Kitabı oxu: «A Sweet Magnolias Novel»

SHERRYL
WOODS

Stealing Home

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

1

Maddie focused on the wide expanse of mahogany stretching between her and the man who’d been her husband for twenty years. Half her life. She and William Henry Townsend had been high-school sweethearts in Serenity, South Carolina. They’d married before their senior year in college, not because she was pregnant as some of her hastily married friends had been, but because they hadn’t wanted to wait one more second before starting their lives together.

Then, after they’d graduated, there had been the exhausting years of medical school for Bill, when she’d worked as an entry-level bookkeeper, making poor use of her degree in business, just to keep their heads above water financially. And then the joyous arrival of three kids—athletic, outgoing Tyler, now sixteen, their jokester, Kyle, fourteen, and their surprise blessing, Katie, who was just turning six.

They’d had the perfect life in the historic Townsend family home in Serenity’s oldest neighborhood, surrounded by family and lifelong friends. The passion they’d once shared might have cooled ever so slightly, but they’d been happy.

Or so she’d thought until the day a few months ago when Bill had looked at her after dinner, his expression as distant as a stranger’s, and calmly explained that he was moving out and moving on…with his twenty-four-year-old nurse, who was already pregnant. It was, he’d said, one of those things that just happened. He certainly hadn’t planned to fall out of love with Maddie, much less in love with someone else.

Maddie’s first reaction hadn’t been shock or dismay. Nope, she’d laughed, sure that her intelligent, compassionate Bill was incapable of such a pitiful cliché. Only when his distant expression remained firmly in place did she realize he was stone-cold serious. Just when life had settled into a comfortable groove, the man she’d loved with all her heart had traded her in for a newer model.

In a disbelieving daze, she’d sat by his side while he’d explained to the children what he was doing and why. He’d omitted the part about a new little half brother or sister being on the way. Then, still in a daze, she’d watched him move out.

And after he’d gone, she’d been left to deal with Tyler’s angry acting out, with Kyle’s slow descent into unfamiliar silence and Katie’s heartbroken sobs, all while she herself was frozen and empty inside.

She’d been the one to cope with their shock when they found out about the baby, too. She’d had to hide her resentment and anger, all in the name of good parenting, maturity and peace. There were days she’d wanted to curse Dr. Phil and all those cool, reasoned episodes on which he advised parents that the needs of the children came first. When, she’d wondered, did her needs start to count?

The day of being completely on her own as a single parent was coming sooner than she’d anticipated. All that was left was getting the details of the divorce on paper, spelling out in black and white the end of a twenty-year marriage. Nothing on those pieces of paper mentioned the broken dreams. Nothing mentioned the heartache of those left behind. It was all reduced to deciding who lived where, who drove which car, the amount of child support—and the amount of temporary spousal support until she could stand on her own feet financially or until she married again.

Maddie listened to her attorney’s impassioned fight against the temporary nature of that last term. Helen Decatur, who’d known both Maddie and Bill practically forever, was a topnotch divorce attorney with a statewide reputation. She was also one of Maddie’s best friends. And when Maddie was too tired and too sad to fight for herself, Helen stepped in to do it for her. Helen was a blond barracuda in a power suit, and Maddie had never been more grateful.

“This woman worked to help you through medical school,” Helen lashed out at Bill, in her element on her own turf. “She gave up a promising career of her own to raise your children, keep your home, help manage your office and support your rise in the South Carolina medical community. The fact that you have a professional reputation far outside of Serenity is because Maddie worked her butt off to make it happen. And now you expect her to struggle to find her place in the workforce? Do you honestly think in five years or even ten she’ll be able to give your children the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed?” She pinned Bill with a look that would have withered anyone else. His demeanor reflected a complete lack of interest in Maddie or her future.

That was when Maddie knew it was well and truly over. All the rest, the casual declaration that he’d been cheating on her, the move, none of that had convinced her that it really was the end of her marriage. Until this moment, until she’d seen the uncaring expression in her husband’s once-warm brown eyes, she hadn’t accepted that Bill wouldn’t suddenly come to his senses and tell her it had all been a horrible mistake.

She’d drifted along until this instant, deep in denial and hurt, but no more. Anger, more powerful than anything she’d ever felt in her life, swept through her with a force that brought her to her feet.

“Wait,” she said, her voice trembling with outrage. “I’d like to be heard.”

Helen regarded her with surprise, but the stunned expression on Bill’s face gave Maddie the courage to go on. He hadn’t expected her to fight back. She could see now that all her years of striving to please him, of putting him first, had convinced him that she had no spine at all, that she’d make it easy for him to walk away from their family—from her—without a backward glance. He’d probably been gloating from the minute she suggested trying to mediate a settlement, rather than letting some judge set the terms of their divorce.

“You’ve managed to reduce twenty years of our lives to this,” she said, waving the settlement papers at him. “And for what?”

She knew the answer, of course. Like so many other middle-aged men, his head had been turned by a woman barely half his age.

“What happens when you tire of Noreen?” she asked. “Will you trade her in, too?”

“Maddie,” he said stiffly. He tugged at the sleeves of his monogrammed shirt, fiddling with the eighteen-carat-gold cuff links she’d given him just six months ago for their twentieth anniversary. “You don’t know anything about my relationship with Noreen.”

She managed a smile. “Sure I do. It’s about a middle-aged man trying to feel young again. I think you’re pathetic.”

Calmer now that she’d finally expressed her feelings, she turned to Helen. “I can’t sit here anymore. Hold out for whatever you think is right. He’s the one in a hurry.”

Shoulders squared, chin high, Maddie walked out of the lawyer’s office and into the rest of her life.

An hour later Maddie had exchanged her prim knit suit and high heels for a tank top, shorts and well-worn sneakers. Oblivious to the early-morning heat, she walked the mile to her much-hated gym, with its smell of sweat pervading the air. Set on a side street just off Main, the gym had once been an old-fashioned dime store. The yellowed linoleum on the floor harked back to that era and the dingy walls hadn’t seen a coat of paint since Dexter had bought the place back in the 1970s.

Since the walk downtown had done nothing at all to calm her, Maddie forced herself to climb onto the treadmill, put the dial at the most challenging setting she’d ever attempted and run. She ran until her legs ached, until the perspiration soaked her chin-length, professionally highlighted hair and ran into her eyes, mingling with the tears that, annoyingly, kept welling up.

Suddenly a perfectly manicured hand reached in front of her, slowed the machine, then cut it off.

“We thought we’d find you here,” Helen said, still in her power suit and Jimmy Choo stiletto heels. Helen was probably one of the only women in all of Serenity who’d ever owned a pair of the expensive shoes.

Beside her, Dana Sue Sullivan was dressed in comfortable pants, a pristine T-shirt and sneakers. She was the chef and owner of Serenity’s fanciest restaurant—meaning it used linen tablecloths and napkins and had a menu that extended beyond fried catfish and collard greens. Sullivan’s New Southern Cuisine, as the dark green and gold-leaf sign out front read, was a decided step up from the diner on the outskirts of town that simply said Good Eatin’ on the window and used paper place mats on the Formica tabletops.

Maddie climbed off the treadmill on wobbly legs and wiped her face with the towel Helen handed her. “Why are you two here?”

Both women rolled their eyes.

“Why do you think?” Dana Sue asked in her honeyed drawl. Her thick, chestnut hair was pulled back with a clip, but already the humidity had curls springing free. “We came to see if you want any help in killing that snake-bellied slime who ran out on you.”

“Or the mindless pinup he plans to marry,” Helen added. “Though I am somewhat hesitant to recommend murder as a solution, being an officer of the court and all.”

Dana Sue nudged her in the ribs. “Don’t go soft now. You said we’d do anything, if it would make Maddie feel better.”

Maddie actually managed a faint grin. “Fortunately for both of you, my revenge fantasies don’t run to murder.”

“What, then?” Dana Sue asked, looking fascinated. “Personally, after I kicked Ronnie’s sorry butt out of the house, I wanted to see him run over by a train.”

“Murder’s too quick,” Maddie said. “Besides, there are the children to consider. Scum that he is, Bill is still their father. I have to remind myself of that on an hourly basis just to keep my temper in check.”

“Fortunately, Annie was just as mad at her daddy as I was,” Dana Sue said. “I suppose that’s the good side of having a teenage daughter. She could see right through his shenanigans. I think she knew what was going on even before I did. She stood on the front steps and applauded when I tossed him out.”

“Okay, you two,” Helen interrupted, “as much fun as it is listening to you compare notes, can we go someplace else to do it? My suit’s going to stink to high heaven if we don’t get out in the fresh air soon.”

“Don’t you both need to get to work?” Maddie asked.

“I took the afternoon off,” Helen said. “In case you wanted to get drunk or something.”

“And I don’t have to be at the restaurant for two hours,” Dana Sue said, then studied Maddie with a considering look. “How drunk can you get in that amount of time?”

“Given the fact that there’s not a single bar open in Serenity at this hour, I think we can forget about me getting drunk,” Maddie noted. “Though I do appreciate the sentiment, that’s probably for the best.”

“I have the makings of margaritas at my place,” Helen offered.

“And we all know how loopy I get on one of those,” Maddie retorted, shuddering at the memory of their impromptu pity party a few months back when she’d told them about Bill’s plan to leave her. “I think I’d better stick to Diet Coke. I have to pick the kids up at school.”

“No, you don’t,” Dana Sue said. “Your mama’s going to do it.”

Maddie’s mouth gaped. Her mother had uttered two words when Tyler was born and repeated them regularly ever since: no babysitting. She’d been adamant about it then, and she’d stuck to it for sixteen years.

“How on earth did you pull that off?” she asked, a note of admiration in her voice.

“I explained the situation,” Dana Sue said with a shrug. “Your mother is a perfectly reasonable woman. I don’t know why the two of you have all these issues.”

Maddie could have explained, but it would take the rest of the afternoon. More likely, the rest of the week. Besides, Dana Sue had heard most of it a thousand times.

“So, are we going to my place?” Helen asked.

“Yes, but not for the margaritas,” Maddie said. “It took me the better part of two days to get over that last batch you made. I need to start looking for a job tomorrow.”

“No, you don’t,” Helen said.

“Oh? Did you finally get Bill to hand over some sort of windfall?”

“That, too,” Helen said, her smile smug.

Maddie studied her two friends intently. They were up to something. She’d bet her first alimony check on it. “Tell me,” she commanded.

“We’ll talk about it when we get to my place,” Helen said.

Maddie turned to Dana Sue. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“I have some idea,” Dana Sue said, barely containing a grin.

“So, the two of you have been plotting something,” Maddie concluded, not sure how she felt about that. She loved these two women like sisters, but every time they got some crazy idea, one of them invariably landed in trouble. It had been that way since they were six. She was pretty sure that was why Helen had become a lawyer, because she’d known the three of them were eventually going to need a good one.

“Give me a hint,” she pleaded. “I want to decide if I should take off now.”

“Not even a tiny hint,” Helen said. “You need to be in a more receptive frame of mind.”

“There’s not enough Diet Coke in the world to accomplish that,” Maddie responded.

Helen grinned. “Thus the margaritas.”

“I made some killer guacamole,” Dana Sue added. “And I got a big ole bag of those tortilla chips you like, too, though all that salt will eventually kill you.”

Maddie looked from one to the other and sighed. “With you two scheming behind my back, something tells me I’m doomed anyway.”

The tart margarita was strong enough to make Maddie’s mouth pucker. They were on the brick patio behind Helen’s custom-built home in Serenity’s one fancy subdivision, each of them settled onto a comfy chaise longue. The South Carolina humidity was thick even though it was only March, but the faint breeze stirring the towering pine trees was enough to keep it from being too oppressive.

Maddie was tempted to dive straight into Helen’s turquoise pool, but instead she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. For the first time in months, she felt her worries slipping away. Beyond her anger, she wasn’t trying to hide anything from her kids—not her sorrow, not her fears, but she did struggle to keep them in check. With Helen and Dana Sue, she could just be herself, one very hurt, soon-to-be-divorced woman filled with uncertainty.

“You think she’s ready to hear our idea?” Dana Sue murmured beside her.

“Not yet,” Helen responded. “She needs to finish that drink.”

“I can hear you,” Maddie said. “I’m not asleep or unconscious yet.”

“Then we’d better wait,” Dana Sue said cheerfully. “More guacamole?”

“No, though you outdid yourself,” Maddie told her. “That stuff made my eyes water.”

Dana Sue looked taken aback. “Too hot? I thought maybe you were just having yourself another little crying jag.”

“I am not prone to crying jags,” Maddie retorted.

“You think we didn’t notice you were crying when we got to the gym?” Helen inquired.

“I was hoping you’d think it was sweat.”

“I’m sure that’s what everyone else thought, but we knew better,” Dana Sue said. “I have to say, I was disappointed you’d shed a single tear over that man.”

“So was I,” Maddie said.

Dana Sue gave her a hard look, then turned to Helen. “We may as well tell her. I don’t think she’s going to mellow out any more than she has already.”

“Okay,” Helen conceded. “Here’s the deal. What have all three of us been complaining about for the past twenty years?”

“Men,” Maddie suggested dryly.

“Besides that,” Helen said impatiently.

“South Carolina’s humidity?”

Helen sighed. “Would you try to be serious for one minute? The gym. We’ve been complaining about that awful gym all our adult lives.”

Maddie regarded her with bafflement. “And it hasn’t done a lick of good, has it? The last time we pitched a fit about the place, Dexter hired Junior Stevens to mop it out…once. The place smelled of Lysol for a week and that was it.”

