“Just tell us, okay?” Maddie said. “And who’s on the desk? You didn’t just go off and leave it empty, did you?”
“Of course not. I left your mom holding down the fort and promised I’d be right back,” Jeanette assured her. “As for the rest, like I said, it’s nothing major. At least, I don’t think it’s major, but you know this town better than I do.”
Helen frowned. “Jeanette!”
“Okay, okay. I overheard this woman talking to a group of women,” Jeanette reported. “She said she hoped we enjoyed tonight, because once tomorrow’s edition of the paper hits the streets, we might not have much to gloat about.” She looked at each of them. “Any idea who she is or what she meant?”
“Peggy,” the three of them responded in unison.
Maddie groaned. “I knew it. She’s going to rip this place to shreds in her column, or at least me.”
Jeanette looked confused. “Why would she do that? And why would she show her face tonight if she intends to print some negative article in tomorrow’s paper?”
“She wants to be sure word gets around so the paper sells out the second it hits the stands,” Helen guessed. “A sellout will convince her boss that her brand of reporting is just what he needs to boost circulation.”
“But why attack this place?” Jeanette asked, still looking bewildered. “I’d think everyone in Serenity would want a new business to succeed.”
“Most people do feel that way,” Maddie responded.
“Peggy’s upset because she came over here the other day with her own agenda to embarrass Maddie and I kicked her out,” Helen said. “This is payback.” She gave Maddie’s hand a squeeze. “Don’t panic. I’ll deal with this.”
“How?”
“I didn’t go to Walt Flanigan the other day, but it’s not too late to explain a few facts of life to Peggy’s boss now,” Helen said, her expression grimly determined.
“It’s too late if the paper’s already gone to press,” Maddie told her. “Besides, you could make it worse. If it hasn’t gone to press, there would still be time for Walt to insert something about you trying to blackmail him to keep something negative out of Peggy’s column. He’d manage to come off sounding indignant and we’d look desperate. Any way you slice it, this is very bad PR.”
“Come on, you guys,” Dana Sue said. “Nobody pays any attention to what Peggy writes in that rag. Forget about it. How much harm can she do, really? Most of the town is here tonight. They know what this place is like. And they know us. They’re going to realize that anything bad she writes is just sour grapes.”
Maddie wasn’t so sure about that, but she couldn’t think of a single strategy they could use to deflect the damage. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what she wrote, then figure out how to counteract it.”
“A strategy meeting first thing in the morning, then?” Helen suggested.
“I’ll be here at eight,” Maddie said.
“I’ll bring the coffee and some apple-cranberry muffins,” Dana Sue offered. “Jeanette, can you get back over here by eight?”
“Not a problem,” she said. “I’m staying at the Windsor Motel right now.”
“Here in town?” Maddie asked, studying her worriedly. “What happened?”
Jeanette shrugged as if it were no big deal, but the sorrow in her eyes gave her away. “I left Don. He said he wouldn’t drive all the way over here for some stupid party, so I told him I wouldn’t drive back and forth from here to be with him. I packed up and moved my stuff on Wednesday. I’ll start looking for someplace to rent permanently after things here settle down. It’s been too busy this week to even think about that.”
“Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry,” Dana Sue said, giving her a hug. “The guy’s a jerk.”
“I know,” Jeanette said. “That made it easier to walk away.”
“Are you really okay with that?” Maddie asked.
“Not yet,” Jeanette admitted, then added with a touch of defiance, “But I will be. Right now, all I care about is making this place wildly successful.”
“Come on, then,” Helen said. “Let’s put on our happy faces and go back inside and make this party rock.”
Maddie had barely stepped into the kitchen, when Cal appeared beside her.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Everything’s fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “But you probably shouldn’t be in here.”
He gave her an odd look. “Because?”
“Because…” Her voice trailed off. She was tired of making excuses for liking this man, for being with him. “Because it’s probably a mistake,” she said, then met his gaze. “But you know what? I don’t give a damn.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed her mouth to his, then grinned at the look of surprise on his face. “It’s a new day,” she declared. “Get used to it.”
He grinned back at her. “Not a problem, darlin’. Definitely not a problem.”
Of course, she thought, he was wrong. Something told her the problems were about to get much, much worse.
Bill watched Maddie emerge from the kitchen with Cal Maddox beside her. He noted the color in her cheeks and the smile on her lips and knew with absolute certainty that the rumors were true. There was definitely something going on between the two of them. He was shocked by how empty and alone that made him feel, even with Noreen right here beside him. He was also stunned by a primitive desire to punch Cal in the face and tell him to stay the hell away from his woman. Unfortunately, he’d lost that right.
He’d almost told Noreen that they couldn’t come tonight, but he’d seen the anticipation in her eyes and known he couldn’t disappoint her. For months they’d hidden their relationship from everyone. Now that his divorce from Maddie would be final in a few more days and there was no reason to live in the shadows, he owed it to Noreen to show the world that they were together. He certainly couldn’t treat the woman he intended to marry as if she were some dirty little secret.
He turned and met her knowing gaze.
