Chapter Five
Trust is an important foundation in a relationship. If your guy won’t look you in the eye, how do you handle it?
MADDIE’S PHONE jolted her out of an unfortunately familiar dream Saturday morning. She blinked at the white walls, then the Rainbow Brite cupcake still sitting on top of the grass-covered floor.
She hadn’t dreamed about Blake and his bimbos chasing her through her old jungle bedroom in at least a month.
But she hadn’t tried sleeping in her bedroom in at least a month either.
She fumbled for her phone and checked the readout, groaning at Ruby’s number. She rolled onto her back, stretched her feet toward the door, and answered it. “’Lo?”
“Hmph,” Ruby said. “You fall asleep painting again?”
“Magical birthday paint makes everything better,” Maddie said through a yawn.
“Bad dreams again?”
“What can I help you with today, Ruby?”
“Got some business to talk about. You free?”
She was stiff and sore from being up too long and falling asleep on the wood floor, and, now that she noticed it, a little irritated that her rays of sunshine paint had probably dried out. But if Ruby had work for her, she was free. “I can be there in fifteen.”
Maddie disconnected with Ruby, then sat up. Her neck protested the movement. But at least the nightmare had silenced yesterday’s unfortunate soundtrack in her head.
She would’ve preferred silence and amnesia. Instead, she was getting cranky all over again at the reminder of having her ex-boyfriend offer up her old jungle-themed bedroom for a photo shoot with a couple of bosom bunnies who molested him on her bed while a photographer from some supermarket rag captured it all to accompany their article on up-and-coming musicians. Maddie had been at Sunday dinner with her family. He hadn’t even called to tell her he was in town. She’d found out about it with the rest of the world when the issue was published a month later.
She’d thought redecorating would cleanse the room, but four months later, she still hadn’t found her bedroom mojo.
She clamped the lid on the ray of sunshine paint, grabbed it and the blades of grass she’d appropriately used to touch up the floor, and carried them both to her art room, trying to convince herself she didn’t care how Trent had felt about his tour last night. She liked her house, and she liked her paint. Last Christmas, her family held a contest to see who could give her the most obscure color she didn’t already own. Parker won with burnt eggplant.
She’d considered using it in her bedroom after she’d seen the magazine with Blake in it, but she’d found a better use for it. Now if she could get back to using her bedroom for what it was supposed to be used for, she might have reason to turn her art room into a nursery.
She was hoping her Mr. Good Enough could help with that. Whoever he was.
She scarfed down the birthday cupcake, then did a quick rinse-off in the shower. She was hoping she’d like her Mr. Good Enough to let him help with that someday too. But if lust had to go so she didn’t end up with another guy who’d ask her for a quick update to his band’s Web site that led to three days of unpaid work, well, that was a sacrifice she should probably be glad to make.
Almost on time, Maddie made it through the door to Ruby’s shop. The warm, cookie-scented air was a welcome respite from both the cold and the lingering effects of the last twenty-four hours.
But before the bells on the door behind her stopped jingling, déjà vu settled in. Specks of dust floated in the sunbeams streaming through the front windows. The gentle hum of voices came from a smattering of customers. And at the back corner table, a pair of devastating green eyes and a dazzling smile made her cupcake plummet like a meteorite in her stomach.
Two bass notes shuddered through her core.
Then two more.
Yeah, the Jaws theme was totally appropriate here. If only she’d heed the warning.
The day she’d walked through this door and discovered Blake strumming his guitar at that table, light-headed giddiness had taken over her world. He’d been in town visiting distant relatives, but spent the next three days with Maddie instead, and left with a promise to visit as often as his tour schedule allowed.
It’d been great, right up until the bedroom pictures incident.
Which was probably partly why today, Trent’s calculated innocence put her on edge. Not as much as it should’ve though. Was it only yesterday that she’d thought herself older, wiser, and completely immune to angled jaws and crinkly eyes and million-megawatt smiles?
“Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!”
She blinked just in time to see a flash of auburn and pink barreling straight toward her. “Oomph!” Her ten-year-old niece tackled her with a hug, and Maddie laughed. “Hey, Tiffy. That’s some power you got there! You gonna sign up for the football team this year? Show those boys what a linebacker’s made of?”
Tiffy giggled. “Ew, no! Football players break their nails. I’m going to be a cheerleader, and if I do a good job, Mom might let me get a cat. Oh! And guess what! Mom says I get to wear makeup since I’m getting all grown up now and we’re going shopping in Chicago for my practice clothes. Have you ever been to Navy Pier, Maddie? Do you want to go with us?”