“Precisely. Which is why Dana Sue and I came up with this idea,” Helen said, then paused for effect. “We want to open a brand-new fitness club, one that’s clean and welcoming and caters to women.”

“We want it to be a place where women can get fit and be pampered and drink a smoothie with their friends after a workout,” Dana Sue added. “Maybe even get a facial or a massage.”

“And you want to do this in Serenity, with its population of five thousand seven hundred and fourteen people?” Maddie asked, not even trying to hide her skepticism.

“Fifteen,” Dana Sue corrected. “Daisy Mitchell had a baby girl yesterday. And believe me, if you’ve seen Daisy lately, you know she’ll be the perfect candidate for one of our postpregnancy classes.”

Maddie studied Helen more intently. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“As serious as a heart attack,” she confirmed. “What do you think?”

“I suppose it could work,” Maddie said thoughtfully. “Goodness knows, that gym is disgusting. It’s no wonder half the women in Serenity refuse to exercise. Of course, the other half can’t get out of their recliners because of all the fried chicken they’ve consumed.”

“Which is why we’ll offer cooking classes, too,” Dana Sue said eagerly.

“Let me guess. New Southern Cuisine,” Maddie said.

“Southern cooking isn’t all about lima beans swimming in butter or green beans cooked with fatback,” Dana Sue said. “Haven’t I taught you anything?”

“Me, yes, absolutely,” Maddie assured her. “But the general population of Serenity still craves their mashed potatoes and fried chicken.”

“So do I,” Dana Sue said. “But ovenbaked’s not half-bad if you do it right.”

“We’re losing focus,” Helen cut in. “There’s a building available over on Palmetto Lane that would be just right for what we have in mind. I think we should take a look at it in the morning. Dana Sue and I fell in love with it right away, Maddie, but we want your opinion.”

“Why? It’s not as if I have anything to compare it to. Besides, I don’t even know what your vision is, not entirely anyway.”

“You know how to make a place cozy and inviting, don’t you?” Helen said. “After all, you took that mausoleum that was the Townsend family home and made it real welcoming.”

“Right,” Dana Sue said. “And you have all sorts of business savvy from helping Bill get his practice established.”

“I put some systems into place for him nearly twenty years ago,” Maddie said, downplaying her contribution to setting up the office. “I’m hardly an expert. If you’re going to do this, you should hire a consultant, devise a business plan, do cost projections. You can’t do something like this on a whim just because you don’t like the way Dexter’s gym smells.”

“Actually, we can,” Helen insisted. “I have enough money saved for a down payment on the building, plus capital expenses for equipment and an operating budget for the first year. Let’s face it, I can use the tax write-off, though I predict this won’t be a losing proposition for long.”

“And I’m going to invest some cash, but mostly my time and my expertise in cooking and nutrition to design a little café and offer classes,” Dana Sue added.

They both looked at Maddie expectantly.

“What?” she demanded. “I don’t have any expertise and I certainly don’t have any money to throw at something this speculative.”

Helen grinned. “You have a bit more than you think, thanks to your fabulous attorney, but we don’t really want your money. We want you to be in charge.”

Maddie regarded them incredulously. “Me? I hate to exercise. I only do it because I know I have to.” She gestured at the cellulite firmly clinging to her thighs. “And we can see how much good that’s doing.”

“Then you’re perfect for this job, because you’ll work really, really hard to make this a place women just like you will want to join,” Helen said.

Maddie shook her head. “Forget it. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Why not?” Dana demanded. “You need work. We need a manager. It’s a perfect match.”

“It feels like some scheme you devised to keep me from starving to death,” Maddie said.

“I already told you that you won’t be starving,” Helen said. “And you get to keep the house, which is long since paid for. Bill was very reasonable once I laid out a few facts for him.”

Maddie studied her friend’s face. Not many people tried explaining anything to Bill, since he was convinced he knew it all. A medical degree did that to some men. And what the degree didn’t accomplish, adoring nurses like Noreen did.

“Such as?” Maddie asked.

“How the news of his impending fatherhood with his unmarried nurse might impact his practice here in the conservative, family-oriented town of Serenity,” Helen said without the slightest hint of remorse. “People might not want to take their darling little kiddies to a pediatrician who has demonstrated a complete lack of scruples.”

“You blackmailed him?” Maddie wasn’t sure whether she was shocked or awed.

Helen shrugged. “I prefer to think of it as educating him on the value of the right PR spin. So far people in town haven’t taken sides, but that could change in a heartbeat.”

“I’m surprised his attorney let you get away with that,” Maddie said.

“That’s because you don’t know everything your brilliant attorney knew walking into that room,” Helen said.

“Such as?” Maddie asked again.

“Bill’s nurse had a little thing going with his attorney once upon a time. Tom Patterson had his own reasons for wanting to see Bill screwed to the wall.”

“Isn’t that unethical?” Maddie asked. “Shouldn’t he have refused to take Bill’s case or something?”

“He did, but Bill insisted. Tom disclosed his connection to Noreen, but Bill continued to insist. He thought Tom’s thing with Noreen would make him more understanding of his eagerness to get on with life with her. Which just proves that when it comes to human nature your soon-to-be ex really doesn’t have a clue.”

“And you took advantage of all those shenanigans to get Maddie the money she deserves,” Dana Sue said admiringly.

“I did,” Helen confirmed with satisfaction. “If we’d had to go in front of a judge, it might have gone differently, but Bill was especially anxious for a settlement so he could be a proper daddy to his new baby before the ink is dry on the birth certificate. As you reminded him on your way out the door, Maddie, he’s the one in a hurry.”

Helen regarded Maddie intently. “It’s not a fortune, mind you, but you don’t have to worry about money for the time being.”

“I still think I ought to look for a real job,” Maddie said. “However much the settlement is, it won’t last forever, and I’m not likely to have a lot of earning power, not right at first, anyway.”

“Which is why you should take us up on our offer,” Dana Sue said. “This health club could be a gold mine and you’d be a full partner. That’s what you’d get in return for your day-in, day-out running of it all—sweat equity.”

“I don’t see what’s in it for the two of you,” Maddie said. “Helen, you’re in Charleston all the time. There are some fine gyms over there, if you don’t want to go to Dexter’s. And Dana Sue, you could offer cooking classes at the restaurant. You don’t need a spa to do it.”

“We’re trying to be community minded,” Dana Sue said. “This town needs someone to invest in it.”

“I’m not buying it,” Maddie said. “This is about me. You both feel sorry for me.”

“We most certainly do not,” Helen said. “You’re going to be just fine.”

“Then there’s something else, something you’re not telling me,” Maddie persisted. “You didn’t just wake up one day and decide you wanted to open a health club, not even for some kind of tax shelter.”

Helen hesitated, then confessed. “Okay, here’s the whole truth. I need a place to go to work off the stress of my job. My doctor’s been on my case about my blood pressure. I flatly refuse to start taking a bunch of pills at my age, so he said he’d give me three months to see if a better diet and exercise would help. I’m trying to cut back on my cases in Charleston for a while, so I need a spa right here in Serenity.”

Maddie stared at her friend in alarm. If Helen was cutting back on work, then the doctor must have made quite a case for the risks to her health. “If your blood pressure is that high, why didn’t you say something? Not that I’m surprised given the way you obsess over your job.”

“I didn’t say anything because you’ve had enough on your plate,” Helen said. “Besides, I intend to take care of it.”

“By opening your own gym,” Maddie concluded. “Won’t getting a new business off the ground just add to the stress?”

“Not if you’re running it,” Helen said. “Besides, I think all of us doing this together will be fun.”

Maddie wasn’t entirely convinced about the fun factor, but she turned to Dana Sue. “And you? What’s your excuse for wanting to open a new business? Isn’t the restaurant enough?”

“It’s making plenty of money, sure,” Dana Sue said. “But I’m around food all the time. I’ve gained a few pounds. You know my family history. Just about everybody had diabetes, so I need to get my weight under control. I’m not likely to stop eating, so I need to work out.”

“See, we both have our own reasons for wanting to make this happen,” Helen said. “Come on, Maddie. At least look at the building tomorrow. You don’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow. There’s time for you to mull it over in that cautious brain of yours.”

“I am not cautious,” Maddie protested, offended. Once she’d been the biggest risk-taker among them. All it had taken was the promise of fun and a dare. Had she really lost that? Judging from the expressions on her friends’ faces, she had.

“Oh, please, you weigh the pros and cons and calorie content before you order lunch,” Dana Sue said. “But we love you just the same.”

“Which is why we won’t do this without you,” Helen said. “Even if it does put our health at risk.”

Maddie looked from one to the other. “No pressure there,” she said dryly.

“Not a bit,” Helen said. “I have a career. And the doctor says there are all sorts of pills for controlling blood pressure these days.”

“And I have a business,” Dana Sue added. “As for my weight, I suppose we can just continue walking together a couple of times a week.” She sighed dramatically.

“Despite what y’all have said, I’m not entirely convinced it isn’t charity,” Maddie repeated. “The timing is awfully suspicious.”

“It would only be charity if we didn’t expect you to work your butt off to make a success of it,” Helen said. “So, are you in or out?”

Maddie gave it some thought. “I’ll look at the building,” she finally conceded. “But that’s all I’m promising.”

Helen swung her gaze to Dana Sue. “If we’d waited till she had that second margarita, she would have said yes,” Helen claimed, feigning disappointment.

Maddie laughed. “But if I’d had two, you couldn’t have held me to anything I said.”

“She has a point,” Dana Sue agreed. “Let’s be grateful we got a maybe.”

“Have I told you two how glad I am that you’re my friends?” Maddie said, feeling her eyes well up with tears yet again.

“Uh-oh, here she goes again,” Dana Sue said, getting to her feet. “I need to get to work before we all start crying.”

“I never cry,” Helen declared.

Dana Sue groaned. “Don’t even start. Maddie will be forced to challenge you, and before you know it, all of Serenity will be flooded and you’ll both look like complete wrecks when we meet in the morning. Maddie, do you want me to drop you off at home?”

She shook her head. “I’ll walk. It’ll give me time to think.”

“And to sober up before her mama sees her,” Helen taunted.

“That, too,” Maddie agreed.

Mostly, though, she wanted time to absorb the fact that on one of the worst days of her life she’d been surrounded by friends who’d given her a glimmer of hope that her future wasn’t going to be quite as bleak as she’d imagined.

2

It was almost dusk when Maddie walked through the wrought-iron front gate of the monstrosity of a house that had been in the Townsend family for five generations. According to Helen, Bill had reluctantly agreed to let her remain there with the children, since the house would one day be Tyler’s. Staring up at the massive brick facade, Maddie almost regretted winning that point. She would have been happier in something cozier with a white picket fence and some roses. The upkeep on this place could bankrupt her, but Helen assured her she’d made provisions for that, too, in the settlement.

As she opened the front door, she braced herself to deal with her mother. But when she walked into the family room at the back of the house, it was Bill she discovered sitting on the sofa with Katie napping in his arms and the boys lounging in front of the TV, their attention riveted on a show she was pretty sure she’d never allowed them to watch. She immediately stiffened at the sight of some sort of extreme-fighting competition.

One thing at a time, she warned herself. Getting rid of her soon-to-be ex was her first priority.

Before she opened her mouth, though, she allowed herself a long hard look at him, something she hadn’t dared to do earlier. His blond hair was still thick, but there were a few silver strands she’d never noticed before, and an unhealthy pallor beneath his tan. The lines on his face, which once had lent character to his handsome features, made him look tired now. If it was still her business, she’d have been worried about him.

She reminded herself of how furious she’d been a few hours ago. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, reclaiming her earlier anger. “And where is my mother?”

The boys, used to her neutral tone and careful remarks about their father, regarded her with surprise. Bill merely frowned his disapproval.

“She left when I got here. I said I’d stay till you got home. We need to talk,” he said.

“I said all I have to say to you at Helen’s office,” she retorted, standing her ground. “Do I need to repeat it?”

“Maddie, please, let’s not start a scene in front of the kids.”

She knew he was less concerned about that than about having to face any more of her justifiable outrage. Even so, he had a point. Tyler was already looking as if he might leap to her defense. He’d felt compelled to do that too many times lately. He’d been stuffing down his own feelings in an attempt to be supportive to her. It was too much of a burden for a sixteen-year-old boy who’d once idolized his dad.

“Fine,” she said tightly. “Tyler, Kyle, go upstairs and finish your homework. I’ll fix supper as soon as your dad leaves.”

“Mine’s done,” Tyler said, not budging, his expression defiant.

“Mine, too,” Kyle said.

She gave them a warning look that had them scrambling to their feet.

“I’ll take Katie,” Tyler offered, picking up his sleeping sister.

“Goodbye, boys,” Bill called after them.

“Bye, Dad,” Kyle answered. Tyler said nothing.

Bill stared after them, his expression sad. “Tyler’s still furious with me, isn’t he?”

“Can you blame him?” she replied, incapable of dealing with Bill’s injured feelings.

“Of course not, especially with you feeding his resentment every chance you get,” he responded.

“I do not do that,” Maddie said heatedly. “As much as it pains me, I’ve done everything I can to keep them from hating you or seeing how badly you hurt me. Unfortunately, Ty and Kyle are old enough to reach their own conclusions and to see through whatever charade I put on.”

Bill immediately backed down. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ve tried. It’s just so frustrating. The kids and I used to be so close, but now Katie’s the only one who acts as if nothing’s changed.”

