Page 34 of Echoes of You

She had a point there. That pill had knocked her clean out last night.

“You eat yet?” I asked.

Maddie shook her head. “I was just trying to decide what to make.”

“Good, because you’re coming with me.”

She arched a brow. “Am I now?”

I chuckled. “Family dinner.”

Maddie stiffened, and concern lit through me. She had always loved family dinners. She’d eaten at my house more often than hers.

“I don’t know. It’s been a long day.”

I studied her carefully. “Did the interview not go well?” I hadn’t heard from Maddie all day, and I didn’t want to look too closely at how much that had pissed me off. But now I was worried that it was because she’d been licking her wounds. Alone.

“No. Sue gave the job to me. I start tomorrow.”

None of this added up. “You don’t sound too happy about it.”

“I am. Like I said, just tired. It’s been a long couple of weeks.”

That was the understatement of the century. I moved into Maddie’s space, wrapping her in a hug. “Then let my mom fuss over you for a little bit. Eat a dinner you don’t have to cook. And we’ll ditch out early and come back here. Mom has sent me no less than half a dozen texts saying she’s dying to see you.”

Maddie melted against me. “You’re coming back here after?”

“Slept better last night than I have in years.” And if Maddie thought I would leave her alone when she was going through so much, she had another thing coming.

“I did, too,” she whispered.

I rubbed a hand up and down her back, the ridges in her spine playing against my fingers. “Good. Now, you coming to dinner?”

“Okay. Can we stop at the florist so I can at least bring flowers?”

I gave Maddie one last squeeze before releasing her. “We’d better get going then. She closes in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll just grab my purse.”

I grinned. This was what I needed—Maddie, me, a family dinner. Life getting back to normal, the way it always should’ve been. But the ache in my chest told me it wasn’t enough. That when it came to Maddie, I’d always want more.

11

MADDIE

Nash guidedhis SUV down mountain roads, a path he knew like the back of his hand. Yet he was laser-focused on the pavement in front of us. He seemed to lose himself in that focus, yet it was as if he were a million miles away at the same time.

“Where’s that head of yours?”

Nash jerked as if he’d forgotten I was in the vehicle with him. “I don’t even know, just zoning out, I guess.”

“Now, who’s the bad liar?” I asked.

He sent me a sheepish smile. “I’m not a bad liar. You just see everything.”

“Talk to me.” It was a gentle plea but one I desperately needed him to answer. I’d laid myself bare before him over the past two days, and it left me feeling a little too vulnerable that he wouldn’t do the same. We’d always talked everything through with each other, and it put little cracks in my heart to think that was no longer the case.

Growing up, the only thing I’d ever hidden from him was my home life—well, that and the fact that I loved him with every piece of my soul. But since I’d left Cedar Ridge, it felt like all we had between us were secrets. I hated that feeling.

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