Chapter Twenty-Three

 

The “I love you” was expressed verbally between father and daughter, according to Maddie. I was working on my own expressions of love. I talked to Dr. Ames about my confusion regarding the matter. There were times I felt great love toward my husband, and then other times I wanted to wring his neck. And sometimes I still questioned why we got married.

Dr. Ames smiled at me. “Sounds like most marriages.”

“I suppose.”

“No marriage is perfect, and I don’t know anyone personally or professionally that loves their spouse one hundred percent of the time. It’s how you deal with the off times that matter. Be gentle on yourself and your marriage. You’ve both been through a lot.”

I thought a lot about what she said on my way to pick up Maddie and Katie from school. I remembered growing up thinking that the hard part was finding the right guy. I thought after you got married it would be a piece of cake and you would magically be in love forever. I had no idea how much work love and marriage were, and what a choice it was to stay in both.

The girls were waiting outside the school when I pulled up. They looked as thick as thieves standing there talking to one another. It reminded me of a time long ago. Cheyenne, Abby, and I had stood in that exact spot outside the office door and shared our fair share of secrets. The scene made me smile.

They both smiled as they got in the car. Maddie took the front seat and Katie sat in the back.

“Hello, ladies,” I greeted them both.

“Hi,” they said in unison and with laughter in their voices.

“So, school was good?”

They both gave me those you must be kidding looks.

I smiled at them both. “Since school was so fun, how does a mani-pedi sound?”

“Really?” Maddie asked with great excitement. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

I reached over and stroked her hair. “Cheyenne is expecting the three of us at Ti Amo Cappeli.” The name roughly translated to I love hair. We thought we were clever for coming up with the Italian name.

“You’re the best, Jessie,” Maddie exclaimed.

At least I was for the moment. I knew she wouldn’t be happy with me when we discussed her cleaning her room later that night. I was waiting for her dad to get home for that one.

Cheyenne’s salon was sleek and sophisticated. When you walked in you were greeted with an open area where the rounded reception desk sat in the middle. The space was airy and light. The black slate tile was offset with stark white walls. The art was all black and white photos of famous European landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben. The only pops of color came from the beautiful leafy green plants that were strategically placed throughout the salon.

Cheyenne greeted us. She hugged Maddie first. It was no surprise those two got along. They were carved from the same unruly tree.

“Do you know Katie Richter?” I asked Cheyenne.

“Her mom’s the cute brunette, Sherry.”

“That’s her.” I looked at Katie, who was the spitting image of her mom down to the cute, bobbed brunette hair.

Cheyenne led us back to her two pedicure chairs. I let the girls go first while I got a manicure. My poor cuticles were in need of some love.

As Cheyenne worked on me, I listened to Katie talk to Maddie and Lisa, the technician, about her brother, Brandon. He was going to be able to come home tomorrow, but I could hear the worry in her uneven voice when she spoke. She never mentioned anything about money, but I knew it was a worry for the family.

I wondered how quickly I could pull off a bake sale. I own a café. I smiled to myself.

“What are you grinning about?” Cheyenne asked as she carefully painted my nails a striking red.

I leaned toward her. “I was thinking about doing a bake sale Friday for the Richter family. Do you want to help?”

“Do I have to bake?”

“No. I said I wanted to help them.”

“Ha, ha. I’ll have you know I made Kent dinner last night.”

“Really?” I asked, impressed.

“Well, I warmed up a frozen lasagna.”

“That’s something.”

“I burned it,” she admitted.

“I’m sure he didn’t mind.”

“Believe me, I made it up to him.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I don’t even want to know.”

She grinned mischievously at me. “How about I get my stylists to donate their tips that day?”

“Do you think they would?”

“Yeah.”

“That would be great.”

