by Amanda Berry
The bell over the door jingled as the door slammed behind him.
“Where’s Harry?”
Brady turned and saw a brown-haired man, about his age, struggling with a box of parts. He hurried forward as the box began to slip and caught the opposite end.
“Thanks.”
Brady helped carry it to the counter. “What is all this?”
“Parts from a failed attempt at an electronics repair shop.” They dropped it on the counter. The guy seemed familiar but Brady hadn’t placed him. He held out his hand. “Josh Michaels. You’re one of Luke’s brothers. Brady, right?”
Brady shook Josh’s hand, trying to place him. “In town for a few days. You graduated with Luke?”
“Yeah.” Josh glanced around the shop, probably looking for Harry.
“The salesman is in the back. He should be out any minute.” Brady hoped, at least. He needed to get back out to the farm and then Maggie’s.
“White hair, looks like Rip Van Winkle?” Josh asked.
Brady nodded.
“That’s Harry. You could be here for an hour before he finds anything in that storeroom.” Josh settled against the counter. “How long has it been since you’ve been back?”
“Years.” Brady picked up one of the phones and messed with the settings a little. “A lot has changed.”
“The biggest blow was the Phantom Plant closing. Lot of good people had to move to find a job.” Josh pointed toward his box. “The rest of us are just trying to make ends meet. Unfortunately, most people prefer to buy new than repair these days.”
“I’m surprised they shut the plant.” Brady hadn’t followed the local news. With shrinking margins in most industries, downsizing seemed to be the only option.
“Businesses fell like dominoes in Owen after that. Money grew tighter until no one was spending anything and no one was hiring anyone.” Josh nodded toward the back room. “Even old Harry threatened to close the shop. But I convinced him to carry cell phones. That seems to have brought in some traffic.”
Brady turned over the cell phone in his hand. “Smart idea.”
“One of my better.” Josh smiled, obviously pleased with himself, but his smile fell. “Wish I could turn the whole town around. Get these people back on their feet and give them a reason to be proud again.”
“It appears I have some time.” Brady nodded his head toward the back room where they could hear Harry moving things around. As far as Brady knew, the old man might have forgotten he was out here. “Want to talk about some of your ideas?”
A few hours later, Brady’s mind was churning as he headed toward Maggie’s. Harry had called in a favor and should have a new phone for Brady by the morning. But what had him excited were the prospects for Tawnee Valley and the neighboring town, Owen. Josh had a lot of ideas. While some weren’t great, some could work. If Josh could find a backer.
Brady had a lot of experience working on new projects and knew what it took to get them off the ground. He was already envisioning the layers of work that would be required to get Kyle to give the approval to go ahead with this project. Brady could help breathe life into this town and make his company a lot of money in the process.
There was almost an extra skip to his step as he walked to Maggie’s front door. He felt invincible as if he could handle anything else that life intended to throw at him. What he wanted to do was sweep Maggie into his arms and forget to breathe for a while.
He pressed the doorbell and tried to squelch the half smile from his face. No one answered the door. He checked his watch. The bus should be arriving any minute. It wasn’t like Maggie to be late, at least not in his experience.
He rang the doorbell again and waited. His elation from his good business sense was slowly fading to apprehension. What if something had happened to Maggie? What if something had happened to Amber? He didn’t even have a spare key to get in to make sure everything was all right.
Leaning over the railing, he tried to peer into the window. Finally, he left the front and walked around back. Maggie’s car was in the driveway. He could feel every muscle tensing in his arms and neck.
Whenever things seemed good in his life, something always happened. It was no one’s fault, just bad timing. His mother’s funeral had been two days before he was supposed to start college. His father had died the day before he turned sixteen. He got Maggie pregnant before he left for England and he didn’t return until now to find out about Amber. Nothing good happened to him without a touch of tragedy.
He’d lost so much. He couldn’t lose this, too. Not before he could figure out what it would mean to him. He pounded on the back door. They had to be okay.
