Chapter Fifteen

When she returned to Flower Mound three days later, the first place Maddie went was to Kathy’s house.

“How was the cabin? Relaxing, right?”

“Yes. And no,” Maddie answered cryptically.

At the first sign of Kathy’s brow furrowing in confusion, Maddie sighed and said, “Got coffee? There’s a lot to share.”

“Sure thing. Come on,” Kathy said and led her into the kitchen.

Mugs filled, they sat at Kathy’s kitchen table.

“Now,” Kathy began once she’d passed the sugar, “spill it. What happened down there?”

“I ran into someone I haven’t seen in years, Kathy. It was… surreal.”

“In a good way or a bad way?”

A twinkle appeared in Maddie’s eye.

“Well, for starters, Mason Gentries is even more of a hottie than I remembered. He’s a lot taller now, too. Six foot, at least.”

“Let me guess. He’s dreamy,” Kathy teased.

“Definitely. And the spark between us was instant. I’ve never wanted a man so much in my life.”

“I’m not hearing a downside here, Maddie.”

“Well…” she paused, remembering as she sipped her coffee. “We started to fool around, and then he stopped.”

“Oh,” Kathy said. “That’s not what I expected you to say, to be honest. What happened?”

“He said he doesn’t do one-night stands. If we get together, he wants more than just a night. He wants a relationship with me, Kathy.”

Kathy’s brows vaulted skyward.

“And you said?”

“I’m almost embarrassed to say it out loud, but honestly, my first thought was ‘so soon? What will people think?’ I know how that sounds, but it was the first thing that popped into my head.”

“Honey,” Kathy chided gently, “you’ve got to stop living for others. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. You need to do what makes you happy for once.”

“I know,” Maddie sighed again. “And I’ve had a thing for him since fourth grade. Like, a serious thing. An ‘I wrote Maddie Gentries over and over again in spiral notebooks all through high school’ level of thing.”

“Okay, so, go for it. What’s stopping you?”

“I know he wants to be with me, but he said he doesn’t want to add to the trauma I’m going through. And I don’t want to hurt him by getting involved when my entire life is up in the air right now. I mean, I’m not even sure where I’m going to live, much less anything else. If I don’t even have a home figured out, it’s not fair to expect him to just be dragged along with me while I get my life squared away. You know?”

She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands.

“And there’s more. He’s widowed, Kathy. Lost his wife and daughter in an accident six years ago. He’s already been through his own version of hell – and I don’t want to add to his trauma, either. As much as I want to see where this could lead, I really need to wait and get my own situation figured out. Diving in headfirst right now is not fair to him – or to me.”

“I see,” Kathy mused. “And based on everything you just told me, I agree with that, one hundred percent. So where did you two leave things?”

“He left my cabin that night, and sometime the next morning he left completely. No goodbye. I found this in the bottom of the sack he left on my car,” Maddie announced as she retrieved the folded paper she’d tucked into her wallet and handed it to her best friend.

“Sack? On your car?”

Maddie relayed to Kathy the part about falling in the water and taking her wet clothes to dry them in front of the fireplace in Mason’s cabin.

“And when he brought my clothes back, this was in the sack, at the bottom,” she finished.

Kathy grinned.

“What a great ‘meet-cute’!”

“Meet-what?”

“A ‘meet-cute’,” Kathy repeated. “It’s a phrase that screenwriters use to refer to the scene in a movie where the guy and gal first meet.”

“Oh,” Maddie said, turning a little pink.

She sipped her coffee as Kathy glanced over the business card and note.

“This sure does sound like he’s willing to wait for you and give you the space you need, Mad,” Kathy told her once she’d read it.

“Yeah,” Maddie said, eyes beginning to brim. “And I know I need to work through my stuff first before I reach out to him. But I’ll tell you something, Kathy. It really hurt that he just left the way he did, without a word to me in person.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say he was trying to spare both of you,” Kathy said. “Look at it from his point of view for a moment. There’s this amazing woman that he knew long ago that’s come back into his life, and he knows he feels ready to explore that, but he knows you’re not. He probably figured it would be easier on you both if he just left you the note, and let you reach out to him when you’re ready.”

She reached over and patted Maddie’s shoulder.

“So, do that,” she prodded gently. “You control your own destiny now, and you have a chance to make a whole new start, Maddie. Find your center again, build your world, and when you’re ready, then let him in.”

“You know what? You’re right,” Maddie said, a spark coming back into her eyes. “And I’m going to start now. Kathy, help me get rid of the ridiculously pretentious house that I hate.”

“I can have it listed and put a sign in the yard by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Great! Speaking of that house,” Maddie continued, “I wonder if it’s safe to go back yet. What are the chances the media have decided to leave?”

“I’d say chances are good, since there was a major scandal that broke two days ago with an extremely well-known evangelist who’s based down in Waco. They’ve probably all gone chasing that story.”

“Well, then,” Maddie decided, “I’m going to drive home and check it out.”

As she rose and slung her purse strap over her shoulder, she looked at her best friend and said, “One more thing. I’m going to need you to find me some land, Kathy. Twenty or so acres should do it. And I’d like to stay in the area, so, it needs to be somewhere here in North Texas.”

“You going to build your animal shelter?”

“I am.”