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Maddie couldn’t keep up with Nikki’s diets and wouldn’t tell her that she didn’t need to be good. People said the same to her whenever she tried—and usually failed—to diet. No one saw the love handles or her bumpy bits when they told her she didn’t need to diet.
Snatching up her handbag, she twisted the door handle and had to step back as someone pushed open the door. A huge bouquet of flowers greeted her. She tumbled back a little as a pink rose breezed past her face. Her heart sank when Frank appeared from behind the over-the-top bouquet. Was it silly for her to be disappointed?
Yes, it was. She couldn’t expect Sawyer to want to be around her every moment of the day, though she had secretly hoped he might come and check how she was.
“Sorry.” The red-haired man blushed a colour that nearly matched his hair. Frank was one of her better customers and a huge book-lover.
He coughed and handed her the flowers and she tried not to scowl at them. “Are these for me?”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure what your favourite flower was so the florist went for a bit of everything.”
She glanced over the flowers and noted that there was quite a gathering. Nikki came to her rescue before she had to make some insightful remark about them or pick her favourite one. Once Nikki had taken them from her, murmuring something about putting them in water, she offered Frank a shy smile.
“You really didn’t need to.”
“I wanted to.” He smiled warmly. “You’re always so good at finding the books I want. Do you have that first edition you called me about?”
“Of course.” Maddie led him over to the counter and fished out the book to show it to him. While he leafed through the pages and inspected the first copyright page, she studied him. Frank had been visiting the shop more often recently. She’d begun to wonder if he might be interested in her and the flowers told her he might just be.
But why wasn’t she interested in him? He didn’t look like a bad boy but he was a nice-looking guy, even when he did blush bright red. And they both loved books. Really, he was just the sort of guy she should be considering.
Except she wasn’t. Perhaps she was stupid. Smart, smart but not street smart, that had always been her problem. Life tended to confuse her but give her books and mathematical problems and she was at the top of her game.
But, no. When it came to men she was stupid. Especially because she was secretly wishing it had been Sawyer than had brought the flowers.
Chapter Eight
Maddie looked great in black. He knew he was meant to be playing the grieving son but he couldn’t help glancing at her. Though he tried to stare at the casket and summon something other than relief, he couldn’t. His father had been a sadistic bastard and it really felt like a weight had lifted.
His father’s coffin was slowly moved behind the curtain and they stood for a hymn. Many of the locals had turned up but he didn’t care about any of them. Though they had kind words to say, they weren’t sincere. Maddie, however, was genuine in the way she’d touched his arm and asked if he was okay. It was more than he deserved after the way he’d treated her all those years ago.
But...he was here to make up for it, right? He wasn’t that same self-centred jerk who had left her because he was too scared to face up to anything. He’d always told himself he was doing the best for her. Hell, even her parents had wanted him gone, telling him she wouldn’t go to college if he didn’t leave. And it was all true. However, really he’d done it for himself. So he could get away from Ballicliff and the judgement.
Sawyer couldn’t regret those twelve years apart. It had made him into the man he was today. And that man finally deserved a woman like Maddie. He simply had to prove to her she needed him just as much.
Damn, she really did look amazing. That black dress skimmed her curves just so, reminding him of the hot-as-hell figure beneath it. He’d always lusted after her—they’d lost their virginities together—but they hadn’t known much about sex if he was honest. Now he could only imagine what he would do with those curves...
He snapped his head forward as the singing ended and drew in a long breath. As much as he didn’t want to be here, he needed to at least look like the doting son. He stepped forward and waited for the guests to exit the crematorium as they all shook his hand and offered his sympathies. Few of them looked him in the eye.
This was how it would always been. Once a bad boy, always a bad boy. But they didn’t matter. Only Maddie did.
“How are you?”
He put out a hand automatically and she slipped hers into his. When he met her gaze, she appeared as shocked as he that they were touching. Shards of sensation slipped up his arm and he gave her hand a little squeeze before releasing it.
“I’m fine.”
“Sure?”
Sawyer smiled at the concern in her gaze. She knew about the fights he had with his dad and how the man pretty much hated him to the point of ignoring him, but she never got quite how bad things were. She never knew that his father couldn’t be bothered to feed him or wash his clothes. After the death of his mother, he’d taken care of himself.
He leaned in a little, just enough to smell her floral perfume and spot the tiny scattering of freckles on her nose. “Totally fine, I promise.”
Taking a moment to thank the crematorium staff, he joined Maddie once more. She had her back to him as she spoke to Aggie Braithwaite—one of the oldest members of the town. He briefly admired the curve of her rear against the tight dress and couldn’t help grinning when Aggie gave him a sour look. He’d been caught.
Though he managed to drag her away from Aggie, he didn’t get much chance to talk to her with all the well-wishers around. Even as they gathered in the pub for drinks and snacks, the buzz around her meant he couldn’t get a word in edgeways. He’d never really felt like he’d belonged here, but now he knew he truly didn’t. Maddie fit in perfectly, talking with the other locals, laughing and smiling, while he hung around the bar and was relatively ignored.
At his own father’s funeral.