“She can’t, Tiffany. She’s not good enough. Or rich enough. Or whatever. Come on. It’s time to go.”
Maddie’s shoulders twitched as she reluctantly let Tiffy go to face her mother. Parker’s often-repeated instructions circled through her head. Don’t make it worse. “Hello, Scilla. How’re you today?”
She brushed past Maddie and snapped her fingers. “Leaving. Tiffany, now.”
The conflict that flashed through the girl’s pale eyes twisted Maddie’s heart. She’d never do that to her own kids. Never ask them to choose between Mommy and Daddy, never keep them from aunts and uncles and grandparents who loved them. But Parker was right. Interfering wouldn’t help him see his daughter more. A lawyer might, but Parker refused to drag Tiffy through that. So Maddie forced a smile and squeezed Tiffy’s hand. “Go on with your mom, sweetie.” She dropped her voice. “Let me know when you’re cheering so I can come watch, okay?”
“Tiffany.” Scilla’s own pale eyes were ice cubes. But when Tiffy slid to her side, the ice queen’s venom melted. Scilla slung an arm through Tiffy’s and leaned in to whisper something in the girl’s ear, then giggled. Tiffy’s slumped shoulders perked up. The door shut, and the tinkling of the bells signaled the end of Maddie’s latest chance to somehow find the right thing to do or say to convince Scilla to let Tiffy have her daddy and his family.
Ruby came out from behind the counter. “Some day that woman will meet her match.”
“Lucky Tiffy, more dysfunctional relationships to learn from.” Not that Maddie knew how to set a good example. With her niece gone, she couldn’t ignore the prickle on her neck that told her Trent was watching.
“Didn’t say she’d find it in a man, hon. Come on over here. Got me a business problem we need to fix.”
Maddie followed Ruby across the shop, her heart thumping faster with each step they took closer to Trent. She tried to ignore it, to worry about Tiffy instead. But despite everything, Tiffy seemed well-adjusted.
Maddie wished she could say the same for herself.
Ruby pulled out a chair at Trent’s table. “You sit on down. Peppermint tea this morning, Maddie? Trent, more coffee?”
Trent flashed his old grin up at Ruby. “Sounds great. Thanks.”
Oh, no. Ruby wanted to have a powwow with Maddie and Trent about business? If he was a Web designer too, here to compete for Ruby’s business, Maddie was hosed.
Ruby pressed Maddie down onto the chair. “Sit. He ain’t gonna bite.”
Maddie wasn’t so sure about that. She scooted her seat away from Trent while Ruby bustled off to the kitchen. Trent reached for his white ceramic coffee mug and murmured, “Braaaaaiiiinsss.”
Maddie choked back a surprised laugh. The corners of his lips twitched up. The smile barely reached his nose, never mind his eyes, but the effort made her curious.
In a clinical sort of way. Uh-huh.
Trent scooted his seat close and leaned into her. He smelled like newly washed sheets that had dried in an ocean breeze, fresh and salty and clean. He licked his thumb, and the pit of her stomach dropped to her toes as a familiar tension built between her thighs.
He lifted his thumb toward her face. She nearly toppled her chair in a rush to get away. “What’re you doing?” she squeaked.
He raised his eyebrows over those clear emerald eyes and gestured to her neck. “You’ve got some paint there.”
Somehow she managed not to clap a hand where he’d indicated. “It’s a fashion statement.”
His eyes creased in the corners, but his smile looked forced. “Just trying to help.”
If by help he meant turn your insides upside down, he was doing a darn good job of it. Too good. She needed her insides concentrating on two things, babies and work, and he wouldn’t be helping with either.
He flicked a glance at the door. “Was that Prissy Cooper?”
And her world righted itself once again. Back when the world knew her as Prissy, she’d been the cheerleading captain and Trent’s rumored final choice as a prom date his senior year. The year Maddie had come in behind Mr. Higgins and skipped the dance altogether. “She goes by Scilla now, but yes.”
“Huh.” He leaned back. “Was she that ugly in high school? I thought I had better taste.”
Maddie sputtered. If he wasn’t flirting with her, he was awful darn close. She should call Gina. This was alternate dimension territory.
Ruby and Sarah Jo appeared and slid two plates of food and two steaming mugs onto the table. Trent flashed his grin and thanked them, and Sarah Jo’s cheeks went pink as she scurried away.
