Chapter 14
fourteen
“I can’t believe Mama D called you.” Cade dropped his duffel on the bench in the corner of the gym as Linc scowled beside him. The musty scent of sweat mixed with body spray met Cade’s nose as he plopped down next to his bag.
Noah grinned as he sat on the other end and leaned over to retie his training shoe. “I can’t believe Linc answered.”
“And I can’t believe she ordered me to hang out with Cade.” Linc stood over them, crossing his arms over his black muscle tank. “Like I have time for babysitting at the end of crawfish season.”
“You obviously have time to work out.” Noah sat up and gestured to the rows of dumbbells, elliptical machines, and weight racks spanning the black and red painted room.
Linc scowled harder, shooting a glance at the wall clock at the back of the gym, half-hidden behind a CrossFit competition banner. “I make time for what matters.”
“So your next personal record matters, but not your friends?” Cade shook his head in mock disgust as he pulled a pair of wristbands from his bag. “Pity.”
Linc flexed his biceps. “Is it?”
Noah winced as he stood. “All right, I’m convinced. Show me what you’ve been doing.”
They followed Linc to the rack, where he’d already loaded several weights on the bar for bench press. “You’ll want to take some of those off.”
“Let me try.” Cade pulled one arm across his chest in a stretch, then the other, before straddling the bench. “I’ve been out of the gym the last several weeks, but I’m not a stranger to it.”
Noah and Linc shot each other looks, which Cade ignored. He lay back and wiggled into position. “So why did Mama D ask you to babysit?”
“She said you needed guy time.” Linc growled. “Whatever that means.”
It meant the older woman saw way more than Cade had wanted her to earlier. After she’d left his office, he’d started for the studio to try and find Rosalyn when he’d been ambushed by two Magnolia Days craft vendors and a food truck owner with myriad questions. By the time he’d calmed the rift between the two vendors, who unnecessarily thought the other was competition, and assured the mobile restaurant owner he’d be able to set up as the first truck in the lot, he’d received a text from Linc.
Linc
Meet me at the gym.
Cade
After work?
Linc
Now.
Cade
I’m in the middle of something.
Linc
Fine. But don’t complain next time I call you out for skipping leg day.
Cade
Be there in ten.
It probably was for the best that his mission to find Rosalyn had been thwarted. He still had no idea what he’d say when he saw her, or if his feeling of betrayal would rush back and cloud his senses as it had last week. At least here in the gym, he could work out any leftover emotion without making anything worse.
For either of them.
Cade grabbed the metal bar, arched his back, and pushed.
Nothing happened.
He cleared his throat, adjusted his grip, and tried again. Nope. “Maybe take off thirty pounds.”
Linc grumbled some version of told you so . Weights clanked as the guys pulled two plates from the bar. Cade waited, staring at the ceiling. “Did she say why she thought I needed guy time?” Best to figure out what the guys knew before he said too much. Hopefully Delia had left Rosalyn out of it.
“Probably because you’re stressed to the max and won’t admit it.” Noah’s voice floated from behind his shoulder. Cade really hoped Linc was spotting him and not Noah.
It’d probably take both of them to spot Linc.
“She said you were going through something.” Linc sighed, as if the statement alone was too big a burden. “Whatever it was, I figured the gym would knock it out of you.” His voice turned into a coach’s bark. “Now push.”
Cade pressed again. Nothing. He shifted his feet on the ground and repositioned his grip.
Linc’s face appeared upside down in Cade’s field of vision. “You gonna lift that bar or buy it dinner first?”
Cade tried again. The bar didn’t move. “How much is this?”
“It started at three-fifteen. Now it’s two-eighty-five.”
As Elisa said, good gravy . He was working out with an Avenger. Cade eased into a sitting position and faced his friends, sweat already dripping down his temple. “How much are you both going to make fun of me if I put it at one-fifty?”
“A decent amount, I’d wager.” Noah began removing weights from the side nearest him. “Not that I could bench almost three hundred either. Difference is, I know I can’t.”
Cade stood to help. “I think I prefer fishing.”
“I prefer anything to the girl talk Delia wants us to have.” Linc grabbed three plates at once and set them on the mat. “Are we going to get it over with or what?”
Noah followed suit with a twenty-five-pound weight. “Does this forced intervention have anything to do with the fundraiser?”
“Not exactly.” Cade debated his options. He couldn’t tell them about Rosalyn—not without breaking his word. But if he took the easy way out and blamed his stress on Magnolia Days and the circus, they’d butt in and try to help again.
That left one other reason that was still true. He took a breath. “This is still confidential, but…my dad is retiring from office this year and he wants me to run for mayor.”
“Wow.” Noah tilted his head. “And you’re having second thoughts?”
Cade scoffed. “I wasn’t given first thoughts.”
“I assumed you’d always take his place one day.”
“That seems to be the trend.” Cade forced a laugh. “I guess I didn’t think ‘one day’ would arrive so soon.”
“We’re wasting time.” Linc frowned. “If you don’t want to be mayor, don’t run.” He jammed the last plate on the rack and stepped aside. “Now try again.”
