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ChapterOne
Madeline Cruise glanced over to her momma even as she stuffed another T-shirt into her bag. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“I’m going to be fine,” her mom said. “I mean, I am fine already. The surgery was three weeks ago, and Tammy’s already in town.”
“For a week,” Maddy said, straightening from her half-packed suitcase. “Momma.” She sank onto the bed and combed her fingers through her shorter hair. It felt like she had hardly any, and she considered wearing a wig for at least the dozenth time since her sisters had come to Dripping Springs.
They’d come right after Momma’s fall, but they’d only stayed for a couple of days. Tammy had returned to Colorado to arrange time off from her accounting job, and she’d returned yesterday. Kristen hadn’t come back from Louisiana yet, but that was because Maddy lived ten minutes from their parents, and she’d committed to taking care of her this summer.
When Momma asked about the job at the Texas Longhorn Ranch, though, Maddy hadn’t been able to conceal the truth. She’d told her that she’d had to give up the summer job teaching art lessons for any guests who wanted to take them. Mostly children, but she’d said she could do an adult painting class too. When she’d proposed couple’s painting night, Holly Stewart had gone nuts with, “Yes, that’sexactlywhat we need,” and “Great idea, Maddy. I can’t wait for you to get here.”
Maddy had been excited about it too, because it meant she’d live five minutes from her boyfriend, instead of almost sixty.
Momma had not been happy she was the reason Maddy couldn’t go north, couldn’t do the art classes, and hadn’t heard from Kyle in over a week now. They’d argued, but Momma was more stubborn than Maddy, and she said she wouldn’t let Maddy into the house if she didn’t go to Chestnut Springs for the summer job.
If she couldn’t get in the house, she couldn’t take care of her mother. Daddy had said he’d be fine, and they had neighbors and friends who could help out too. Momma was doing really well in her recovery, because she was meticulous about using the walker, applying heat and ice to her hip, taking her medications, and doing her physical therapy.
She really was a very good patient, and Maddy had called Holly only three days ago to beg for the job back. Holly, who was Kyle’s sister, had immediately said yes. The cabin they had for her hadn’t been filled, and they could add or remove classes at any time. If she needed to come home for a week to help with Momma, she could.
Thus, she’d started packing, as she was set to be on the road tomorrow just after breakfast. Holly was the evening manager at the lodge on the ranch, but she’d told Maddy that Blake—the Stewart brother who ran the whole she-bang—knew she was coming and would have her paperwork ready.
Kyle did not know she was coming. With everything else that had been going on, she hadn’t found the time to call him.False, her mind whispered at her. She’d had time. She hadn’t had the courage. She didn’t want him to react like everything was fine, that he hadn’t stopped speaking to her for the past eleven days. If she told him she was coming, and he was all, “Oh, I’m so happy. I can’t wait to see you,” then she’d know that the distance between them was a real issue.
She still had a job here in Dripping Springs, teaching kindergarten. She had the next ninety-four days off, but they’d go fast, just like they did every summer. She’d be moving back here, then there’d be the same physical distance between her and Kyle there’d been for the past five months.
At the moment, their relationship wasn’t strong enough to weather the distance. She knew that. Kyle did too, which was why he’d gone silent. She’d let him too. She had an operational phone. It texted and made calls. She hadn’t put forth the effort either.
Her stomach writhed as she pushed off the bed to go to her bureau to get out her socks. “I just think you have to be realistic.”
“I sit in the garden and read,” Momma said. “I don’t need help. Daddy can get me out there. I take all of my medications. You’ll be bored out of your mind if you stay here.”
They’d already had all of these arguments and conversations, so Maddy picked up all the clean socks she had and put them in her bag. She had access to laundry facilities, but they weren’t in her cabin. She still didn’t need to take everything she owned.
She looked down into her bag, not even remembering what she’d packed and what else she needed. The truth was, she didn’t need anything. Chestnut Springs had stores, and if she forgot her toothbrush, she could buy another one.
Maddy wiped her hand across her forehead and looked at her mother again. “You’re sure?”
“Madeline.” She looked disgusted and she pushed herself to standing with the help of her walker. Maddy made no move to help her, though she itched to do so. “You’re going. I’m going home.”
“You can’t drive.”
“I’ve been texting Estelle.”
“Estelle?” Horror moved through Maddy, and she darted in front of her mom. “Momma, if you’re going to get rides from Estelle Gardner, I’m definitely not going.” She stood taller than her mother, but not by much.
“What is wrong with Estelle?” Momma put one hand on her good hip. “Girl, you better move.”
“Momma.” Maddy did not move out of the way. “Estelle is ninety if she’s a day. She’s legally blind. She shouldn’t be driving.”
“Oh, pish posh,” Momma said, pushing her walker into Maddy’s foot.
“Hey.” She jumped back, as she wasn’t wearing shoes, and she didn’t want to get run over.
“Estelle had her cataracts fixed,” Momma said, no remorse for running over Maddy’s toes. “She can see fine.” She went into the hall in her slow gait from the hip surgery after her fall a few weeks ago. “I can’t ask you to drive me. You have packing to do, and laundry and dishes, and when was the last time you vacuumed?”
She continued listing chores that needed to be done around Maddy’s house until the front door closed behind her, sealing her voice out. Maddy stood in the mouth of her master suite, dumbfounded.
No, she wasn’t the best housekeeper. She worked a busy job, and since her mother’s fall, she’d been going straight to her parents’ house every night after work. The end of the school year was insane, and she hadn’t done laundry for a couple of weeks. It wasn’t a crime.