Maddie surveyed the omelet and toast in front of her.
“Eat it.” Ruby settled in across from Maddie. “You need the protein.”
Protein today, fiber and laxatives tomorrow. But she must look good in her old age if Trent preferred her to Scilla.
Or maybe he was a new breed of zombie intent on eating her self-respect instead of her brains. She’d have to ask Gina if that was possible. In the meantime, the omelet smelled heavenly.
Trent leaned into her space again. “That looks good. Can I have a nibble?”
Her fork wobbled in her hand, the egg teetering on the tines. Maddie gulped. “Of my omelet? Or something else?”
A spark of amusement lingered in front of something darker in his eyes. “Got something else to offer?” he murmured.
She almost swallowed her tongue. A vague scent of danger rolled off him.
“I thought you didn’t bite,” she said.
His grin turned wicked. “I’m not one to disappoint a lady, if that’s what she wants.”
Maddie shoved her food in her mouth. Ruby eyed them both with a speculative look that made Maddie’s omelet sit in her mouth like rubber cement. She gulped it down with her tea. Last night, she’d been certain Trent had a girlfriend. But he was watching her over his banana muffin like he’d rather snack on her instead.
The Jaws theme grew louder.
Babies, she reminded herself. She wanted babies. With a guy who’d worship her as though she were worth more than a dozen of Ruby’s banana muffins, who didn’t have issues deeper than the mud in her front yard, and who didn’t have a girlfriend waiting for him somewhere in Georgia.
So why did Trent make her palms sweat and her tongue swell up until she wasn’t sure she could form a coherent sentence?
Ruby rapped a fork on the table. “Now that we’re all here, I’ve got a proposal for you two.”
Maddie should’ve known better than to put an omelet on top of a cupcake breakfast. “Great,” she managed.
Trent shifted and casually draped his arm over the back of Maddie’s chair. His thigh brushed against hers, sending a jolt of awareness straight to her clenched belly. “What’s up, Ruby?” he asked.
“Business is down,” Ruby said. “But I got to thinking last night, and I think I got me an idea to turn that around. Need some help though.”
Trent flashed his killer smile at both of them. “You know I’ll help as much as I can, but I have to watch my girlish figure.”
Ruby folded her arms over her chest. “Don’t you be cute with me. I know who you are. Sarah Jo googled you last night.”
“Yeah? She find anything good?”
“Enough to make me wonder what sort of potential you see in our little town.”
Maddie sat straighter. Who was Trent? He stretched his legs out and his arm brushed Maddie’s shoulders. Her back twitched, and she forgot the mystery of Trent in favor of the thrill of him.
And there was another beat of the Jaws theme.
A slow grin spread across his face. “Aw, Ruby, you don’t expect me to work on my vacation, do you?”
“Some vacation.” Ruby sniffed. “You ain’t foolin’ me. Comes right down to it, we both know you’re gonna be needing something to keep you busy a while here. Matter of fact, I might have just the thing.”
“You’ve always got just the right thing.” He held the muffin up in a mock salute.
“My shop needs some updating something bad.”
“This place?” Trent glanced around. “I like your shop. It’s comfortable. Quaint.”
Ruby fingered one of the gray plastic flowers in the centerpiece. “Quaint my tootsies. This old building’s crying to me every day that I don’t care enough to make her pretty again, and I’m tired of it. You’re the answer to my pleas to the sandwich gods, that’s what you are. My kitchen needs some rejuvenation. My baking ain’t what it used to be, and I think it’s bad vibes from the décor in here.”
“Tastes great to me,” he said.
Ruby’s eyes narrowed. Maddie started to giggle, but Trent brushed his thumb over her shoulder, and she shivered instead.
“Don’t you patronize me.” Ruby wagged a finger at him. “I’ve been losing after-church business to the Elks lodge, of all places. That greasy chicken’s crap compared to what I serve up, but I don’t get the customers because the atmosphere is dead in here. I need a renovation, and you coming here now is exactly the sign I needed that it’s time. You can start Monday morning.”
Trent held Ruby’s steady gaze without flinching, his thumb still making circles on Maddie’s shoulder. “You sure you want to go drastic first? Layer of paint and some new linoleum can make a place feel new, and you don’t need me for that.”
A piece of the Trent puzzle shifted into place. Maddie now had an inkling of why her floor horrified him.
