by Gerri Hill
This time, when her mother called back, Madison ignored it as she hurried out to her car. Despite her brave words to Stephen last night, she wasn’t really prepared to face her parents. Not yet. Perhaps having a pep talk with Shannon and Alice might give her the strength—and confidence—to talk to them later. But not at the mansion. If they wanted to confront her, they’d have to do it on her terms.
The late spring day was bordering on warm and she lowered her window, letting the breeze lift her hair, blowing it around her face. It felt good. She felt good. There was a tiny sense of freedom in the action, and she smiled, looking forward to lunch.
She’d been surprised by Shannon’s earlier call and invitation to join them. She’d assumed, after their last meeting, that she would have to be the one to reach out to Shannon. While she enjoyed Jarod’s company and certainly Alice’s, it was indeed Shannon she was looking forward to seeing. As she’d told her the other night, she needed a friend. And after what had happened with Stephen last night, she wanted to share that with her.
Jarod opened the screen door to her knock. The house was cool and airy with the windows opened as well.
“Good to see you again, Madison,” he said. “I don’t know if Shannon warned you, but she’s cooking lunch,” he said with a laugh. “We may have to make a run for a burger later.”
“As long as it’s not tofu,” she whispered with a wink.
“Madison!” Alice wrapped her up in a tight hug, which Madison returned.
“Hi, Alice, you’re looking well.”
“My kids are here taking care of me, how could I not?” She drew her inside, then led her out to the patio. “Jarod, bring us some tea, please.”
Madison looked over her shoulder, hoping to spot Shannon, but all she heard was intermittent whistling coming from the kitchen.
“Who knows what she’s planning,” Alice said. “Although she did make a very tasty black bean and vegetable soup last night.”
The small patio was covered and they pulled their chairs closer to the house and out of the sun. Madison relaxed with a contented sigh as her gaze traveled across the freshly mowed lawn, landing on the flower garden—Alice’s pride and joy.
“It’s so nice out here,” she said. “I want something like this.”
Alice leaned closer. “Have you said anything to Stephen?”
“Yes. Last night.”
“How did he take it?”
“As expected. More concerned with how it affects him, not me.”
Alice nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. Change is difficult.” She smiled and added, “Especially for men.”
“For me too,” Madison said, but she didn’t elaborate. For as close as she and Alice had become, this wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with her. There was only so much she would understand. Alice smiled as if sensing her hesitation and aptly changed the subject.
“Shannon showed me the specs on their new store. Wanted my opinion,” Alice said. “It’s so large, I had a hard time picturing it all.”
“Are they ready to start?”
“We are,” Jarod said as he brought over two glasses of iced tea. “There’re a couple of things Shannon’s not sure about. I think she wanted to run it by you.”
“Me?”
“Another opinion,” he clarified. He glanced over his shoulder, then back at them. “Lunch seems safe,” he said quietly. “Mexican food. Looks like burritos. They’re in the oven now.”
Madison laughed. “So no need for a burger run?”
“A burger run?” Shannon asked from the doorway. “What, are you guys conspiring?”
Madison met her gaze, returning her easy smile. “Backup plan,” she said.
Shannon slid her gaze to her brother with raised eyebrows. “Still scared of my cooking?”
Jarod raised his hands. “What makes you think that was my idea?”
“Because it wouldn’t cross Mom’s mind to eat anything other than what I offered and Madison is too polite to suggest it.” She slapped his shoulder good naturedly. “You’re going to love it,” she said with a smile. Her gaze again found Madison’s. “After lunch, if you can spare a few minutes, I want to show you something,” she said.
Madison nodded. “Of course.” She glanced at Alice, then back to Shannon. “I kinda wanted to speak with you about something too.”
“Okay, sure.” She motioned to the door. “Let’s eat.”
The three of them sat around the small kitchen table as Shannon served them. Each plate held a large flour burrito, cut in half, with a generous portion of black beans on the side.
“Potato and spinach burrito,” Shannon said. “Spicy,” she warned. She held up a bowl. “Pico de gallo,” she said. “I made it fresh this morning.”
“I’ll have some,” Jarod said.
“Me too,” Madison said.
“I’ll pass,” Alice said with a smile. “I can smell the jalapenos from here.”
The burrito was crispy, and Madison followed suit, picking it up with her hands as Shannon had done. Firm and crunchy on the outside, the inside was filled with a creamy—spicy—potato mixture. She had to contain a moan as her taste buds exploded.
“This is wonderful,” she murmured.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, sis. Good.”
Shannon grinned. “Glad you like it.”
Conversation was sparse as they all enjoyed their lunch. Jarod told them of his plans to move his family to Brook Hill as soon as school was out, and Alice beamed at the news. Madison was surprised when Shannon hinted she might also stay in Brook Hill for a while. She knew from Alice that Shannon had planned to stay only until the store was up and running.
Madison offered to help clean up the kitchen, but Jarod and Alice waved her away. Instead, she followed Shannon into her small bedroom-office. It was as cluttered as it had been the last time she’d been there.