“Katie adores you,” Maddie said. “She’s six. Even after all these months, she doesn’t fully understand that you’re never coming back here to live. The boys know exactly what’s going on and that their lives will never be the same. Katie just cries herself to sleep every night when you’re not here to read her a story and kiss her good night. Not a day goes by when she doesn’t ask me what she did wrong and how we can fix it and when you’re coming back for good.”

She thought she caught a hint of guilt on Bill’s face, but then the polite mask she’d gotten used to seeing lately returned. She tried to remember the last time his eyes had lit up at the sight of her, the last time he’d actually met her gaze at all. Sadly, she couldn’t. She suspected it was long before he’d announced he was leaving her, most likely in the early days of his affair with Noreen. How had she not noticed such a dramatic change?

“Would you sit down, Maddie?” he said irritably. “I can’t get into this with you looming over me.”

“Into what? Surely there can’t be more bad news. Breaking up our marriage and our family pretty much covered all the bases, didn’t it?”

“You know, Madelyn, sarcasm doesn’t become you.”

“Well, pardon me all to hell!” she snapped, blaming the margaritas for her lack of inhibition. “Sarcasm is pretty much all I have left.”

His gaze narrowed. “You never used to swear.”

“Until recently, I never had anything to swear about,” she told him. “Would you just say whatever’s on your mind and leave? As I understand it, this is no longer your home, so I’d appreciate it if you’d call before coming by again.”

He gave her a defeated look and for an instant, she almost felt sorry for him. He’d made his choice, he was getting everything he wanted, but he didn’t seem all that happy about it. Before she could allow herself to remember the way she’d once loved him, she steeled herself and sat on the edge of a chair opposite him.

“I didn’t want things to turn out like this,” he said, meeting her gaze for the first time in weeks. “I really didn’t.”

Maddie sighed. “I know. Things happen.”

“If it weren’t for the baby…” His voice trailed off.

Maddie’s temper stirred. “Don’t you dare say that you’d have stayed with me if it weren’t for Noreen getting pregnant. That demeans her and me.”

He stared at her blankly. “How? I’m just trying to be honest.”

“It suggests you’re only with her because of the baby and it says you think I’d take you back after you cheated on me if there weren’t a baby to consider. You had an affair, Bill. I’m not sure I could have forgiven that.”

“Maybe not right away, but we might have fought harder to get back on track, to keep our family intact.”

“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. “Maybe we would have, but that ship has pretty much sailed.”

“Can you at least promise me you’ll do what you can to help me fix things with the kids? I miss them, Maddie. I thought after all these months things would be better, but they’re not. I’m running out of ideas.”

“What you’re running out of is patience,” she retorted. “You wanted everything to fall neatly into place the instant you said goodbye to me, but unfortunately kids’ emotions can’t turn on a dime. They’re hurt and angry and confused. You’re going to have to work to change that. I can’t just wave a magic wand and make it okay. I agreed to let you have as much time with them as you want. What more do you expect?”

“An advocate,” he suggested.

“It’s one thing for me not to say anything negative about you to the children,” she told him. “But I’m not going to be a cheerleader for dear old dad.”

“Did you know that Tyler has flatly refused to set foot in my new place as long as Noreen is there? What am I supposed to do, ask her to leave? It’s her apartment.”

“Ty didn’t say anything to me about that,” she said, just a little pleased that her son had taken such a stand. She knew, though, that he and his father needed to mend fences. Bill had always been an important part of their oldest son’s life. Despite his busy schedule, Bill had never missed a ball game, a school conference or any other activity that meant something to Tyler. Sixteen was the worst possible age to have that kind of supportive relationship disrupted.

“I’ll talk to him,” she offered, backing off her refusal to become Bill’s advocate. She would do it for Ty’s sake. “But,” she reminded Bill, “he’s sixteen and has a mind of his own. I can’t force him to do anything. You may have to give it some time, work a little harder to win him back.”

“I’d appreciate anything you can do.” He stood up. “Well, that’s all I really wanted.”

“Okay, fine.”

“And to say one more time how sorry I am.”

She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and blinked hard to keep them from falling. Just in case one escaped, she turned away. “Me, too,” she said.

She kept waiting for him to leave, but she wasn’t prepared for the quick brush of his lips on her cheek before he strode out of the family room and out of the house.

Now the tears fell unchecked. “Well, damn you all to hell, Bill Townsend,” she muttered, hating that the quick, careless kiss had meant anything at all.

“Mom?”

Swiping at her tears, she gazed up at Tyler, who was studying her worriedly. “I’m okay,” she assured him.

“No, you’re not,” he said, then added heatedly, “I hate him for what he’s done to you. He’s such a lying hypocrite. All that talk he used to give me about how you’re supposed to treat someone you care about was just a crock.”

“Ty, he’s your dad. You don’t hate him,” she chided. “And what he told you is the way it’s supposed to be. People who care about each other should be kind and supportive and faithful. Unfortunately life doesn’t always follow the rules.”

“You can’t make me love him,” he said, his tone unyielding. “I heard what he asked you. He wants you to convince me he’s not a jerk.”

“He loves you. He came over here because he misses spending time with you.”

“I’m not the one who left,” Tyler said bitterly. “He is. Why should I go out of my way to see him, especially when she’s around all the time?”

Maddie moved to the sofa and held out her hand. “Come here.”

He hesitated, then came closer and awkwardly took her outstretched hand.

“Sit here beside me,” she said. When he was seated, she turned and met his gaze. “Ty, you’re old enough to understand that things don’t always work out with grown-ups just because we want them to. It’s not anybody’s fault.”

“Are you telling me that Dad having an affair and getting Noreen pregnant is as much your fault as it is his?”

Her lips curved in a small smile at that. “Well, no, I can’t say that, but obviously things weren’t good between your dad and me or he wouldn’t have turned to her.”

“Did you know they weren’t good?”

“No,” she told him candidly. In hindsight, the signs were there, tiny fissures so small she could be forgiven for missing them, but at the time she’d thought their marriage was as solid as anyone’s could be.

“Then it was all his fault,” Tyler concluded, still being fiercely loyal to her.

As much as she wanted to agree with him, she was determined to be fair. “Spend some time with him, Ty, just the two of you. Listen to his side of things,” she encouraged. “You’ve always been so close. Don’t lose that.”

“He’ll just make a bunch of excuses. I don’t want to hear them.” Ty regarded her warily. “Are you going to make me spend time with him?”

“I won’t force you to, no,” she said. “But I will be disappointed in you if you don’t at least try to meet him halfway.”

“Why?” he asked incredulously. “He walked out on you, Mom. On all of us. Why do we need to be fair?”

“He didn’t walk out on you, Kyle and Katie,” she said quietly. “He isn’t divorcing you. Your dad loves every one of you.”

“Man, I don’t get you,” her son said angrily, yanking his hand away and standing up. “How come I’m the only one in this house who sees Dad for the scumbag he is?”

“Tyler Townsend, don’t talk about your father like that!” she said.

His gaze locked with hers, then eventually faltered. “Whatever,” he mumbled and stalked out of the room.

Maddie watched him go, her heart aching. “Damn you, Bill Townsend,” she said for the second time that night.

The old Victorian house on the corner of Main and Palmetto Lane was at the western fringe of downtown Serenity. Not that there was much of a downtown anymore, Maddie thought as she stood with Helen and Dana Sue. The hardware store had stuck it out, as had the drugstore with its old-fashioned soda fountain, but Willard’s Grocery had been empty for a decade, ever since a superstore with discount grocery prices had opened twenty-five miles away on the outskirts of Charleston. It had quickly become evident that residents would rather drive all that way for a bargain than pay a few cents more to keep a local merchant in business.

The white paint on the Victorian was peeling, the shutters were askew and the porch sagged. The lawn hadn’t been cut in ages and most of the picket fence was broken. Maddie dimly remembered the place as it had been when old Mrs. Hartley was alive. Yellow roses had tumbled over the white fence, the porch and sidewalk had been swept daily and the shutters had gleamed with dark green paint.

Mrs. Hartley, who must have been in her eighties by then, had sat on the porch every afternoon with a pitcher of iced sweet tea and welcomed anyone who happened to walk by. More than once, Maddie had climbed onto the swing hanging from the porch rafters and eaten sugar cookies while her grandmother had visited with the elderly woman. Nana Vreeland and Mrs. Hartley had been witness to most of the changes in Serenity through the years, and Maddie knew she’d absorbed their love for the small town with its friendly people, old white clapboard churches and acres of green space with a small lake in the middle that was home to a family of swans. Free summer concerts in the bandstand by the lake drew everyone in town on Saturday nights.

Despite Serenity’s charm, a lot of people Maddie’s age had been eager to leave and never come back, but not Maddie or Bill. They’d never wanted to live anywhere else. Nor had Helen or Dana Sue. The slower pace and sense of community meant something to all of them.

“Boy, this place brings back a lot of memories,” Maddie said at last. “What a shame that none of Mrs. Hartley’s kids wanted the property or made any effort to take care of it.”

“Their loss is our gain,” Helen said briskly. “We can get it for a song.”

“I’m not surprised,” Maddie said. “Are you sure it’s safe to go inside? Looks to me as if all sorts of critters might have taken up residence in there.”

Dana Sue nudged her in the ribs. “Do you think we’ve forgotten about your terror of spiders and snakes? Helen made sure the real-estate agent had it all swept out last week. There’s nothing in there but the resident ghost.”

“Oh, please,” Maddie said. “How can there be a ghost? No one’s died here.”

“But wouldn’t it be fabulous if there were a ghost?” Dana Sue persisted. “Just think of the PR value. There’s nothing a Southerner loves quite so much as a good ghost story or bragging rights to having one up in the attic.”

“I’m not sure having a ghost would be much of a recommendation for a health club,” Helen said. “What if it appears in a mirror one day? It could scare twenty years off someone’s life and pretty much destroy the place’s reputation as a fitness mecca. I’m not sure even I could win that lawsuit.” She met Maddie’s gaze. “Ready to go inside?”

“Sure. Why not?” Maddie said, still trying to see what the two of them obviously saw in the run-down house. Even her memories of the way it had once been didn’t help her to envision it as a thriving spa.

Not two minutes later, though, once she’d stepped across the threshold and into the sunlight pooling on the old oak floors, her pulse began to race a little faster. The downstairs rooms were huge. The windows were dingy, but even so they let in streaming rays of sun. With pale yellow walls and white woodwork, the spa would be cheerful and welcoming. The floors could be brought back with sanding and a good coat or two of polyurethane.

When she reached the dining room, which faced the back of the property, she realized that the French doors and tall windows opened to a wooded lot with a small stream trickling through it. Treadmills set up to face that way would give the illusion of walking or running outdoors. Wouldn’t that afford women a sense of serenity while they exercised?

Dana Sue latched on to her hand and tugged her into the kitchen.

“Can you believe this?” she demanded, gesturing around her. “The appliances are old and the cabinets are a mess, but the room is huge. Just imagine what we could do with it.”

“I thought the idea of this place was to make people forget about food, not to feed them,” Maddie said.

“No, no, no,” Dana Sue chided. “It’s supposed to give them a place to make healthy choices. We could set up a counter over here and a few small tables in that area by the door. We could even open it onto the back patio and add a few tables outside.”

“Can you cook and serve in the same space?” Maddie asked.

“There won’t be any cooking done here, except for whatever classes we offer. I’ll cater the salads from the restaurant kitchen. We can get a professional refrigerator or display case for those. And we’ll offer smoothies and other drinks. Can’t you just imagine what fun it would be to work out with a couple of friends, then sit out there gazing at that stream and eating a chicken Caesar salad and drinking mineral water. You’d leave here feeling a thousand percent better, even if you never lost an ounce. And if we offered a hot tub and massages, oh, my gosh…” She sighed rapturously.

“That sounds great for someone who has all morning or all afternoon, but won’t the people who can afford what you’re talking about be working?” Maddie asked, continuing to play devil’s advocate.

“We’ve thought of that,” Helen said. “We could offer daylong or half-day packages for women who want to be really pampered for a special occasion. But we could also have a half-hour workout and lunch deal for someone who only has an hour-long break from work. And there are so many bedrooms, we could even convert one room to a nursery and hire a day-care worker so moms could exercise in peace.”

Maddie regarded them with surprise. It was beginning to seem they had an answer for everything. “You’ve really given this a lot of thought, haven’t you.”

Helen shrugged. “What can I say? I hate Dexter’s place and I really need to work out. I might as well create someplace I’ll enjoy going.”

“Me, too,” Dana Sue said. “If I own a place like this, though, I’ll have to stay in shape. I’ll be happy. Doc Marshall will be happy. Even my daughter will stop commenting about the bulge around my middle.”

“You do not have a bulge around your middle,” Maddie said indignantly. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Compared to my daughter, I’m downright obese,” Dana Sue insisted. “To tell you the truth, I think Annie’s taking the whole dieting thing to extremes, but every time I try to talk to her about it, she freaks out. And I can’t get her near a scale to prove my point.”

Helen regarded her with alarm. “You don’t think she’s anorexic, do you? Lots of teenage girls are, you know.”

“The idea scares me to death,” Dana Sue admitted. “I watch her like a hawk to see what she’s putting in her mouth, and she seems to eat okay. Maybe she’s just burning it all up. Some people are just plain lucky to have high metabolisms.”

Helen exchanged a worried look with Maddie.

“Dana Sue, don’t ignore this,” Maddie said gently. “It can be really dangerous.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Dana Sue snapped in a rare display of temper that proved just how worried she was. “I was there when Megan Hartwell collapsed at the prom, same as you. She nearly died, for goodness’ sake.”

