Chapter 15
Fifteen
Maddie had considered leaving the island—taking Thomas and the things they couldn’t live without and just going.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have quite enough money saved to make it happen.
So, she’d had no choice but to face whatever might be waiting for her outside the safe confines of her apartment.
Rattled by the encounter with Mac, Maddie somehow managed to get through the long day at the hotel.
Her coworkers were clearly curious about the letters in the paper, but no one asked.
At the end of the day, when they were gathered in the supply room folding clean towels and sheets, she decided she had to say something.
“So, um, I know you all saw the paper yesterday.”
The other women stopped what they were doing and turned to her.
Maddie’s face heated with embarrassment, but she forced herself to say the words.
“I had a bit of trouble with some of the local boys in high school. One of them was mad I wouldn’t sleep with him, so he made up a story and got his friends to go along with it.
I was given a horrible nickname that has stuck to me ever since. ”
Daisy gasped. “I’m so sorry, Maddie.”
“These,” she said, gesturing to her breasts, “apparently, come with expectations, and if you don’t live up to them. . .” Maddie shrugged.
“How did it end up in the paper, honey?” Sylvia asked.
“I told Mac about it, and he flipped out, especially since his brother was involved.”
“So he made them write the letters?” Patty asked.
Ethel stormed into the room. “What’s going on here?”
“Leave us alone, Ethel,” Betty snapped back.
The others watched nervously as the two women stared each other down.
Seeming to realize she’d interrupted an intense moment, Ethel spun around and left.
Sarah closed the door behind her.
“Mac forced them to write the letters?” Patty asked again.
Maddie nodded. “Unfortunately, he failed to mention anything about it to me, so we’re over.”
“No!” Daisy wailed. “You love him! You’re going to marry him!”
Maddie fought back tears. “I can’t marry someone who’d keep something like that from me. I just can’t, Daisy.”
The others got busy again with the sheets and towels.
“You guys don’t agree?” Maddie asked.
“It’s just that he came here and filled in for you,” Patty said. “That was so sweet.”
“And remember how nice he was to us?” Sylvia added. “Bringing us coffee and that one day he got pizza for everyone?”
“I know he’s a good guy,” Maddie said. “That’s not what this is about.”
“Honey, he wanted to fix it for you,” Betty said. “Granted, he went about it all wrong, but he can’t help that. He’s a man. His intentions were good.”
“You guys think I’m crazy to break up with him over this.” She’d expected her friends to share her outrage.
No one replied, which spoke volumes.
“I told him that keeping things from me was a deal-breaker, and still he didn’t tell me about the letters or that he’d punched Darren, even after I asked him what happened to his hand.”
“You have to stand up for what’s important to you,” Sylvia said.
“Absolutely,” Daisy said.
If that was true, why was Maddie suddenly worried that she’d made a huge mistake?
On the way home, she stopped at the post office to buy stamps.
“Hi there, Maddie,” Mrs. Jergenson said with a friendly smile.
Maddie stared at the woman behind the counter. She’d been in there a hundred times over the years and never once had the woman who ran the local post office addressed her by name.
“How are you today?”
“Fine,” Maddie stammered. “Thanks.” She bought her stamps and went to the drugstore. Since she didn’t yet have a basket on the new bike, she bought only a few essentials.
“Afternoon, Maddie,” Mrs. Gold said. “Nice to see the sun after all that rain this morning.”
Again, Maddie was rendered speechless.
When she received the same treatment at the grocery store, Maddie had to acknowledge that her life on the island seemed to have changed overnight. The rumors people had believed for years had been dispelled. Her reputation had been restored. And she had Mac to thank for that.
Over the next two weeks, Mac threw himself into work. He spent twelve to fourteen hours a day at McCarthy’s, either making repairs or reorganizing the business’s finances. The company had plenty of money to pay for upgrades, and his father seemed more than happy to turn everything over to Mac.
Too bad he was miserable. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay on the island permanently after what had happened with Maddie.
Living without her and Thomas, especially knowing they were so close but out of reach, was just too damned painful.
Except for fleeting glances as she came and went from the hotel, Mac hadn’t seen her since the day he’d driven her to work.
He continued to hope she’d come around, but he hadn’t heard from her and had begun to accept that he wasn’t going to.
Janey had convinced him to give Maddie some time and space, but the longer he went without seeing her, the worse he felt.