From there I set a plan in motion. I assigned Maddie and Katie to make the signs we could place around town. I spoke to my kitchen staff and Aaron about beefing up production. And I would work with Maddie at home to make several dozen cookies and cupcakes. Everyone agreed to help even though the weekend after we would have another huge order with the mayor’s ball. I felt bad doing that to them two weeks in a row, but it was for a good cause. Well, at least the first one was. I couldn’t care less about the mayor’s ball. Really it was the mayor, not the ball, per se.

After we left the salon we headed home, where Maddie and Katie went to work making signs. We had a small window of time, so we had to hustle. Maddie drew the cutest picture of arranged cupcakes and Katie did the lettering. After a few rough drafts we had the perfect picture we could copy.

I ran it up to Blake’s office to use his copier. The first thing I noticed was Maddie’s artwork front and center on his desk, next to his monitor. I also noticed my card to him on display. Who knew he could be sentimental?

I made several copies and then we hit the town.

I was exhausted by the time we got home a little after seven. Blake was working late, so Maddie and I opted for cereal for dinner. We didn’t even bother eating at the table. We camped out on the couch and I introduced her to the wonder of NCIS.

“That guy, Gibbs. He reminds me of my dad.”

I laughed. “I completely agree.”

“But that Dinozzo guy is hot.”

“Again, I agree with you.”

She giggled. “You’re cool.”

I kissed her head. “You think so?”

“Katie says you’re awesome and really pretty.”

“Then it must be true,” I teased.

“Katie says she wants me to stay and go to school here.”

I paused the television and sat up some. “Yeah? What do you think of that?”

She looked up at me with those unsure gray eyes of hers. She shrugged her shoulders.

“Do you like living here?”

She nodded.

I smiled. “Your dad and I want you to stay with us.” I figured it was time to broach the subject and get her used to the decision that had already been made.

She smiled, but tears filled her eyes.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

“I want to, but I don’t want my mom to feel bad or be alone. And who will take care of her?”

I pulled her to me. “Don’t worry, your dad and I will work everything out.”

“Do you think my mom would be okay with it?”

“I think so, but I’m sure she will miss you.” I didn’t want Maddie to think her mom didn’t want her. As screwed up as Sabrina seemed, I think in her heart of hearts she loved Maddie and did miss her. She just wasn’t made to be the kind of mother Maddie deserved.

Blake got home after Maddie had gone to sleep. He was working on a deadline to finish the Andersons' basement. Their grandchildren were coming to visit for the month of July and they were turning the basement into kid-land, complete with built-in bunk beds.

“Jessica,” he said tiredly.

“Should I even ask how your day was?”

“It’s a living,” he half-smiled. “I’m going to hit the shower.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

That garnered a real smile as he walked to where I sat on the couch still watching NCIS. He leaned down and kissed my lips. “I’ll hurry.”

“We need to talk.”

“Everything okay?”

I nodded.

He took the stairs two at a time. He was a machine. It was ten at night and he had left the house at seven.

I warmed up leftovers for him from his Father’s Day dinner the night before. I didn’t tell him it was in the microwave, but he probably could tell.

He didn’t complain, unless you count kissing me as a complaint. He sank into the couch with dinner in hand.

I scooted closer to him and rubbed his neck. “Long day?”

“We’re almost done,” he said tiredly.

“I’m sure the Andersons are excited.”

He nodded as he chewed.

I moved from his neck and up through the back of his hair.

“I talked to Maddie today about staying here.”

In a split second he turned my way. I could tell he was trying his best not to look displeased.

I raised my eyebrow at him. “I didn’t bring it up out of the blue—she brought it up first. But even if she hadn’t, it needed to be talked about.”

His eyes softened. “You’re right.”

“I love those words.”

His crooked little grin made an appearance. “So what did she say?”

“She wants to stay,” I said first to put him at ease, “but she’s worried about her mom.”

Blake shrugged.

“Blake she needs to know the truth about her mom’s condition.”

“Jess, what good will it do?”

“It will help her start to deal with the inevitability.”

“Sabrina doesn’t want her to know. And honestly, I don’t want to upset her.”

