Chapter Fifteen
Maddie put the last of Monday’s breakfast preparations away Sunday night, threw her apron in the laundry hamper, and went to collect her things. Cole had been more distant than usual the past two days, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. He looked tired, too, though whether from an oncoming cold or simple exhaustion she wasn’t sure.
What she did know, however, was that tonight she intended to put to rest this insane theory that Cole was behind the thefts at the inn. The best part was her PI work should go completely unnoticed, as it was masked by an innocent delivery of his favorite meal: barbeque beef brisket.
She grabbed her things and a mammoth doggie bag—Old Tom deserved some leftovers, too—and headed into town, all the while telling herself it was the right thing to do. So why did the idea of snooping around his apartment have her feeling so guilty?
Because it’s wrong, whispered her conscience.
“No more wrong than this whole town thinking he’s some scary ex-con,” she muttered as she pulled into her parking space behind the row of buildings that housed both their apartments. A few deep breaths, and the reminder that this would help Cole in the long run, then Maddie was out of the car and climbing Granville’s back staircase.
She knocked on the door and resisted the urge to run.
Get in, look around, get out. No talking about dates or Tyson. Definitely no more kissing. Well, not unless he—
The door opened with a low whine, and Tom Granville squinted out at the dimly lit landing. “Madelyn? What brings you here at this hour?”
She glanced down at her watch and cringed. It was going on eight thirty. “Sorry to bother you, Mr. Granville, but I made brisket tonight and thought I’d bring you all some leftovers.”
A broad smile stretched across his weathered face. “Ah, you know my Cole well. Come in, come in, let’s get you out of the cold.”
She did as she was told, scanning the interior as he closed the door behind her. Their apartment was at least twice the size of hers, which, sadly, still wasn’t saying much. Old Tom’s décor was that of an aging widower, mismatched furniture of varying colors and fabrics, all clean but well worn. Beyond the living room stood a round wooden table with four chairs neatly pushed in. A kitchen only slightly larger than her own but with newer appliances stood past that, its laminate seventies-gold countertops peeling at the corners.
“Please, make yourself at home while I go and get Cole. I’d holler for him, but the boy likes to practice with headphones on to keep from bothering me.” Tom shook his head. “I appreciate the thought, but I swear a train could tear through this living room and he wouldn’t hear it.”
Maddie laughed politely and set the leftovers on his table, watching as he headed down the hall to what she assumed was Cole’s room. The minute he disappeared from sight, she started looking behind furniture and inside the wide cabinets set into the wall at each side of the room’s fireplace, looking for any sign of her missing utensils, Brent’s missing tools, and Ruby’s missing photo album.
Nothing.
Relieved, she hurried to the kitchen and started digging through cupboards and drawers. Still no sign of anything. Maddie turned back toward the living room, wanting to check the space once more for any hiding place she might have overlooked, and found Old Tom staring at her with one brow arched.
“I, uh, was just looking for a, um, fork. And knife. And maybe a plate.”
Old Tom studied her a moment longer, then stepped past to produce the items she’d just lamely listed. As he did, Maddie fought the urge to fan herself. It felt like the temperature had gone up about fifteen degrees since she’d arrived. “So, where’s Cole?”
“Sound asleep,” Tom said, shaking his head. “Poor boy’s been working himself to the bone, getting that shop ready for its grand opening.”
Maddie took the offered dish and utensils from him and prepared a plate of leftovers for her host. “Did he finally set a date?”
“No. He’s had a few setbacks this week. Nothing major, thankfully. I’m sure you know all about them.”
“Yeah,” she lied, bothered that Cole hadn’t shared the stories with her. Then again, when would he have, when they’d spent so much time on her petty dating drama. Shame warmed her cheeks.
“Oh, don’t worry too much about him—Cole’s had lots of practice at being resilient.”
“Really?” she asked, settling into a chair opposite the one Tom now took. “He never talks much about his past. Like, at all.”
Mr. Granville smiled. “That’s his way. Of course, if I’d grown up with Daisy Mae raising me, I’d want to leave my past in the past, too.”
“Daisy Mae?”
“His mother. My daughter-in-law.”
“Oh, right.”
Shoot, Cole had mentioned her name before, Maddie had just forgotten. Shame pummeled her anew. Though, he hadn’t spoken of her since that first time, now that she thought about it. Daisy Mae. It sounded like a pretty enough name. But there was something in the way he’d said it that left Maddie wondering.
