Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Groggily, Leo stumbled into the living area of their house ahead of his son to switch on the Christmas tree lights and get music and coffee going. Then he let Charlie loose. His little boy tore through the gifts like a rhinoceros through a swamp.
They joined Olivia’s side of the family for Christmas brunch. Food. More gifts. Then returned home so that he could get Charlie down for a nap. He’d only just now managed it. He had a brief window before he needed to regroup and drive Charlie to his parents’ house for more food and more gifts.
On weekend days, he usually soaked in the quiet during Charlie’s nap. Today, though, he wanted nothing more than to spend time with Maddie.
Ever since Deb had walked up to them yesterday in front of Kim’s house, a stone of foreboding had been pressing down on his chest.
He’d texted Maddie last night to let her know about the conversation he’d had with Deb and Randy. He’d told her that Olivia’s parents had given their blessing and that Deb wanted Maddie to know she was sorry.
Still, he worried that things weren’t right between him and Maddie. Things didn’t feel right. Maddie was susceptible to hurt, which was one of the things he appreciated about her. He knew that Deb had caused Maddie both embarrassment and guilt.
He desperately wanted to fix what had been broken.
He dialed Maddie’s number.
Painful hope leapt within Maddie when she saw that the incoming caller was Leo. She dried her hands on a dish towel, scooped up her phone, and took a few steps into her parents’ mudroom adjacent to their kitchen. “Hello?”
“Maddie, it’s Leo.”
She loved how he always announced his identity. “Hi.”
“Hey, I’m sure you’re probably really busy and that you don’t have any time to spare, seeing as how it’s Christmas Day and all, but I’m at home for the next few hours.
I just put Charlie down for a nap, and I’d .
. . really like to see you.” He made an irritated noise in his throat.
“That sounded presumptuous . . . me calling and telling you that I’m at home and that you can come over.
I’d come see you if I could. If you were free.
But now that Charlie’s asleep, I’m stuck—”
“I have some time. I’d be happy to swing by. Definitely don’t wake a sleeping child.”
“You’re coming by?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes. Very much.”
“Then I’m coming by. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” They disconnected, and she hurried into the kitchen to gather her things.
“Where are you going?” Maddie, her mom, and her dad had been in the throes of preparing rolls and ham and mustard sauce to take to her dad’s side of the family.
“I’m going to swing by Leo’s.”
Her mom tilted her head a fraction. “Leo? I thought you guys finished your Mission:Christmas duties.”
“We did, for the most part. We just have one loose end left to tie up.”
“Loose end?”
“Mm-hmm,” Maddie said noncommittally. She knew better than to tell her mom anything about Leo until it was absolutely official. No sense getting Mom’s hopes up unnecessarily.
“We need to leave here in forty-five minutes,” her dad said.
“Who’s going to whisk the mustard sauce?” her mom asked.
“Brandon will have to do it. It’s high time we started making him contribute to this family.” Maddie pointed her steps toward the living room.
Brandon was slouched on the sofa playing a game on his phone. In one deft motion, she nudged his feet onto the floor. “Up and at ’em, little brother. You’re needed in the kitchen.”
“Huh? Since when am I needed in the kitchen?”
“It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day!” She sailed toward the door.
“What’re you so happy about?”
“It’s a new day!”
She practically ran to her car. She was tempted to press the accelerator to the floor as she drove across town, but she willed herself to slow down. The streets were slightly slippery and framed on both sides by the coating of snow that had fallen since yesterday afternoon.
Maddie came to a stop in front of Leo’s house and peered at it through her car window.
When Leo had moved to town, the house he’d purchased had been a topic of discussion between herself, Britt, Hannah, and Mia.
Motivated by extreme curiosity, Maddie had driven by once or twice, but this was the first time she’d been invited inside.
The isolated location of Leo’s house read cabin. However, its architecture read modern sculpture. The materials of concrete, glass, and wood combined to form a structure that resembled a box with a diagonally slanting lid.
Maddie gathered her courage, and on wobbly legs, made her way to the door.
Leo opened it before she arrived. The fact that he’d been waiting and watching for her generated a rush of affection all out of proportion to the simple gesture.
Holy cow. She really needed to keep her composure. It may be, of course, that he wanted to see her so he could tell her he’d changed his mind about going on a date.
“Merry Christmas, Maddie.” He wore a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up and jeans.
“Merry Christmas, Leo.” She followed him inside. His house had the hushed quality that only homes containing sleeping children possess.
“Thanks for coming by,” he said. “I feel badly about interrupting your Christmas Day.”
“It’s no problem. Really.”
“I called because . . . Forgive me, may I take your coat?” He seemed a bit nervous and even more intense than usual.
Maddie’s concern that he might have invited her over to communicate bad news notched higher. Her pulse thrummed in her throat. “Sure.” She handed him her green coat, and he laid it carefully over a chair the way he’d seen her do it, with the brooch face up.
Maddie made her way into the living area. “Wow. Your house is great.” Floor-to-ceiling panes of glass left no room for artwork. None was needed. The nature surrounding the house was the art.
He’d furnished the interior with simple, masculine pieces and filled a wall of shelves with hardback books.
Honey-hued planks of wood covered both the floor and the ceiling.
She walked to the front of the space near Charlie’s Christmas tree, which looked even more adorably pitiful now that it had been laden with ornaments that clearly hadn’t been placed by a female.
Far too many of them were grouped on the bottom right side.
Leo came to stand beside her. “You like the house?” He gave her an uneven smile.
“I absolutely do. It suits you.” The house was literary and straightforward and beautiful—just like he was. She trained her attention through the windows at the snow-dappled woods.
