Chapter 4 #2
Since that magical afternoon, she and Rex had seen each other often, but he was right, they had not been alone, what with the fire and the commotion and the rest. And now, the only thing that felt strange about being alone with him was that it wasn’t like her to share her feelings with anyone, let alone a man.
But Rex was different from others she’d dated since her divorce—none of them had made her cheeks—and the rest of her—so warm.
Then he turned off the burner on the stove, and tucked her hair behind her ears the way she would have done.
The next thing she knew, he was leading her from the kitchen, through his living room, and down the hall toward what she thought—what she hoped—was the bedroom.
She went with him willingly, eagerly, her senses fully lit, her heart swelling with anticipation, ignoring the ghost of her upbringing that cautioned: It’s too soon, Madelyn. It’s too soon.
Her clothes, including her white top and her grandmother’s skirt with the beads and the embroidery, wound up on the floor in a corner of the bedroom.
Maddie had pulled her clothes off more hurriedly than the previous night when the bed she’d climbed into had been empty.
It was far nicer this morning when Rex had crawled under the covers next to her.
No matter if her conscience thought it was too soon.
What it had been was wonderful. Startlingly wonderful.
“This is the confusing part,” he said once their bodies separated and they both caught their breath.
He turned onto his back, stretched his arms over his shoulders, and clasped his hands behind his head.
“It was our first time together. So now for the big questions. Who gets up first? Me? Am I expected to stand up, wrap a sheet around my lower parts, and disappear into the bathroom so I can give you privacy to get dressed? Or do you wrap said sheet around yourself and go first?” He scrunched his eyes closed.
“I don’t do this very often. To be truthful, it’s been a long time. So I could use some direction. Please.”
Maddie watched him. She wanted to laugh, but her belly had started to ache and her head had started to hurt with a singular, disturbing thought: What if someone finds out?
She was new to the Vineyard. For all she knew, Rex had done this sort of thing many, many times.
He might even have a reputation for it. Not to mention that his early years had been tough, having spent more than a night or two in the jail in Edgartown, thanks to a few teenage antics.
On their first date and only real date, he’d started to explain another “situation” to her, but there hadn’t been time for him to share the details because they’d rushed off to get Rafe.
Still, why had she never asked him about it?
Because, she reasoned, one picnic on one afternoon did not mean you were dating the guy or ever would. Or should.
As for now, if the news escaped that she’d slept with him, she might become a laughingstock washashore, with little chance of holding her head high, let alone of starting a business she had no business starting in the first place.
“Hello?” he quietly asked from beside her.
Reaching to the floor from the side of the bed, she retrieved a comforter that one of them had kicked off. She quickly pulled it up and managed to cloak her body with it. Then she looked at him.
“You’re wonderful, Rex,” she said, feigning a smile.
“But believe it or not, this is highly irregular for me.” Highly irregular?
Had she actually said such a snooty thing?
She hauled herself up, collected her clothes, and headed for a doorway that looked like it led to the bathroom.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, her back toward him now as she stepped into what, indeed, was a bathroom.
And that was the end of that.
It wasn’t until Maddie was outside in the fresh air, pulling her phone from her purse and heading toward the parking lot, that she realized Rex hadn’t said a word, hadn’t tried to convince her to stay, hadn’t apologized if he’d upset her.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on that now.
Three new voicemails were waiting, all from Grandma.
“Where in blazes are you, Madelyn?” the woman snarled in all of them. “Are you lost?”
Fast-walking toward her car, Maddie quickly returned the calls, assuring her grandmother that all was well, that she’d simply forgotten to turn her phone on after waking up late and hurrying to get Rafe to Vineyard Haven.
For good measure, she added that she’d stopped for coffee and to do a little shopping.
After the part about Rafe, the rest were lies; she hadn’t even had the coffee Rex had offered.
Then she said she wanted to make one more stop, which she did not. What Maddie wanted was more time to process what she had done before facing the woman who she’d taken into her charge. Which perhaps should have been vice versa.
It wasn’t until Maddie was halfway back to the cabin that she remembered she hadn’t told Rex about Arnie’s Bait twice Grandma asked why she wasn’t listening. Then she wanted to know what she thought of her idea about Orson.
“Whatever you want, Grandma,” Maddie replied.
The name “Orson” sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
It wasn’t until they were done eating and heading toward the storage unit that she remembered Orson was the name of Grandma’s 1950 F-1 Ford pickup truck that had been sitting idle in the storage unit for God only knew how long.
“Ta-da!” Grandma called out when the garage-like door rolled up, revealing the truck and the nests of cartons stacked in its bed. Grandma must have wanted to rescue her stash of baskets to help her teach Rafe how to make them.
But Grandma neither mentioned the baskets nor walked to the cartons in the back of the pickup. Instead, she squeezed around the side and climbed in on the driver’s side. Maddie opened the passenger door.
“Are you planning to drive us somewhere?” she asked.
Grandma laughed. At least she was laughing and no longer scowling.
“I turned my license in when I turned eighty, and I’m too old to be interested in breaking the law.” Then she added that Joe sometimes brought her there so she could sit behind Orson’s wheel and remember the good times they’d had. Which might have been her real reason for wanting to be there now.
“What do you think?” Grandma asked. “Will he like him?”
Again, Maddie didn’t know what the woman meant. She closed her eyes, wishing they could leave so she could go back to the cabin, sequester herself in the guest room, and resume wallowing until she was done once and for all.
Then her text alert sounded. Stepping out of Orson, away from Grandma, she dug her phone from her purse. Part of her wished it was from Rex.
HI. I MADE IT TO AMHERST IN ONE PIECE.
It was, of course, from Rafe. Her wonderful son.
She tried not to ungratefully feel disappointed, and responded with a hugging emoji.
“Madelyn!” Grandma called. “Put down the phone and answer me!”
“Sorry. What did you want?”
Grandma let out a loud sigh. “I want to know if you think Rafe would like to have Orson. A combination present for Christmas and his college graduation. Joe can get the engine spruced up and a new set of tires. Maybe even a fresh coat of paint. And new seat covers. What d’ya think?
” She patted the dashboard as if she were expecting Orson, not Maddie, to reply.
Maddie’s anxiety started to slide away. Thinking about Rafe’s happiness had a way of doing that.
“I think your great-grandson would be honored to take custody of Orson,” she heard herself say and knew it was true.
“Took you long enough to decide,” Grandma sputtered.
Climbing onto the passenger seat, Maddie glanced around the interior that was closer in age to Grandma Nancy than to Maddie. “It’s a wonderful idea, Grandma. Really. He’ll never expect it. And sometimes the best gifts are the ones we don’t expect.”
Right then, she wondered if Rex was one of those gifts. And, if so, how—or when—she would ever know.