13

Jada tried to take Sunday off to go to the farmers’ market with Atticus and then focus on her own business, but her mother wasn’t feeling well enough to get out of bed this morning, and Jada didn’t want to close the store when it was supposed to be open. So she canceled her plans and took her computer to Sugar Mama, thinking that after she was finished with the morning baking, if it was slow, she could work on her own stuff.

She managed to get the cases stocked and the store open on time and was glad she’d made the effort when a large party walked in almost immediately. After they left, she had quite a few more customers. The coupon she’d posted online seemed to be driving in extra traffic. She wasn’t getting much done on her computer but at least her mother would be able to pay her bills this month.

Atticus brought Maya to the store around three and hung out and talked a bit. He was excited about a job interview he had lined up next week. He brought that up again, even though he’d mentioned it before, probably so that she wouldn’t be mad when he left to meet his friend instead of helping at the store.

“Do you think Atticus will be able to get a job?” Maya asked when he was gone.

“I don’t see why not.”

“He can’t walk!”

“He can do other things. You’ve seen how capable he is.”

“So why doesn’t Grandma want him to apply?”

“She’s afraid they’ll tell him no, and it’ll hurt his feelings. She doesn’t want to see that happen.”

“I don’t want to see that happen, either.”

“Neither do I, but we can’t give up for fear of failure. We’ll miss every shot we don’t take, right? We have to try to build a productive life no matter what we’re dealing with.”

Maya seemed to consider Jada’s answer. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Everyone gets rejected, Maya. It’s part of life. We have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and keep trying.”

“That’s easy for us to say, but...he’s kind of different.”

“Because he has a disability, but that doesn’t make him worthless unless he decides to let it.”

Again, she took a moment to think. “True...”

“He can find something if he searches hard enough.”

A hesitant smile touched her lips. “It’d be really great if he did.”

“It sure would. For a lot of reasons.”

A mother and child walked in, so Jada headed down the display cases toward them. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” the woman replied as the child pointed from cookie to cookie, exclaiming that he wanted this one and that one and this one, too.

The woman was laughing when she looked up again. “I guess he’d like to try them all. Give me a dozen and make it a selection.”

“You got it.” A young couple entered the store. Seeing her chance to help someone all on her own, Maya hurried closer to them. She’d already served them when someone else came in. Jada heard the bell over the door but didn’t pay much attention. She was still waiting on the mother and child, and Maya had proved her competence.

But then Jada heard a voice that sent her stomach plunging to her knees.

The girl had to be Jada’s daughter. As far as Maddox was concerned, they looked just alike—both of them beautiful. A smile tugged at his lips as she watched him move closer to the display cases, obviously excited to have another customer. She’d already greeted him with a “Welcome to Sugar Mama” when he walked in and was now trying to be patient so he’d have a chance to decide on his order.

He cast a glance in Jada’s direction but she was busy helping a woman with a little boy.

After viewing the video clip from last night on Uriah’s computer, it’d taken a couple of hours for Maddox to gather the nerve to come in. The grainy black-and-white image of Jada hurrying toward his house with that pie hadn’t been clear enough to say for certain that it was her, but when he considered that image with the type of car that was also in the video, he knew it couldn’t be anyone else.

He’d spent the hours since he’d realized pacing across his living room floor, trying to figure out what to do with the information. He was almost afraid to believe that she’d meant any of the things she’d said. He thought she must be playing a cruel joke on him. But then he’d remembered the look on her face when they’d locked gazes at the Blue Suede Shoe and knew it wasn’t a joke. He hadn’t misread her expression. She still had feelings for him—just as he still had feelings for her. Although he doubted it would or could ever go anywhere, now that he knew, he couldn’t just ignore what she’d admitted, not when he was dying to be with her, too. He’d told himself he should wait until she contacted him again. He’d hate it if he scared her away. But now that he knew it was her, he was dying to see her. So here he was.

I’d give almost anything to be able to taste you right now, to run my lips up your warm neck and find those perfect lips.

Those words affected him on a much deeper level now that he knew Jada was the one who’d typed them.

“What can I get for you today?” the girl asked. “If you haven’t tried our red velvet cookies, you really should.”

“Okay. That sounds good,” he told her, and she promptly pulled one from the case and cut it into small pieces, one of which she handed him with a napkin.

“Delicious,” he said, but he couldn’t really taste it. His stomach was in knots. He could tell Jada knew he was there and that she was nervous about him interacting with her daughter. He could understand why. If Maya went home and told Susan or Atticus he’d come to the store, it could cause problems. He shouldn’t have taken the risk, but Jada had been alone the last time he’d seen only her car in the alley. He’d assumed she was alone today, too.

