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Maddy cocked one hip. “I’ll have to go to your family party alone.” She rebelled at the thought. No, she wouldn’t go alone. She wouldn’t go at all. She wanted him to introduce her around to everyone as his girlfriend, though everyone in his family knew they were dating. She’d never stood at his side and had him say, “Mama, this is Madeline Cruise, my girlfriend.” She didn’t have to deal with Sharon Stewart hardly at all, and she wanted to start building a relationship with her. A personal relationship, not a working one.
She barely had personal relationships with any of his siblings as it was. She’d sent texts to the brothers gathered in her kitchen that morning, and she’d actually been surprised when they’d shown up.
She was also shocked June had ended. Once Kyle had returned from Nashville, the time had just flown. Sunny days, fun times in the ice cream shop and on the cornhole pitch, cuddling with Kyle during concerts or taking the Starry Night Hike with him…Maddy had sure been enjoying herself this summer.
Now he was leaving again.
“I have to go,” he said, looking up. “I’ll pull another song from another demo tape, and I’ll show him how good I am.”
Maddy didn’t know what to say. She honestly thought even if she did speak, Kyle wouldn’t hear her. The man got an idea in his head, and that was that. “All right.” She turned and left the bedroom, striding as quickly as her short legs could carry her. Back in the kitchen, she surveyed his rowdy brothers.
They laughed and talked, and it did warm her heart how they all got along. She knew that wasn’t all the time, but right now, in this moment, they sure seemed to love one another. “What’s the verdict?” she asked, trying to stuff away the racing emotions in her chest. She could deal with them once she was alone.
“Chocolate,” Blake said.
“No way,” Jesse said. “I’m with Kyle. The almond strawberry one is money.” He reached out with his fork and took another bit of cake right from the platter. He grinned as he put it in his mouth, and Maddy could only smile at him.
She wasn’t sure what her voice would sound like if she talked too much right now. “Todd?” she managed to ask.
“I like this honey one.” He pointed to it with his fork. “It’s refined. Sublte.”
“Yeah, because we’re so subtle,” Nash said.
Todd gave him a glare and then shrugged one shoulder.
“Chocolate for me too,” Nash said, and that evened out the votes again. Kyle and Jesse for almond strawberry, and chocolate for Nash and Blake. Adam had a horseback riding class this morning, so he hadn’t come. Her swing vote—Todd—had swung honey.
“Between chocolate and almond,” she said, looking at Todd.
He took another bite of each, his brothers watching. Kyle still hadn’t come out of the hall, which meant he was probably booking a plane ticket via an app or on the browser on his phone. Irritation shot through Maddy, but she contained it the best way she knew how.
“Almond,” Todd said, causing gleeful shouts from Jesse.
“Thanks, guys,” Maddy said, her taste-test now concluded. It didn’t matter anyway. She wasn’t going to the family picnic. Not without Kyle.
“We better get back to work,” Blake said with a sigh, and with some slight grumbling from Nash and Jesse, the four of them got up and made their way to the front door. Maddy followed them, thanked them again, and closed the door behind them.
She leaned against it, too many things streaming through her to make sense of. She looked up at the ceiling, almost in a silent plea to know what to say and do, and then her eyes landed on the mess of cakes, forks, and plates on her countertop. That she knew what to do with, and she walked into the kitchen to start cleaning up.
Kyle returned about the time the first cake went in the fridge. “They’re gone?”
“You’ve been back there for twenty minutes.” Her words had some venom in them, and Maddy didn’t know how to remove it.
“I think I’ve found the right song,” he said.
She closed the fridge and faced him. He held up his phone, which started to play a country tune. Not too fast and not too slow. Just right. He held earnestness and anxiety in his face, and Maddy didn’t want to add to it. At the same time, he didn’t even seem to notice her distress.
It washisfamily party. No one else from the ranch or lodge would be there, and she couldn’t go without him.
“It’s nice,” she said.
“I’m gonna run home and pack and book a ticket,” he said. “Adam said he’d host the concert tonight, and Todd’s already light on ranch work tomorrow. He and Adam are going to handle the two concerts then.”
“Great,” she said, though she didn’t think it was great at all. He’d clearly been making all these plans to be gone, and she once again sat on the bottom of the list.
“Mama says you should still come to the picnic.” He came toward her then, and Maddy leaned against the counter next to the fridge.
“I’m not going to do that,” she said. “It’s afamilyparty.”
