Chapter 15 #3
“Because! If I’d stayed with Jim, I would’ve lived the whole rest of my life without knowing that is possible. I had no idea. If that’s what you have with Mac, I’m in awe—and envy.”
“Oh, baby, come here.” Maddie gathered her sister into a tight hug. “That’s what I want for you—the kind of all-consuming passion that you forget your own name in the midst of it.”
“Is it like that for you guys?” Tiffany asked, her voice muffled by Maddie’s hair.
“Yeah.”
“Every time?”
“Uh-huh,” Maddie said laughing.
“How do you survive it?”
Maddie released her sister, but kept her hands on Tiffany’s shoulders. “I don’t just survive it, I crave it.” She smoothed Tiffany’s hair back from her face. “There’s no chance of anything else happening with Blaine?”
“Not right now. Not with the divorce moving so painfully slow.”
“I thought Dan Torrington was helping you with that.”
“He is, but Jim is fighting every step of the way. It’s draining. Dan suggested arbitration. Apparently, it’s quicker than waiting on the courts, but Jim is fighting that, too.”
“I’m sorry it’s such an ordeal.”
“It’s fine,” Tiffany said with the sweep of her hand. “At the end of it, I’ll be free of him and have primary custody of Ashleigh. That’s all I care about.”
“I hope you’ll also get a boatload of money that you richly deserve for putting his ass through law school while you worked two jobs—and carried his child.”
“Dan is working on that, too. Naturally, Jim is fighting that part the hardest. He cares more about his goddamned money than he does about his own daughter.”
“I know it seems hard to believe now when everything is so chaotic, but someday soon the divorce will be final, and you’ll be free to do anything you want. Including our oh-so-sexy police chief.”
Tiffany stuck her tongue out at her sister. “Very funny.”
“You won’t be laughing when you’re naked and horizontal under him.”
Tiffany shook her head and put her hands over her ears. “I can’t even think of that or I’m apt to spontaneously combust.”
Maddie laughed at the tortured expression on her sister’s face. “Mark my words, your day is coming. The two of you are going to incinerate the entire island when you finally get together.”
“Whatever you say.”
What Maddie was about to say was lost when Linda McCarthy came breezing through the sliding door. “Good morning, ladies. I brought chocolate-covered strawberries!”
“Do I have the best mother-in-law ever?” Maddie asked her sister. Once Linda had found out that chocolate-covered strawberries were one of Maddie’s favorite treats, she’d made them often for her daughter-in-law.
Knowing Linda had been anything but friendly to Maddie when she first started dating Mac, Tiffany rolled her eyes at Maddie when Linda looked away. “The best ever for sure.”
“Did you hear that Sydney had the loveliest visit with Jenny, the lighthouse keeper?” Linda asked Maddie. “She’s coming to the party at Luke and Syd’s tonight.”
“I did hear. Syd said Jenny is terrific.” Maddie offered one of the strawberries to her sister. To Tiffany, she said, “Jenny lost her fiancé on September 11 in the World Trade Center.”
“Oh, God. How awful.”
“I’m so glad we reached out to her,” Linda said. “I can’t wait to get to know her better. Now as for the fundraiser, I was thinking we can open the marina restaurant for the occasion.”
“That’s just what I had in mind,” Maddie said.
“Maybe we could even make it an annual tradition,” Linda said.
Maddie hugged her mother-in-law. “Even better.”
“I only wish I’d thought of it sooner. Of course the folks who support the summer economy struggle in the offseason after the tourists leave. Why didn’t we ever do this before?”
“All that matters is we’re doing it now, and that we do whatever we can to take care of them in the future.”
“You and I need to talk at some point about getting you back to work, young lady,” Linda said.
Maddie had thought long and hard about her position as head of housekeeping at McCarthy’s Gansett Island Inn and had dreaded this conversation with her mother-in-law—and boss. “About that . . .”
Linda raised a brow in inquiry.
“Mac and I have talked about it, and I’ve decided to stay home with the kids while they’re little. Maybe when they’re older, I could come back to the family business?”
Linda sighed. “As much as I hate to lose you, I completely understand. Of course you want to be with my precious grandbabies while they’re small.
I can hardly blame you for that. And there’ll always be a place for you in the family business.
Heck, you and Mac and Luke will be running the whole show before too much longer. ”
“I’d like you to consider Daisy to replace me.”
Linda seemed startled by the suggestion.
“Before you discount her, she’s very smart and capable.”
“She hides that rather well behind her skittish, deer-in-the-headlights personality.”
“She hasn’t had an easy life. Trust me when I tell you she could more than handle the job. I’d make sure of it.”
“I’ll certainly consider it.”
“Thank you. Now, how about some coffee?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”