He’d been consulting almost daily with his partners in Miami on a wide variety of ongoing projects.
A few weeks ago, he’d been certain he would stay on the island and had planned to tell his partners he wasn’t coming back.
Now he wasn’t sure, so he hadn’t said anything to them about his long-term plans.
The more he hedged, however, the more persistent Roseanne became about pinning him down on a return date.
In light of that, he shouldn’t have been surprised when she showed up one day at McCarthy’s just as he was starting work on the gift shop roof. He watched Ned’s cab pull into the lot. Roseanne emerged and took a good look around the marina.
Mac suppressed a groan and wished there was somewhere to hide.
But she spotted him on the roof and let out a happy shriek.
Teetering on spike heels, she came rushing toward him as every guy on the dock stopped what he was doing to stare at her.
Wanting to reach her before she got to the pier and broke her neck on those heels, Mac descended quickly from the roof.
They met in the parking lot, where Roseanne launched herself into his arms.
Mac had no choice but to catch her.
Gripping a handful of his hair, she wrapped her legs around his hips and planted a huge kiss on him.
He heard the whistles and catcalls, but all Mac could think about while she kissed him senseless was getting rid of her as fast as he could.
“Maddie,” Daisy whispered. “Mrs. McCarthy wants to see you in the office.”
“Did she say why?”
Wide-eyed, Daisy shook her head. “Good luck,” she called after her as Maddie took the stairs from the third floor to Mrs. McCarthy’s lobby office.
Outside the door, Maddie steeled herself and knocked briskly. “You wanted to see me?”
Linda looked up from a spreadsheet on the desk. “Maddie, hi.” She waved her in. “Close the door.”
Maddie took the seat Linda offered.
“Can I get you anything? Some coffee or tea?”
Surprised by the friendly reception, Maddie said, “Um, no. Thank you.”
“I heard an interesting rumor when I was in town the other day.”
Not more rumors! “Oh?”
“Is it true the Beachcomber is trying to lure you away from us?”
“Libby made me an offer, but I haven’t given her an answer.”
Linda folded her hands on the desktop. “Ethel is retiring at the end of the summer. I’d like you to replace her. As a management position, it’s full-time, year-round, with benefits and two weeks’ paid vacation.” She rattled off a salary that shocked Maddie. It was even more than Libby had offered.
“Why me? You have other people on the housekeeping staff who’ve been here longer.”
“Sylvia and Betty wouldn’t want the hassle at this point in their lives, and the others aren’t qualified. Besides, you’re the one I want.”
“Why?” Maddie asked, shocked by this sudden shift in Linda’s attitude toward her.
“For one thing, I owe you an apology. I’m appalled by what my son Evan was involved in and by what those boys did to you.
I can’t deny I’ve treated you unfairly because I believed what people said about you.
I’m ashamed to admit that.” Linda paused and then looked at Maddie.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me, but I do hope you’ll consider the job. ”
“I’ll think about it.”
Linda nodded. “Good.”
Maddie got up to leave.
“Maddie.”
She turned back.
“I’ve never seen Mac so low. He’s working himself to death trying to keep his mind off what happened with you.”
Maddie’s stomach churned. “I thought you didn’t approve of our relationship.”
“I was wrong about that, too. He’s heartbroken, and I can’t bear to see him this way. I was probably as angry at him about those letters as you were, so I understand where you’re coming from.”
“But…?”
“He loves you—and your son. He truly does. Is there any way you can find it in your heart to forgive him?”
Maddie’s heart fluttered painfully. For weeks, she’d agonized over the situation. While she still didn’t appreciate that he’d kept something so important from her, she had to acknowledge the letters had changed her life.
“Does he know you’re offering me a new job?”
Linda shook her head. “No one knows about that but you and me.” She paused before she added, “But if you want to discuss it with him, he’s at the marina.”
“You think he’d be happy to see me?”
“He’d be thrilled.”
For the first time since she’d walked away from him, Maddie felt a glimmer of hope.
Without taking another second to consider the implications, she darted from Mrs. McCarthy’s office and out the hotel’s front door.
She was halfway down the hill when a curvy, dark-haired woman launched herself into Mac’s arms and kissed him passionately.
Frozen in place, Maddie watched them long enough to see Mac return the woman’s kiss.
Maddie turned away, trudged up the hill and went back to work.
“What are you doing here?” Mac asked as he extricated himself from Roseanne’s embrace and lowered her to rickety heels.