by Gerri Hill
Again, the look that passed between them belied any notion that their past was still firmly in the past.
“I’d do anything for you, Madison. You know that.”
“Why is that? I’ve hurt you so badly. Why would you still do anything for me?”
Shannon looked back at the road, thankful the Realtor had stopped. She pulled behind her on the street, not bothering to look at the house she’d guided them to. Taking a deep breath, she turned and met Madison’s gaze. “I think you know the answer, don’t you?”
Madison stared into her eyes, nodding slowly. “Yes.”
Shannon nodded too. “Come on. Let’s see if you like this one.”
The Realtor was heading to the front door, but Madison stopped her.
“I’d like to go in through the garage,” she said.
“Oh. But—”
“The owner of the home would enter through the garage,” Madison said. “I’d like to start there.”
“Very well. I’ll meet you back there. I don’t have a remote for the garage doors so I’ll need to go in from the front.”
Shannon bumped her shoulder. “You’re learning.”
“I like the stonework on this one too. Are they all three-car garages?” Madison asked.
“I’d assume out here they all are,” she said as the door opened.
The Realtor was waiting with a beaming smile as she held open the back door. “This way, ladies.”
It was an extra-wide hallway, Shannon noted as she followed Madison into the house.
“The utility room is here,” the Realtor said, opening a door on the left. “Not as large as the other house, but enough to include built-in cabinets and a folding table. This space here is for an extra refrigerator or freezer,” she explained.
Madison looked at Shannon with raised eyebrows.
“Beer fridge,” she murmured with a grin.
“The spare bedrooms are both on this side of the house,” the Realtor continued. “There is a half-bath here,” she said, quickly opening a door. “The mini-master I was telling you about is here. It’s larger than a standard spare bedroom and has a direct door opening into a very large spare bath. Of course, there’s a direct opening from the hallway as well so that guests in your third bedroom have access to the bath.”
Shannon waited in the hallway as the Realtor took Madison in for a quick tour of the mini-master and bath. She opened up another door, finding a small spare bedroom that appeared standard size.
“Oh yes, and that’s the other bedroom.”
Shannon stepped out of the way as Madison peeked inside.
“Back this way,” she said, leading them back down the hallway before turning into another hallway to the right, “is the kitchen and living areas. The appliances are already installed but can be changed if you don’t like stainless steel.”
“Oh, wow,” Madison said. “I love it.”
The kitchen was large and an island separated it from a sitting area. Beyond the sitting area was a wall of windows looking out on the patio and pool.
“This is your informal sitting room,” the Realtor explained. “French doors going out to the main patio and also a side door here, to a smaller covered patio. And the pool, of course.”
Madison turned, meeting her eyes, and Shannon could sense her excitement. “I love it,” Madison whispered to her as they followed the Realtor deeper into the house.
“The great room,” she said. “Your formal sitting area. Gas fireplace. Dining room is back here. And there is a small office,” she said, opening a door immediately off of the entryway.
“The master suite?” Shannon asked.
“Yes, separated from the rest of the house,” she said, taking them down a short hallway opposite the great room. “Here is another half-bath,” she said, opening a door. “Two linen closets here in the hall.” The hallway made an L-shape and she opened another door, leading them into a brightly lit bedroom.
“Nice large room,” she told them. “As you noticed, there were no drapes or blinds facing the back. There are no neighbors behind you. In the bedroom, of course, we have drapes for privacy.” She pulled them aside, revealing large windows looking out onto the wooded backyard.
“Is that a greenbelt?” Shannon asked.
“Yes. The creek is actually down the hill. That’s why there is a wrought iron fence along the back, so you’ll have a view of the woods. Privacy fences are on both sides, of course.” She opened yet another door. “Back here is the master bath. Huge walk-in shower, Jacuzzi tub,” she said, pointing. “And,” she said dramatically as she opened another door, “what every woman dreams of: a walk-in walk-around closet.”
“It’s as big as my bedroom,” Shannon murmured.
“Built-in drawers and shelves here in the middle and wall-to-wall closet space.”
Madison walked into the closet, circling the center drawers and coming around the other side. “Nice.”
“Nice? It’s crazy.”
Madison shrugged.
“Oh, I see. It’s because I have no idea what your current closet looks like,” she said. “This might be small to you.”
Madison gave her a half-smile, then glanced at the Realtor. “May we go outside?”
“Of course. Let me show you the pool and patio.”
Shannon stood back, letting Madison take it all in, watching her as she walked slowly along the edge of the pool to where the grass merged with the wooded area in the back. She stood there staring out into the woods. Shannon wondered if she was listening to the quiet or if she heard the tiny sounds of leaves rustling and birds chirping.
Madison turned, finding her eyes. “I love it.”
Shannon nodded.
Madison then walked directly toward the Realtor. “I’ll take it.”
The Realtor—and Shannon—stared at her.
“Madison, we should look at—” Shannon began.
“No. I love it,” she said. “Do you have a card?”
