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“Oh, Gran.”
I personally wanted to see those recipes. I’d always been a pretty good cook. I got good at it when Dad was too engrossed in his current sculpting or pottery project to remember to put dinner together. But for that year of isolation, I’d really invested in my cooking and baking skills. I’d even had a sourdough starter. Yes, even I rolled my eyes at myself.
“So, are you going to come over?” Maddox’s dark eyes met mine, and I wasn’t sure what to read in them.
Once, he’d been such an open book. I’d known that he loved me forever. Then, something had shifted, and like a dropped glass egg, it’d shattered into a million pieces. Now, I couldn’t tell exactly what he wanted.
I thought he’d made himself clear when he told me we were too different. This was going nowhere. Even our friendship was tenuous since it was based entirely on our shared history. A tense and tangled mess of a history.
It was entirely possible he was doing this because Marley had asked him to. But was it wrong for my heart to hope that it meant something more?
When it came to Maddox Nelson, I could only ever hope that we’d jump one more time.
So, I nodded and said, “Okay. Sure. I’ll come by after work.”
12
SAVANNAH
PRESENT
My mother wore an extravagant blue cocktail dress and had a martini in her hand. Her bright red lips smiled back at me. “Don’t you look lovely?”
I pushed my hands down the front of my purple sundress. It wasn’t anything fancy, but I’d picked it up from Amelia’s boutique. I clearly had not brought enough summer clothes with me to survive a Savannah summer. “Thanks. You look great too. Where are you going?”
“Oh, there’s a charity function at the yacht club.” She waved the martini, as if it were nothing. “My gentleman caller is picking me up any minute now.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Gentleman caller? You’re dating someone?”
“Ah, don’t be blasé, Josephine. What else is there to do in this town?”
I laughed. “Well, have fun.” I turned to go but stalled and faced her again.
“Yes?”
“Did you love my dad?” I whispered.
My mother didn’t even flinch at the question. “Of course I did.”
“Okay.”
“Why would you ask that?”
“I’m reading your diary, and I don’t know … I’m not that far in, but in the end, you chose Edward.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Finish the diary and then ask me that again.”
I nodded at her. My stomach churned. In the diary, she’d been so happy with my dad. He’d been at Holy Cross on scholarship. She’d been there for the summer. Her family wasn’t exactly poor, but poor by old-money standards. And then Edward came in like a wrecking ball. Had he ruined it all? Could we have been one big, happy family my entire life if it wasn’t for him? Or had it always been doomed to end the way it had?
“All right. Have a good night.”
“You too, darling,” she said as I headed out the front door.
With all the thoughts about my mother’s mysterious past crawling through my brain, I went on autopilot over to Gran’s. I’d lost count of how many times I’d made that drive in my life. But it was wild to think that it now belonged to Maddox.
I parked behind Maddox’s Jeep Wrangler on the street in front of the Spanish moss–covered oak that we’d climbed on as kids, and I looked up at the house. The exterior had been painted because the light-blue Victorian was brighter and the white wraparound porch was more vibrant. As I hopped out of the car and crossed the street, the iconic yellow door called me home.
As I climbed onto the porch, I tried to settle my nerves. I’d been in this house hundreds of times. There was nothing different about today. Nothing at all.
I could lie to myself with the best of them.
With a harsh breath out, I knocked on the front door.
Yapping immediately started on the other side. Clomping sounds followed from the direction of the stairs, and Maddox yelled, “Walt, cut it out!”
The front door was yanked open. Maddox held his shih tzu, Walt, in his arms. His smile widened at the sight of me.
“Wow, you look”—he cleared his throat—“uh, beautiful. You look beautiful.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “The dress is new.”
“I like it.” He averted his gaze and jerked the door open wider. “Come on in.”
I stepped into Gran’s house, and Maddox set Walt on the ground. He jumped on my legs, demanding attention. I gave him some serious belly rubs before turning back to the house.
It was … miraculous. Somehow, it looked just as it always had and completely different. The original hardwood floors had been sanded and refinished. They were glossy, as if straight out of a magazine. The walls had a fresh coat of paint. The walls between the kitchen, living, and dining rooms had all come down. So, the space was wide open and inviting.