Maddie backed off. That night had been one none of them would ever forget. It was the first time they’d seen what an eating disorder could do to someone their age. Heck, back then no one had even acknowledged there was such a thing as an eating disorder. Before that, Megan Hartwell’s dieting obsession had just been a joke among them. If Dana Sue’s daughter did have a problem, surely Dana Sue would recognize it and deal with it without Maddie or anyone else nagging her.

“Sorry,” she apologized.

Dana Sue gave her a hug. “No, I’m sorry for biting your head off.”

“Okay, let’s try to focus on this place,” Helen said briskly. “Maddie, now that you’ve seen it, what do you think?”

“I think it’s a very ambitious plan,” she said cautiously.

“Not for us,” Dana Sue said. “We can do anything we set our minds to. We are, after all, the Sweet Magnolias. Everyone at Serenity High knew we were destined to succeed. They said so in our yearbooks.”

“They also said we were most likely to raise a ruckus and land in jail,” Maddie said.

Helen grinned. “Okay, so it was a toss-up. But we’ve all stayed on the straight and narrow. And we have succeeded.”

Dana Sue nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Maybe you two can claim success,” Maddie said. “Helen not only made it through law school, but she’s built an incredible practice all over the state. Dana Sue, you’ve created a restaurant that’s as good as anything in Charleston, and that’s saying something. What have I ever done?”

“You put your worthless hubby through med school, managed a home and raised three great kids. That’s nothing to sneeze at,” Helen said.

“I just don’t know,” Maddie said. “This would be a huge time commitment and I really need to pay attention to the kids right now. They need me.”

“We know that. We probably understand your priorities better than any other boss would,” Dana Sue told her.

Maddie knew that was true, but she still wasn’t ready to say yes. There was one significant consideration she couldn’t ignore. “I’d be terrified of messing up and costing you a small fortune,” she admitted.

“If I’m not worried about that, why should you be?” Helen asked.

Despite the reassurance, Maddie couldn’t seem to shake the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was getting in way over her head. “How big a hurry are you two in to do this?” she asked.

“I took out an option on the property yesterday for thirty days,” Helen said.

“Then give me thirty days to make up my mind,” Maddie pleaded.

“What will you know in thirty days that you don’t know right this minute?” Dana Sue argued.

“I’ll be able to do some cost projections, some market analysis, take a look at what’s being offered in other towns in the area,” Maddie began.

Helen grinned again. “I told you she’d focus on all that sensible stuff,” she said to Dana Sue.

“Well, it’s important to know exactly what’s involved,” Maddie retorted. “And I want to look at the job market while I’m at it. I should see if there’s something I’m better suited to do.”

“In Serenity?” Helen scoffed.

“I could be qualified for lots of things,” Maddie said, though without much conviction.

“You are,” Helen concurred, “but not a lot of folks are going to offer you a partnership in your own business based on your résumé.”

“I have to look,” Maddie said stubbornly. “I have to be sure that this is the right thing for all of us. I’d never forgive myself if I just said yes and you wound up blowing a small fortune because I was incompetent or hadn’t done my homework.”

“I respect that,” Helen said. “I really do.”

Maddie met her gaze. “But? I hear a but in there.”

“But you haven’t taken a risk in over twenty years, and look where that’s gotten you. I say it’s high time to just throw caution to the wind and do what your gut tells you to do. You used to trust it.”

“So?” Dana Sue prodded. “What’s your gut saying, Maddie?”

Maddie gave them a rueful smile. “It’s saying yes,” she admitted.

“Well, hallelujah!” Dana Sue enthused.

Maddie shook her head. “Don’t get too worked up. From what I can see, my gut hasn’t been reliable for some time now. Up until a few months ago, I thought I had a good marriage.”

“Don’t blame your gut for that one,” Helen said. “Blame Bill for being an excellent liar.”

“Maybe so, but I think this time I’ll be more comfortable if I do a little research before taking the plunge. Come on, guys, thirty days. Is that so much to ask?”

Her friends exchanged a look.

“I suppose not,” Dana Sue said reluctantly.

“I bet she’ll be ready in a week,” Helen told Dana Sue.

Maddie frowned. “What makes you so sure?”

“I looked at the want ads in this morning’s paper,” Helen said. “Trust me, you won’t beat our offer.” When Maddie started to respond, Helen held up a hand. “It’s okay. You need to see for yourself. I understand that.”

“Thank you,” Maddie said.

“Just in case, though, I think I’ll go ahead and start on the partnership paperwork,” Helen said.

“Keep on being so smug, and I’ll turn you down just to spite you,” Maddie threatened.

“No, you won’t,” Helen said with confidence. “You’re way too smart to do that.”

Maddie tried to remember the last time anyone had complimented her on her intelligence, rather than her baking or hostessing skills. Maybe working with her two best friends would be good for her. Even if this health-club idea went belly-up, she might walk away with her self-esteem bolstered in a way it hadn’t been in years, to say nothing of the fact that they were bound to share a lot more laughter than she’d had in her marriage for a long time now. She ought to say yes for those reasons alone.

Because she was suddenly tempted to do just that, she gave Helen and Dana Sue quick hugs and headed for the door. “I’ll call you both,” she promised.

And, she vowed, not one minute before her thirty days was up.

3

At thirty, Cal Maddox had been coaching high-school baseball for only two years, but he knew the sport as few did. He’d played five seasons in the minors and two years in the majors until an injury had sidelined him. He’d been forced to accept that years in the minor leagues trying to get back what he’d once had would be an exercise in futility.

Sharing his love of the game and his expertise with kids who might still have a shot drew him as nothing else had during those frustrating months of rehab. He owed one man for yanking him out of his initial depression and making him realize that possibilities existed outside of pro ball.

Serenity School Board chairman Hamilton Reynolds, an ardent Atlanta Braves fan during Cal’s brief tenure with the team, had sought him out at the rehab center and changed his outlook and his life. He’d convinced Cal to come to Serenity.

In all his years working up to his shot with the big leagues and since, he’d never seen anyone with the raw, natural talent of Tyler Townsend. Ty was every coach’s dream, a kid with good grades, an easygoing temperament and a willingness to practice and learn. He’d been all-state his sophomore year and had been headed down that road again this year, at least until a few weeks ago. Now, Cal thought, he was a kid spiraling out of control.

Cal watched Ty’s halfhearted pitches to the plate with increasing dismay. The players, who usually had to struggle to make contact with the kid’s fastball, were slamming the balls over the fence right and left today. Worst of all, Ty didn’t even seem frustrated by his inability to get the batters out.

“Okay, that’s it for today,” Cal called. “Everybody do a lap around the field, then head for the locker room. Ty, I’d like to see you in my office after you’ve changed.”

Cal headed inside to wait. On some level, he half expected Tyler to blow off the meeting, but twenty minutes later the kid appeared in the doorway, his expression sullen.

“Come on in,” Cal said. “Close the door.”

“My mom’s picking me up in ten minutes,” Tyler said, but he sprawled in a chair across from Cal. Though he had the gangly limbs of a lot of boys his age, Ty had none of the awkwardness. His slouching posture now, however, was indicative of his overall bad attitude.

“I think we can cover this in ten minutes,” Cal said, hiding his frustration. “How do you think you pitched today?”

“I sucked,” Ty responded.

“And that’s okay with you?”

Ty shrugged and avoided his gaze.

“Well, it’s not okay with me.” Cal’s words drew no reaction, which meant sterner measures were called for. “Here’s the deal. If you expect to pitch our opener in two weeks, you’re going to have to show me that you deserve it. Otherwise I’ll put Josh in the starting rotation and you’ll spend the season on the bench.”

Expecting a fight or at least a reaction, Cal was disappointed when Ty merely shrugged.

“Do what you want,” Ty said.

Cal frowned at the utter lack of interest. “It is not what I want,” he said impatiently. “What I want is for you to get your act together and pitch like we both know you can.” He regarded the boy with real concern. “What’s going on with you, Ty? Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me, right?”

“I guess.”

Cal pressed on, hoping to get some kind of response that would clue him in to what was troubling the boy. “Your other teachers tell me you’re not concentrating in class. Your grades are slipping. None of this is like you.”

“Well, maybe I’ve changed,” Ty said sourly. “People do, you know. Out of the blue, they just fucking change.” He stood up and took off before Cal could react.

Well hell, Cal thought. He’d gotten what he was after—a genuine reaction—but he didn’t know anything more than he had before he’d hauled the kid into his office. He wasn’t sure which worried him more, the uncharacteristic swearing or the attitude. Cal had heard plenty of foul language in the high-school locker room. But he’d never heard it from Ty before.

Nor had he seen that kind of bitterness and resignation from a boy who could have the whole world of professional baseball at his feet a few years down the road. Normally Ty hung on Cal’s every word, determined to soak up every bit of knowledge Cal had to share. His exuberance and commitment to the team had made him a role model for the other kids.

Cal pulled a file and jotted down the Townsends’ phone number. Nine times out of ten when a kid lost focus like this, there was something going on at home or he’d gotten mixed up in some kind of substance abuse. Cal flatly refused to believe a kid as smart as Tyler would suddenly start doing drugs; besides, he’d seen no real evidence of that or alcohol abuse so that left some kind of upheaval in the kid’s home life.

Cal sighed. There was nothing like calling parents and digging around in their personal issues to make his day. He’d rather take a hard fastball in the gut.

Maddie had been on three job interviews that day. None of them had gone well, pretty much proving Helen’s point. Maddie had been out of the workforce too long for her degree or her work experience to count for much. Her résumé of early jobs looked pitiful, especially with the fifteen-year gap since the last one. She might think she was executive material, but no one else would so she’d kept her expectations modest.

When each of the human resources people had seen that gaping void, they’d regarded her with dismay. Each had asked some variation of the same question: What have you been doing all this time?

Keeping house, raising kids, resolving squabbles and balancing the checkbook. Not even the unpaid hours she’d put in handling the inevitable billing problems in Bill’s medical practice seemed to count for much.

The only thing more discouraging had been her own lack of excitement about any of the jobs. Most of them had been clerical positions, the kind of entry-level work she’d done twenty years ago. It struck her as ironic that all those years of life experience had left her unqualified for even that type of work.

She was still thinking about it—and about the alternative Helen and Dana Sue were offering her—when Ty yanked open the car door and climbed in, his increasingly frequent scowl firmly in place. He’d yanked his T-shirt on inside out, yet more evidence that he wasn’t himself. Since he’d discovered an interest in girls, he’d taken more care with his appearance, but today he looked unkempt. Given the streaks of dirt on his arms and his perspiration-matted dark blond hair, it didn’t even look as if he’d showered after practice.

“How was practice?” she asked automatically.

“It sucked.”

“Having trouble with your fastball?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, turning to avoid her startled gaze. “Let’s just get the hell out of here. I want to go home.”

Keeping her temper in check, she regarded her son with a neutral expression. She would deal with his language later. “Ty, what’s going on?” she asked quietly.

Her son’s mood had been increasingly dark ever since Bill’s last visit. Her attempt to force the issue the other night had apparently fallen on deaf ears. He was still angry and he still wasn’t speaking to his dad. When Bill had come by the night before to pick up the kids, Ty had remained locked in his room, refusing to see him.

On some level, she’d counted on the start of baseball season to provide a certain normalcy for him. He loved the game. He excelled at it. He’d claimed there was nothing he wanted more than a shot at being a professional ballplayer. Usually by this time in spring practice, he was quoting Coach Maddox every chance he got. Of course, in the past his father had been there to listen.

When he remained stubbornly silent, she prodded again. “Ty, talk to me. I’m not starting this car until you do. What’s going on with you?”

“Why does everybody keep asking me that?” he exploded. “You know what’s going on. We’ve already talked it to death. Dad walked out for some bimbo. What am I supposed to do when I find out my dad’s a jerk? Can’t we just leave it alone? I’m sick of talking about it.”

Maddie couldn’t really blame him for being sick of the topic, but clearly he needed to discuss it further, if not with her, then with a professional. He needed to deal with his resentment in a more constructive way than lashing out at anyone and everyone around him.

“Sweetie, yes, we’ve talked about his, and I know you don’t understand what your father’s done,” she said for what must have been the thousandth time. “But that doesn’t give you the right to call him names, okay? He’s still your father and deserves your respect. I do not want to have to tell you that again, understood?”

He regarded her incredulously. “Come on, Mom. I know you keep painting this rosy picture of things, but even you have to know what a jerk he is.”

“What I think of your father isn’t the point,” she said. “He loves you, Ty. He wants you to be as close as you always were.”

“Then why the hell did he leave us for her? She’s not much older than me.”

“She is an adult, though,” Maddie said. “You, your brother and sister need to give her a chance. If your father loves her, I’m sure she has plenty of good qualities.” She managed to get the words out without gagging.

“Yeah, right. I’ve seen her good qualities,” he retorted. “Like a 38-D, I’d say.”

“Tyler Townsend!” she protested. “You know better than to make a remark like that. It’s rude and inappropriate.”

“It’s the truth.”

Maddie fought to temper her remarks. “Look, change is never easy, but we all have to adapt. I’m trying. You could help me a lot if you’d try, too. You’re a role model for Kyle and Katie. They’re going to follow your lead when it comes to how they treat your dad and his…” Maddie stumbled. Until the divorce was final and the relationship could be legalized, there was no name for what Bill’s new love could be called, at least not in front of her children.

“Special friend,” Tyler suggested sarcastically. “That’s what Dad calls her. It makes me want to puke.”

Maddie would not allow herself to agree with him. That didn’t mean it was easy to give him a chiding look. “Careful, Tyler. You’re very close to crossing a line.”

