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She didn’t want to go down the hall and see the work that waited for her. She did have a lot of dishes in her sink right now, and the dishwasher was full of clean dishes she hadn’t had time to put away yet.
Usually, when she was busy and stressed like this, Momma would come over and stand at the sink, doing dishes and then move to the dining room table to fold Maddy’s laundry. Everything had been thrown out of their normal routine when her mother had tripped up the front steps, and then fallen down them.
“She’s just pushing you away, because she doesn’t want you to miss this opportunity,” she told herself. She’d lived near Momma for her whole life, except for the few years she’d gone to college, and Momma could say some cruel things sometimes, just to get her way.
She turned back to her bedroom, realizing she hadn’t packed any sundresses. She hurried into her closet to get them, because they’d be casual and fun for the kids and sexy and summery for Kyle.
Maddy finished packing her clean clothes, then went to start the ones in her laundry basket. With every task she finished, her excitement grew. She’d cried when she’d told Kyle she wouldn’t be able to come to the ranch for the summer. If they’d kept talking, she wouldn’t be so nervous to make the hour-long drive. She’d have called him the moment she’d finished yelling at her mom about going to the ranch.
She worked and worked, doing dishes and vacuuming, folding laundry, and packing, packing, packing. She was really doing this.
“You are,” she said about midnight, when she finally collapsed into bed.
She was.
* * *
The following morning,Maddy left late. Honestly, a lot of what she did happened late. She managed to arrive at school before the children, and she told herself it didn’t matter when she got to the Texas Longhorn Ranch. Holly had said to “stop by” Blake’s office when she got there.
She took a few extra minutes to wait in the long line at Hiller’s to get the spiced coffee she loved, along with a chocolate chip muffin top and lemon poppyseed muffin top. When she got nervous, she ate, then she’d try to burn off the calories and the nerves in the gym.
“Thank you,” she said, taking her goodies from the girl in the window. She finally hit the road, and her thumbs drummed against the steering wheel. She found her rhythm about halfway to Chestnut Springs, and by the time she pulled into the parking lot at the lodge, the same excitement she’d had until her mother’s fall bubbled up inside her.
She found a parking spot, pulled into it, and got out of the car. She wasn’t sure where Kyle would be at this time of day, on a Saturday, but she knew tonight was the ranch’s second summer concert. Jackie Cliffton, one of the best guitar players in Texas.
Maddy liked how Kyle booked local celebrities and big legends in the country music industry. She hadn’t heard anything more about his call with a top music producer in Nashville, either.
She headed for the entrance of the lodge, and she watched as the door opened and a couple of people came outside. A man and a woman, both of them laughing like a comedian was telling jokes inside. For all Maddy knew, there could be. The Texas Longhorn Ranch provided a variety of activities for all ages, and she wouldn’t put anything past them.
Her feet froze when she realized the man was Kyle Stewart. Her boyfriend.
The way he put his hand on the small of the back of the woman he was with—a beautiful brunette with thick, long hair with just the right amount of wave in it—suggested he perhaps wasn’t Maddy’s boyfriend after all.
They came down the steps, seemingly in their own bubble of joy and happiness. She wore a pencil skirt on the cusp of June, with a blouse with little black dots all over it. She put her hand on his forearm, and if Maddy had seen them going into a restaurant, she’d have assumed they were dating.
Something horrible and hot boiled inside her. She folded her arms and cocked her hip, but that didn’t do much for a tall, tough cowboy like Kyle. She wasn’t exactly curvy, and her power stance really only worked on five-year-olds.
Kyle saw her, and his laughter dried up instantly. He froze too, and the two of them stood several feet apart, staring at one another.
“Hello,” Maddy said, finally taking another step through the gravel. “Who’s this?” She switched her gaze from Kyle to the woman at his side. She had the wherewithal to remove her hand from his arm as the smile slid from her face.
“Maddy,” Kyle said. He came toward her too. “What are you doing here?”
ChapterTwo
Pure embarrassment pulled through Kyle Stewart. He had not expected to see Madeline Cruise standing in the parking lot outside the lodge. He hadn’t spoken to her in several days. Over a week. Maybe longer.
Humiliation drove through him. He hadn’t even had the guts to break up with her properly. He sort of thought he’d just be able to stop talking to her, and that would be that.
“What am I doing here?” she repeated, her voice like acid. “I have a job here this summer.” She started walking, her arms falling back to her sides. Kyle had dated enough women to know the folded arms meant something bad.
She wore a pair of cutoffs that went halfway down her thigh and a pale yellow T-shirt covered in blue and purple hummingbirds. Her hair barely brushed the tops of her shoulders, as she’d cut it, and she didn’t wear much makeup. She still made his heart pitter and pound in a strange way, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t been calling and texting her.
He used to barricade himself in his bedroom just to talk to her.
“Maddy,” he said as she went past him.
“I have to talk to your brother,” she said, breezing by him. “Maybe I’ll find you afterward.” She gave him a glare out of the corner of her eye and continued toward the steps. Up she went and right through the door.
