Bring on the Rain (19 page)

He whispered softly, “See how I am
shaking? I used to get this way, remember?” He did, he used to get
so hungry for her, so turned on, that it was a fevered fire in his
body.

Her voice clogged with tears and she
covered her face with her hands. “Mitch, there's so much, so many
things...” Madeline started crying again.

Ah, dammit, he couldn‘t stand seeing
her like this. “I’m going,” he said. “I…thank you, Madeline, for
forgiving me.”

Mitch headed out of the room, before he
started begging.

~*~

Madeline didn’t look up until his
footsteps left the room. She got out of bed, locked the front door,
pushing aside the curtain and watching him back out and drive
away.

Lowering her head, Madeline rested it
against to cool glass, twisting her fingers into the fabric of the
curtain. She would return to her bed and breathe in his scent, and
ache all night for the feel of him.

Already the house seemed depressing
again. The echoes of his pain-filled whispers, mingled with the
want he had expressed just moments before.

Oh yes, she did remember that too. She
had not forgotten as much as she let on. She just tried to keep it
all in perspective now, knowing she couldn’t confuse the past with
the present.

Ghosts, new ones, to join the
old.

Madeline released the fabric and
watched it settle into place. Brittle and weak, she made her way
back to the bed. She stood only a moment before lying down on her
stomach, spreading her arms out, little by little, to stroke the
places he had lain.

Breathing in deeply with closed eyes,
she made a sound that exposed her need and intense yearning. It was
a long time before she slept.

Chapter 11

“
What’s wrong with you
today?” Sunny sat on the edge of the desk glowering at
her.

“
Nothing.” Madeline shook
her head.

He crossed his arms. “Do you have any
idea how many orders you’ve gotten wrong?”

Her lips parted in bewilderment. “I
have?”

He held up ten fingers.

She winced. “I’m sorry. It’s personal
stuff.”

“
Madeline, you don't screw
up. Everyone else does, not you. I need you. I’m not being
insensitive here. I depend on you.”

“
I know. I’m really sorry,
Sunny.”

“
Joe quit today.”

“
What?” She sat up in the
chair frowning.

“
He said you guys made him
feel like an outsider.”

Madeline blinked. “Sunny, I swear
I—”

“
Wait a minute.” He held up
his hand. “He filed a complaint last week, said you guys were
talking about him, whispering and laughing.”

She knew her mouth was open. “I had no
idea we made him feel like that. We joke around, but I swear, we
never said anything about him.”

The skin tightened on Sunny’s
cheekbones. “I plan on giving you tomorrow evening off for Dovie
Coburn’s funeral. Your daughter called and asked.”

“
Brook did? But
I—“

He looked exasperated. “Go. I’m sending
over food. My point in this talk is that I have agreed to hire
someone you need to train. If he can pick it up fast enough, we‘ll
have more help soon. I need you alert, not walking round like a
zombie.”

“
Who?”

“
A guy named Nick
Peyton.”

As tired and stressed as she was,
Madeline laughed. “Do you know who he is?”

He shrugged. “Application says
artist.”

“
He was a
stockbroker.”

“
No shit?”

“
Yeah, and he’s been…”
Madeline stopped. It wasn’t fair. The guy deserved a chance to be
hired or fired on his own merit. His personal problems were his own
business. “He’s the brother of a friend of mine.”

He considered her. “Do you know
him?”

“
Not personally,
no.”

“
I hope he works out. I have
an ad out for two more people. Mother is right. But you’re my best.
I do work you too hard.” He sighed. “However, I know half the town
is gone to the wake this evening. I’ve ordered flowers from
us.

Dovie Coburn’s funeral is going to be a
big to-do. She owned Copper Creek, not to mention a business or two
in the next three counties. She was rich in that old money way. I’m
letting you off at noon tomorrow, you have the whole day. But I
need you back here fresh and doing your job.”

Madeline glanced down at her hands.
Today she had a headache from crying. Her sinuses hurt, and her
body felt like a ton of bricks had been thrown at it, and landed.
She still had a dozen things to iron out, big decisions to make
aside from the whole deal with Mitch. Her hormones were in shock
and her cycle had stopped two days early. Doubtless, it would start
back with some sleep.

Madeline sounded too pathetic when she
defended, “I’ll try. But I’m only human, Sunny.”

She had only just started feeling the
pressure and it seemed as if everyone was getting pissed at her for
being human instead of super-woman.

“
Hell. If it is serious,
I’ll give you a leave of absence, you know that. I am not hard to
get along with. But train these new people first for me,
Please.”

With a tired half grin, Madeline
nodded, and then shaking her head at his own grin, she said. “I
think this is the first time you’ve ever called me in
here.”

“
First I’ve had to. And no,
I hate playing the heavy.” He stood, and going back to his old
un-boss self, he winked. “Maybe it will cause talk? Why don't you
muss your clothes and hair before you leave?”

Madeline snickered. “Oh no, I’m not
throwing them off the scent, we’re going to find out who you’re
seeing eventually.”

“
You don't know them,” he
countered smugly, arrogantly.

“
Oh, well, that
sucks.”

Sunny chuckled deeply and got a slim
cigar out of a box on his desk. “Get out of here, Logan, before I
fire you.”

That was a ridiculous threat. “All
right. Let me know who you hire though, will you?”

“
Yep.” He opened the door
for her, and then playfully ruffled her hair, causing it to stand
out, and on end, because his hand was big and nearly covered the
top of her scalp.

She stepped out still smoothing
it.

