Chapter 27
Denise slumped back into her seat as she watched Maddox walk away. She really needed to get inside and get ready to meet with Oliver when he arrived, but she couldn’t force herself to move. The weight of the last few minutes kept her pinned to the sofa.
Despite all the ruminating and rationalizing she’d done on how things would need to be with Maddox moving forward, Denise hadn’t been prepared for the experience of seeing them again.
Being in their presence. Seeing that arch, inviting smile.
Feeling an inexplicable closeness and familiarity as she looked into their eyes.
Maddox had felt it too. Denise was almost certain of it.
The pull was stronger than she could have imagined. Like the wild, breathless sensation of being caught in an undertow. It was exciting. Unexpected. Terrifying.
She’d fought to regain her balance by talking things over with Maddox. She’d wanted to clear the air. Get everything settled and define sensible boundaries. It was the right thing to do for both of them in this situation.
But from the moment she’d sat down with Maddox and started talking, nothing had felt even remotely right about the conversation.
She hadn’t wanted Maddox to take the seat facing her; she wanted them beside her, their legs and arms pressed together. Touching. Deep down, she’d been aching to touch Maddox again from the moment they’d turned and faced her in the lobby just now.
Probably even before.
She had this absurd desire to embrace them, reach for their hand, maybe even greet them with the bold, unapologetic kiss to the cheek she’d given them when they’d parted last time.
Her body and heart ached for the contact so much she’d worried it’d been written all over her face for Maddox and Jeremy and Bobbette and all the rest of the world to see.
It made her feel raw and exposed. Her heart rate had picked up, and her palms had started sweating.
All she could think to do was force herself to stay in the moment.
Breathe in and out. Focus on the feel of her heeled shoes on the wooden floor of the lobby.
Stick to the script of what she’d needed to say to Maddox.
Yet with Maddox sitting there close to her with that earnest, caring expression, the script had felt off.
It was like one of those nightmares she’d had when she’d first gone back to college, where she was taking a final exam only to realize she’d been attending the wrong class all semester.
Like the words she’d been saying weren’t the ones she should’ve been using with Maddox. Business and work and roles.
And when she’d finally looked, really looked into Maddox’s eyes, she’d seen a hurt that had made a fist close over her heart and squeeze.
She hadn’t wanted that. She’d been trying to set a boundary, yes, but it was more a guardrail for her own runaway sensations and not a wall to put Maddox in their place.
But that was clearly how they had taken it.
I’m glad I could be of service
I probably shouldn’t be taking up your time
Denise was angry at herself for letting the conversation go that way, and maybe even annoyed at Maddox for accepting that treatment without argument. For not understanding.
But how could she expect Maddox to understand what was going on with her, when she barely understood it herself?
The porch floorboard creaked behind her then, and she whirled around, wondering for a wistful second if Maddox had come back, but Jeremy stood there instead.
“Denise?” He stepped around the sofa to face her better. “Oliver is back. Once you get settled into your room, we can talk to him.”
Right. Oliver. The buyout. The whole reason she was here in the first place.
“Hey, are you okay?” He stepped closer.
She looked up at him, turbulent emotions still whirling in her chest. The concern on his face and in his voice was touching enough that it threatened to unravel her, but she held her ground.
Forcing a smile, she said, “I’m great. Let’s get in there!”
Maddox kicked a rock as they stormed away from the Sycamore Lodge.
As usual, they had at least a dozen things to do before their afternoon visit with Gran, but they knew they wouldn’t be able to focus on them at the moment.
They set off on the familiar path that wound through the resort and led to a walking trail in the surrounding woods.
They walked fast, their boots pounding on the hard ground as their leg muscles pumped and their lungs sucked in the chilly air. It was several long minutes before the exertion and fresh air finally eased their frustration.
Slowing their pace, they forced themself to take in the surrounding beauty.
The maples and dogwoods were blazing with autumn color.
No matter how many times they’d seen it, the sight still left Maddox breathless whenever they took the time to really appreciate it.
This scenery was one of their favorite parts about working and living at Middle Waters.
As they gaped around at it, a lump formed in their throat.
How long would it stay like this? How long before it was buried under the concrete of whatever sprawling tourist trap Farrington Parks erected here?
Shuffling to a stop, they leaned back against the trunk of a sturdy pine and rested one foot against it. Denise was back there right now talking to Oliver to make sure that happened. What the hell had Maddox been thinking getting tangled up with her?