“And Dad hasn’t crossed a line?” he said. “Give me a break.”

“Did something happen yesterday that I don’t know about?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Did you have words with your father?”

He remained stubbornly silent and kept looking out the window, refusing to meet her gaze.

Obviously she wasn’t going to get through to him, not this afternoon. But she had to keep trying. At the very least, she had to rein in his nastier comments.

“Maybe we should table this discussion for now, but in future I want you to speak to your father—and other adults, for that matter—in a respectful manner.”

Ty rolled his eyes. Maddie let it pass.

“Let’s talk some more about why baseball practice sucked,” she suggested, finally putting the car into gear and pulling away from the curb.

“Let’s not,” he said tersely, then looked directly at her as if seeing her for the first time. “How come you’re all dressed up?”

“Job interviews.”

“And?”

She resorted to his terminology. “They sucked.”

For the first time since he’d climbed into the car, Ty grinned. He looked like her carefree kid again…and so much like his dad had looked at that age, it made her heart ache.

“A chocolate milk shake always makes me feel better when I’ve had a bad day,” he suggested slyly.

Maddie grinned back at him, relieved to see the improvement in his mood. “Me, too,” she said, and whipped the car into the left-turn lane to head for Wharton’s Pharmacy, which still had an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Ever since her own childhood, that soda fountain had been the place where some of the most important events in her life had played out. She and Bill had shared sodas there during high school. She, Helen and Dana Sue had shared confidences. Bill had even proposed to her in the back booth with the view of Main Street with its flower-filled planters and wide, grassy median. They’d celebrated the arrival of each new baby by making a ceremonious first visit to the soda fountain so Grace and Neville Wharton could gush over the latest Townsend.

Going there today would be bittersweet, but fitting, Maddie thought. Maybe she and her son would be able to start the healing process over chocolate milk shakes. Then again that was asking an awful lot of a shake.

“I was real sorry to hear about you and Bill,” Grace Wharton told Maddie in an undertone while Ty was at the counter getting their milk shakes. “I just don’t know what men are thinking when they walk away from a fine family to be with a girl who’s still wet behind the ears.”

Maddie could only nod agreement. As much as she liked Grace, she knew that anything she said would be reported far and wide by nightfall. Fortunately, Ty came back to their booth before Grace could pry anything more from her.

“I hear you’ve been looking for a job,” Grace said, regarding Maddie with sympathy. “There’s mighty slim pickin’s here in Serenity. It’s a crying shame the way this town has been losing business to those big ole stores outside Charleston. I tell Neville all the time if we didn’t do such a good business with the soda fountain, we’d have to shut our doors, too. Goodness knows, the pharmacy’s not making money the way it once did. People would rather carry their prescriptions thirty miles than pay a little more for good service right here at home.”

“It’s affecting you, too?” Maddie asked, surprised. “Don’t people realize how wonderful it is to have a pharmacist who knows them and who’s willing to bring the prescription right to the door in the middle of the night if need be?”

“Oh, they care enough about that in an emergency, but it’s the day-in, day-out prescriptions we’re losing and the over-the-counter medicines they can buy cheaper someplace else. Losing that factory over in White Hill hasn’t helped, either. Folks there had good jobs with decent pay. Now all those jobs are off in some foreign country.” Grace shook her head sorrowfully. “It’s a crying shame, that’s what it is. Well, I’ll leave you two to enjoy your milk shakes. Honey, if you need anything, you just let me know. I’ll be happy to look after the kids for you or anything else you need.”

“Thanks, Grace,” Maddie said sincerely. She knew Grace meant it, too. That was the comfort of a place like Serenity. Neighbors helped each other out.

When she turned to face her son, his expression was troubled.

“Mom, are we short on cash because of Dad leaving? Is that why you’re trying to find a job?”

“We’re okay for now,” she assured him. “But the alimony payments your dad agreed to won’t last forever. I’m trying to plan ahead.”

“I thought Helen and Dana Sue wanted you to start up a new business with them,” he said.

Maddie was astonished. “How on earth do you know about that?”

“Mom, it’s Serenity and Dana Sue,” he said.

“Are you suggesting this town has a thing for gossip?” she inquired wryly. “And my best friend has a big mouth?”

“I’m not falling into that trap,” he sidestepped neatly. “But I do go to school with Dana Sue’s daughter.”

“And she’s been talking about this health-club idea?”

Ty nodded. “I think it sounds cool. I bet it’d be a whole lot more fun than working in some stuffy old office.”

“I pretty much think what they want me to do is work in their office,” she said.

“But you like them, right? I do. Dana Sue’s a riot and Helen gives just about the best Christmas presents ever.”

“Ah, yes. Important qualifications for a sound working partnership.”

“I’m just saying—”

She gave his hand a quick squeeze. “I know what you’re saying and you’re right. Working with them would be wonderful.”

“Then what’s keeping you from saying yes?”

She’d given the offer a lot of thought the past few days and knew exactly why she was hesitating. She’d even explained it to her friends, but it had fallen on deaf ears. “I don’t want to let them down,” she said honestly. “Right now, I’m just not sure if I can give the job the attention it needs.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Ty said, startling her.

“You do?”

“I know I’m letting the baseball team down,” he admitted. “But I just can’t seem to concentrate. That’s what Coach was all over me about today at practice. He said if I don’t get it together, he’ll pull me from the starting rotation.”

“Can he do that?” she demanded indignantly.

Tyler shrugged. “He’s the coach. It’s his call.”

“He won’t be the coach for long if the team starts losing.” Angry on her son’s behalf, she said, “Want me to talk to him? It’s not fair that he’s leaning on you so hard right now. I’m sure if he understood what’s going on, he’d cut you some slack.”

Ty looked horrified. “No way, Mom. He’s right. If I suck, I’ve got no business being on the field. I just have to work harder, I guess.”

“You could call your dad,” she suggested. “He’s always been able to help you before.”

“No!” Ty said fiercely. “I am not calling Dad about anything, okay? I’m not.” He pushed his unfinished milk shake aside and left the booth. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Ty!”

He didn’t even look back.

Maddie stared after him in dismay. What on earth was she supposed to do now? It wasn’t as if she could start coaching him. She understood quite a lot about baseball thanks to her son’s love of the game, but she certainly didn’t have any technical expertise. Besides, Coach Maddox had more pitching skill and pro ball experience than anyone in the entire region. If he couldn’t get through to Ty, then maybe what her son needed was counseling of some sort to help him deal with the other issues in his life. Maybe it was time to give that possibility serious consideration.

Unfortunately, even suggesting such a thing when Ty was still so angry might make the problem worse. He might think she was losing faith in him. In the past she and Bill would have talked over the situation and made a decision together. Now she’d rather eat dirt than turn to him. She had to handle this on her own.

“Mind a bit of advice?” Neville Wharton asked, slipping into the booth opposite her.

“I’d be grateful,” she said.

“If I were you, despite what Tyler says he wants or doesn’t want, I’d sit down with the coach and tell him what’s going on. Cal’s got real good instincts about working with kids if he knows what he’s up against.”

Maddie tried to imagine spilling her personal humiliation to a man she barely knew. She didn’t think she could do it.

Neville smiled. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “That once you tell one person it’ll be all over town, but the truth is everyone in Serenity probably already knows what’s going on with you and Bill, anyway. And I like the Maddox boy. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. The students at school look up to him, especially the boys on the baseball team.”

Only someone Neville’s age would refer to the baseball coach as a boy, she thought. Cal Maddox had to be thirty at least, given the time he’d spent in the minors and the all-too-brief time he’d been in the Major League before coming to Serenity two years ago to coach.

“I’ll give it some thought,” Maddie promised. “Thanks, Neville.”

“Tyler will be okay,” he reassured her. “That boy of yours is just going through a rough patch, that’s all. It’s tough having his dad walk out. He doesn’t know how to handle it. Same as you, I imagine.”

He gave her a wink. “And for what it’s worth, I think you ought to open that fancy spa with Helen and Dana Sue, too. I imagine even Grace might wander over there for one of those massages, just to see what it’s like.”

“Is there anyone in this town who hasn’t heard about their plan?” Maddie asked, exasperated.

“I doubt it,” he said. “I figure those two gals knew you’d be a hard sell and wanted to get folks on their side to help with any convincing that needed to be done.”

“Oh, great,” she grumbled. “I’ve half a mind to turn the job down.”

He grinned. “You’ll get past that,” he said with conviction. “A smart gal like you won’t walk away from the chance of a lifetime just to be stubborn.”

“You realize if we get half the women in Serenity on some sort of health kick, Neville, your soda fountain will suffer,” she warned him.

“Nah,” he said, showing a complete lack of concern. “I’ve been in this business more than fifty years. Good intentions can’t hold out against hot-fudge sauce for long. And I’ll be sure to send my best customers over there to work off the calories. That way we’ll both profit.”

She studied him with surprise. “Then you really think this health club is a good idea?”

“Are you kidding me?” he asked incredulously. “Have you looked at the magazine racks lately? Fitness and weight loss and all that sort of thing is all anyone writes about these days. That tells me folks must be pretty worked up about it. Women sit at my counter every single day and talk about low-carb this and low-fat that. If it’s a craze, you three gals may as well make some money from it. Goodness knows, you won’t have any competition from Dexter’s.”

“No question about that,” Maddie agreed. “Thanks, Neville. I’d better get out to the car before Tyler melts. It’s hot as blazes out there, even if it is only March.”

“I know. Makes you wonder what July will be like, doesn’t it?” he said with a shake of his head.

The weather was the least of Maddie’s concerns. Even with all of Neville’s well-meaning advice, she still didn’t know what to do about her one solid job offer…or about her very angry and disillusioned son.

4

When the doorbell rang just after lunch on Saturday, Maddie gladly left it to the kids to answer the door. She had no desire to face Bill after the frustrating week she’d had. These days she didn’t want to see him when she was at her best, much less when she was feeling defeated.

She was about to run a hot bath for herself when she heard Tyler’s raised voice from the front hall.

“What the hell are you doing here? We don’t want you in this house!”

Horrified by his language and his attitude, Maddie rushed from her bathroom wrapped in an old terry-cloth robe, her hair piled atop her head in a haphazard knot. “Tyler Walker Townsend, what on earth?” she said, then came to an abrupt stop beside him as she spotted the very pregnant Noreen standing on the doorstep.

Maddie had first met the young nurse when she’d interviewed candidates for the job in Bill’s office. She’d been impressed by the woman’s résumé and composure. In the weeks after Bill had hired her, Maddie had noticed the woman’s efficiency and her warmth with the young patients. She’d had no idea that Noreen’s attentiveness had extended to her husband.

On the two occasions when she’d seen Noreen since discovering the woman’s involvement with Bill, Maddie had been struck by how self-possessed she seemed, even dressed in her end-of-the-day wilted nurse’s uniform. Now, despite her designer maternity outfit, she looked far less sure of herself. There were patches of red on her cheeks from embarrassment and her eyes were shadowed with distress. She looked even younger than her twenty-four years.

“Dad sent her to pick us up,” Tyler said, his body radiating outrage. “I’m not going anywhere with her. And neither are they.” He scowled at Kyle and Katie, who were standing nearby in wide-eyed dismay. Kyle whirled around and ran upstairs. Katie promptly burst into tears and flung herself at Maddie.

“I miss Daddy!” she cried, hiccuping with sobs. “When is Daddy coming home?”

Despite her disapproval of her son’s tone, Maddie couldn’t help wondering the same thing Tyler had asked: knowing how his kids felt about her, why would Bill send Noreen in his place? Even as she tried to soothe her daughter, she pinned Noreen with an accusing look.

“Where is their father?” she asked.

“Bill was tied up at the hospital,” Noreen explained, clearly shaken by Tyler’s verbal attack and Maddie’s cold reception. “He asked me to pick up the kids. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

“Well, you can forget it,” Tyler said. “We’re not going anywhere with you!”

“Tyler!” Maddie said sharply. She kept her gaze on Noreen’s face, trying very hard not to let it stray to her protruding belly. “Obviously, this was a bad idea. Tell Bill he’ll have to arrange another time to see the kids.”

“But I don’t understand,” Noreen said. “Saturday afternoon is his time. It says so in the divorce settlement. He went over all the terms with me.”

“That’s right,” Maddie agreed. “It’s his time, not yours. Now I think you should go. Your presence here is clearly upsetting my children.”

“Please,” Noreen said. “Can’t we talk about this? I’m just giving them a ride, Maddie. Bill will be really upset if he misses his time with them.”

“He’ll just have to get over it,” Maddie said, refusing to back down. “Maybe next time he’ll arrange to be here himself.”

For an instant, she almost felt sorry for the other woman. Maybe it was of her own doing, but even Maddie could recognize that Noreen was caught in an impossible situation.

Noreen’s lower lip trembled. “I just don’t get why they hate me so much,” she said miserably.

Maddie looked at her son. “Tyler, take Katie in the kitchen and get yourselves a snack, please.”

“But, Mom,” he began. At a warning glance from her, he sighed and took Katie from her arms.

When Maddie was certain they were out of hearing, she turned back to Noreen. “You’re a pediatrics nurse, Noreen. Surely you must have taken some child psychology courses.”

Noreen nodded. “Yes, but I still don’t get it. Whenever they stopped by the office to see their dad, they were always such great kids. I thought they liked me.”

“I’m sure they did when they thought of you as their father’s nurse,” Maddie said.

When Noreen still looked confused, Maddie added, “I’m sure Bill will explain it to you. He used to have a functioning brain and at least a tiny bit of sensitivity.”