“Of course,” the Realtor said, quickly fumbling in her purse to find one.
“I’ll have my people contact you. Thanks for showing it on such short notice,” Madison said as she took her card.
“It’s my pleasure. Let me know if you need a second showing.” She held her hand out. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know your name.”
“Madison Cole,” she said.
“Nice to meet you.” She paused. “Madison…Cole? Aren’t you—”
“Yes. Thank you. As I said, I’ll be in touch.”
As they walked back to the truck, Shannon murmured, “Your people?”
Madison smiled. “My father has given me the use of his personal assistant. I know you’re supposed to make an offer and they counter and all that. So I’ll leave that up to someone who knows how.”
Shannon started the engine and pulled out into the street. “And I suppose the news that Madison Cole is looking to purchase a home will have tongues wagging?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Madison said. “Everyone will know soon enough.” She reached across the console and squeezed her arm. “Thank you for taking me today. I really, really like that house. It felt…well, it felt like I could make it into a home.”
“I like it too,” she said. “So do you need to be somewhere? Or can I steal you for an hour or so?”
“Steal me?”
“I’m starving. How about an early dinner?”
Madison nodded quickly. “Of course. I’d love to.”
* * *
The Mexican restaurant was close to empty at this early hour. Madison followed Shannon inside and they took a table near the windows. The tablecloth was stained but appeared clean. She leaned back as a waiter brought a basket of tortilla chips and two bowls of salsa.
“Something to drink?”
“Iced tea for me,” Shannon said.
“I’ll have the same.”
When they were alone, Shannon leaned closer. “I take it you’ve never been here before?”
“What gives you that idea?”
“Because you’re staring at this stain,” Shannon said, rubbing the spot on the tablecloth nearest Madison. “And you’re wondering if it’s safe to eat here.”
Madison laughed. “Okay. Busted.”
“The food is great. Jarod brought me here last week.”
“And what can you eat here? I don’t imagine tofu is on the menu,” she said.
“No, but they have spinach and mushroom enchiladas smothered in a cheesy sour cream sauce that are delicious,” Shannon said. “Not vegan, but they fit my mostly vegan diet.”
Madison watched as Shannon took a chip and loaded it with salsa before taking a bite. She did the same, although she was a bit more conservative with the salsa.
“So, how do you feel?” Shannon asked. “Excited? Scared?”
“Mostly excited. It’ll be nice to be on my own,” she said. “Ashton comes back at the end of May. I hope I can be in there by then.”
“Maybe. Since it’s owned by the builder, the closing shouldn’t take the normal sixty days.” Shannon grabbed another chip. “Does Ashton have summer break or something?”
Madison shook her head. “I forgot to tell you. He’s decided medical school is not for him.”
“Really?”
Madison leaned away from the table as the waiter brought their tea. “Thank you.”
“Ready to order?” he asked.
“Oh, I haven’t even looked at the menu yet,” she said.
“No problem. Take your time. I’ll give you a few more minutes.”
Madison opened up the well-used menu, scanning the items. “Ashton was really pushed into medical school.” She looked up. “If you can believe that,” she said sarcastically.
“So what does he want to do?”
“Astrophysics. Or astronautical engineering. One or both, I can’t remember which,” she said.
“Okay, that’s like rocket science, right?”
Madison laughed. “I suppose, since he said he wanted to build a spaceship.”
“So has it been tough, having a whiz kid?”
Madison nodded. “In some ways, yes. I feel like he missed out on being a kid. There were so many things I wanted for him that I never had. But then, I didn’t want to emulate my mother and make him do things to satisfy me. I wanted him to be himself.” She took a sip of tea. “That’s why his switch from medical school to astrophysics is totally his choice. He’s going to start at MIT this summer.”
“Wow. Well, good for him.”
“He’ll only be here a couple of weeks, but it would be nice to have the house somewhat set up.” She looked up from the menu. “Will it offend you if I have chicken enchiladas?”
“Of course not. Get what you want.”
After they’d placed their orders, they nibbled on chips, but their conversation lagged. Madison finally broke the silence, motioning between them.
“A few months ago, would you have thought we’d be sitting here together having dinner?”
Shannon shook her head. “A few months ago I was explaining to my friends why I stayed away from Brook Hill.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
Shannon brushed away her apology. “I was at dinner with my two best friends. I realized I had never told them about you…about us, about when we were kids. I’d convinced myself for years now that I no longer even remembered everything, that I didn’t remember the details, that I didn’t remember what it was like to be with you.”
Madison didn’t say anything. She just watched as Shannon absently broke her chip into tiny pieces, crumbling them on her napkin.
“I was shocked as I was telling them our story, shocked because it was so obvious I hadn’t forgotten a thing. Everything was still fresh in my memory, and I was stunned because I had tried so hard not to even think about it, about you. Because…well, just because.”
Shannon looked at her, their eyes meeting, holding. “Everything was still there. Everything. We were kids and I remember sitting in the big kitchen, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for the door to open, waiting for you to be there, to beckon me to come up, where you would let me into your world.”