“Well, you’re the dad. It’s your call.”

He set his dinner down on the coffee table and took my hand. “Hey. She isn’t exclusively mine. I want your opinion. We’re a team. Sabrina is self-destructing and I don’t want Madeline to have any part of that.”

“I understand that, but Maddie loves her mom.”

He couldn’t hide his look of disdain. “Let’s just give it a little more time.”

“Okay.”

“By the way,” he said as he leaned toward me with hungry eyes. “You’re amazing.”

I started to shake my head to disagree, but he caught my lips and held me there. He cradled my head in his hand and applied pressure to my mouth. “You almost relaxed,” he whispered against my lips.

“I’m working on it.”

“I didn’t say that to pressure you.”

“I know.”

“Jess, thank you. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“You’re right.”

He chuckled low. I loved that sound.

That week was so busy I didn’t have time to think about whether or not we were doing the right thing by not telling Maddie about her mom. If we were going to be honest, I knew we weren’t, but I eased my guilt by telling myself she wanted to stay anyway.

In preparation for the bake sale we became baking machines. We even got my mom in on the fun. It didn’t take much convincing, she took any opportunity she could get to be around Maddie. Maddie was even comfortable saying “grandma” now. At first it was awkward for her to say, and for me to hear, but it pleased my mother more than anything.

Maddie and Katie had gone outside after we made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. As my mom and I scooped up dough to place on the baking sheets she commented, “You and Maddie seem to be getting along quite nicely.”

“We have our moments.”

“All mothers and daughters do.”

“Don’t you mean stepmothers?”

“No, I meant exactly what I said. Birth and blood don’t make women mothers. You are having an impact on this child’s life. One she will never forget.”

“I hope so,” I said as I plopped down my scoop of to-die-for chocolate chip cookie dough.

My mother smiled at me kindly. “So I overheard her tell her friend she was going to go to school here in the fall. Is that correct?”

I nodded. “That it is.”

“How do you feel about that?”

I looked out the back window to make sure Maddie and Katie were still out back before I spoke. “Relieved,” I said honestly. “I couldn’t in good conscience send her back to live in the environment her mother was providing her.”

“How is her mom taking it?”

“She agrees this is the best place for her, but please don’t say anything to Maddie.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want her to think her mom doesn’t want her.”

“Is there a reason to think that?” My mom looked at me with concern-filled eyes.

“No …”

“Jessie Belle …”

“Mom, let’s just say that Sabrina’s trying to do the right thing by Maddie.” That was mostly true … I hoped. “Regardless, Blake is over the moon about it.”

She grinned slyly. “Speaking of Blake, how’s it going with you two?”

“It’s going,” I said as I looked down coyly at my task at hand.

“You did the right thing staying. But I hope you know I would have supported you and loved you either way.”

I raised my eyebrow at my mother. “Sure you would have.”

“Young lady, I believe marriage is worth fighting for.”

“I know, and you’re right.”

“Yes, I am, but no matter what, your happiness was my main concern. And the happiest I’ve ever seen you is when you and Blake were together, really together.”

I set down my small scooper and wrapped my arms around my amazing mother. “I love you, Mom. Blake and I are working our way back to that happy place.” Then I paused and thought for a moment. “Actually we are working toward a better place. At least I hope.”

She patted my back. “There’s no doubt you’ll get there.”

I had to love her optimism.

By the time Friday rolled around I was baked out. I never thought I would ever say that, but I felt like we had been baking day and night for three days straight. We had made so much, I had to lay down the seats in my Tahoe to fit it all. That didn’t even count what had been made at the café.

The bake sale reminded me why I loved this town. Despite the grapevine and unhealthy interest in each other’s lives, when it came down to it, we took care of our own. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that came in. I would almost say we were going against the fire code with all the bodies packed in the café. We had so many people that my favorite mature women had to help box up items along with Maddie and Katie. Cheyenne, Abby, and I handled the money, and was there plenty of it. Several people donated above and beyond what the baked items cost. Even the tourists jumped in and donated to the cause.