“Sorry,” Shannon apologized. “I’m out of space.” She looked around, then cleared some folded laundry from the bed. “Here,” she said. “Sit. I want to show you something.”
Madison did as instructed, thinking it was only slightly odd that she was sitting on Shannon’s bed. Shannon brought her sleek, black notebook over and sat down beside her.
“I need another opinion,” Shannon said.
“Okay. But you do know I don’t go grocery shopping, right?”
Shannon flicked her gaze at her and smirked. “Yes, I’m sure the world would come to an end if a Lansford set foot inside a grocery store.”
Madison laughed, knowing Shannon was teasing. She didn’t take offense. “I suppose I will have to learn, though,” she said instead. “Once I move, I’ll be on my own.”
Shannon lowered her voice. “You talked to him?”
“Yes. Last night.”
“So…are you okay?”
“Let’s just say I haven’t dealt with my parents yet. But with Stephen, yes, I’m okay.”
“So he wasn’t shocked?”
“Yes, he was quite shocked,” she admitted. “Not at the circumstances. Our marriage was doomed from the beginning. No, he was shocked that I would verbally bring it to light.” She met Shannon’s steady gaze. “I told him how miserable I was and that I didn’t love him. And he didn’t care, Shannon. All he cared about was how his reputation would suffer. You see, he’s running for a US Senate seat.”
At that, Shannon nearly snorted. “Seriously?” She shook her head. “Let me guess, your parents are behind that?”
“Yes.”
Shannon stood up then and closed the door to her bedroom. Madison waited, knowing Shannon was trying to find a diplomatic way to say what she was really thinking. Madison decided to help her out.
“You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”
“Then tell them all to go fuck themselves,” she said. “At what point is it about you? Why does everything have to be about them?”
Not surprised by Shannon’s words, Madison was about to give her standard answer, but she didn�
�t. Instead, she stood too, feeling somewhat empowered by Shannon’s protection of her.
“It’s not about them any longer. I’m tired, Shannon. I’m tired of living that life. There are so many wasted years. I can’t let another one go by.” She squared her shoulders and smiled, meeting Shannon’s eyes across the small space. “I told Stephen I was moving out of the house. The trouble is, I don’t really know how to go about it,” she admitted.
“What do you mean?”
At this, Madison was embarrassed. “I’ve always had everything done for me. How does one purchase a house?”
Shannon’s smile turned into a laugh. “You mean, how do normal people do it?”
Madison smiled too. “Yes. Tell me.”
“Well, you find an area of town you want to live in, you drive around looking for houses that are for sale. Or you check out the local real estate section of the paper. Or you call a Realtor and tell them what you’re looking for.” Shannon sat down on the bed again and motioned for Madison to resume her seat as well. “There’s that new area going up, not far from the store. Really nice houses. The builders out there are leaving the mature trees and building around them.”
“Isn’t that Lost Creek?”
“Yeah. They call it The Woods at Lost Creek. I’ve driven through there. It’s nice.” Shannon turned on her notebook. “What are you looking for? I mean, is this something temporary before you get another huge-ass three-story house that you won’t give me a tour of?”
Madison laughed at Shannon’s description. “No. Not temporary. But I want something that feels like a home and not…not some—”
“Gross display of wealth? So what? Three bedrooms? Four?”
“Why in the world would I need four bedrooms?”
Shannon shook her head. “Tell you what, how about tomorrow we take a drive through Lost Creek? You can pick some out that you like, and we’ll call Realtors and set up appointments to look at them.”
“I appreciate that, Shannon, but I’m sure you have things you need to be doing,” she said, pointing at the notebook.
“Once I pass the specs over to Jarod, then he’s in charge of the contractors and the bidding. I don’t come into play again until it’s time to stock inventory and hire employees.” She shrugged. “So I’ve got time.”
Madison nodded and gave her a quick smile. “Okay, deal. So show me what you wanted me to look at.”
Shannon’s eyes sparkled as she pulled up the floor plan, and Madison could tell how enthused she was about the project.
“I’m probably overthinking this,” Shannon said, “but I want it to be perfect.”
“You’re not changing your mind on the food court, are you?”
“No, no. I love that. Plus it’ll give me a chance to cook. I doubt there are very many vegan or vegetarian chefs in Brook Hill.” She handed the notebook to Madison. “Here,” she said, pointing to the interior of the store. “I’ve got two possibilities. This one, where the aisles are pretty standard, symmetrical.”
Madison nodded, trying to get a feel for the layout. Shannon reached across her and tapped the screen, then slid across another floor plan.
“This one,” she said, “I’ve tweaked a little on each end.”
“I like it. It breaks it up,” she said. “But with the aisles slanted, you’ve created an open space here,” she pointed, “and here.”
“Yeah. So that could be where we put displays or racks with specialty items. Our bakery is going to be really small, but we could also put some bread bins in that space.”
“I like it. If you’re asking me to choose, I pick this one,” she said.
Shannon nodded. “Yeah. Me too. It’s different than what we’ve done before, but we shouldn’t be afraid to change things up.” She closed up the notebook and smiled, meeting Madison’s eyes. “As they say, change is good.”