“Was she strict or something?”
“No, quite the opposite. Daisy Mae was a dreamer, a drifter. She never liked to stay in any place for long, always after adventure. Fun.”
He rose and crossed the room to retrieve a picture from one of the drawers Maddie had just checked. Shame made way for guilt—seriously, she was starting to feel like the world’s worst friend—as Tom brought it to her and resumed his seat. A man and woman stared up at her from inside its frame, him tall and lean, her thin and absolutely radiant. Both wore ear-to-ear grins, the man standing behind her with his hands on her belly.
On baby bump Cole, she guessed.
“She’s gorgeous,” Maddie breathed, envy rearing its ugly head in her mind.
“Yes. I knew Lucas was a goner the minute he brought her home, had never seen my son look so starry-eyed before. Three weeks later they hit the road to Las Vegas to elope. After that it was Oklahoma, then Texas. Luke drove semis for a living, which suited Daisy Mae just fine. She loved being on the road, seeing the sights. When Cole came along, he rode right along with them. Until…”
Old Tom shook his head, and Maddie wished she could fast forward past this next part. Something bad had happened, she could tell from the look on his face.
“There was an accident, wasn’t there?” she whispered.
“Yes. Sleet slicked roads and semis don’t mix too well. Growing up in Michigan, Luke knew that full well. He tried to warn his boss, to convince them to allow him a few hours to let the ice melt away, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Things were different in those days. Less regulation on over-the-road hauling.”
Maddie’s heart broke for Mr. Granville. In all the years she’d been at the Checkerberry, she’d never heard this story. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, sweetie. It was a long time ago, but the heart never fully mends when you lose a child. It’s the parent who should lead the way to heaven, not the other way around.”
It stinks being on the other end of it, too, she thought, the loss of her beloved grandmother coming to mind, but kept the opinion to herself.
“So, Cole and his mother—were they in the accident, too?”
“No. Thankfully, Luke had insisted they stay behind. She was devastated when the news arrived. There she was, a young mother, little schooling and no job. Eileen and I tried to convince her to move back to Mount Pleasant, to let us shoulder some of her responsibilities while she got her feet under her, but she wouldn’t have it.”
“So what did she do?”
He offered Maddie a sad smile. “Oh, she tried to provide for her and Cole. Got a decent job in a convenience store outside of Amarillo, found a neighbor to watch Cole while she was gone. But being in the same place day after day didn’t suit Daisy Mae, and it wasn’t long before she quit one job and then left another. They lived like gypsies, her and Cole, drifting from town to town. Only stayed in one place long enough to earn a little money for food; staying longer if she needed booze. Or drugs. Sometimes they’d live out of cheap motels, other times with men she called her boyfriends.”
Mr. Granville shook his head. “The summer Cole turned twelve Daisy Mae was incarcerated for sixty days after being found wandering the streets, high on something or another. He came to stay with us, took most of the summer to get him to come out of his shell. Broke our hearts when his mama made parole and we had to send him back. But the law’s the law.”
“It seems so wrong, putting him back in that kind of an environment.”
“We thought so, too. But we also knew that Cole would do his best to take care of her. And he did, right up until his eighteenth birthday. That’s when the straw finally broke the camel’s back.”
Maddie chanced a quick glance toward the hallway. “What happened on his birthday?”
“That’s the night Daisy Mae tried to rob the town liquor store. She took off from the motel they were staying at in their lone car. Cole woke a short time later after the front door she’d left cracked slammed into the entryway’s wall on a gust of wind. Worried that one of her recent boyfriends had taken off with her, Cole got dressed, grabbed his daddy’s old handgun that I’d given him, and ran into town. He couldn’t understand why the car was parked on the sidewalk beside the town’s liquor store, but heard a crash and raced inside, fearing the worst.
“What he found, however, was his mama, high on lord knows what, trying to drag heavy crates of whiskey out the back door. As he was trying to talk Daisy Mae out of doing what she was doing, the police arrived.”
Maddie grimaced. “Let me guess. They found him carrying a concealed weapon and assumed the worst.”
Old Tom nodded.
“But he was innocent!”
“Unfortunately, it was his word against theirs.”