But my favorite donor came in at the very end of the day, just as we were taking down the folding tables we had used to showcase our sweet treats. He walked through the glass door, looking dusty and nervous to be there. He took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his dark locks.

Maddie saw him and ran to him. He put his arm around her and gave her a little squeeze and kissed her head. I stood there and watched the scene. He was learning.

It was then our eyes locked. His intense gaze had me catching my breath. It made me forget that we were in a café full of people.

“Jessie. Jessie—” Aaron tried to get my attention.

I grinned at my husband from across the way and turned to a smiling Aaron. “Why don’t you let me put these tables away for you?”

“That would be terrific, thank you.”

“No problem.”

“By the way, you’re doing a wonderful job. Remind me to talk to you about a raise.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I look forward to it.”

I looked forward to something, too. I turned my attention back to my husband, who was walking my way. Maddie and Katie had already skipped off and were sitting at the counter talking to the café cashier. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Why do you always ask me that when I come here? I thought it was obvious by now.”

“I know how you love dessert,” I teased.

He shook his head at me. “I do love something here.”

“The fireplace?”

“It is nice.”

“If you’re interested I can give you the name and number of the builder.”

“I heard he’s busy with his wife.”

“She can be a handful.”

“You have no idea.”

I loved the playful conversation, but I realized we were having it in front of a captivated audience. My little ladies were still there and looking like they had landed front row seats to the best show in town.

I reached out and took Blake’s hand. “Follow me,” I whispered. I pulled him to the hall that led to the back offices. As soon as we turned the corner I backed up against the wall and looked up into those beautiful eyes of his that were shining down on me.

“So what are you really doing here?”

He placed his hand above my head, leaned down toward me, and barely brushed my lips with his. “I’ve missed you this week.”

“Are you done at the Andersons’ place?” I asked a little out of breath. His kisses had that effect on me.

“Tomorrow.”

“You’ll be done before the game, right?”

“I’m not going to miss the game.”

That was good news. We were playing Riley’s Insurance and I had a good feeling this year. We hadn’t lost a game yet and this was the best team we had ever had. “Are you working late tonight?”

“Unfortunately. I have to head back in a few minutes.”

“I’m glad you stopped by, then.”

He leaned in and his lips found mine. My hands landed nicely on his chest as our lips fell into sync and the pressure built until his mouth invited mine to open. When the invitation was taken, he groaned low and pressed my body against the wall with his own. My hands moved up his chest and back through his hair. For a minute I forgot we were at the café and why I had any issue at all with physical affection. I had missed us.

With the sound of a glass breaking in the distance, we were brought back to our senses and our lips unlocked. I let out a deep breath. “Uh, wow.”

His hand found its spot back above my head as he leaned toward me, but there was now some space between us. “I second that.”

I bit my lip like we hadn’t ever experienced that kind of passion. “Maybe you should stop by more often.”

I barely caught his seductive grin before Maddie came around the corner. She stopped in her tracks and her face registered first shock and then disgust.

Her dad didn’t move away from me. All he did was turn his head her way. “Can we help you, Madeline?”

“Katie’s mom is here to get her,” she announced through her contorted face. 

“Okay,” I said. “Let me grab the donations. I’ll be right out.” I had locked them up in the vault in my office.

Maddie rolled her eyes at us and walked off.

“Why do I feel like we were just caught by my parents?”

Blake smiled and reluctantly moved away. “I better get going.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out ten one-hundred-dollar bills folded in his pocket. “Add this to the donations, but please don’t tell them it was from me.”

I took the money. “Heaven forbid people know what a good guy you are.”

“Your opinion is all that matters to me.”

I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his scratchy cheek. “You’re all right in my book,” I whispered in his ear.

He laughed low.

It was one of those moments that I felt that swelling emotion called love for him.