“You wish you weren’t here, don’t you?” she asked with rare insight.
“It’s uncomfortable being around Maddie these days,” he admitted.
“Because you still feel guilty or because she’s moved on to someone new?” Noreen asked, watching his face closely.
“Maybe a little of both.” Because Noreen suddenly looked so stricken, he lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. She merely sighed.
“I wish things were different,” she said wistfully. “I thought they would be.”
Before he could respond, his former mother-in-law stepped up beside them. She cast a pitying look at Noreen, before turning to Bill. “I’m surprised to see you here, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. You never did have a single shred of decency or sensitivity, despite that blue blood of yours.”
“Maddie sent us an invitation,” he said stiffly. “I assumed she wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t want us to come.”
“Oh, please, you can’t be that stupid, Bill. Maddie’s a smart businesswoman. She would never deliberately exclude a prominent local doctor, not even her cheating husband.”
“Let’s go,” Noreen said, tugging on his arm. “She’s right. I don’t know what I was thinking. We don’t belong here. This is Maddie’s night.”
Bill glanced across the room and spotted Maddie with her arm tucked through Cal’s. They were laughing with the mayor and his wife. How many times had she done exactly that with him? In the early years, as she worked to help him build his practice, invitations to their dinner parties had been much sought after. He wondered how many of those same people, if forced to choose sides, would pick him and Noreen over Maddie and whoever was in her life? Probably far fewer than he cared to imagine. Maddie was the one with the gift for making people feel welcome, the talent for knowing exactly the right thing to say.
He forced a smile for his mother-in-law. “Lovely to see you as always,” he muttered.
Though her dark e
yes were blazing, Paula’s smile was more genuine. “Wish I could say the same.”
“Is she always such a bitch?” Noreen asked as Paula walked away in a swirl of brightly colored silk.
“No,” he said. “She reserves it for me. I was never her first choice for her daughter. She thought I wasn’t good enough.” He shrugged. “As it turns out, she was probably right.”
Even as Noreen uttered an emphatic and loyal denial, Bill couldn’t shut off the cascade of regrets tumbling through his mind. He had a beautiful young woman who adored him on his arm. She was carrying his child.
And all he could think about was the woman he’d left behind.
“I can’t believe Walt Flanigan let Peggy get away with this,” Dana Sue declared the next morning at the spa office, throwing the local weekly onto the desk. “It’s slanderous or libelous or whatever it is when you print something that’s blatantly untrue.”
“Libelous,” Helen muttered, her expression dark. She turned to Maddie. “I’ll have a lawsuit on his desk Monday morning, if you say the word.”
Peggy had taken the slew of rumors about Maddie and Cal that were swirling around Serenity and twisted them into some sort of dark tale of wickedness and sin, with The Corner Spa as their private hideaway.
Maddie balled the newspaper up and threw it in the trash. “You can’t do anything,” she told Helen. “She’s managed to toss just enough truth in there to keep it legal. Besides, taking her to court would only give her another chance to spew all this garbage in print. I picked up the last copy in the newsstand on Main Street outside of Wharton’s, so Walt’s going to be ecstatic at the bump in circulation. Everyone who wants to read about Cal’s and my supposed sins has already done it. What’s the point of giving Peggy more ammunition for another attack and Walt a chance to sell even more papers?”
She met their worried gazes. “I am so sorry. I knew I was playing with fire. I should have been more careful.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Helen said heatedly. “You and Cal haven’t done anything wrong. He’s single. You’re about to be single.”
“But the divorce isn’t final yet,” Maddie reminded her. “I’m sure that will matter to some people.”
“Even if you point out that your ex-husband is already living with his pregnant girlfriend?” Jeanette asked incredulously. She was on her third cup of coffee, keeping pace with Helen. Both looked as if they wanted to hit something on Maddie’s behalf.
“Double standard,” Dana Sue said bitterly. “It’s alive and well here in Serenity. Don’t you know our belles must be above reproach?”
“That’s nuts,” Jeanette said.
“No, it’s real life,” Maddie told her. “And I knew it. Goodness knows, I had enough warning signs. Betty Donovan…” she began, then faltered. “Oh, my God—Cal. He needs to know about this. The you-know-what is going to hit the fan at the school. You know it will.”
“Call him,” Helen advised. “Go on into the other room and call him while we talk about what to do.”
Maddie left the three of them talking about their options, went outside and punched in Cal’s number on her cell phone.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said. “Basking in your success?”
He sounded so cheerful Maddie knew he hadn’t yet seen the local paper. “Not exactly,” she told him.
“Okay,” he said, his tone sobering. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to pick up the Serenity Times, assuming you can still find a copy,” she said. “Peggy Martin has a tell-all column about the two of us in there.”
“What is there to tell?” he asked.
Maddie almost smiled at his bewilderment. “Quite a lot if you take the few things you do know and spin them. Apparently we’re having quite a torrid affair at the club.”
“You’re kidding! She printed that?”