Maddie ran a hand over her hair. “But Daisy Mae—didn’t she tell them he wasn’t a part of it?”
Mr. Granville folded his hands before him on the table’s edge. “Cole’s never told me exactly what was said that night. Judging by the fact that he was hauled off to jail for assisting in an armed robbery, however, I have to assume she did him no favors.”
“Armed robbery!” Maddie struggled to control her anger. “After all he’d done for her, he ends up going to jail? Please at least tell me she did time, too?”
“Oh yes. While Cole’s prior record was clean, her past laundry list of charges increased her sentence. Even on good behavior, she’ll be in jail for another five years or so.”
Jail. Poor Cole had been sent to jail, ironically for a crime he was trying to prevent his good-for-nothing mother from committing. The unfairness of it all nearly brought her to tears.
“How long was he in for?” she asked softly.
“Three years, then probation for another three. The day he walked out of the courtroom a free man, I was there waiting to bring him back home to Mount Pleasant. In Texas, he’d forever have that dark cloud hanging over his head. But up here…here he has a chance to start over.”
Except the rumors of his past, ill-conceived and twisted for maximum dramatic effect, were threatening all of that. Her heart broke for him a little bit more.
“Thank you for telling me,” she said.
Old Tom nodded. “My grandson’s no hardened criminal, Madelyn. Nor a thief. He’s a good man with a heart the size of Texas that’s been trodden on for far too long.”
Maddie nodded and shifted her gaze to the hallway.
“Do you mind if I go back and see him before I go?”
“Last door on the left. While you do that, I’m going to reheat this plate full of brisket you served me. It smells delicious.”
She offered him a wink, then made her way toward Cole’s room. Maddie paused at the door, debating whether or not to knock, but discovered it already ajar. A quick peek inside found Cole sprawled on his back atop an old patchwork quilt covering his still-made bed, eyes closed and breathing slow and steady.
Quiet as a mouse, she slid past the door and looked around the room for an extra blanket to cover him with, no longer bothering to scope the place out for stolen goods. She’d suspected before arriving here tonight that she wouldn’t find anything. Now she was certain.
No blanket in sight, she lifted one corner of the quilt beneath him and carefully folded it up and over him.
Like a giant Cole burrito, she thought and snorted a giggle.
Cole’s lashes fluttered open. He blinked a few times, brows furrowing as he lifted his head off the pillow. “Maddie? What is it? Am I late for work?”
“Shh, you’re all right. I brought you some leftover barbeque brisket.”
With a smile, he sank back into his pillow. “No kidding? That’s my favorite.”
“I know. It’ll be here when you wake up in the morning.”
She reached up to brush a hair from his face and tucked it behind his ear. It killed her to think of him as the little boy in Old Tom’s story, dragged from town to town without getting to experience a normal childhood. And yet, rather than grow cold and bitter at the unfairness of it all, Cole had remained a caring soul. Heck, he was one of the kindest people she knew. Kindest to her, anyway. Some days, that was a monumental feat all on its own.
His eyes drifted shut once more. She perched on the edge of his bed and stroked his cheek, wishing she could erase his past, extinguish the rumors, yet was powerless to do so. With a sigh, she drew her hand back and made to leave. But Cole’s hand came up to claim hers.
“Stay. Just a little longer.”
“Okay,” she whispered, giving his hand a small squeeze. “But only until you fall asleep.”
A sleepy smile tugged at his perfect lips. “You’re the best, Maddie.”
“I know.”
He cracked one eye open. “And modest, too.”
“Of course.”
She chuckled softly and watched his lid slide shut and breathing even out once more. And in that moment, she knew it was hopeless to try and deny the feelings she had for him any longer. If anything, the discovery of his past had strengthened her feelings toward him, not scared her away. Which meant it was probably good she’d weenied out again last night and not asked Tyson to the gala.
With a sigh, she realized she’d fallen for the coach, and now had a semi-lured in boyfriend to set free. This was why it was easier not to date. To stay at home and watch Fido bonk his face into the side of his bowl repeatedly while the world went right on by.
But now, savoring the warmth of Cole’s hand as it covered her own, she knew she was all talk, spoken or otherwise. Because the way she felt in this moment, needed, appreciated? Well, she’d take that over sitting home alone any day.
Now if only she could find a way to make it last…