Satisfied that the barb had hit its mark, she quietly closed the door in the woman’s face, then went to deal with her kids.

In the kitchen, she pulled Katie onto her lap, then tried to compose herself before facing Ty.

“Young man, if I ever hear you speak to another adult the way you spoke to Noreen just now, you’ll be grounded for a month.”

Ty looked as if she’d slapped him. “She had no business coming here,” he said defensively.

“That’s not the point. We’ve had this conversation before, but you don’t seem to have gotten the message. My children are respectful of adults, period.”

“Even when they’re nothing but—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” she told him. “Go upstairs and check on your brother while I try to get Katie calmed down.”

A half hour later she was physically and emotionally drained from walking the tightrope between what she knew was right and the vicious words she wanted to utter herself. She needed a break and the kids needed a distraction. Bracing herself for a slew of questions she didn’t want to answer, she called her mother. If she’d been willing to babysit once, maybe she could be persuaded to do it again.

“What’s wrong?” Paula Vreeland asked the second she heard Maddie’s strained voice.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” she said. That was the way her relationship with her mother went. Even the most innocent question had a way of getting her hackles up. Maybe it was because she always sensed some inherent disapproval in her mother’s tone, if not her words.

“You sound as if you’re on your last nerve,” her mother said. “What’s Bill done now?”

Since there was little point in denying her husband’s role in her mood, Maddie gave her mother an abbreviated version of the scene that had just played out on her doorstep.

“It’s plain he wasn’t thinking, but women are usually more sensitive to these things. What on earth possessed Noreen to think that she’d be welcome at your house?” her mother demanded.

“I doubt she thought about it at all,” Maddie responded. “I imagine she was just doing what Bill told her to do.”

“Or she wanted to rub this situation in your face,” her mother said heatedly. “Isn’t it enough that she destroyed your marriage?”

“Apparently not,” Maddie said.

Paula drew in a deep breath. “Okay, there’s no point in belaboring the woman’s lack of good sense. What can I do to help?”

“The kids could really use a change of scenery,” Maddie said. “I hate to ask, but would you mind taking them to your place for a few hours? It won’t be the same as going to their dad’s, but maybe it’ll distract—”

“How about I take them to Charleston instead?” her mother offered. “We’ll see a movie, eat hamburgers and greasy fries and I’ll bring them home exhausted.”

Maddie was surprised. “Are you sure?”

“Believe it or not, I find your children highly entertaining and they don’t seem to mind spending time with me. We’ll enjoy ourselves.”

Maddie decided not to remind her that she’d once vetoed the idea of spending any time babysitting them. At the moment, she didn’t really care why that had changed. She was just grateful for it.

“Thank you,” she said.

“No thanks necessary,” her mother replied. “But one of these days I would like it if we could sit down and talk about why you hate asking for my help not just with the kids, but with anything.”

Maddie sighed. How could she tell her mother it was because asking for help—especially from a woman as competent and self-sufficient as Paula Vreeland—always made her feel like a failure?

“Well, you look downright pitiful,” Dana Sue observed when Maddie appeared in the doorway to the kitchen at Sullivan’s later that afternoon after depositing her surprisingly upbeat kids with her mother. “Come on in here and sit down. I’ll fix you a plate of spiced shrimp.”

“Save the shrimp. I’ve already eaten lunch with the kids,” Maddie told her, not entirely certain why she’d dropped by. When a leisurely bubble bath had done nothing to soothe her, she’d sought out the one person who could understand what she was feeling. Dana Sue had been through her own nasty divorce from a cheating husband, but at least Ronnie hadn’t stuck around Serenity to rub the situation in her face.

Dana Sue set a plate piled high with shrimp in front of her anyway. “Peeling those will keep your hands occupied while you tell me what’s going on.”

“Are you sure you have time to talk?” Maddie asked, regarding the shrimp without interest but picking one up anyway.

“The lunch crowd has dwindled and it’s hours till people start showing up for dinner,” Dana Sue said. “But even if I were busier than an ant at a picnic, I’d still have time for you.”

“I could chop or dice or something,” Maddie offered.

“No offense, but this is my kitchen. Any chopping or dicing will be done by me and my experienced staff. Besides, judging from the expression on your face, I’m not sure you ought to be trusted with sharp objects.”

Maddie managed a faint grin. “You have a point.”

“What’s Bill done now?”

“What makes you think my mood is his fault?” Maddie inquired. Dana Sue was the second person to leap to that conclusion. Obviously her life and her moods were becoming too predictable.

“Because you loved him for more than twenty years. Just because he’s turned out to be a low-down skunk doesn’t mean he can’t still twist you into knots.” She looked Maddie in the eye. “What did he do? Do I need to hunt him down?”

“I wish it were that simple. I wish a good swift kick or a smack upside his head would knock some sense into him, but I think he’s hopeless. Clueless, anyway.” Maddie shrugged. “How could I have been so wrong about him? For twenty years I lived with a man who was smart and reasonably sensitive. Now it’s as if he checked his brain somewhere and can’t remember where.”

“Well, we know he’s thinking with another part of his anatomy,” Dana Sue offered. “What did he do?”

“He was tied up at the hospital today, so he sent Noreen by to pick up the kids.” She twisted the tail off a shrimp with such force that both the shell and the shrimp went flying across the kitchen in opposite directions. She scowled at Dana Sue. “He sent that woman to my house to pick up my kids.”

“I can just imagine how that went,” Dana Sue said as she retrieved the scattered remains of the shrimp.

“I doubt it,” Maddie told her. “Tyler answered the door and told her to get the hell away from our house. Kyle ran upstairs and locked himself in his room and Katie burst into tears. It took me a half hour to calm her down. It’s breaking my heart to see how much she misses her dad.”

“And what did Noreen do during all this commotion?”

“Stood there wringing her hands and telling me she just doesn’t understand why the kids don’t like her anymore. I told her to ask Bill. I should’ve said that maybe even her little pea brain could come up with an explanation if she really tried.”

Dana Sue chuckled. “That would have been a nice shot.”

Maddie sighed. “One she deserved, but it hardly solves anything. I’m sure Bill is going to be on a tear once he hears how she was received by me and the kids. I’ll have to listen to another of his tirades about how we’re not giving Noreen a fair chance, that she’s in his life now, that she’s having his baby, that I promised to help smooth things over and now they’re worse than ever, and on and on and on.”

Dana Sue gave Maddie a penetrating look. “Something tells me you’re not this upset just because Bill’s going to have himself a hissy fit.”

“Of course not. I’m upset because my kids’ lives have been turned inside out and I can’t seem to do a thing to help them. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Where are they right now?”

“My mother’s taken them to Charleston to dinner and a movie.”

“Her idea or yours?”

“Mine, if you must know, at least the part about them spending the afternoon with her. I was desperate. I figured they needed a break from me as much as they needed one from Noreen and their dad. All this tension has taken a terrible toll on them.”

“And on you,” Dana Sue reminded her. “What are you doing for yourself?”

“Running to you,” Maddie said.

“If we had our spa, you could soak in the hot tub and have a massage,” Dana Sue reminded her.

Maddie frowned. “My thirty days have barely begun. Stop pressuring me. I really don’t need that on top of everything else today.”

“Just pointing out one of the advantages of going into business with me and Helen,” Dana Sue said mildly. “I could list more.”

“Not necessary. I think I have a handle on most of them,” Maddie admitted.

Dana Sue studied her intently. “Meaning?”

“Nothing,” Maddie said. “Ask me a couple of weeks from now.”

“You know you’re going to agree to this. You’re just being stubborn.”

“Maybe I’m just enjoying keeping the two of you dangling on the end of my hook,” Maddie retorted. “It’s rare that I have the upper hand.”

She finally popped one of the peeled shrimp into her mouth and savored the burst of spices. “Mmm, these are fantastic!”

Dana Sue chuckled. “I’m glad you like them. For a while there, I thought you were just going to mangle them as some sort of bizarre therapy. How about a glass of wine to go with them?”

“Sure. Wine sounds good,” she said as she ate another shrimp, then licked her fingers.

“You know,” Dana Sue said, “I think you’d feel a whole lot better about your life if you had something positive to look forward to. You need to remember how capable and smart you are, that marriage to Bill didn’t define you. I know launching this place kept me sane when I kicked Ronnie out.”

“But you’d been dreaming about opening your own restaurant for years,” Maddie countered. “I’ve never envisioned opening a fitness club.”

“Neither did I,” Dana Sue admitted. “Not till Helen brought up the idea. Then it just seemed to fit with where we all are right now.”

“Just give me some time to catch up,” Maddie pleaded. “I’m afraid if I agree to it now, when everything else is so overwhelming, I’ll just freak out and ruin it.”

“I’ve seen you in a crisis, Maddie. You don’t freak out. You dig in and get the job done. Remember prom when the money we’d been counting on suddenly vanished? You charged out and got donations from every business in town and managed to pull off the best senior prom our school had ever had.”

“That was a long time ago,” Maddie reminded her.

“But you still have that same drive and ingenuity,” Dana Sue insisted. “You just need a new challenge that’s more interesting than the annual hospital ball to kick ’em back into gear.”

Maddie listened to the conviction in her friend’s voice. She wanted desperately to believe her, but after the day she’d had, she didn’t have the energy to do much more than eat shrimp and finish the glass of wine Dana Sue had poured for her. When she’d swallowed the last bite and taken the last sip, she stood up and gave Dana Sue a fierce hug.

“Thanks for being here for me.”

“Anytime. You were there for me when my marriage broke up. This is the least I can do for you.” She studied Maddie worriedly. “You’re not going home to sulk and undo whatever good I’ve done here today, are you?”

Maddie laughed. “No.”

“What, then?”

“I’m going to go home and crunch some numbers and see if all three of us have lost our minds.”

A grin spread across Dana Sue’s face. “Well, hallelujah!”

“I haven’t said yes yet,” Maddie warned.

“But you’re on the verge of it. I’m calling Helen.”

“Don’t. She’ll just come over and pester me. It’ll ruin my concentration.”

“Okay, okay. I won’t call her tonight, but I’m telling her first thing in the morning. Then you’re all coming here after church to celebrate. I’ll bring Annie and you bring your kids and your mom. We’ll turn it into a party.”

“Let’s hold off on any celebrating. It might turn out to be a wake, if I decide the numbers don’t make sense.”

“We can wait but you won’t,” Dana Sue said confidently. “You seem to have forgotten how you helped me to squeeze every last penny till it squealed when I was opening this place. I’m sure you’ll be just as creative with Helen’s capital and my contribution.”

Maddie shuddered. “Creative is not a word I like to hear associated with bookkeeping.”

“Whatever,” Dana Sue responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We’re going to open a health club. How wild is that?”

“Pretty wild,” Maddie confirmed.

Maybe flat-out insane.

Cal knew Maddie Townsend the same way he knew all the parents of the kids on the team, which was to say better than most teachers knew the parents of their students but far from well. Maddie had always impressed him by never missing a game and being one of those rare adults who didn’t torment their kids with unrealistic expectations or him with irrational harassment when their sons were on the field. Her husband was the same way.

Today for the first time when she arrived in his office for their scheduled appointment he noticed deep shadows under Maddie’s eyes and a nervous tic in her cheek. Despite the care she’d taken with her appearance, which would have passed inspection at some fancy Junior League function, she seemed uneasy about meeting with him.

“Should we wait for Dr. Townsend?” he asked.

“He’s not able to be here,” she said tightly.

Cal heard a faint note of bitterness in her voice. “Oh? I’ve never known him to miss a game or a meeting.”

“Actually, I didn’t tell him about this one. Tyler asked me not to.”

“I see,” Cal said, though he wasn’t sure he did. “Is there some sort of problem between Ty and his father?”

She regarded him with misery and embarrassment in her eyes. “You may as well know that Dr. Townsend and I are getting a divorce.”

Cal knew his mouth must have gaped at that, because she gave him a wry look.

“I know,” she said. “I was shocked, too, and I lived with him.”

“I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate, but what else was there to say?

“Not your problem. Could we just focus on Ty, please?”

“Actually, I’m beginning to see what’s going on with him,” Cal replied. “He’s been having a lot of trouble with school lately. I’m sure his other teachers have been in touch with you about that.”

She shook her head. “I had no idea. He’d mentioned something about a couple of bad baseball practices, but that’s it.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll contact you before things reach a crisis stage—or perhaps you should take the initiative, just in case…”

“Just in case what?”

“Kids have been known not to take home notes they don’t want their parents to see.”

“Surely Tyler wouldn’t,” she began, then shook her head. “Of course he would. I’ll call the other teachers as soon as I get home.”

Cal gave her an encouraging smile. She looked as if she could use some moral support. “Hey, he’s a good student. A few bad grades don’t mean the end of the world. He’ll catch up. More troubling to me is his complete lack of interest in his game. He excelled in his classes because he’s smart, but he excelled in baseball not just because of talent, but because of his passion for the game. He seems to have lost that.”

She sighed. “I thought as much, based on some of his comments to me, but to be honest, I have no idea what to do about it. Baseball was always something he and his dad shared. Bill’s not particularly athletic, but he loved the game. He started taking Ty to Atlanta Braves games when he was a toddler. Then he coached him in Little League. I tagged along, but I didn’t absorb much about the finer points of the game.”

Cal gave some thought to the implications of that. “So, now that his dad’s moved out,” he suggested slowly, “Ty’s rejecting baseball—either deliberately or subconsciously—the way he thinks his father’s rejected him?”