The woman Jada had been helping took her sack and guided the boy out of the store.

“I’ll take over now, Maya,” Jada said, a strained smile on her face.

“I’ve got it, Mom,” Maya responded, reluctant to hand over her customer.

Jada hesitated as if she wasn’t sure whether to push the issue. No doubt she understood that coming off too strong would only create more questions. “Is this your first time in Silver Springs?” Maya asked him.

Maddox got the impression she was mimicking what she’d heard her mother and grandmother do, trying to show Jada that she could do a good job. She had no idea Jada didn’t want her near him for other reasons.

Maddox opened his mouth to respond, but Jada answered for him.

“Mr. Richardson is the principal of the girls’ school at New Horizons that’ll be opening this fall. He lives here.”

Maddox waited for recognition of his name to tip Maya off that he might be connected to the person who’d shot her uncle, but no such recognition dawned. “Oh! How do you like it here so far?”

“It’s a beautiful area.” He indicated the red velvet cookies beneath the glass nearby. “I’ll take half a dozen of these.”

“Okay! The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are really good, too,” she said. “And if you order a dozen, you save some money.”

“That sounds like a deal,” he said. “Make it a dozen and put in whatever you think I’d like.”

She grinned at her mother, proud of herself, but Jada was too anxious to smile back. She watched him as though he held a loaded gun and might pull the trigger at any second.

“Thank you,” he told Maya when she finished boxing up his order and handed him the cookies.

“Would you like to get a loyalty card?” she asked as he pulled out his wallet to pay.

As much as he’d wanted to see Jada, he regretted putting her on the spot. He was about to decline so he could get out of there, but then Maya added, “If you sign up you’ll get promotions and other offers via email, and you’ll also get free cookies when we’ve stamped all these little pictures here.”

She seemed so hopeful that he’d comply he couldn’t resist.

After giving her his information, he paid and was about to leave when he remembered that he’d had a plan when he came in.

“I was thinking about driving over to Santa Barbara sometime this week for dinner. Is there any chance you’ve been there lately? Maybe you could recommend a good restaurant...”

He’d hoped Jada would show some interest in the topic, that by making it clear he’d meet her out of town she might show a spark of interest. But she just kept her head down, intent on reorganizing some drawer, when she replied, “Sorry. Haven’t been there in ages.”

Maya must’ve heard her mother’s surly tone and, not understanding the reason for it, tried to smooth over it. “My uncle Atticus goes to Santa Barbara all the time. Would you like me to call and ask him?”

“No, that’s okay,” Maddox said and, cursing himself for taking a stab at trying to ask Jada out, he left.

Jada’s heart continued to pound long after Maddox left. He didn’t seem to think anything was up when he saw Maya, didn’t seem to notice his own features in her face, and Maya didn’t seem to think anything when she saw him, but the whole situation had almost given Jada a heart attack. What had possessed him to come in again? He’d apologized for his part in what happened thirteen years ago, said he’d stay away from her, and then...bam! There he was!

When she didn’t have any more customers, she went into the bathroom to see if he’d texted MysteryWoman23 today and found a nice message telling her he was having another piece of pie. Yet he also wanted cookies?

She nibbled on her bottom lip as she deliberated over whether she should say anything in reply and decided she shouldn’t.

“Mom? Can I have Uncle Atticus pick me up? There’s a show on tonight I want to see.”

Jada washed her hands and came out of the bathroom. “Why not have Atticus record it for you?”

“I can’t go watch it now? It’s slowed down a lot here.”

As long as Maya was around, Jada felt confident she could overcome the temptation to interact with Maddox. But if her daughter left, she was afraid her resolve would crumble.

She looked out into the empty lobby. She didn’t have a good reason she could state for making Maya stay. “Okay,” she said. “As long as Atticus doesn’t mind.”

“Thanks, Mom!” She texted her uncle and, twenty minutes later, he came by to get her.

Jada cleaned the front of the store, helped a few more customers and started to clean up the back. She had plenty of work to do on her computer, but she was too preoccupied to be creative. She couldn’t get Maddox’s expression out of her mind when he’d mentioned the restaurant in Santa Barbara. He’d acted as though he’d expected a warmer reception from her and was disappointed when he didn’t receive it, but she didn’t understand why that would be the case.

She was about to close up when she finally allowed herself to look at her phone again. She’d told Tiffany she might come over tonight and needed to see if she’d heard from her. She had, but Tiffany was only letting her know that she was picking up a shift for someone who was sick, so tonight wouldn’t work.

Then Jada’s eyes lowered to a new text from Maddox. Are we ever going to finish our game?

