thatlingering resentment she’d kept buried inside her starting to crumble, like a sand castle at high tide.
Please, no!
She didn’t want to care about any man right now. Not her cheating, lying, gold-digging husband. And definitely not Lucas.
But old habits, and, it appeared, old feelings, died hard.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
To keep from touching him, from putting her arms around him and trying to soothe, not as a former lover, but as the friend she’d once been, she jammed her hands into the pockets of the flannel pajamas she’d forgotten, until now, that she was wearing. “He was always so sweet to me. And I know how hard it is to lose a parent.”
“It had to be worse for you. Hell, you lost both parents. When you were a lot younger than I am.”
“I’m not sure comparisons matter when your heart feels broken.”
“Good point. Thanks.” His smile was a ghost of the one that had always warmed her from the inside out. The one that caused that sexily adorable crease in his cheek.
It was her turn to shrug. “So, if you’re not going to be my grandmother’s new cook, I take it you’re doing the remodeling work?”
She remembered him puttering around the cottage with his dad. Remembered him telling her that while he enjoyed working with his hands and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing something he’d helped build turn into a reality, he didn’t want to follow Duncan Chaffee into architecture.
Architects spend way too much time in stuffy offices,
he’d told her that long-ago summer.
Designing things other people end up getting to build. I admire my dad more than anyone I know, but his life wouldn’t work for me. I might not have a handle on what I’m going to end up doing, Maddy. But I do know, whatever it is, it’s gotta be something where I can be hands-on.
“That’s the plan,” he said now. “My father retired a fewmonths ago. The idea was for the two of us to go into business together, restoring old houses.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“It was a great plan,” he said. “And I might still consider it down the road. But, to be honest, my heart isn’t into doing that right now. Not without him, since it was his idea in the first place. So I was sort of at loose ends yesterday when your grandmother offered me the job.”
Suspicion stirred. “What time?”
“What time, what?”
“What time did she make the offer?”
“Oh.” He rubbed his lightly stubbled jaw. “Let me think. She told me, while we were all on Cole’s boat, scattering Dad’s ashes at sea, that she wanted to talk to me about something. But she didn’t actually tell me what she had in mind until the memorial supper, here last night.”
Not that many hours after Madeline’s world had exploded.
Surely her grandmother, who knew the story of that long-ago Labor Day breakup, wouldn’t already be matchmaking? Not with the one man Madeline had sworn never to speak with again? Ever?
And yeah, so far you’re sticking to that vow real well.
She had just determined that she was going to have to be tougher when she found herself drowning in chocolate brown eyes.
“I’m sorry as hell what happened between you and the Frenchman,” he said. The sympathy in his gaze seemed genuine. It wasn’t a gooey pity, but that of the friend he’d been before she’d admittedly pushed him into intimacy. “But I’m going to have to be honest here and tell you that it feels really, really good to see you again, Maddy.”
11
“Don’t do that.” She held up a hand like a traffic cop and shot him a warning glare.
Lucas had thought he was making headway. Apparently, he’d been wrong.
“Do what?”
“You know.”
He did. But damned if he was going to admit that after giving it some serious thought, he wouldn’t mind starting over again. Doing things right this time.
Her hair was sleep tousled, which had Lucas imagining her in bed. Which wasn’t the safest thought at the moment. But it was
Please, no!
She didn’t want to care about any man right now. Not her cheating, lying, gold-digging husband. And definitely not Lucas.
But old habits, and, it appeared, old feelings, died hard.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
To keep from touching him, from putting her arms around him and trying to soothe, not as a former lover, but as the friend she’d once been, she jammed her hands into the pockets of the flannel pajamas she’d forgotten, until now, that she was wearing. “He was always so sweet to me. And I know how hard it is to lose a parent.”
“It had to be worse for you. Hell, you lost both parents. When you were a lot younger than I am.”
“I’m not sure comparisons matter when your heart feels broken.”
“Good point. Thanks.” His smile was a ghost of the one that had always warmed her from the inside out. The one that caused that sexily adorable crease in his cheek.
It was her turn to shrug. “So, if you’re not going to be my grandmother’s new cook, I take it you’re doing the remodeling work?”
She remembered him puttering around the cottage with his dad. Remembered him telling her that while he enjoyed working with his hands and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing something he’d helped build turn into a reality, he didn’t want to follow Duncan Chaffee into architecture.
Architects spend way too much time in stuffy offices,
he’d told her that long-ago summer.
Designing things other people end up getting to build. I admire my dad more than anyone I know, but his life wouldn’t work for me. I might not have a handle on what I’m going to end up doing, Maddy. But I do know, whatever it is, it’s gotta be something where I can be hands-on.
“That’s the plan,” he said now. “My father retired a fewmonths ago. The idea was for the two of us to go into business together, restoring old houses.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“It was a great plan,” he said. “And I might still consider it down the road. But, to be honest, my heart isn’t into doing that right now. Not without him, since it was his idea in the first place. So I was sort of at loose ends yesterday when your grandmother offered me the job.”
Suspicion stirred. “What time?”
“What time, what?”
“What time did she make the offer?”
“Oh.” He rubbed his lightly stubbled jaw. “Let me think. She told me, while we were all on Cole’s boat, scattering Dad’s ashes at sea, that she wanted to talk to me about something. But she didn’t actually tell me what she had in mind until the memorial supper, here last night.”
Not that many hours after Madeline’s world had exploded.
Surely her grandmother, who knew the story of that long-ago Labor Day breakup, wouldn’t already be matchmaking? Not with the one man Madeline had sworn never to speak with again? Ever?
And yeah, so far you’re sticking to that vow real well.
She had just determined that she was going to have to be tougher when she found herself drowning in chocolate brown eyes.
“I’m sorry as hell what happened between you and the Frenchman,” he said. The sympathy in his gaze seemed genuine. It wasn’t a gooey pity, but that of the friend he’d been before she’d admittedly pushed him into intimacy. “But I’m going to have to be honest here and tell you that it feels really, really good to see you again, Maddy.”
11
“Don’t do that.” She held up a hand like a traffic cop and shot him a warning glare.
Lucas had thought he was making headway. Apparently, he’d been wrong.
“Do what?”
“You know.”
He did. But damned if he was going to admit that after giving it some serious thought, he wouldn’t mind starting over again. Doing things right this time.
Her hair was sleep tousled, which had Lucas imagining her in bed. Which wasn’t the safest thought at the moment. But it was
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