She regarded him with surprise. “Why, yes. I think that’s it exactly.” She leaned toward him as if he might have other answers to life’s mysteries. “What do we do about it?”

Cal hated to admit it with her looking at him so hopefully, but he was as much at a loss as she was. Identifying the problem was a snap compared to solving it, but at least he now knew what he was dealing with. “Let me think about that and get back to you, okay?”

She nodded. “Anything you can suggest will be greatly appreciated. I wish I’d come to you sooner, but the divorce isn’t something I’ve wanted to talk about.”

Cal regarded her with sympathy. “No one does, which is probably why kids internalize their feelings.”

“You’re right again. Believe me, I want to see that old spark back in Ty’s eyes when he walks onto a ball field. He needs baseball right now.” She studied Cal worriedly. “He mentioned you might pull him from the starting rotation.”

“I’ll have to if he doesn’t get his concentration back, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Now that I understand what’s going on, hopefully I can come up with some way to get him back on track. Maybe this is none of my business, but is the divorce final?”

“The paperwork’s done, but we don’t have the decree yet.”

“Are things settling down some at home, though?”

“Some,” she said in a tone that conveyed the opposite.

“They will,” he said, feeling a sudden need to reassure her. It was almost as powerful as his desire to get Tyler back in his pitching groove. “I’ll be in touch soon, Mrs. Townsend.”

“Call me Maddie, please. I’d just as soon not be reminded of anything Townsend right now,” she said, giving him a wry smile. “Besides, it makes me feel ancient.”

Cal laughed at that. “You’re hardly ancient. If I didn’t know you have a sixteen-year-old son, I’d swear you were my age.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Flattery won’t get you much more than an extra batch of chocolate-chip cookies next time it’s my turn to bake for the team.”

“I’ll take the cookies, but it wasn’t flattery,” he told her.

In fact, for the first time since his own divorce from a woman who’d married a baseball celebrity, not a has-been, he was actually feeling a stir of real interest in a woman, and age was the very last thing on his mind. Of course, given the multitude of complications involved, he’d have to be out of his ever-loving mind to do anything about it.

5

The meeting with Cal Maddox had shaken Maddie more than she wanted to admit. Until now, Ty had been a near-perfect kid. He’d never given them any trouble. He’d made good grades and excelled at baseball. Now all of that was at risk. It made her see that building some sort of bridge between Tyler and Bill was more important than ever, but how could she possibly do that without further alienating her son, who claimed to be dead set against his father being in his life?

Maybe she was going to have to swallow her pride and go to Bill and plead with him to take the initiative and make more of an effort to understand his son’s point of view. Perhaps if he realized what was at stake, he would keep Noreen out of the picture, at least when he was spending time with Tyler. Right now Bill seemed stubbornly determined to unite them into one big happy family, no matter how his children—especially Ty—resisted the idea. Maybe she could make Bill see how desperately Ty needed some one-on-one time with his dad.

Determined to fix things for her son’s sake, she headed for Bill’s medical office in a small brick complex he and a business partner had built several years ago. Its professional suites also housed a dentist and an orthopedic surgeon, as well as an outpatient rehab facility for the surgeon’s patients.

She used her key and slipped in through the back door. It was the only way to avoid the waiting room and all the curious glances she was bound to receive there. Instead, however, she ran smack into Noreen, who was coming out of Bill’s office with her lipstick smudged and her uniform mussed. Maddie had to wonder how the patients would feel if they’d witnessed the same thing.

“Maddie!” Noreen said, looking dismayed as she smoothed the wrinkles in her uniform. “What are you doing here? I had no idea you still had a key.”

Maddie bit back an angry retort. The truth was that Noreen had more of a right to be here than she did and that grated.

“I need to see my husband. I gather he’s in his office,” she said and brushed right past Noreen without further comment.

When she firmly closed the door behind her, Bill looked up from the files on his desk and regarded her with uncertainty. “Maddie, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Obviously,” she said, noting the fact that his tie was askew and his thick blond hair was messed up. “You know, if you keep this up, your reputation in this town is going to suffer.” She leveled a look into his eyes. “But then, Helen has already pointed that out, hasn’t she? I’d recommend a few minutes in front of a mirror before you start seeing patients.”

His cheeks colored, a sure indication of his embarrassment. “Why are you here?” he asked stiffly. “Just to pass judgment on me?”

“Not my job,” she said briskly, fighting the urge to say a whole lot more. She couldn’t afford to stir his temper, not when she was on a very specific mission.

“Did you come to apologize about Saturday?” he inquired. “If so, Noreen’s the one you really should be talking to.”

“Don’t push me,” she warned. “I’m here about Tyler. I just had a very distressing meeting with Coach Maddox.”

Bill flashed her a startled look. “Why wasn’t I told about a meeting?” he demanded.

“Because Tyler didn’t want you there,” she said bluntly. “And that’s the heart of the problem. You asked me the other day to help you mend fences with Tyler. I can’t do much more than tell him repeatedly that you’re still his father and that you love him. Obviously he doesn’t believe me. You’re going to have to prove to him that your feelings for him haven’t changed before he ruins his grades and his chances to become the pro ball player he’s dreamed of being.”

“What are you talking about?” Bill asked. “Ty’s always had excellent grades.”

“I haven’t spoken to his teachers yet, but Coach Maddox has. Ty’s having trouble in everything. I can only do so much. You’re going to have to help me fix this.”

To her surprise, Bill looked uncertain. “I don’t know how,” he admitted with rare candor.

“For starters, you could show up to pick up the kids when they’re expecting you,” she said. “Noreen is not an acceptable replacement, especially not to Tyler.”

“He’ll just have to get used to—”

Maddie cut him off. “You wanted to know what you can do, right? Then I suggest you listen to me. I’m trying to help before our oldest son spins completely out of control.”

He exhaled an exasperated huff. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Baseball brought you and Tyler together once,” she reminded him. “I think that’s the connection that can reunite you now. He’s struggling, Bill. The coach says his pitching is off and his place in the starting rotation is at risk.”

“That’s absurd!” Bill snapped. “He’s the best pitcher they have.”

“Not right now, he isn’t,” she told him. “I think you need to come by the house—alone—and give him some pointers the way you used to.”

“He’ll never agree to that,” Bill said. “He’s not listening to me these days, much less spending time with me. If I show up, he’ll just hide in his room.”

“Then go to him where he can’t hide,” she suggested. “Stop by practice this afternoon. You used to do that all the time, just to hang out and see how he was doing. I know he loved that.”

Bill’s expression turned thoughtful. “I could,” he said, then shook his head. “It might make things worse.”

“You won’t know till you try.” She stood up. “I don’t think I need to remind you how important this is.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed. “I’ll make the effort, Maddie. I promise.”

In the past she would never have questioned one of his promises, but these days she didn’t really know this man at all. At least she’d made the overture. Now it was up to him.

“Today?” she said.

He hesitated and her temper stirred, but then he nodded. “Yes, today.”

When she turned to leave, he stopped her.

“Maddie…”

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, forcing a cheery note into her voice. “Way too busy.”

“Oh?”

His surprise rankled. Did he think she was sitting around pining for him?

“I guess you haven’t heard,” she said. “Helen, Dana Sue and I are going into business together.”

He stared at her. “What kind of business?”

“We’re opening a fitness club for women.” She might not have made a firm decision before, but the incredulous expression on Bill’s face was enough to solidify her resolve. Not that she was ready to tell Helen and Dana Sue just yet. “You’ll have to tell Noreen all about the postpregnancy classes we’re going to be offering. Maybe it will help her get her shape back. I noticed just now that she’s put on a few pounds that pregnancy alone can’t account for. I’m sure she must be aware of your tendency toward a wandering eye.”

Before he could say a word to that sarcastic observation, she walked out, pleased that her announcement had left her husband speechless.

Bill stared after Maddie and wondered what had become of the pleasant, accommodating woman he’d married. He didn’t know this confident, feisty woman at all.

Then, again, she bore an amazing resemblance to the girl he’d fallen in love with back in high school. It was only their early struggles and Maddie’s determination to play the role of supportive wife that had changed her—and the way he’d looked at her—over the years. Her weight had played no part in it, despite what she’d said on her way out the door. He’d always thought she looked damn good, even with the few extra pounds she’d been unable to shed after her pregnancies.

His office door opened and Noreen came in, her expression uncertain.

“She was here because she wants you back, wasn’t she?” she asked.

“No, she doesn’t want me back,” he told Noreen, knowing it was true and in some ways regretting it. “She needed to talk to me about Tyler. Will you look at my schedule this afternoon and make sure I can get out of here no later than four o’clock? If you have to reschedule a couple of patients, do it, or ask J.C. to cover for me.”

Thank goodness Maddie had advised him last year to take on a new medical partner. His pediatrics practice had grown too much for him to handle and still have any sort of family life. J. C. Fullerton, who’d just completed his residency, had picked up the slack. J.C. was still single, young and energetic enough to relish the challenges of a demanding small-town practice. There were times when he wondered why Noreen hadn’t focused her attention on J.C. rather than him. And truthfully, the fact that she hadn’t had flattered him.

“Where are you going?” Noreen asked.

“I need to spend some time with Tyler.”

“Want me to come along?”

He knew how sensitive she was about his kids, but he shook his head. “Not this time. I’m just going to stop by baseball practice and see how it’s going. You’d be bored.”

She rested a hand on her stomach. “I could learn to like it,” she said. “After all, one of these days our baby might want to play baseball.”

“I think that’s a few years down the road, whether we have a boy or a girl,” he said. “Now let’s get started. Who’s waiting for me?”

She looked as if she wanted to say more, but then her innate professionalism kicked in. “Mrs. Nelson is in room one with Jennifer. She says Jennifer’s rash still hasn’t cleared up. I’m putting Mrs. Davis and Martin in room two. He cut himself on a nail and she wants to be sure his tetanus shot is up to date.”

Bill nodded. “See about fixing that schedule while I’m with them, okay?”

“Sure,” she said, but she still didn’t look happy about it.

He stopped on his way out the door and kissed her. “We’re going to be okay, Noreen. It’s just going to take some time.”

Her blue eyes welled with tears as she looked at him. “I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

“That’s why I know it will all work out,” he said and slipped past her, hopefully before she could tell just how many second thoughts and regrets were whirling around in his head.

Maddie stopped at Wharton’s for a hot-fudge sundae on her way home. Learning that her son was in trouble not only on the ball field but in his classes, then giving her soon-to-be ex-husband a wake-up call had drained her. She needed chocolate. Over the years, she’d discovered that there was very little that couldn’t be made better by thick, warm, gooey chocolate poured over vanilla ice cream, and no place in town offered a better sundae than Wharton’s.

Slipping into a booth by the window, she toed off her high heels and sighed with relief.

“Another job interview?” Grace asked sympathetically.

“Not today,” Maddie said. “Just a couple of meetings.”

“Looks to me as if they didn’t go well,” the older woman said. “A hot-fudge sundae kind of day?”

Maddie gave her a weary smile. “Exactly.”

“Coming right up.”

Maddie closed her eyes as she waited, only to snap them back open when someone slipped into the booth opposite her. She scowled when she saw it was Helen. Normally that would have been a good thing, but right this second she was in no mood for a pep talk.

“You ever think of warning a person instead of sneaking up on them?” she snapped.

“Most smart people are more alert to their surroundings when they’re out in public,” Helen retorted mildly.

“It’s Serenity, for goodness’ sakes,” Maddie said. “There haven’t been a lot of assaults in Wharton’s.”

“Definitely moody,” Helen assessed. “That fits. I was on my way home when I spotted your car. I thought you might want some company.”

Maddie regarded her curiously. “Why would you think that just from seeing my car parked on Main Street?”

“It’s outside of Wharton’s in the middle of the day. That can only mean one thing—a sundae emergency.”

Maddie laughed despite herself. “I’m making a vow right this second and you’re my witness. I am changing my predictable ways.”

“Really? How?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll keep you posted.” She shrugged. “Or maybe I’ll just surprise you.”

Grace returned with two hot-fudge sundaes. “Figured you’d be wanting one, too,” she said as she set one in front of Helen.

“I was just going to taste some of hers,” Helen complained. But she took a huge spoonful, then sighed blissfully.

Grace grinned. “From the looks of her, Maddie’s not eating much these days. She needs every one of those calories.”

“Hardly,” Maddie said. “Since all this mess with Bill started, I’ve been stuffing my face with everything in sight. I weigh more now than I did right after Katie was born. Maybe opening a new gym is a good idea.” She savored her first bite of the decadent hot fudge.

“Not a gym, a spa,” Helen corrected.

“What’s the difference?” Grace inquired, pulling a chair up to the end of the table without waiting for an invitation.

“For one thing, ours won’t smell to high heaven like Dexter’s,” Maddie said.

Helen gave her a sour look. “It’s more than that. We’ll pamper women. We’re going to offer facials and massages and a steam room and sauna.”

“Really?” Maddie and Grace said at the same time. Grace sounded intrigued, Maddie skeptical. Saunas and steam rooms were bound to be expensive.

“Was that in the business plan?” Maddie asked.

Helen grinned. “We don’t have a business plan,” she reminded Maddie. “Unless you’ve written it. Have you?”

“I’ve made a few notes,” Maddie admitted.

Helen tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile. “Interesting. Then you’re on board?”

“Even though you were out of town on a case, I’m sure Dana Sue told you I was crunching numbers, so don’t act so shocked,” Maddie told her. “And I’m not on board. I’m exploring the situation.”

“She’s in,” Helen said to Grace.

Grace chuckled. “I’d put money on that, too.”