Not that she’d sympathize. Next, she’d start picturing his tongue doing what his thumb was, and then her kids would have something more than just genes in common with Tiffy.
And there was more Jaws.
“Alright,” Ruby said. “You can start in the restroom. If I like that, we’ll move on to the dining room.”
Trent’s fingers stilled. “Bathroom’s complicated. You’re gonna need a plumber.”
“Psh. Your daddy was a plumber, wasn’t he?”
“Among other things.”
If Ruby noticed the tension in his voice, she didn’t show it. “Don’t see no reason you can’t replace a toilet and a sink. Then we can get on with the paint and the floors. That’s what Maddie’s here for. Girl knows her way around a paintbrush. You seen some of her work yet?”
“Matter of fact, I have.”
Maddie snuck a peek at him. Not a trace of the horror or disgust she’d seen last night. Nope, simply a calm demeanor with a trace of dark amusement evident in his upturned lips.
She preferred the blatant disapproval.
“Her living room still in mourning?” Ruby asked.
Trent cut a glance at Maddie. She folded her arms over her chest, and he grinned. “Yep. What happened? Have to put down a purple zombie cow?”
“Her mama got sick, and it’s been doom and gloom in there ever since.” Ruby shook her head. “No black walls in my bathroom, you hear?”
Maddie’s shoulders hitched. “It’s burnt eggplant, and it doesn’t fit your personality.”
“Hope your mom’s okay,” Trent said.
The quiet tone of his voice and the way he shifted his eyes away gave her pause. Whatever else he was up to, his concern seemed genuine, and not at all in line with the Trent she’d seen last night.
So which one was faking it?
“She’s fine now, thank you.” And she’d hopefully stay that way as long as she was a good girl and took her medicine. Her parents weren’t supposed to get sick, and they weren’t supposed to get old. She didn’t want them to. They deserved to know a few more of their grandchildren first.
“So are we agreed?” Ruby said. “You two think you can work together?”
Trent tilted his head. “Absolutely. In fact, Ruby, I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard all morning.”
Maddie couldn’t decide if she should be flattered or suspicious. But she could use the extra income. “I’m in.”
Trent’s answering smile had an edge. Prickles went up along her neck.
“Good,” Ruby said. “I got me a rainy day fund saved up for this sort of thing.”
She zeroed in on Maddie. “Now, what you need to be worryin’ about is making that room look so good I’ll want a Web site to match. ’Cuz I gotta be honest, I ain’t been feeling the Internet love. I want it handled better than good enough, you hear me?”
The pit of Maddie’s stomach dropped. She couldn’t afford to lose another local account. “You always get our best, Ruby.”
“I’m counting on it. This whole town’s counting on it.”
“Don’t you worry about the restroom, Ruby,” Trent said. “I never give just good enough.”
“I’m counting on that too.” Ruby smiled like she had a secret. Maddie gaped at her. The busybody thought she should consider Trent as a Mr. Good Enough.
“You want to give me some idea of what you’re looking for?” Trent said.
It was none of his business, even if the prospect of seeing what else his hands could do had her entire body humming.
But then Ruby spoke up. “Expert like you, I think I can trust you to find what works good. I expect you got a better eye for the bones of this place than I do, and Maddie’ll have some decorating ideas you can pick from.”
“Creative license. Exactly what I like to hear.” He pushed his chair back and held his hand out to Maddie. “You coming?”
She gulped. He wanted her to go into the bathroom with him. Alone. In a dinky room with a toilet and a sink and the two of them and whatever else was on his mind this morning. “Sure.”
The Jaws theme was hitting a crescendo.
Trent held the door for her then joined her in the bathroom. The door swung shut behind them. He stood wide-legged and rubbed his chin. “Huh. It’s bigger than I remember.”
Hard to imagine, since he took up the entire room. She squeezed herself against the sink in an effort to keep some personal space. “So you’re a handyman.”
“Something like that.” He ran a hand over the cracked ivory wall, then tapped at it. After a minute, he stopped and glanced over at her, his eyes making a slow perusal of her body.
Her breath hitched in her chest. He shifted closer. She slid off the sink and bumped into the wall.
One corner of his mouth lifted, but his voice came out low and husky. “I didn’t thank you for your help yesterday.”
Her thighs trembled. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. But the part where his attention left her unable to form a coherent sentence felt familiar enough. “Y—you’re welcome.”
He ducked his head and swayed closer to her. “I should’ve been nicer about your painting. It surprised me. Never knew you were so talented.”