Rocky and Rafael had been trying to
eavesdrop, they were standing there watching, shocked when Sunny
barked her name. Now they gasped, looked at each other, and stared
at her.

“
Oh, No it’s—I— we weren’t—"
She eyed their smiles, and then clamped her lips shut. With a
stupid grin she walked by them murmuring. “God, he’s so-ooo good.
Five minutes was like—” Madeline sighed dramatically. Then went
back to work. There, let them chew on that.

Rafael caught her as she left work
later. In the parking lot, he looked at her closely, under the
security lights.

“
I knew it!” He crowed,
laughing, “I told Rocky you were pulling our leg.” He reached out
and tilted her chin, his dark eyes meeting mine. “You still ain’t
got no nookie.”

“
Oh, go away.” Madeline
slapped his hand away chuckling. She had her car door open and was
getting in when she added, “Y'all asked for it. Listening at the
door. I was trying to tell the truth. I still don’t know who the
hell Sunny is seeing.”

When Madeline closed the door, he came
over, put his hands on the top of it, and leaned in saying, “You
weren’t yourself today. What’s wrong?”

Madeline sat there considering,
fingertips on the wheel, looking into his dark eyes. “It’s
complicated.”

“
More than Brook and the
cowboy?”

“
Yeah. Way more.” Madeline
ignored the way he described Mitch, she knew he meant it in a
dramatic way.

He chewed thoughtfully on his lip, not
looking away from her. “You know what turns me on about
you?”

She flushed and groaned. Oh shit, here
it comes…

“
You’ve always been two
people. Warm, funny, joking, and friendly. But this one, the hurt
and guarded one, she has secrets.”

“
Everyone does. You are
worse than I am.”

He nodded, not denying it. “But we’re
talking about you. I like both of you.”

Madeline laughed, she couldn’t help it.
“You’re an unnatural man.”

He smiled, slowly. “Yes. You’re a woman
who hides a lot. There’s a whole other person inside Madeline. She
came out today.”

“
Meaning I’d screwed up a
lot and had my head up my ass too many times. This conversation
freaks me out.”

“
It doesn’t,” he countered
dryly. “Seriously, we all become another person to be our shield,
to hide things. It’s probably what keeps us sane. However, I think
you’re a passionate woman hiding behind another one. Using age,
Brook, anything else, to keep your real self in check.”

“
I think.” She looked away
then back, “I think you see too much for a man your
age.”

He sighed and slowly nodded. “Yeah,
makes it hard to follow through trying to seduce you.”

Madeline laughed softly. “Jeeze, I’m
flattered. But I…I can’t have sex because I think it’s going to be
hawt.”

He grinned. “There you go. See, you
won’t even tell me to screw off.” He teased, gently. “Did I get you
out of your funk?”

“
Yes. Thank you.” Madeline
reached over and touched his face. Wondering at the sides to him,
too. He might be young, but there was something unique about him,
enigmatic.

“
I’ll kick my own ass
later,” he muttered and leaned in and kissed her loud, quickly on
the cheek. “That’s ‘because I can’t ever do it again.” He pulled
back, waved, and walked toward his sports car. “It will destroy my
player image.”

Madeline watched him, mentally shaking
her head. She wished she could be like her friend Ruby and settle.
But, she didn’t think for a moment Rafael would leave a woman
wanting. His smudginess had merit. He was sensual to his
fingertips.

Rafe was a flirt. He meant half of what
he said seriously. He was just the kind of guy women liked and he
liked women, all ages, sizes and for all sorts of
reasons.

Madeline suspected he kept much of
himself hidden, and sometimes she wondered if Sunny had hired him
on vacation or if they had met in Sunny’s other profession as a
lawyer? There was a mystery there and she supposed only he and
Sunny knew the truth.

Madeline drove home though thinking of
the funeral, wishing she could bow out. She couldn’t. Brook was
dating Dovie’s grandson. Brook would expect her to go. Brook
wouldn’t understand.

On the one hand, she’d said Mitch meant
nothing to her, on the other, she was still hating him—that was the
conclusion Brook would come to if she didn’t go. Her mom was still
hung up about the past, still prejudiced against the Coburn's.
Madeline could just hear it now.

She had to go. She wouldn’t have if
Dovie’d not summoned her though, Madeline admitted that much. Now
she knew the truth. Both Mitch and she knew it. She couldn’t use
excuses to avoid him.

That did not mean she didn’t wish for
some answers to drop out the sky. She still had secrets that
prevented her from letting Mitch in…

~*~

Madeline got home and checked on Brook.
She lay awhile on the bed, wondering that the truth could both hurt
and heal? It erased the misunderstanding, the lies, but not the
consequences. She had made a decision, the only one she could have
at the time. Like words and lies, it would affect people in a way
that could be detrimental: her daughter, Mitch, Jason,
Max

Madeline stared in the darkness and
tried to roll the scenes like a movie in her head. It was useless,
the scenarios always made her ill. How could she open something
that would change people lives drastically? How could she not? What
was right? Now, after all this time. What was the right thing to
do?

She alone would bear the guilt and,
would have to take the backlash.

Did it ever get any easier, this life?
Flaming no! Not hers anyway. Madeline closed her eyes, breathing
deeply, wondering if she could handle hate and hostility. Could she
handle everything Mitch was trying to convince her he felt? Was it
love? Would it be afterwards?

There was no way to make someone
understand desperation. She knew that now. It was only when she’d
felt it herself...terror and anguish and the rest that she had come
close to understanding the world her mother had lived in.
Nevertheless, she knew that close wouldn’t be good enough. It could
bring her worst fears crashing down upon her. She could lose
everything.