Cade resumed his place on the bench. “You don’t understand. I don’t have a choice—I owe it to my dad.”
“Mayor Landry doesn’t seem the type to make his son do something he hates.” Noah’s voice sounded behind him.
“That’s exactly his type, if it’s for a greater good.” Cade gripped the bar. “I was always in trouble growing up. You remember how often I pranked people?”
Noah laughed. “I remember the Jell-O.”
“That was you!”
“ One time. Not the others.”
True. “Ninth grade was the worst.” Cade adjusted his grip, knocked out three reps. “I got suspended.”
Noah peered over at him. “I was already in Shreveport then. I don’t know that I ever heard that story.”
“Well, that’s partly because Dad worked hard to hide it.” Cade reached up to the bar again. “I was caught fighting.”
“Slap fight?” Linc snorted.
“Funny. Can you add ten pounds back on?” Cade sat up and waited. “It was over Rosalyn.” Which made two bullies he’d saved her from so far. “And I didn’t get busted for fighting, I got busted for paying a football player to fight.”
“That makes more sense.” Linc chuckled.
Noah ignored him. “Who was the punk?”
“Justin Davies.” Cade cracked his neck. “Who happened to be the principal’s son.”
Linc winced. “That probably didn’t go over well.”
“Dad pulled a lot of strings to bail me out. Then he told me that wasn’t the way a Landry acted.” Cade lay back on the bench. “He said we use words to solve problems, not fists—whether hired or our own.” Even now Dad’s words echoed in his memory. A fair lesson, but the look on his face…
“I can’t even imagine this scenario.” Above Cade, Linc shook his head, man-bun wobbling.
“Justin was talking trash about taking advantage of Rosalyn after a dance. At the time, it felt like the right move to defend her.” Cade lowered the bar into position. “I asked Simon, the massive linebacker, to scare Justin. I didn’t mean for him to actually beat him.” Even if the jerk had deserved it.
And then the irony of the situation slammed into his chest. He’d put himself on the line to defend Rosalyn from sleazy guys twice now—once in school, and once at the Lazy Spoon.
So why hadn’t he responded the same way when she told him her story about Blaine? Rather than giving sympathy for a horrible situation, he’d doubted her.
He was turning out to be the third bully.
Cade lifted the bar for a rep. Mama D was right. Her leading him on—intentionally or unintentionally—wasn’t unforgivable or even worth losing a friendship over. If he was really her friend, he’d support her and help any way he could.
Like he had in ninth grade, and like he had at the Lazy Spoon.
The weight of his guilt sank into him—along with the bar on his second rep. He struggled with it against his chest, the metal hard and unyielding.
Linc grabbed the bar with one hand and re-racked. “You good?”
Cade wiped sweat from his face. “Just thinking.” Earlier, he knew he needed to make things right with Rosalyn.
But now, he finally knew what he needed to say.
“My turn.” Noah gestured for Cade to move. “For the record, I think you need to talk to your dad about the campaign. Be honest.”
Ha. Cade stood, making room for Noah. One tough conversation at a time, and the one with Rosalyn took precedence. “I don’t know. Bad timing.”
“Seems like good timing to me. No one knows about his retiring yet, so how big of a disappointment would it be? Someone else can run.” Linc shrugged like it was that simple.
Cade shook his head. “That’s not going to be an option for my father.”
Noah wiped the bench with a towel before assuming position. “So what you’re saying is, you owe this campaign to your dad because he bailed you out of trouble? Fifteen years ago?”
“Seems like an odd reason to make a career change.” Linc stepped behind the bar to spot Noah.
“I promised myself that I’d never give him reason to look at me or talk to me that way again.” Cade pulled his arm in front of him, stretching his shoulder. He was going to regret all of this tomorrow. “Besides, you didn’t hear what his campaign manager told me that night.”
“What?” Noah huffed as he cranked out reps.
The words echoed in Cade’s head as if they’d been spoken yesterday and not over a decade ago. “You owe your dad after this one, Sport. You have no idea how much you threaten his image.”
Linc helped Noah re-rack. “Ouch.”
He didn’t tell the guys the rest. You want to mess up your dad’s entire career because of your immaturity? Time to grow up. Your father needs you.
“It was enough for me to clean up my act.” Cade handed Noah his water bottle. If Cade was needed, he’d show up. Like he had the first half of his life. “You’ve seen me in the back of a cop car once, bro. It wasn’t a good look.”
Cade’s phone buzzed from his pocket before he could question him. Rosalyn? He pulled it free, pausing to swipe his forehead with his sleeve. Then the screen display registered. Not Rosalyn. “That’s weird. Elisa texted me.”
“She texted me too.” Noah looked down at his own cell.
“What’s the problem?” Linc leaned over their shoulders as they all read the identical messages.
Elisa: Commotion at Chug a Mug You’re going to want to see this.
* * *
Magnolia Bay had lost its mind. There was a circus carrying on in front of Chug a Mug—and not of the red-striped tent variety.