“And more,” Maddie told him. “You need to buy the paper and then figure out what you’re going to tell Betty Donovan and the school board. I suspect you’ll be hearing from them first thing Monday morning, if not before.” She tried to force a lighter note into her voice. “They’ll probably try to come after me for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
“Not even a tiny bit amusing,” Cal said. “Stop worrying about this, Maddie. I’ll handle Betty. What about you? Are you okay?”
“Actually I’m mad as hell, but I don’t think going over to the paper and ripping Peggy’s bleached-blond hair out by the handful would be an appropriate response. A picture of that would probably make the wire services.”
“Might be worth it,” he commented. “I know I’d like to see that.”
“You have weird taste in entertainment,” she responded, but she was smiling. “I need to go. Helen, Dana Sue and Jeanette and I are planning our strategy for dealing with the situation. I just thought I ought to fill you in, so you’d know what to expect if you set foot out your door today.”
“One thing before you go,” he said. “Do the kids know?”
“No, I haven’t been home since I saw the paper. We don’t have it delivered, so they won’t see it.”
“Don’t you imagine there might be some calls at the house? Their friends might be only too happy to spread the word,” Cal said. “Want me to go over and field any calls?”
Maddie considered the offer for about two seconds, then sighed. “Bad idea,” she told him. “I think my house is the very last place you ought to be today, but you’re right that someone needs to be there until I can get back. I’ll get my mother to go over.”
“Will I see you later?”
As much as she wanted to see him and draw on his strength, Maddie knew there was no way to do that without adding fuel to the fire. Nosy neighbors were probably already staking out her house and his.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “We need to keep our distance till this dies down.”
“You honestly believe it’ll die down?”
“Eventually.”
“Well, don’t expect me to wait forever, Maddie. I’m not going to let a little gossip ruin what we have.”
“Sweetie, this isn’t a little gossip,” she told him glumly. “It’s a killer hurricane. The winds are just now kicking up. You wait and see.”
She’d seen it before. Once this kind of thing took off, there was no stopping it till it destroyed everything in its path.
Maddie and the kids were in a pew near the back of the church on Sunday morning when Cal slid in beside her. As he nodded to Ty and Kyle, she regarded him with dismay.
“You didn’t say anything about coming to church this morning,” she murmured as the congregation stood for the processional.
“Last-minute decision,” he said, holding a hymnal where they could both see it. “After our conversation about what Peggy wrote in yesterday’s paper, I figured you’d disapprove.”
“I have to admit I don’t think it’s the smartest decision you’ve made lately.” She nodded toward the church members who were sneaking looks in their direction. “Are you trying to deliberately set tongues wagging?”
“Actually I was hoping that people who come to church might be more open-minded and tolerant, especially if they see we’re not trying to sneak around behind anyone’s back.”
Maddie bit back a sigh. “You are such a dreamer.”
Cal grinned. “That’s me, the eternal optimist. Now sing, darlin’, before tongues start wagging that we’re here on a date, rather than participating in the service.”
Though she had a whole lot more she wanted to say, she found her place in the hymn and dutifully sang. She was surprised when Cal’s voice blended with hers. This time when the folks closest to them turned and looked their way, there were at least one or two nods of approval and encouragement.
At the end of the service, when Reverend Beale reminded everyone of the fellowship gathering in the church hall, Cal glanced her way.
“I don’t think so,” she said tightly, knowing that he wanted to continue this ill-ad
vised public declaration.
“The best way to silence gossip is to confront it,” he told her as the congregation began to file out. “We don’t have anything to hide, Maddie. Scurrying out of here will make it look as if we do.”
“Staying will make it look as if we’re flaunting an affair right under their noses,” she countered.
He grinned. “But we’re not having an affair.”
“Yet,” she muttered.
Cal’s grin spread. “That’s the most promising thing I’ve heard in ages. Come on, sweetheart, I feel like some cake and coffee.” He raised his voice to draw Ty and Kyle’s attention. “I’ll bet the kids would like something to eat, too, right, guys? And Katie will probably go to the social hour after Sunday school, right?”
“Yes, but there’s plenty of food at home,” Maddie said before they could answer. “We’re having Sunday dinner at two.”
“But it’s lots more fun to have dessert first,” Cal taunted. “Be wild, Maddie.”
She wanted to be, she really did, but she knew this town and these people. If she and Cal walked into the social hall together, it would be open season on the two of them. It was as good as admitting that Peggy was right, that they were an item and they didn’t care what anyone thought. Cal was obviously ready to make such a public announcement. She wasn’t sure she was, not when she understood the potential consequences more clearly than he did.
Just then Helen walked up and linked her arm through Maddie’s. “Cal’s right. Katie’s waiting inside. Now’s not the time to chicken out,” she whispered, then beamed up at Cal and tucked her other arm through his. “Let’s go stir things up.”
“Okay, okay,” Maddie said. “But I want to go on record as saying that this is a really bad idea. We’re not taking into account the impact this will have on the kids.”
“It’s okay, Mom,” Ty said. “Kyle and me can handle it. What Peggy wrote in the paper was mean and it was nothing but a bunch of lies.”
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