice cream pellets.
When she’d wiped her mouth and the table, Maddie shoved her bowl aside. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I’m his sister, Maddie. I know things. Reuben’s business is his life, and you’re working with him all day, five days a week. Before if he needed something, he’d go to Livy. Now, he has you.”
Just great. No wonder Livy had been giving her a cold shoulder. If she got one more icy stare, she might have to invest in a parka even though it was the last week of June. “I’m his assistant. I’d think Livy would be happy to have more time on her hands.”
“You don’t know her at all, do you? The woman’s green with envy.”
Maddie pulled her bowl back and twirled her spoon in the ice cream. “Why doesn’t Reuben do something then? They hardly ever go out, not that there’s time, I guess. I mean, I’m no relationship expert, but there isn’t a lot of depth there, especially if she’s jealous over someone like me.”
Allie took a lick from her spoon and shrugged. “Livy’s just a habit for him. They’ve known each other forever and I think they just decided, why not get married? Or should I say, Reuben decided. Livy’s been head over heels for years.”
Maddie stopped her swirling. “Are you saying they’re engaged?”
Allie widened her eyes. “Shhhh. You didn’t hear that from me, okay? They haven’t announced it. I think Reub’s waiting till the Fourth of July to make it public.”
Maddie sat back and took a bite of chocolate yumminess.
At least she could understand Livy’s motivation for the cool shoulder a little better now. Maddie couldn’t imagine loving a man and being with him for that long, knowing that his heart wasn’t in it. How terrible. But why hadn’t Livy given up years ago? And why was she still marrying him?
“Love.”
Her head popped up. “What?”
Allie gave her a quizzical look. “You asked why Livy was still marrying him, and I was saying it was because she loves him. Unrequited love causes a woman to do strange things.”
Maddie bit her tongue. She needed to control it better. But it all made sense now. “Like be really mean to someone she thinks is a threat?”
“Exactly.”
“But I’m not a threat, Allie. I have no desire to steal any man’s attention, much less Reuben’s.” She set her forehead in her palms. “What am I supposed to do now? I feel like a flimsy piece of turkey sandwiched between stale bread.”
Allie ran a hand through her long, brown hair. The Callahan family members were all blessed with naturally wavy hair, unlike Maddie’s paper-thin mane. Another curse from her father.
“Let me get this straight. You think my brother is like stale bread?”
So the analogy wasn’t perfect. “Your brother isn’t quite as stale as Livy, but he can be a grump. And demanding. And rude.”
Allie whistled. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re falling for him too, aren’t you?”
When sandwiches fly. “I’m not falling for any man. I just want to do my job, and that’s it.”
She stuffed a heaping spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and swallowed it whole. An instant tightening gripped her skull.
God, if you get a chance, please tell Eve that eating off the tree of knowledge was so not a good idea. I mean, the whole childbirth pain is bad enough from what I hear, but now I have to suffer friends who can read minds, too. So not fair.
19
God, why did you make Mondays?
Maddie jumped out of her Tracker and popped the hood. Smoke billowed out from underneath, and she turned her head to escape the puffy gray air. Several choice words came to mind. Her mouth ached to let them rip, something she’d tried very hard in the last six months not to do.
You’re punishing me for that whole trust thing, aren’t you? It had to be it. God was enacting revenge because of her lack of trust confession. She deserved it, too. Especially after skipping church yesterday.
Maddie balled up her fists and stomped her foot. What she wouldn’t give for a nice punching bag right about now. She returned to the driver’s side and fished her cell phone out of her purse. A flip of the phone told her that her day was not getting better. The battery was dead.
She threw the worthless device back in the bottomless pit of a purse and slammed her fist into the side of the door in frustration. Her knuckles caught the metal door, the pain of the impact reverberating through her arm. She cradled her hand against her, squeezing her eyes shut. A trickle of hot tears escaped the dam and slid down her cheek.
A honk caught her attention, and she wiped the tears before glancing back to see Reuben’s stepdad headed her way. The guy was massive, standing well over six feet. He reminded her of a football player but with gray hair and the beginning of a potbelly. He shouldn’t scare her. He was as nice as they came. But already her skin became clammy and her throat tightened. She’d been fine when Betty was with them … but alone?
His fingers hooked through his belt loops as he walked toward her. “You’ve got some car trouble?”
No. Trackers just like to spew smoke on occasion. “Yes, it looks like it.” She ran her fingers through her hair. Such a crummy start to a beautiful day. Normally she’d be basking in the sunshine and admiring the cloudless blue sky, but all she could focus on were the gray clouds pouring from her vehicle, the red swelling of her knuckles, and
the gigantic man standing next to her.
Maddie stepped aside as Gary leaned under the hood and wiggled a few things and made a few grunts. After a minute, he wiped his hands on his jeans and turned back to her. “Looks like you got a broken radiator hose. You on your way to the Emporium?”
She nodded, then looked at her watch. Ten minutes late already. Reuben was going to have a cow.
“You just go hop into my truck and I’ll give you a lift. Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll have it taken to the shop and get this fixed up for you in no time.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t impose on you like that.” Please, God, don’t make me ride with another scary man.
He put a large hand on her head and ruffled her hair as if she were ten. “Not an imposition at all. I’m retired and believe me, Betty will be happy to have me out of her hair for a while today.”
The fatherish gesture caught her off guard and lessened her fear a tad, but she set her shoulders back and nodded, determined to not let it affect her. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
He thumped her on the back as they walked to his oversized black Ford truck, and Maddie blinked back tears as she climbed in. Was this how having a dad who actually gave a hoot about her felt like? One who didn’t take immense glee in backhanding her every time he got angry?
Maddie restrained herself from tipping her head to one side and beating her ear to make sure it was working properly. Surely she misunderstood. Maybe the car drama earlier had messed with her ability to comprehend. “You broke up?”
Reuben shook his head and continued to type on the computer keyboard, hunt and peck style. “That’s not what I said. We’re just taking a breather.”
Thus far in their very short working relationship, she’d attempted to stay platonic with her boss, besides the whole school-girl crush thing. Sure, when he’d been hurt, she’d taken him to the doctor, arranged for his transportation and follow-up. But that’s what assistants did, right? She still knew zero details regarding his relationship with the blonde bimbo—er—wonderful restaurant manager.
Sandwich, With a Side of Romance Page 11