3
MADDIE
I steppedout of Dockside into the sunshine. The air still had a hint of chill, but that was spring in the mountains. We wouldn’t get truly hot days until July.
Inhaling deeply, I let the familiar pine-and-lake-water scent soothe away the worst of my frustrations. None of the places I’d visited this afternoon had been hiring. Not Dockside or Wildfire. Not any of the art galleries or gift shops. Everyone had loaded up on staff for tourist season weeks ago.
Anxiety pricked my skin as I mentally calculated how long my savings would last. Not long. I’d always been responsible with money. Seeing my parents blow through theirs the second they got it had made me that way. I’d squirreled away cash from the moment I’d first gotten an after-school job. That had continued after I’d gotten my full-time job managing Dockside and keeping their books, along with my side gig, doing dog training in my off time.
But that money had dwindled after moving to Atlanta. I’d wanted to get a job, but Adam had wanted me free to travel with him for work. His nonprofit meant that he was constantly hopping on planes to attend fundraisers all over the country.
When I tried to keep up my hobby of dog training when we were home, he’d found a million reasons why it was a bad idea. We might have to leave last minute for some reason or another. He wanted me to focus on things that would help build our future. Dogs smelled bad.
I huffed. Nash was right. Total douchebag.
“Maddie!”
My head lifted at the sound of the familiar voice calling from across the street. A smile curved my mouth as I took in Wren. Then, looking both ways, I jogged across the pavement.
Wren pulled me into a tight hug. Thankfully, her hold was around my shoulders and not my waist. “I am so happy you’re back.”
“Me, too.” I gave her one more squeeze and released her. “How are you?”
She grinned. “Really good. Still working dispatch at the police station. Holt and I are going to build a house on my property by the lake.”
My brows just about hit my hairline. “Holt?”
When I left Cedar Ridge, Nash’s brother had been gone for almost seven years, leaving Wren’s broken heart in his wake. And Nash hadn’t brought him up once in the hours he’d spent helping me clean. But he’d also kept the conversation decidedly light.
She gave me a sheepish smile, but there was pure joy beneath it. “He came back. Did everything he could to make things right.”
Emotion clogged my throat. I’d seen Wren in the aftermath of her shooting and Holt’s departure. She’d been a wreck, and that was putting it kindly. The fact that she’d not only put her life back together but had also found this kind of happiness? It gave me hope.
“I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice going hoarse. “What about you?”
My smile dimmed. People had asked no less than a dozen times if my fiancé had moved back to Cedar Ridge with me. I’d opted for the simple “it didn’t work out” response and just hoped the gossip would spread within forty-eight hours. I’d have to put up with the shoulder pats and sympathy for another week or so. And then I’d be able to get back to normal.
But Wren wasn’t a well-meaning stranger. She’d been a friend—a close one. My fingers curled into my palms as I searched for the right words. Ones that wouldn’t be pretty lies but also didn’t entirely expose the truth.
“Adam wasn’t the good guy I thought he was.”
He’d played the role well at first. His lopsided smile and how passionate he seemed to be about his work providing clean drinking water to communities all over the globe had pulled me in. When we met, he’d hooked me with how he’d been all-in from the moment he came into Dockside during a visit to Cedar Ridge. I could still hear the self-deprecating laugh as he told me about nearly breaking his neck on a local hike. “Guess I’m not cut out for the great outdoors.”
Adam had returned to the Grill every day of his trip, finally asking me out on the second to last one. I’d found it charming that he’d seemed almost nervous, not seeing that it was all part of the façade. And after Adam had returned home, he’d reeled me in with long emails painting a picture of the future I could be a part of and establishing his doting attentiveness no matter how busy he was.
His shine blinded me so much that I hadn’t seen the darkness lurking beneath. How his work only fed his narcissism. How he couldn’t tolerate anyone disagreeing with him even over something as simple as what toppings to get on a pizza. I hadn’t seen how he slowly and methodically cut me off from every person in my life.
Wren squeezed my arm. “I’m sorry, Maddie.”
I gave my head a little shake, trying to clear away the worst of the memories. “It’s okay. I’m home now. And I learned from the experience.”
Learned a lesson I should’ve mastered the first time someone had taken out their rage on me.
“There’s no place like home when you’re feeling a little raw.”
“You’re right. But I might not have thought the whole thing through well enough. I just packed my car and left.”