A flash of unease rippled through her. But then he was smiling at her as if he trusted her. As if he needed her. As if he wanted to be here, in Ruby’s bathroom, alone with her.
He lifted a hand to her cheek. “You think they make a shade of paint to match your eyes? That blue’d be real nice in here.”
“Cornflower,” she whispered. She imagined the two of them in here, painting the walls together, making a mess of their clothes. Trent would take his shirt off, and he’d ask her to help him wash his hot skin clean.
She needed fresh air. The imaginary paint fumes were getting to her already.
But Trent was still in her space, getting closer and closer. “We could make a great team.”
“T—team?” Oh, yeah. A team. With beautiful cornflower walls and blond-haired, green-eyed babies.
She latched onto his cotton T-shirt. His warm, taut stomach quivered beneath her hands, and he sucked in an audible breath. “Every master renovator needs a good painter.”
Renovator. She blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and grasped onto a thread of reality. “You’re not just a handyman. You renovate old houses.”
He nodded into her hair, sending frissons of awareness over her scalp. “Older the better. Saw a great old house over on Jefferson this morning. Needed lots of painting. You’d love it.”
Lots of painting. At a new house. Together, with Trent.
Who was home only because of a girl.
In a blink, her dreams disappeared as if they’d been dipped in paint thinner. Her jaw worked up and down in her best trout imitation while she struggled to find her voice. He was despicable. The Devil’s own minion. Lower than cow dung, lower than Cupid himself. He was a big old fake. She shoved him away. “That’s what this is all about? That’s why you’re being so—so this today? You think you can smile at me, turn on that charm, suggest a new house, and that I’ll just—just—ugh!”
He folded his arms over his chest. “Guess your opinion of me hasn’t improved much.”
She fisted her hands in her hair. “I don’t know, Trent. What would your girlfriend think of your behavior this morning?”
All semblance of the easygoing, interested Trent vanished as his eyes hardened to Kryptonite. “Doing a little googling yourself? Find anything else you like?”
She flung out a hand, gripped his ear, and twisted. He yelped in surprise and bent sideways. “Hey—”
“Let’s get a couple of things straight here. First of all, I didn’t have to google anything. Three brothers, remember? I know a thing or two about how your brain works.”
He flailed his arms, but she twisted behind him and held tight. “Second, if you think you’re gonna charm your way into my pants or my house, you can dream on, because you just proved you’re not worthy of either. And third, I am a nice person. Do not take advantage of that again.”
She shoved him and spun for the door. He slapped his hand against the doorframe to block her. “Nice? Didn’t feel very nice last night when you sent me to my mother’s grave instead of to Linda’s house.”
His mother’s grave? And he wanted to talk about Maddie’s low opinion of him? She clenched her hands, and her nails dug into her palms. “Move.”
The Kryptonite ignited. “Or what? You’ll call your brothers?”
That wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as tearing him apart herself. “For your information, your memorial statue is there. At your funeral, Linda sprinkled Andi’s ashes around it. My apologies for thinking you might like to see what you meant to this town or where your cousin’s remains are. Now move.”
He blinked. She shoved again, and this time, he moved. As she tumbled out into the shop, she came face-to-collarbone with Hunter Galloway. She stepped back, and his caterpillar-like eyebrows went up over his coke-bottle glasses. “Does your father know you consort with the devil in public now?”
“If he doesn’t yet, I’m sure you’ll tell him soon enough.” Maddie sidestepped him and headed for the door. “Bathroom’s already occupied, and it can handle only one shithead at a time.”
“Hell and damnation, Ruby,” Hunter called toward the kitchen. His arms, which seemed two inches too short for his body, lifted in the air as he tilted his face to the ceiling. “Lord smite Thine enemies that Your true believers might live in peace.”
“Amen,” Maddie muttered. Ruby appeared in the kitchen doorway, towel in one hand and cookie sheet in the other. She had one of those looks again, the kind that usually preceded some kind of hullabaloo about town.
This time, it appeared she’d caught on about twelve hours too late.
Maddie’s biological clock gave a thump, then another, and a couple more. Combined with the hum of the fluorescents and the ding of the cash register, a new tune burst out inside her body. Guns N’ Roses. “Sweet Child of Mine.”
Not at this rate.
She flung the door open. She had a dating profile to upload. So she could find a man. Get married. Have babies.
Brown-haired, cornflower-eyed, open-minded babies.