“I’m up. I’m up.”
He heard her over the pounding of his heart and tried to take a deep breath. The door swung open. Maggie stood in a pair of yellow pajama pants and a cat T-shirt with a robe hanging off her shoulders. Her hair was wild as if she’d been running her fingers through it and had attempted to pull it into a ponytail holder. Purple smudges highlighted under her eyes.
“Hey, Brady.” No emotion entered her voice, but she looked like she hadn’t slept in days or at least last night. Her eyes briefly glanced at him before her hand dropped off the door. She turned and shuffled toward the cabinets.
“Is everything okay?” Brady hesitated as he walked into the house and closed the door behind him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just great.” She emphasized the words with a huge yawn. She held a coffee cup. “Sleep is for wusses.”
“Where’s Amber?” He felt as if he’d walked into an alternate universe.
“She’s in watching TV.”
“Didn’t she go to school?” Brady knew today wasn’t a day off, which meant one of two things. His heart stopped inside his chest. “Is she sick?”
“It’s a twenty-four-hour thing.” Maggie waved her hand as if waving away his concern would be that easy. “We only have—” she squinted at her watch and sighed “—five more hours to go.”
“Mommy!” Amber’s voice was rough and had an edge of panic to it.
Maggie snapped to attention and changed before his eyes. The sleep was gone as she raced into the living room. He followed, trying to make sense of all of this in his mind. He’d left them last night and everything had been fine.
“It’s okay, baby. Let’s get you to the bathroom.” As she passed him on the way, she seemed to realize he was there. “You should go home, Brady. You don’t want to get sick.”
Amber tried to smile at him but her face was pale and sweaty. They went into the bathroom and Maggie closed the door.
Brady stood undecided. Should he go? Maggie seemed to think so, but from the looks of it both she and Amber were on their last legs. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the dining room chair.
Returning to the kitchen, he made short work of the few dishes in the sink and started some water to boil. The bathroom door opened and Maggie’s murmured words caught his ear. He could almost imagine her rubbing Amber’s back and saying those things only a mother could say when you were sick.
At seventeen, he’d done the same for his mother, trying to make her as comfortable as possible. But this was different. Amber was young and this wasn’t cancer. Kids got sick all the time. His grip tightened on the plate in his hands.
She’d be all right.
“You’re still here.” Maggie sank into the chair at the table and laid her head on her arms.
“Yeah, I’m still here.” He finished drying the plate and set it in the cabinet. “Where’s Amber?”
“Sleeping on the couch.” Maggie couldn’t stifle the yawn that made the words come out nearly unintelligible. “You should really...”
Brady sat at the table next to her. “It’s okay. I’m here. What do you need?”
Her eyes were shut but a partial smile lit her face. “Sleep.”
He stood and lifted her out of her chair. Her eyelids popped wide-open for a second before lowering again. She
put her arms around his neck as he carried her in his arms up the stairs.
She snuggled closer as he passed by the open door to Amber’s room. Purple walls, a single bed with a purple-flowered cover on it, a shelf full of kids’ books. Taped to the walls were art projects progressing from thick lines of paint in no particular pattern to recognizable representations of owls, monkeys, houses.
Hundreds of questions fell over each other to get his attention. Things he’d never thought of before. What was Amber’s first word? When did she walk for the first time? Who had been there to catch her when she fell trying? What did she want to be when she grew up? How much time had Sam spent with her? Getting to know his niece? Who was going to hold her when someone broke her heart for the first time? Who was going to check out her dates to make sure they were good enough for her? Where would he be when her next firsts happened?
“You can put me down.”
Brady gentled his hold on Maggie but didn’t release her. Her hazel eyes were half-open. Who would be there for Maggie? “You’re exhausted.”
“Am not.” Yawns bracketed her words.