Denise had talked about working at her father’s company with borderline contempt. She’d said she couldn’t wait until the two years she’d promised her dad were over so she could move ahead with all her plans. Yet here she was again, ready to wheel and deal like a pro.
Had all that talk been a lie? Why? What purpose could it possibly serve to feed Maddox a bunch of stories?
Their heel slid off the tree trunk behind them and hit the ground with a thud as an ugly thought hit them.
Had Denise made up or at least exaggerated all that stuff about being unhappy at her father’s company to play on Maddox’s sympathies so they’d keep quiet about the way they’d met her in the first place?
As soon as Maddox had remembered who she was, Denise had been so desperate to make sure they didn’t share what they knew.
When they hadn’t responded well to threats and bribes, and made their distaste for her family’s way of doing business known, had Denise resorted to pretending she didn’t like it either to gain Maddox’s trust?
Had she only seemed to befriend them to neutralize the supposed threat they represented?
Maddox swallowed hard. And what about their night together?
They weren’t ready to face that question. It was all getting nauseating. Looking up at the sky, they groaned. Whatever the answer, the issue wasn’t really Denise anyway. It was the fact that somehow, Maddox had forgotten their place.
But they wouldn’t make that mistake again.
With a sigh, they pushed away from the tree and started shuffling back to the resort. A quick glance at their watch told them they’d been out here wallowing longer than they realized, and it was time to go visit Gran.
Thirty minutes later, Maddox was in Gran’s room, quietly listening to her chat about one of her friends down the hall while replenishing her favorite snacks and exchanging her library book for a new one the way they did every two weeks.
They opened her nightstand drawer in search of her old library book and paused.
Inside, there was a paper cup with half a dozen pills.
They all looked to be the water pill Gran was supposed to take every morning.
Pulling out the cup, they scowled. A staff member brought Gran her medicine each morning since she couldn’t really remember to take it on her own, but they were also supposed to wait and ensure she took it.
The cluster of pills in the cup suggested they’d just been leaving them with Gran and she’d been forgetting or hadn’t understood that she was supposed to be taking them.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise. This place was always understaffed and the caregivers overworked, but Maddox would still need to have words with the managing nurse about this issue. They slammed the nightstand drawer and swore under their breath.
Gran stopped in the middle of her story and stared at them. “Are you okay, Maddie?”
Maddox heaved a sigh and plastered on a smile. “I’m fine, Gran. Just a little stressed is all.”
“I’m not surprised,” she fretted. “You work too hard. Isn’t Oliver your boss?”
“Yep. But he’s not working me too hard. Don’t worry,” Maddox rushed to assure her before Gran could think her old friend was being tough on them. She asked a question to that effect every other time Maddox visited. “It’s my own fault I’m stressed. I made a big mistake. That’s all.”
Gran frowned and adjusted her glasses, then beckoned Maddox over. When they scooted their chair closer to her recliner, Gran leaned forward and felt Maddox’s forehead with the back of her hand. “You sure you’re not sick?”
“I’m sure,” Maddox answered with a nod.
Gran narrowed her eyes at them playfully. “Well, did your arm fall off?”
A genuine smile tickled the corners of Maddox’s mouth. “Nope.”
“What about your ear?” she asked with mock gravity.
“Both present and accounted for.”
Gran nodded approvingly. “Did your nose fall off?”
Maddox fought to keep a serious expression and met Gran’s gray-green eyes as she clearly struggled to do the same.
“If it had, wouldn’t I nose?” They brought their hand to their face and thumbed their nose at her.
Gran whacked their arm and burst into laughter, and Maddox gave into it too. The two of them sat there giggling and making faces at each other for several minutes.
After a while, they calmed down, and Gran’s smile grew softer. She told them the same thing she’d told them many times since they were eighteen. “It was just a mistake. You learn from it, and you move on.”
Maddox nodded and leaned over to kiss Gran on the cheek. “Right.”
And to be fair, they had learned their lesson today from the whole Denise situation. They’d learned not to forget what their appropriate work role was again.
The moving on part might be harder though.
An image of Denise standing in the lobby entrance earlier today with the sun highlighting her shapely form popped into Maddox’s head, and just the memory made their breath catch.
Right. If they were going to move on, they would need to avoid Denise Farrington as much as possible while she was here.