No, she wrote.

He had a point. Fine, she said, relenting as she advanced one of her pawns. Did you get your nudge? It’s your move.

I just tried to make it, came his response.

Jada read that twice. Is something wrong with the app? I don’t get it.

Never mind, he wrote and sent her a wink emoji. Let’s see if you can beat me tonight.

She played while she gathered her stuff and locked up the shop. She was looking at the game board on her phone trying to decide on her strategy while she walked out to her car, so she’d unlocked the door and tossed her purse on the passenger seat before she noticed the long-stemmed red rose on her windshield.

She looked up and down the alley as she plucked it off. She didn’t see anyone, and there was no note attached.

But she knew who it was from.

Maddox made sure he won his chess game with Jada. He was afraid if she beat him she’d quit playing, wanted to be sure he kept that challenge out there. But she was becoming a tougher opponent. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep up his streak.

You’re getting better with each game, he wrote as he lay in bed that night. He hadn’t mentioned his visit to the cookie store or the rose he’d left on her windshield because he was still pretending he didn’t know who she was. He planned to take it slow, to build up the friendship enough that it wouldn’t spook her when he finally let that out of the bag.

When she didn’t reply right away, he thought maybe she’d drifted off to sleep. It was one thirty, after all, and she’d put in a full day at Sugar Mama. It seemed she was working day and night, if not for her mother, for her own business. But as anxious as he was about picking up his brother in the morning, he knew he wouldn’t get much sleep and wished she could stay up with him.

I’ll beat you one day, she responded.

He smiled but felt his smile wilt as he thought about the future. What happens if you do? Will you be satisfied?

He shoved into a sitting position. He could tell she’d been trying to pull back, but when her daughter and her mother and brother weren’t top of mind, she was more willing to engage with him, more likely to say the things he wanted so badly to hear. Why don’t you take what you want? What’s stopping you?

No reply...

If you come over, I’ll give you a back rub—and let you dictate what happens from there. He held his breath as he sent that message. He was dying to see her, to touch her as she claimed she wanted to be touched. What they’d had ended much too abruptly and far too soon. Neither one of them had been ready.

No answer.

Don’t you trust me? Didn’t she know that he wouldn’t tell a soul? That he’d protect her with his life, if he had to? He wanted to say so but he doubted she’d believe him, feared it would only give away that he knew who she was.

Never mind, he wrote before she could text him back. You don’t have to answer that. Just come over so we can talk about it. We don’t have to do anything. I won’t touch you unless you want me to.

He slid back down in his bed. I like it so far.

Maddox hauled in a deep breath. He was hard as a rock just thinking about her showing up at his door with no one else around, no one to interrupt or say anything about it later. What do I smell like? Cologne? Soap?

He swallowed against a dry throat. What are you wearing underneath? Anything?

Heaven, she wrote. Nothing I know can describe it. Your mouth is wet and warm and your teeth are slick. I moan as you capture my tongue.

Maddox closed his eyes for a moment to savor what she’d sent him. Then can I take off your bra? he wrote.

“Beautiful,” he murmured. Tell me what your breasts look like...

He groaned at the suggestion. What do I feel?

She ignored that appeal, but at least she didn’t stop building the fantasy. After peeling off my shorts and my thong, you toss them aside. Neither one of us cares where they go. We are so anxious that touching and tasting is all that matters. We can no longer go slow, so you swing me into your arms and carry me to the bed.

He was shaking, both from arousal and from fear that he’d made a mistake sending that last text. He’d been so caught up he hadn’t been able to resist, but he knew what it might cost him.

He stared at his phone, awaiting her response. Would she cut him off for good?

When she didn’t respond, he cursed. He should’ve waited longer to let her know. He’d planned to do that, but he didn’t want her to think he’d be that hot for a total stranger, for some woman he might never have even met. He already felt like her family believed he was less than she was—white trash with no money, no standards and no promise—and that they’d tried to convince her of the same. He hated to give her reason to believe them, to make her think he’d be glad to have just anyone in his bed.

Pretending to make love to her wasn’t the same as the real thing, anyway. He knew because he’d been pretending for thirteen years. Dreaming wasn’t enough; he wanted to hold her in the flesh.

He spent the next thirty minutes, then an hour, willing her to write him back, to acquiesce, to forgive him for the past enough that she’d give him just one night, if she wouldn’t give him more. He even got up and took his phone outside to watch for her car. If she was out there, hiding in the trees like she had been when she delivered the pie, deliberating on whether she should come in, he planned to convince her the answer to that question was yes.

But he got nothing—no sight of her and no answer, either.