Shannon visibly swallowed and Madison did the same. “Just for a little while. I think telling them about that made it sink home. I was never really ever in your world, Madison. It was stolen moments here and there, especially when we got older.” Shannon sipped from her tea before continuing. “I think telling them our story, it finally hit me. We never really had anything and for so long I had held onto the hope that maybe one day we would. But it was all in vain. When I think about it, we really had so little time together. I lived there for ten, eleven years with you and out of all that time, what did we have?”
Madison looked down, picking up another chip, something to occupy her hands. “What do you want me to say?” she asked quietly.
Shannon shrugged. “I guess it took me telling them our story to realize how futile things were, had always been. It felt good to talk about it. It put things in perspective. It helped me get past it.”
“Are you past it?”
Shannon again met her eyes. “Yes.”
That word would have been a dagger to her heart, if not for the fact that she knew Shannon was lying. But she would go along with it. Maybe it would be easier for both of them if they pretended there was nothing there. So she nodded.
“Me too.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Madison stood in her new kitchen, her gaze lingering on the sparkling water in the pool beyond the patio. The late afternoon sun filtered through the trees, dancing across the ripples. Even though she was trying to get out of the shadow of her parents and their name, she was thankful for the power her father had. In less than four weeks, the house was now hers.
She wished Shannon was here to share this moment, but she had been away for the last week, tending to business at one of their stores. While she and Shannon hadn’t spent even one second alone with each other since their dinner, they’d seen each other often. Madison visited Alice frequently, and she’d even taken Alice to the new store to view the construction. But now that she’d closed on the house, now that she could officially move in, she wished Shannon was here.
“Oh, well,” she murmured out loud. Ashton was coming home tomorrow. She would drag him out shopping with her and Alice. Alice had volunteered to look at furniture with her. She refused to hire a decorator. She wanted to make the house a home, not a showcase.
Her own mother had spoken to her exactly three times since she’d told them about the divorce. All three conversations had escalated into harsh words and anger between them, and each time Madison had effectively ended the call by hanging up on her mother. Childish, yes, but she simply couldn’t endure her mother’s attempts to make her feel remorseful about her choice. She wanted to get on with her life, and if that meant shunning her mother, she would do it.
When she heard a car door slam, she turned and headed back out to the garage, which she’d left open. She assumed the Realtor had forgotten something. She was shocked to find her mother standing there.
“So this is what you’ve stooped to? This…this house is barely large enough to be considered servants’ quarters.”
Madison stared in disbelief, then laughed outright when she realized her mother was being serious. “Really? Did you just really say that?”
“You’re leaving your elegant—beautiful—home, which is in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Brook Hill, for this?”
“First of all, yes, it is elegant. But I wouldn’t call it beautiful and it certainly is not a home. This,” she said, waving behind her, “is going to be a home. And as far as prestigious,” she smiled, “don’t you mean pretentious?”
“I see you haven’t come to your senses yet,” she said with her usual air of superiority.
“Yes, I have. That’s why I left my marriage.” She turned to go back into the house. “Now, did you come by for a tour? Or just to belitt
le me?”
“I am your mother. I thought I should at least see where you will be living.” Her mother squared her shoulders. “It’s an embarrassment to the family, of course, but that seems to be your intention.”
Madison bit her lip, refusing to give in to the guilt her mother was so good at dishing out. “I’ll give you a quick tour if you’d like. I don’t, however, need—or want—any suggestions from you. This will be my home. Not yours.”
“I know what you are insinuating, Madison. Your father says I have interfered in your life, which we both know is nonsense. I have only—”
“Oh, please,” she said, realizing she had no more fear of her mother. “You’ve controlled everything in my life. It’s your fault I’m getting divorced,” she said, pleased to see her mother gasp.
“How dare you!” her mother hissed. “Do not lay that blame on me.”
“It’s your fault I’m getting divorced because it’s your fault I got married in the first place. You pushed Stephen and me together. You and his mother.” She walked inside, feeling her mother following. “I suppose it was some plan you devised one afternoon over cocktails at the country club.”
“I don’t appreciate you speaking to me this way.”
“I suppose not. But I’m through cowering before you, Mother. You have controlled and manipulated my life for the last time. It took me all of these years to realize that beneath it all, you’re really just a bully.” She pointed down the hallway. “Spare bedrooms and bath are down there. This way is the kitchen,” she said, going down the hallway.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Madison, but you’re hardly acting like yourself. You speak to me as if—”
“As if I’m tired of you making all my decisions for me,” Madison said. “I’m a grown woman. I can make my own decisions.” She stopped in the kitchen. “This is my favorite part of the house. I love the kitchen and the bar and the informal sitting room. And I love all the windows and the pool.” She turned to her mother. “It’s open and airy and fresh.”
Her mother looked around the kitchen slowly. “And who will cook for you?”
“I’m learning to cook,” she said. “Alice Fletcher has been teaching me.”