Cade stared at the throng of people gathered outside the front doors of the coffee shop and gaped. “What in the world?” Teenagers, families. Men and women. They all stood clumped in a crowd just off the sidewalk, while a cacophony of music, shouts, and laughter filled the air.
A police car, lights flashing, parked across the street on Village Lane. A uniformed officer shouted commands through a bull horn. “Please clear the sidewalks at once. No loitering, people.”
Everyone ignored him.
Madame Paulette performed a tap dance number on the sidewalk, gold bracelets jingling as she swung her arms and huffed. Tap-tap, tappity-tap. Next to her, Zoey juggled three beignets—she was surprisingly good, judging by the fact there were only a few powdered white spots on the sidewalk at her feet. Trish, the waitress from Magnolia Blossom, had donned a sparkly costume with a matching top hat and spun a baton, while two other young adults harmonized off-key with their hands clasped in front of their chests. Sadie half-shouted a poem from a worn copy of Sonnets from the Portuguese , gesturing wildly with her free hand.
Linc and Noah flanked Cade on each side. “I guess Elisa wasn’t kidding.” Noah crossed his arms over his chest, his hair falling across his forehead as he stared. “This definitely qualifies as a commotion.”
Understatement of the century.
Next to Sadie, a college-aged guy blaring a hip-hop song on his phone started break-dancing. Beside him, another kid performed skateboarding tricks.
“What’s gotten into everyone?” Cade looked over his shoulder toward the café, nearly losing his balance as two girls in tutus pushed past him and pirouetted down the street. Something moving across the grass off to the side of Chug a Mug caught his attention. “Is that Owen?”
“Oh, for crying out loud.” Noah sighed. “He’s tightrope walking.”
Sure enough, Owen had tied a rope between two stakes, only about a foot off the ground. He wobbled across the line holding an umbrella, stepping down to regain his balance every two to three steps.
“Zoey!” Linc suddenly barked, making both Cade and Noah jump. “What are you doing?”
Unwavering, Zoey kept her eyes up as she continued juggling, side-stepping to stay under the pastries. “What does it look like?” She shook her bangs out of her eyes and attempted to execute a spin.
Three beignets rained down on her head.
Linc growled.
Elisa broke through the crowd and rushed to join them, wearing her Magnolia Blossom apron and a stricken expression. “There you are!”
Rosalyn was right behind her.
Cade’s throat dried at the sight of her blonde ponytail and wide eyes. He flexed his hands at his sides.
Rosalyn hurried to stand next to them, then stepped back as Noah pulled Elisa into his side. She turned toward the drama unfolding on the streets, angling her face away from Cade.
Cade swallowed. He wanted to tell her how ashamed he was of his reaction last week, but in the middle of this chaos wasn’t the place.
Noah planted a kiss on the top of Elisa’s head, oblivious to the tension lingering next to him on each side. “You don’t want to throw yourself in there, babe? Do a trick?”
“Yeah, right. It’s been like this for twenty minutes and the crowd keeps growing.” Elisa tucked her hair behind her ears and grimaced. “It’s like a really bad talent show.”
“Where’s Simon Cowell when you need him?” Linc muttered, shifting his weight.
“I will say the Blossom is doing great business.” Elisa shrugged. “We sold out of blueberry scones and Cajun muffins. I left Lucius baking a third batch so I could come see if you’d made it out here yet.”
Cade craned his head to see around the group clustered between them and the action taking place down the street—and give his eyes an excuse to land anywhere other than on Rosalyn. “Who is everyone gathered around over there?”
Linc, the tallest of them, stood on tiptoe to check. He scowled. “Some dude in a blazer.”
Cade took several steps down the road toward the cluster, his friends following. The crowd parted, and sure enough, standing in the middle of the hubbub was a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses, a blazer, and dark jeans. His temples were streaked with silver.
The group around them fell silent as Delia hobbled toward the man on her cane, chin lifted in the air. Several pink and teal shopping bags dangled from her free hand. “Do you remember me?”
The man frowned, tilting his head. “I’m sorry, I?—”
“No, I’m sorry.” Trish breezed from behind the stranger, her tone cool as she stared down her nose at Delia.
Delia glared back at her. “I was here yesterday. You wouldn’t wait on me?”
The man’s eyes widened as he looked between the two women. He took a step back.
Trish moved closer to Delia, shouldering past the man. Her bored tone continued as she swept her gaze over Delia. “Oh…”
“You work on commission, right?” Delia inched closer to Miley, her expression haughty.
Trish offered a bored eye roll. “Yeah…”
Delia gestured wildly with her shopping bags. “Big mistake. Big!” She thrust the packages into the redhead’s face and shook them. Her cane toppled to the street with a clatter. “Huge!”
The crowd began to clap. Rosalyn’s eyes grew big and Elisa pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Was that the script from Pretty Woman?”
Delia and Trish took a quick bow. With an uncertain laugh, the well-dressed stranger started a slow retreat. A tight smile spanned his silver-sprinkled goatee. “Um, very nice, ladies.”
Cade flinched. Surely that wasn’t…
Then the man removed his sunglasses, revealing a tanned face Cade had recently seen on social media.
The scout had come early.