One of the other doors had to be hers. He carried her to the next door and pushed it open. A light floral scent wafted over him. His fingers clenched into her. When he was sixty, he’d remember this scent, Maggie’s scent. It tickled his nose and played with his senses, making him wish that Maggie weren’t so tired and their child wasn’t sick on the couch downstairs.
Draped in a multicolored quilt, a queen-size bed dominated the small, light blue room. The room was immaculate. Full of color. Almost picture-perfect. Just like Maggie.
Lowering her to the bed, he sat on the edge. Her eyes had drifted shut as she snuggled into the bed instead of against him. Coldness seeped into him where her warmth had been.
“Sleep, Maggie.” He stroked a strand of hair out of her face. “Let me take on the responsibility for a while.”
She mumbled in her sleep. He dropped a kiss on her temple before standing and heading downstairs.
Amber lay on the couch with a worn-out stuffed pig in her arms. She gazed at him with her wide, blue eyes. “Is Mommy okay?”
“Just tired.” He moved to the end of the couch where her feet were and looked at her expectantly.
She pulled her feet in, leaving enough room for him. “At least I wasn’t at school when I puked.”
As he settled, she stretched out, her feet in his lap. “No one had to dodge your splattering?”
A small smile appeared. “You want to watch a movie with me?”
“Sure.” For the moment, Brady was content to be with Amber and to let Maggie catch up on her sleep. Work pressed slightly at his mind, but he squashed it. Amber needed him to be here. Much as he hated to admit, the company would be fine without him even for a few hours or a few days.
Chapter Fifteen
Maggie stretched in bed. But when she opened her eyes, she could only make out the shadows of her bedposts and dresser. Bolting upright, she rushed out of her room and into Amber’s. Her bed was empty. Her alarm clock read ten o’clock.
Downstairs. Amber must be downstairs. Maggie rushed down the stairs, not entirely sure she actually stepped on every tread. She barely noticed the dishes drying in the rack as she passed by the kitchen and stopped in the living room doorway.
The TV was barely loud enough to hear it, but that’s not what caught her attention. Propped up by pillows, Brady was sprawled on her couch asleep. Amber was fast asleep tucked on the couch beside him with her head resting over his heart. A small wet spot had formed on Brady’s black shirt under her slack mouth.
Maggie leaned against the doorjamb as her heart settled to a normal pace again. She glanced at the TV, which had returned to the main menu of the DVD that it was playing. Rapunzel, one of Amber’s favorites.
No cell phone or laptop in sight. Had the New York Brady honestly watched a kid’s movie without his precious phone to connect him to his office? Had he really carried Maggie upstairs and put her to bed? Warmth spread to her face. Had he seen her without makeup and her hair looking like a whacked-out version of Medusa?
Had she dreamed the gentle kiss to her temple? Lord knows, she’d had plenty of dreams about Brady, but none of those stopped at her temple.
A rustling brought her out of her head. She held her breath as Amber shifted slightly. Brady’s snores died for a second. They both settled into sleep. Quietly, Maggie grabbed her camera and took a picture.
She slipped out of the room and headed into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before she returned to bed.
* * *
“Brady says we can go to the park and maybe stop by Penny’s to visit Flicker.” Amber bounced in her seat at the table.
“Eat your pancakes.” Maggie avoided looking at Brady as she put a plate of pancakes in front of him. He’d told them the story of his phone and the cow while she’d gotten the batter ready. Amber’s appetite was back now that she was feeling better.
“How are you doing?” The words sounded almost tender. Holy crap, was that concern in Brady’s eyes?
She stumbled slightly on her way to the stove. “I’m fine.”
“If you need some more sleep, Amber and I can go to the park on our own. But we’d love it if you joined us.”
She could hear the smile in his words even though she didn’t dare look at him. How the man could sleep on a couch and wake up looking devilishly handsome was beyond her. She’d felt like night of the living dead last night. At least this morning, she’d had a chance to shower, put on some makeup and brush her hair before facing him.
