Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Being the bearer of bad news left Maude unhappy, but as she drove home, she knew it had to be done. Frank and Essie deserved to know what was going on. Those poor people. They were so nice.
She took the road to her house on autopilot, her thoughts elsewhere.
Sophie seemed like a spoiled rich kid who had no clue about the real world.
Maude had worked since she was fifteen. Her brother had, too.
She tried not to take anything for granted and prided herself on knowing the value of saving.
Her whole move to the Colony had been part of her financial plan. And would be a part of her retirement. She figured she’d work another ten years and if business stayed stable and she could keep putting money away like she had been, she’d be all right.
That made her think about her parents and how blessed she was to have them and what a great life they’d given her and her brother.
She’d text them and tell them that once she was settled.
She’d text her brother, too. She liked to remind him she existed.
Sometimes he went quiet and with Robbie, that wasn’t always a good thing.
She parked her golf cart and grabbed her stuff. Essie had sent her home with two big pieces of flan in a plastic container. Maude was looking forward to that.
She went inside. “Pixel, I’m home.”
She kicked off her flipflops and stuck the flan in the fridge, then sat in her recliner with her laptop and finished the email to Essie, as she’d promised to do.
As she hit Send, her stomach grumbled. And not just for flan. She needed to eat something. Her phone went off before she could get out of her recliner. Probably Essie texting to say thanks.
Except it wasn’t Essie. It was Ollie. She smiled as she read his text.
You want to meet me for lunch? My treat, but still the hospital cafeteria. How’s that for romantic?
Not sure how I can resist an offer like that. What time?
Whenever you get here, text me and I’ll meet you there.
See you in a few minutes, then. Still smiling, Maude changed into skinny jeans, which might have been out of style, but she didn’t care, and a vintage Depeche Mode T-shirt. Would Ollie remember the shirt? She wasn’t sure. She grabbed a light cardigan, too, because that hospital was always freezing.
She texted Ollie from the parking lot. Just got here. Headed in.
He was standing outside the entrance to the cafeteria when she got there, his big smile almost like a beacon. “Hey, thanks for coming on such short notice.”
“One of the perks of working from home.”
“Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Good, because today is baked ziti day and it’s actually pretty good. Not to mention, they do a very respectable garlic bread.”
“Good to know.” She hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d seen him, but there was no chance of it going away now. When they’d dated in high school, one of their favorite places to go was Little Italy, a restaurant at the mall. Baked ziti had been his choice then, too.
They went in and grabbed trays. He motioned for her to go ahead of him. They both got exactly the same thing: baked ziti, side salad, and a slice of garlic bread.
And just like when they’d been in high school, after they sat down, she gave him her piece.
“Don’t you want that?”
She shook her head. “You like it more than I do.”
He smiled. “This is nice.”
“It is. Even if it is a hospital cafeteria.”
He laughed. “Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. I know you’re working. How’s your day going?”
“All right.” He took a bite of the bread she’d given him. “I’m off tomorrow. You want to go to that art festival in town? It’s today and tomorrow. Might be nice to walk around.”
She nodded. “I’d like that.” She hesitated to ask the next question, but she really wanted to know. “Heard anything from your attorney?”
He’d just taken a big bite of ziti. He nodded and held a finger up until he swallowed. “He’s working on it, and he sounds optimistic, but nothing concrete yet. I’m sure he doesn’t want to get my hopes up, you know?”
“Right.” She gestured at the ziti with her fork. “This really isn’t bad.”
“Told ya. How’s your day going?”
She tipped her head back and forth. “Good and less than good.”
“What’s the less than good?”
“Gave a friend some not great news about her stepdaughter. It’s a whole thing.
The stepdaughter is suing her father and stepmother, mostly, I think, because the father has a lot of money.
But also because she’s being motivated by her boyfriend, who knows that the father has a lot of money.
They’re both wannabe influencers and trying to gain clout. ”
“Yikes, that’s not good. Is the stepmom one of the women from your book club?”
“Yep. They’re such nice women. Essie, the stepmom, she rented a cabana at the pool yesterday and I really just wanted to do something to say thanks for including me.
As you can imagine, she was upset by the news I had to share with her, which was all about the boyfriend, whom she knew next to nothing about. ”
“Yeah, I can see how that would be upsetting.” He forked up more ziti, conspicuously ignoring his salad. “So what’s the good news?”
Maude leaned forward, wiggling her brows. “You’re never going to believe this, but I’m building a website for Blaise Monroe.”
“Cool! Oh, hey, I think I met her. Sort of. Her dog tripped me.” He laughed and wiped a little red sauce off the corner of his mouth. “My house is near hers. How did you meet her?”
“She’s in my book club,” Maude said with a slight shimmy of her shoulders, like it was no big thing that she was now friends with a supermodel.
“That is one seriously impressive book club. I’ve already met Cece and I know she’s in it. Who else?”
“So Essie, who I mentioned. She’s a retired middle school principal and her husband, Frank, he owns some big paper company. And a boat, apparently. And then there’s Paige Wheeler, who is a big influencer on TikTok.”
Ollie’s brows went up. “She’s a TikTok influencer? How old is she?”
“Why?” Maude chuckled. “You think only hot young things can be social media influencers?”
“No, no, just curious. It is a little outside of the norm, though, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “Actually, I wouldn’t know. I don’t have the time to be on social media.”
“Paige does pretty well for herself.”
“That’s cool. But doing the website for Blaise is even cooler.”
“Thanks.”
He was staring at her. Well, not exactly at her. More like…at her chest. She was about to say something when he pointed.
“Is that—that can’t be the same shirt you got at the concert.”
She grinned. He’d remembered. “It is. It’s a cherished piece of my wardrobe.”
“Wow.” He was smiling now, too. Still at her T-shirt, but she understood. “That’s such a blast from the past.” His gaze lifted to meet hers. “That was some night, huh?”
She nodded. “It was.” In many ways, it was the night she’d fallen in love with him.
Now, he was staring into her eyes. He set his fork down and took a deep breath. “I am so glad you’re back in my life.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
“Do you ever…do you ever think about what might have happened if you hadn’t moved?”
Now it was her turn to be honest. “For a long time, it was all I thought about.”
“Why didn’t you get married?”
That question made her breath catch in her throat. Telling him the truth meant revealing a lot about herself. She shrugged and just said, “The right man never came along, I guess.” She lifted her chin. “Did you have doubts about marrying Emily?”
His mouth opened, then closed. He took a drink.
“Yeah, I did. But…” He stopped looking at Maude, fixing his gaze on a spot on the table between them.
“I figured no one was ever going to measure up to you. I thought that I’d created this idealized image of the right woman.
That there was no way you were everything I remembered you being.
That I should just face reality and settle. ”
She could feel her heart beating in her chest as though it had just started. She wanted to laugh and cry and kiss him.
He met her eyes again. “You kind of ruined me for other women, Maudie.”
If she started crying, she was going to make a huge scene. She would not do that to him, not where he worked. Not where everyone knew who he was. He’d already warned her about the gossip factory that existed at this hospital.
So she just nodded. “You kind of ruined me for other men.”
He reached across the table. She met him halfway. His fingers curled around hers. “Do you think we can get it right this time?”
She held onto him. “I think we’d be morons not to at least try.”