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This was what she got for reloading her phone. She’d let her pre-paid minutes run out at the beginning of January, planning to save the money and just do without a cell phone, but Hunter didn’t have a land line, and he’d lost his shit at the idea of her being home with a baby and no way to call if she had a problem. This morning she’d bought more minutes, and as soon as she’d come back online, Cody had surfaced, as if he’d been lurking in cyberspace, waiting for the opportunity to worm his way back into her life, or more specifically, her wallet.
The phone dinged again. After a short internal debate, she flipped it open.
The baby’s due soon, right? I want to help you. I’ve been working on what we should do, and I finally have everything figured out. Get in touch, Maddy. Please. You don’t have to handle this on your own.
She turned the
phone off and clipped it back on the baby sling. Yeah, right. He hadn’t even figured out the baby’s due date. Her conscience tried to take a stab at her, because this was Joy’s father reaching out, after all, but she pushed it back. He’d never once acknowledged being the father, and he still hadn’t. He’d stolen from her. Worse, he’d stolen from Joy, and letting him come anywhere near them amounted to begging for him to do it again.
A noise brought her head up and around in time to see a petite, middle-aged woman wearing trim black workout clothes and short sassy red hair step onto her porch. She straightened the welcome mat with the toe of her white sneaker and then came down her front porch and followed the walkway toward Madison. She smiled as she neared, and Madison realized the woman was older than she’d first assumed. Closer to sixty than forty-something—but a good sixty.
“Hi,” she said, still smiling. “I saw you out walking yesterday. New to the neighborhood?” Then she peeked over Madison’s shoulder at Joy and went on, “Aw. This little one is new to every neighborhood. How old?”
Madison angled herself toward the woman. “Five weeks.” She managed what felt like a weak smile and rubbed her free hand along the curve of Joy’s back. “She aced her second checkup with her pediatrician earlier in the week.”
“I remember when mine were that age. Vaguely,” she added with a laugh. “Enjoy the first year. It goes fast.”
“I’ll try.”
The woman laughed, and the late afternoon light bounced off her short red waves. “Easy for me to say, looking back through the filter of time, which conveniently blurs stuff like midnight feedings, three a.m. crankiness, the challenges of finding a moment to shower, and all the rest of it, but you’re off to a great start, getting exercise already, and you’ve chosen a wonderful neighborhood. Wayne and I—God rest his soul—raised four boys here. You couldn’t ask for a better spot.”
“It’s lovely,” Madison agreed, “but we’re just here temporarily. We’re staying with a friend for a few weeks.” Without really meaning to, she gestured across the street toward Hunter’s house.
The older woman’s eyebrows lifted so high they disappeared behind her bangs. “You’re staying with Hunter?”
“He’s, um, helping me out until I can…” How could she put this without sounding like the homeless woman she was? “Until I move into my new place.”
“That’s interesting.” Curiosity sparkled in her striking green eyes, and while those curious eyes stayed front and forward, Madison suspected they were sharp enough to have noted no wedding band graced her finger. But she simply said, “He’s a good boy. Keeps busy. Very, very busy.” She punctuated the observation with a bland smile.
“Yeah, I’ll bet he does.” An unreasonable, almost possessive instinct consumed her as she imagined Hunter escorting a nameless, faceless parade of women to and from his front door. She did her best to push the inappropriate emotion away, because he wasn’t hers—not even temporarily—and they were cramping his style, 24/7, which might account for why he seemed edgy and distracted lately. His trademark easy grin didn’t meet his eyes any more. All the more reason to get out of his house as soon as possible. Hunter didn’t deserve to suffer from lack of…ahem…visitors, as a result of his good deed.
The other woman held out a hand. “I’m Nelle, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Nelle. I’m Madison, and this is Joy.”
“Hi, little girl,” she cooed at the baby “Aren’t you precious? Yes you are. A precious little bundle.” She turned to Madison. “My newest grandbaby celebrated his first birthday last month.”
“Congratulations. How many do you have?”
“Five and counting. I don’t mean to interrupt your exercise. I can walk and talk at the same time. You’re headed home?”
She briefly considered taking another lap around the neighborhood, but Joy would be ready to nurse soon, and Hunter would be home any moment, so instead, she nodded and fell into step beside Nelle. “How old are your grandkids?”
“The oldest will be ten this year, which is impossible, but there you go. Next time I blink she’ll be a teenager. Then comes grandson number one, who’s eight, his little brother, who’s seven. The second granddaughter is three, and Jack is the baby…for now.”
“You’re blessed in the grandchild department.”
The older woman nodded but then sighed. “I am. Sadly, I’m not quite as blessed in the geography department. My boys and their families live all over the place. They came home for the holidays, which was wonderful, but the house seems too quiet now.”
Joy chose the moment to whine. Madison recognized the noise as the opening notes of the cranky-pants chorus and did her best to pick up her pace as they made their way along Hunter’s front walk. “There’s such a thing as too quiet?”
Nelle grinned. “Believe it or not, yes. This”—she wiggled a finger at Joy—“is music to my ears. I usually walk in the morning if the weather permits, but if you ladies need or want a walking buddy, don’t hesitate to knock on my door. Anytime.”
Madison paused at the porch steps and rocked Joy in her arms. “I may take you up on your offer.”
“I hope you do. If you ever need anything, including ten minutes to yourself, feel free to holler. Hunter knows the number. Have a good evening.”
“You, too,” Madison replied and waved from the porch as Nelle power-walked down the sidewalk. As she stood there waving, a Tahoe rolled down the street and turned into the driveway.