Everything in her was reaching out for him. For years she’d been stuffing down her attraction to Leo. The barriers she’d erected to hold it back were cracking now, splintering with the force of her feelings for him.
A pocket of silence opened between them. She had no words to fill it.
“I . . .” he said.
She turned to him. A ripple of power went through her as she took in the details of the spiky lashes surrounding his storm cloud–gray eyes, so somber at the moment. So earnest.
“I just wanted to say in person,” he continued, “how sorry I am about what happen yesterday with Deb.”
“I’m sorry too, for your sake. That moment was awkward.”
“Really awkward.”
“I felt like we’d been caught doing something wrong,” she said.
“Right, which is why I wanted to talk to you. I could tell that it upset you. I regret that it did.”
She slid her fingers into the front pockets of the black jeans she’d paired with a silvery top. “To be completely honest, there are some things about liking you, about dating you, that concern me because of my past with Olivia and your past with Olivia. I’ve liked you for quite a while, Leo.”
“I’ve liked you for quite a while, too.”
An eddy of happiness swept through her even though she was very aware that his “quite a while” equaled a matter of days. “I think it’s safe to say I’ve liked you longer. But I haven’t been sure if a relationship between us would be right.”
Fear shifted in the depths of his eyes.
“Deb’s reaction when she saw us together,” she said, “forced me to confront some things I’ve been avoiding.”
“And?”
“And I’ve done some soul-searching since yesterday.
There might be other moments of awkwardness like the one with Deb in our future.
And more guilt, too, most likely.” She didn’t want to sound as if she was assuming they had a long relationship ahead of them.
They hadn’t been on a single date! On the other hand, it felt incredibly liberating to talk to him about this.
“It’s not always easy to celebrate the good things that come your way when someone you loved no longer has the chance to do the same. ”
“I know.”
She swallowed. “Just because it’s not easy, though, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still grab hold of the good things. I think that we should.”
Maddie watched relief steal over his features.
Leo scrubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes then tunneled his fingers through his gold-toned hair before dropping his arms. “Thank God. You had me worried there for a second, Maddie. I was afraid you were going to say that Deb’s reaction convinced you that going out with me wasn’t worth it. ”
“No,” she said.
“I think we should grab hold of the good things, too. It’s—you . . . are a lot more than I thought to hope for.”
Was this really happening? Could she trust something this amazingly lovely? “Oh.” It was the most coherent response she could formulate.
“Long ago,” he said, “before I met Olivia and before she introduced me to you, my parents and I went to see a performance of Les Misérables at the Merryweather Theater. During the scene near the end when Javert makes his sacrifice, I glanced to the side and down and saw you there. You were crying and looking happy and sad at the same time. Everything on your face matched what I was feeling.”
What? With effort, she pulled up the memory of that day, that show.
She’d gone with her mom. She knew the scene he was referring to, the one when Javert gives his life for the convicted Valjean.
It never failed to impact her like a wrecking ball.
She adored Les Mis. “Yes, I remember. I can’t believe . . . You were there?”
“Not only was I there, but I’ve remembered that moment many times over the years. It’s comforted me.”
“So . . . did you recognize me when Olivia introduced us?”
“Not immediately. The theater was dark, and you were sitting a few yards from me during the performance. Eventually, I did put two and two together and realized that you were the woman I’d seen that night.”
“That’s incredible.”
“Yeah.”
She didn’t think this was the best time to scold him for not having introduced himself that night. “You’re a fan of Les Mis?”
“Yes. You?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a good sign,” he said, “that we both like it. Don’t you think?”
“I do.”
“So things are okay between us?” he asked.
She nodded.
“We’re still on for dinner and dancing?”
“We are. Although I might like to see you from time to time before our date.”
“I might like to see you every day before our date,” he admitted.
She grinned because the sentiment so exactly matched her own. It was paradise to know that Leo was coming to feel the same way about her that she felt about him. It seemed like a greater miracle than the feeding of the five thousand.
His attention sank to her lips. Then, slowly, very slowly, he dipped his head and kissed her. She felt his fingers comb into her hair until he was supporting the back of her neck.
She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him as need and love coursed through her.
After long moments, they broke the kiss, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling crazily. Breath hitching. Then they kissed again.
Leo’s kisses were the best kisses that Maddie had ever experienced in her life. They swirled her thoughts and caused her tummy to flip with the force of their chemistry.
The sound of rustling crackled through the air . . . a sound like someone turning over in bed.
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“Baby monitor,” Leo answered. “Charlie’s waking up.” Leo’s mouth took on a wry, humorous twist. “He never did have a great sense of timing.” He kissed her again.
She might just die of exultation.
“Daddy?” came a groggy voice.
Leo and Maddie separated, laughing under their breath.
“Daddy! I’m awake.”
Leo motioned for her to follow him into a room abounding with shades of white and red and navy. Charlie sat upright in his miniature bed, surrounded by a blanket patterned with trains. “Hi, Maddie.” He smiled at her with Olivia’s blue eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I came by to say hi.”
He moved toward her, and she lowered like she always did when he approached. He opened his arms, and she gratefully enclosed him in a hug. He smelled like honey shampoo and indefinable little boy smell.
“Have you had a good Christmas?” she asked.
“Really good! You?”
Maddie tilted to look up at Leo, Charlie still in her arms.
Tenderness marked Leo’s expression.
It was a new dawn. A new day.
She’d thought her childhood Christmases were the best of her life but none of them held a candle to this one. “This, Charlie, has been my best Christmas ever.”