His black hair was tousled. His clothes wrinkled and his shirt stained over his heart from Amber’s drool. And all Maggie wanted to do was sit in his lap and feed him pancakes.
“I think they’re done.” Brady’s voice shook her out of her fantasy.
She flushed as she plated the dark pancakes onto her plate. Thankfully, syrup fixed everything. She’d choke them down if she had to. She took her seat at the table across from Brady with Amber in between them.
“What do you think, Mommy?” Amber said around a bite of pancake.
Maggie was too distracted to chastise her about talking with her mouth full. “About what?”
“Coming with us, silly.”
“Yeah, Maggie. Come with us.”
Two sets of blue eyes were fixed on her. Amber’s were wide and pleading; Brady’s had crinkles in the corners as if he knew exactly what she had been thinking about and found it amusing. Give him a chance, he’d asked, and she’d agreed to it.
“Should I bring a picnic basket?” Maggie focused on Amber. It was a whole lot less confusing. Amber’s eyes, while similar to Brady’s, were still the eyes of her daughter. Looking at Brady stirred something within her and if he kept this new act up, she’d be in some deep doo-doo by the end of the day.
“I love picnics,” Amber exclaimed.
“Me, too,” Brady said, and without meaning to, Maggie looked at him. His face showed his pleasure. Yup, deep doo-doo.
* * *
Four hours later, Maggie found a shaded spot under an old oak tree to put out the blanket for their picnic while Brady pushed Amber on the swings. Amber had been swinging by herself for the past two years, but Brady didn’t know that. Maggie shook her head as she set down the basket and drew out the blanket.
The air had a hint of nip to it, but it was pretty warm for a fall day. While there were plenty of leaves on the ground, the trees had held on to most of them. In a few weeks the trees would be bare. A good day to come to the park.
“Let me help you with that.”
Maggie turned at Brady’s voice. She glanced beyond him at Amber happily swinging away. “Did she have you fooled for even a moment?”
His carefree smile tugged at her heart. “Not a chance. Which is why I only pushed her a little, so she’d be done with me quickly.”
He reached for an end of the blanket. She quickly passed it before he was able to touch her.
She was having enough trouble breathing when he was around. If he touched her, she was fairly sure she’d forget how to breathe at all. And he being the Boy Scout he’d always been would be forced to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Her heart skipped a beat.
They backed away from each other to spread out the blanket. The whole morning he’d been thoughtful and attentive. A girl could get used to this if she weren’t careful. Maggie tried to keep New York Brady in her mind, but even when he was angry at her over something, he turned her on and challenged her. The way he was acting today stirred the memories of the Brady she’d had a crush on since middle school.
Her heart still raced when he was near. The same way as it had back then. Even her skin prickled, waiting for an accidental brush or the touch of his hand. She wasn’t a teenager anymore. This was ridiculous. The man turns on a little charm and suddenly she feels like putty? Just waiting for him to mold her.
She snapped the blanket to straighten it and lowered it to the ground. It wasn’t as if she was innocent, or that he was all that great of a catch. She sat on the edge of the blanket.
“How’s work dealing with you gone?” Maggie asked as she turned to dig out the picnic gear.
“Getting by.” Brady’s voice was near.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw that he’d stretched out on the blanket. All six-feet-something of him displayed like temptation itself. She needed to find something to remind herself that this Brady wasn’t the real Brady. Fast-paced, self-centered, know-it-all was Brady now.
“I saw that you were talking to Jules when Amber got hurt...” Take the bait. C’mon, you know you want to talk about work.
“Yeah, one of the contractors was being a dick. Something about only wanting to deal with me.” He didn’t twitch a muscle.
“Aren’t you worried she wasn’t able to fix it?” Maggie set the plates next to the bowls of food she’d pulled out.
“Jules is a pretty competent woman. I’m sure she was able to handle herself.” Brady finally rolled onto his side and looked at her. “Why are you suddenly worried about my work?”