“Watch it, Helen,” Maddie warned. “I’m not sure I want to go into business with a smug know-it-all. I can still look for another job. The Charleston want ads were fairly extensive in yesterday’s paper.”

“You’d spend every penny you earned on gas for the commute,” Helen countered. “And you’d never have any time for the kids.”

“The sacrifice might be worth it just to make sure you don’t get your own way yet again,” Maddie told her.

Helen held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. “I will await further word on your decision.”

“A brilliant grasp of the situation,” Maddie said approvingly. “No wonder you excelled in law school.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” Helen said.

Maddie grinned. “Frankly, I’m rather enjoying this new, say-what-I-think side of me.”

There was only one more week of baseball practice before the season opener. Even though he now had some idea of what was going on with his star pitcher, Cal still didn’t have a plan for addressing the problem.

If it were entirely up to him, he wouldn’t add to Ty’s stress by threatening again to take him out of the starting rotation, but the school system, community and parents expected big things from the team this year. That was one reason they’d approved the funding for new bleachers and new sod for the field. A brand-new brick building had been added to house the refreshment stand and restrooms, as well. After all that expenditure, they wouldn’t tolerate losses while Tyler tried to regain his emotional equilibrium.

That’s what happened when a kid had played as brilliantly as Ty had last year. Expectations were high. Cal had even heard from a couple of Major League scouts who’d noticed media reports about the boy’s skill on the mound. Unfortunately, if they saw him right now, they’d wonder what all the hype had been about.

Cal studied Ty’s increasingly discouraged expression as his teammates hit pitch after pitch. He was about to join him on the mound for a chat when he spotted Bill Townsend climbing into the bleachers to a row that was shaded from the afternoon sun. Ty noticed his father at the same time. For an instant, based on the expression on Ty’s face, Cal thought the boy might toss down his glove and stalk off the field.

Instead, though, Tyler seemed to reach down deep and tap into all that anger. His next pitch flew across the plate at a burning clip, nicking the outside corner for a perfect strike.

“That was some real heat, Ty. Way to go!” the catcher said, tossing the ball back with a grin.

“I liked it better when I could see the ball coming at me,” the batter grumbled, but there was admiration in his voice as well.

More than pleased, Cal wandered over and climbed onto the bleachers next to Ty’s dad. “Glad you coulds top by,” he told him.

Bill gave him an odd look. “I assume you know why I’ve stayed away.”

“Your wife mentioned the divorce,” he admitted. “But I think you can see what your presence means to Ty. That’s the first decent pitch he’s thrown since spring training started.”

“At least he’s finally putting all that anger he feels toward me to good use,” Bill said wryly.

Cal chuckled. “You got that, too?”

“Hard to miss. That ball would have taken my head off if I’d been in its path.”

“You sticking around for a while?” Cal asked.

“Is it okay?”

“It’s fine with me. I’m going to give the kids a break in a minute. Why don’t you ask Ty if it’s okay with him.”

Cal went down on the field and called everyone on the team in. “You guys are starting to look like a team again,” he told them. “Take five and get something to drink. It’s important to stay hydrated in this kind of heat. After the break, we’ll switch so the rest of you get a chance at bat. Ty, can you stay on the mound for some more batters?”

The boy gave him his once-familiar cocky grin. “You sure you want me to humiliate them like that?”

“You wish,” his teammate Luke Dillon said. “I’ve hit three home runs off you since practice started.”

“Pure luck,” Ty retorted. “I’m back in the groove today.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t get too smug,” Cal warned him. “A couple of outstanding pitches don’t make a season.”

“Don’t even make a practice, if you ask me,” Josh Mason, another teammate, said snidely. “Come opening day, I’ll be on the mound. You wait and see.”

“No way, sucker,” Tyler retorted.

“Okay, enough,” Cal told them. “Five minutes, guys. Tyler, why don’t you check in with your dad.”

Ty scowled at the suggestion, but he grabbed a sports drink and slowly headed for the bleachers. Cal noted that he didn’t climb up beside his father but sat down several rows away. It was Bill who finally broke the awkward silence between them. Cal couldn’t hear what he said, but Tyler responded with a nod.

At least the two of them were talking, or rather Bill was talking and Ty was listening. Cal wondered how long it had been since that had happened.

He also couldn’t help wondering what Maddie had done to bring it about. He doubted it was a mere coincidence that Bill had shown up here today, just hours after Cal’s meeting with her. However it had come about, though, he was grateful. Maybe it was a first step in getting his star pitcher back in his groove. Maybe he’d call Maddie tonight and report on the change.

“Idiot,” he muttered to himself as he beckoned the players back. He was just looking for an excuse to call Ty’s mother and that, as he’d warned himself only a few short hours ago, was a very bad idea.

6

“Dad came by practice today,” Tyler announced nonchalantly while Maddie was on the patio grilling burgers for dinner that night.

There was a balmy breeze that carried the scent of charcoal through the air. It was one of those scents that always reminded Maddie of summer and childhood and picnics with her friends’ families. Her own had never done anything as ordinary as cooking on a barbecue.

She glanced up and studied her son’s expression. It was unreadable. “How’d it go?” she asked, careful to keep her tone neutral.

“Okay, I guess,” he said. “At least he didn’t bring Noreen with him.”

“Did the two of you talk?”

“He asked me if it was okay for him to be there,” Tyler said, sounding surprised. He met Maddie’s gaze. “Do you think he really would have left if I’d asked him to?”

She knew what he was really asking—if she thought his opinion really mattered to his dad. For all his attempted indifference, Ty was desperate to believe that he still counted in Bill’s life.

“I imagine that’s why he asked,” she said. “He wants you to be happy and successful. He isn’t out to make your life miserable, Tyler. I think deep down you know that.”

“He’s done a pretty good job of it, anyway,” Ty said with a trace of the familiar bitterness.

“What else did you all talk about?” Maddie asked, anxious to change the subject before Ty started dwelling on all the sins Bill had committed against him and their family, rather than the olive branch he’d extended.

“Nothing much. He gave me a couple of pointers on my fastball.”

“Did they help?”

Tyler grinned and for just an instant, he was a self-confident, cocky kid again.

“Yeah, they helped. I threw some heat this afternoon,” he exulted. “No one laid a bat on my pitches after that. They said I was awesome, that we’re bound to win the state championship if I keep pitching like that. Even Josh Mason said I looked good, and he hates my guts. He wants that starting slot in the worst way.”

“And Coach Maddox?”

“He said it was nice to see me remembering at least some of the things I’d been taught.”

Maddie bit back a grin at the coach’s laid-back response. “I suspect you were hoping for more enthusiasm.”

“Naw, he says stuff like that to keep my head from getting all swollen.”

She studied her son’s happy expression and regretted that she was about to dash some of his excitement, but this was a conversation she couldn’t put off. She’d hoped to temper it by fixing one of Ty’s favorite meals.

What she’d learned from his other teachers this afternoon had shaken her. There wasn’t even a single class in which his marks were above a C. Most were lower and in some he was even in danger of failing. All the teachers had sent home notes to that effect. Maddie had seen none of them. If those grades didn’t improve, he wouldn’t be playing ball, no matter how fast his pitching was.

“You know, Tyler, not everything’s about baseball,” she said.

“Everything that matters is,” he contradicted, then grinned. “Come on, Mom. Can’t you be excited for me?”

“I’m thrilled for you,” she said honestly. “It’s wonderful to see your enthusiasm for the game coming back, but you do have classes, you know. I spoke to all your teachers today.”

His face fell. “How come?”

“Because Coach Maddox mentioned that you’d been having some problems.”

“Why’d he do that? I thought he was just gonna talk to you about baseball.”

“He assumed I already knew,” Maddie said pointedly and watched Ty’s face flush. “You need to remember that Coach Maddox is first and foremost a teacher, Tyler. He has to look out for your whole performance in school. If you start messing up in your other classes, you could be ineligible to play ball. It won’t matter how well you’re pitching if that happens. You’ll let the team down.”

“Oh, come on, Mom, get real,” he said with disgust. “I’m not flunking anything. I bet not one single teacher said I was.”

“No, you’re not failing anything,” she admitted. “Not yet, anyway. But they all said you’re not working to your potential. For a kid who was getting all A’s and B’s last year, dropping down to C’s and D’s is only one step above failing.” She leveled a look directly into his eyes. “That’s not acceptable, Ty. I expect you to do whatever it takes to bring up those grades, understood? Until I see some improvement, I’m going to be checking every homework assignment and I expect you to show me every test paper.”

“No way,” he protested.

“That’s the rule,” she said firmly.

“Or?” The touch of belligerence in his tone set her teeth on edge.

“You don’t want to know,” she said.

“You gonna ground me?”

“That’s one option,” she agreed. “Letting the coach bench you is another.”

Tyler gaped. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me,” she said. Before he could escalate the discussion into an argument, she added, “But I don’t think it’s going to come to that. You’re a very smart young man. If you’re not doing well in classes, it’s because you don’t care, not because you don’t understand the material. I’m just giving you the motivation to start caring.”

“Well, your motivation sucks,” he retorted. “I’ll tell Dad.”

Maddie bristled. “Don’t try playing us off against each other, Tyler,” she warned. “I think you’ll discover that when it comes to what’s best for you, Kyle and Katie, your father and I will always be on the same page.”

Tyler cast one last incredulous look at her, then turned around and stomped into the house.

“Dinner’s in fifteen minutes,” she called after him.

“I’m not hungry,” he called back.

“Then you’ll sit at the table while the rest of us eat,” she said.

When he was out of sight, she let out a sigh. Single parenting was turning out to be a whole lot harder than she’d ever imagined it would be. Sure, she knew Bill would back her up, exactly as she’d told Tyler he would, but taking an unpopular stance entirely on her own was something she needed to learn to do. It was something her kids needed to get used to, as well. If she messed up at this, it was her kids who’d pay the price.

But right this second, with Tyler suddenly regarding her as the enemy, she didn’t feel even a tiny bit good about it.

Since everyone in Serenity seemed to be aware that Maddie was most likely going into business with her two best friends and opening a fitness club for women, she assumed the real-estate agent, an old high-school friend, wouldn’t balk at letting her into the Hartley place so she could get a better idea of what renovations were going to be needed.

It took less than five minutes for her to get a call back from Mary Vaughn Lewis.

“Sugar, I’ve been expecting to hear from you,” Mary Vaughn said. “Helen said I was to let you in whenever you wanted to see the place. I can meet you there in about ten minutes, as soon as Gaynelle finishes blow-drying my hair. Will that work for you?”

Maddie chuckled. “Since I know you’d never be seen in public with a single hair out of place, take fifteen minutes. I’ll walk over.”

On her way, she admired the bright pink, purple, white and red splashes of azaleas just popping into bloom thanks to the early spring heat wave. People in Serenity spent a lot of time in their gardens, even at the most modest homes. No one hired professionals. Kids earned extra money by cutting grass, weeding and mulching for elderly neighbors. Some of the azalea bushes were so old and so well nourished that they’d virtually overrun the smaller yards.

At the Hartley home, though, only one lone azalea had survived the years of neglect. Its dark pink blossoms provided a sign that there was still some life left in the place.

Maddie opened the front gate and grimaced at the screeching protest of the rusting hinges. She made her way carefully over the weeds growing up through cracks in the sidewalk. Dressed for the place’s state of disrepair, she sat down on the front steps to wait for Mary Vaughn. As she waited, she tried to envision the front yard once again being a velvet carpet of green grass, the rosebushes back in bloom and the old wooden fence being upright white pickets. They could put wicker chairs and tables on the porch. She’d seen some cushions with big splashy roses on a dark green background that would be perfect.

She was so lost in her mental planning that she jumped when a shadow fell across the walkway right in front of her.

“About time you got here,” she teased, then looked up, expecting to see Mary Vaughn. Instead, Coach Maddox stood there, his lips twitching with barely concealed amusement.

“I had no idea you were waiting for me or I would’ve been here sooner,” he said.

Maddie winced. “Sorry. I thought you were the real-estate agent. She was due here fifteen minutes ago.”

“Have you ever known Mary Vaughn to be on time?” he asked.

“Actually she’s usually pretty prompt when there’s money on the line.”

“Unless I’ve got the rumors all wrong, the money from this sale is all but in the bank. That must be why she stopped me and asked me to tell you it would be another hour before she could get here. She has to show a house to someone who only has an hour to spare this morning.” He reached into a pocket and retrieved a key. “Not to worry, though, she sent this along.”

Maddie reached for the key, but the coach didn’t release it. Somehow her hand wound up entwined with his. Enough electricity zapped between them to light the high-school ball field on a game night. Maddie’s gaze locked with his as she grappled with the unexpectedness of her attraction to a man she barely knew. She supposed at some point she’d appreciate that her hormones hadn’t died with her marriage, but right this second she wanted to sink through the porch floor. Given the rotted state of the boards, it wasn’t entirely wishful thinking.

“Um, Coach, are you going to hand over that key? Or do I need to arm wrestle you for it?”

“That could be interesting, but actually I was hoping to get a look at the place with you,” he said, releasing the key. “I’ve always wondered what this house was like inside.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

“This is my planning hour. I usually try to get out for a walk or a run. It clears the cobwebs out of my brain. I’m not a morning person. If it were up to me, school would start around noon.”

Maddie grinned. “Ty would agree with you about that.”

“And you? When are you at your best?”

“The crack of dawn,” she admitted. “My brain turns to mush later in the day.”

He shook his head with a sad expression. “Ah, irreconcilable differences already. That’s not good.”