As their gaze held, Madison felt that old, familiar tug. She realized how close they were sitting and wondered if she should move. Shannon made the decision for her as she stood, putting some distance between them.
“I should get going,” Madison said. “No doubt my mother is frantically looking for me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“She called right before I came over here. She and my father demanded my presence for lunch.”
Shannon raised her eyebrows with a grin. “Seeing as how you’re over here, don’t tell me you denied their request?”
“I did. Then I promptly turned my phone off,” she said. “But I suppose I need to face them.”
Shannon’s expression turned serious. “If you need some support, I’ll—”
“I have to face them on my own. But thanks,” she said.
“What about Ashton?”
“I called him the other night. Ashton is…my rock,” she said. “Much as you’ve always been.” Madison was surprised by the slight blush on Shannon’s face.
“Not always. I haven’t exactly been here for you in a while now,” Shannon said.
Madison nodded. “Do you know when I needed you the most?” she asked, her voice quiet in the closed room.
“Your wedding,” Shannon nearly whispered.
Madison nodded again. “I was…I was a mess. I honestly think that if you’d shown up then, I would have run away with you.”
She watched as Shannon visibly swallowed before taking a deep breath. She tried to smile, but it was forced, Madison knew.
“Now you tell me,” Shannon lightly.
“I’m sorry.”
Shannon shook her head. “What’s done is done,” she said. “That was so many years ago, there’s no sense in going back now, Madison.” She moved around to her desk, separating them even further. “We’re past all that anyway, right?”
Madison nodded, feeling a sharp pain in her chest. Was she past it? Shannon apparently was. She didn’t blame her. There was only so much pain a person could take before severing whatever ties—emotional or otherwise—that remained.
“I should go,” she said again, turning to the door. She glanced back over her shoulder, finding Shannon still watching her. “Thanks for lunch.”
Shannon raised her head in acknowledgment. “Don’t forget our house-hunting date tomorrow.”
“Call me when you’re free.”
Madison closed the door behind her. She wanted to slip out of the house, but she knew it would be terribly rude. So she turned and headed back to the kitchen, intending a quick goodbye to Jarod and Alice.
* * *
Shannon stared at the closed door, wondering why she’d offered to help Madison. She’d known when she’d come back to Brook Hill that their paths would cross. She knew that Madison and her mother had become close. But still, her plan was to keep her distance. That plan had started crumbling the first week. And now, the more they saw each other and the more they talked, their past relationship was being pushed to the forefront. Did they want to examine it? Dissect it? Talk about it?
They’d never truly talked about it. Beat around the bush, sure. A few mentioned tidbits here and there. But never a real, honest talk. Not when they were kids, not when they were teens and certainly never as adults. The most they’d ever said about it was the other night at dinner. Even then, they’d only scratched the surface.
Dare they revisit the past by hashing it all out? What good would it do? The pain—for both of them—would be brought to the surface, to be relived again. What purpose would that serve?
No, best they kept to this superficial friendship they’d started, keeping things light and easy, never delving below the surface. Because if they did, if she allowed a real friendship to build with Madison, then the emotional attachment they once had—the one she’d tried so hard to kill—would grow, pulling them together once again. Even now, she could feel it. That need to protect Madison, that need to just be near her, to share space with her and breathe the same air, to hear her voice, to look into her eyes, all things she’d sworn she’d put behind her. She’d buried them but apparen
tly not deep enough.
She took a quick breath, then let it out, trying to expel Madison from her thoughts. With a slight shrug of her shoulders, she sat down at her desk and pulled up the schematics of the store’s floor plan. She studied the lines again, unable to resist the urge to tinker with it some more.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Madison finally dared to turn her phone on and check messages, she cringed as she listened to her mother’s voice. No less than four messages from her, each one more threatening than the one before. The fifth message was from her father. Short and to the point. They were on their way over.
So when Madison pulled into her driveway she was not surprised to find her father’s black Mercedes already there, waiting for her like an ominous cloud. She pulled around it, taking the drive to the back and pushing the remote for the garage. They would already be inside. Thankfully, Stephen’s car was gone. She wasn’t sure she was up to facing all three of them at once.
She took a deep breath, then paused before opening the door. Shannon’s words echoed in her mind and she almost—almost—managed a smile.
“Tell them all to go fuck themselves.”
She followed the sounds of voices coming from Stephen’s office. Mostly her mother’s voice. She was in rare form today. Madison stood in the doorway, staring at her mother’s back as she continued her tirade. Apparently a divorce would derail everything they’d worked for. Her father sat at Stephen’s desk, his hands cradling a tumbler, most likely filled with scotch, and nodding at the appropriate times. For the first time she realized how much experience he must have at this. As if sensing her presence, her mother spun around, her piercing gaze rendering Madison incapable of moving.
“Where have you been?” she demanded.
“I told you, I had a lunch date,” she said, her voice sounding weak to her own ears.
“And I told you, we wanted to talk to you.”
At this, Madison moved into the room. “I assume Stephen called you,” she said.
“He most certainly did. Whatever it is you’ve got in your mind about divorce,” her mother said, waving her hands dramatically, “is simply out of the question. I will not—”