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“Maddie, I—”
“No,” she interrupted. “Just don’t. What’s important is that I realize I was wrong about Emmett. He deserves my trust and if he’ll have me back, I’m going to give it to him and more. But I’m not sure where I stand with you. Mama might have forgiven you, but it’s going to take some time for me to come to terms with all this. I do know I’m not going to be Daddy’s little girl anymore, though. I want to be Emmett’s girl. Maybe someday even Emmett’s wife. And when I am, I’ll sleep better than Mama ever has.”
There. She said it. It was like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Maddie hadn’t been certain she could get the words out, and if she hadn’t had Emmett in her life, she probably would’ve accepted her father’s apology and went on like nothing happened. But she knew better now, and she was thankful for that. Not every man was a cheat or a liar like her father. Not every man wanted to take advantage of her like Joel. That hope made her bolder.
“I understand,” Norman said at last. “Take your time and know that I’m here if you want to talk about anything. Will I see you at dinner this Sunday?”
Maddie nodded.
“Okay. I’ll see you then.” Norman didn’t push for a hug. He raised his hand to wave good-bye and slipped out of the shop.
She watched him leave the shop, letting the breath out of her lungs as the door clicked shut behind him. Maddie knew she had two painful discussions ahead of her. One was done. That just left Emmett. If only she knew how to even begin.
Chapter Twenty
“Do you really think defacing public property is the way to my sister’s heart?” Grant shouted. “I mean, you two seemed to hit it off, but as her brother, this is not the tactic I would’ve recommended.”
Emmett clung to the rickety metal ladder he was climbing, looking down at Grant and realizing he was only six feet off the ground. “I brought you with me so you can call an ambulance if I fall,” he said. “Not for your opinion.”
“Okay,” Grant said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Of course, it’s not dangerous to buy jewelry or flowers. That’s what most guys would’ve done.”
“What did you do to win Pepper back?” Emmett challenged.
“I pulled her from a burning building and saved her life. Flowers would’ve been less dangerous, though, and probably just as effective if I’d given them to her before her house burned down. What gave you the idea to do this anyway?”
Emmett climbed up two more rungs. “When we had to repaint the water tower, she told me that she’d never had a boy declare his love for her up here. I know it sounds stupid, but that’s what I want to do. I want the whole town to know how I feel about Maddie.”
“But you’re afraid of heights.”
Emmett climbed another rung with a white-knuckled grip. “I am very aware of that. That’s what makes the gesture extra special.”
“What am I supposed to tell the cops if they come by?”
“Tell them they can arrest me when I get back down. Now, hush, so I can get up here and get this done.”
Focusing on each rung, Emmett climbed higher and higher. Last time, he told himself that if he survived climbing this thing, he’d never come up here ever again. And here he was, four weeks later, with a backpack of spray paint. He was too high to look down or talk to Grant any longer. All he could do was keep going and eventually he’d reach the top.
He breathed a sigh of relief once he spied the metal platform. Climbing onto it, he stepped away from
the ladder and circled the tower looking for the right spot. He had to focus and not look around, or he’d start panicking and never get this done.
The water tower was visible from the bakery’s front window. If he planned this right, Maddie would be able to see it at the shop. He’d given Gertie twenty bucks to watch for it and make sure Maddie saw it before she left for the day. Grant had been right, jewelry and flowers were good, and he had flowers at the ready, but he needed the water tower to lure her here so he could give them to her.
Emmett slipped out of his backpack and pulled out two cans of hot-pink spray paint. The shade was a little darker than the one she used at the bakery, but a pastel wouldn’t show up as well from a distance. He wanted everyone to see this.
Shaking a can, he pulled off the lid and started. It took him a few sprays to get the right distance so it didn’t drip but had a solid line. It wasn’t as easy as he thought. For what it was worth, Clark had done a decent job. His paintings were vulgar, but they were well done.
By the time he finished his name, he had it figured out. Below it, he wrote the word “Loves” with a heart for the “o.” Then he finished with Maddie’s name. It was a sizable declaration, the letters tall and bold to stand out against the white background. His handwriting was never the greatest, and this close it was hard to tell, but he thought it looked pretty good. For romantic vandalism, at the least.
Emmett slipped the paint back into his bag and pulled his phone out. He texted Gertie to let her know he was done, and then waited to see what would happen next.
“Ugh. I was going to use my coupon to get a cookie, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m not eating anything Gertie the Ghost touched.”
Maddie had been in the midst of washing pans when the snotty voice from the front of the shop caught her attention. She dropped one back into the water and dried her hands off on a towel. She went out to the front of the shop, where she found Gertie standing by the register, looking even more pale than usual. Three other teenage girls were huddling in front of the bakery case, snickering. They all straightened up when they saw Maddie.
“Can I help you?” she asked them in a sharp tone.
The brunette ringleader of the group piped up. “I’d like a white-chocolate-raspberry-cheesecake bar,” she said, thrusting out her coupon.
