Grave Misgivings (7 page)

“I’m not joking,” Maddie said. “I jinxed us. I’m not the princess, but there are my evil stepsisters. Someone had better call for my fairy godmother.”

“Hey, we were starting to think you guys weren’t going to come down.” Aaron moved away from Marla and Cassidy and crossed the room. “Do you guys want a drink? Dinner won’t be ready for at least a half hour.”

“Um … .” Nick glanced down at Maddie, unsure.

“A drink sounds great,” Maddie said, forcing a smile and squaring her shoulders.

“Are you sure?” Nick asked. “We can go upstairs and pack if you want.”

“Why would you pack?” Aaron asked. “Is something wrong?”

Nick shifted his gaze to Marla and Cassidy momentarily, and then back to Aaron. “I wasn’t aware that Marla Proctor was invited,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Her name was never brought up in all the conversations we had.”

“I didn’t invite her,” Aaron said. “Apparently she and Max hooked up last night. He invited her.”

“Max invited her to your house?” Nick asked dubiously.

“Max practically lived here with me when he was a kid,” Aaron said. “It’s kind of his home, too. I don’t understand why this is a problem.”

“It’s not,” Maddie said.

“No, it is,” Nick countered. “We’ve had a few … problems … with Marla over the past two months. She’s been less than welcoming to Maddie.”

“She’s a bitch,” Aaron said, not missing a beat. “She’s always been that way. Can’t you just ignore her?”

“It’s not just her,” Nick said. “I … um … .”

“Okay, you’re going to have to spit it out,” Aaron said. “I’m not a mindreader.”

“You don’t need to be,” Christy said, slipping between him and Maddie and handing the willowy blonde a glass of wine. “Drink up, Maddie. I think you’re going to need something to take the edge off.”

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” Aaron asked.

“Well, let’s see,” Christy said. “How can I explain this in a way you’ll understand?”

“Try English.”

“When Maddie came back to town, Nick was involved with someone else,” Christy said.

“Of course he was. He had a six-month cycle,” Aaron said. “What? My mom keeps me up on all the gossip. Since she’s only here six months out of every year, I have no idea how she keeps up on everything twelve months out of the year, but she does.

“Trust me. I know about Nick’s cycle,” he said. “I was actually pretty impressed with it. I tried to implement it into my own dating life, but I found I was the one who kept getting dumped. I’m starting to think it’s me.”

Maddie pursed her lips to keep from laughing. Aaron was a lot wittier than she remembered.

“Not everything is about you,” Christy said, patting his arm. “Anyway, Nick was just getting ready to end his cycle when Maddie breezed back into town. Since everyone was waiting for him and Maddie to throw down and get busy in the middle of town, Nick decided not to break up with his girlfriend right away.”

“Why?”

“Because he didn’t want everyone in town assuming it was because of Maddie,” Christy said.

“When did Blackstone Bay turn into a soap opera?” Aaron asked.

“I’m pretty sure it was 1985,” Christy replied, not missing a beat. “Anyway, Nick and Maddie talked over their issues, and Nick realized he had to be with her or he was going to explode, but he still had that pesky girlfriend to deal with.”

“You never could just tell a story in a hundred words or less,” Aaron grumbled.

Christy ignored him. “The girlfriend figured out Nick was going to break up with her and proceeded to hide from him to try and put it off,” she said. “Nick finally found her and dropped the hammer, and then he and Maddie got together the next day.”

“So? That sounds like a happy ending to me,” Aaron said, nonplussed.

“The ex-girlfriend in question is the woman Marla brought as her plus-one this weekend,” Christy said.

“Oh,” Aaron said, casting a look at Cassidy over his shoulder. The auburn-haired woman was staring at the small group with a dark look on her peaches-and-cream face. “Why couldn’t you just say that from the beginning?”

“You would have missed a lot without the dramatic retelling,” Christy said. “I’m sure you can understand that Maddie and Nick aren’t comfortable around Cassidy and Marla. Marla has been going out of her way to stir the pot because she’s always had issues with Maddie.”

“It’s called jealousy,” Aaron said. “She’s also always had a crush on Nick. I’ll just bet she didn’t tell Cassidy that little tidbit. How did my mother miss all of this when she was giving me the gossip last week?”

“I don’t know,” Christy said. “It was the talk of the town.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Aaron looked back at Marla and Cassidy again. “I’ll handle this.”

“Wait,” Maddie said, grabbing his arm to still him. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kick them out.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Why not?” Nick asked, making a face.

“That’s just going to let them think they got to us,” Maddie said. “I’m tired of having to change the way we act when they’re around. Maybe we should make them adjust to us for a change.”

“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Nick asked.

“Of course she is,” Aaron said. “Look at her. She looks like a Victoria’s Secret model. Why would she care what the bitter twosome think?”

“She’s sensitive,” Nick said.

“Nicky,” Maddie warned.

“What?”

“Stop trying to protect her,” Christy answered for Maddie. “She’ll be fine. I’m here. You’re here. If Marla gets out of hand there’s a river right out the back door for me to drown her in.”

“I’m still not sure,” Nick said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought we were going to get a chance to relax this weekend. Marla and Cassidy are anything but relaxing.”

“Hey, man, if this Cassidy chick can’t understand that you’ve been in love with Maddie since you were kids, that’s on her,” Aaron said. “Everyone in town knew about your dating schedule. I’m sure a couple of those chicks thought they were going to be the ones to break the cycle. It’s not your fault they deluded themselves.”

“Listen, I’m not particularly proud about what I did to Cassidy,” Nick said. “She has a right to be angry … at me. She tends to go after Maddie, though.”

“Maddie already won the game,” Aaron said. “Quite frankly, it was always rigged in her favor. I think this weekend could be a great way for you all to talk about things on neutral ground and get all your issues out in the open.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Maddie said.

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” Nick argued.

Maddie glanced at Christy for support.

“Oh, Maddie, it’s a terrible idea,” Christy said. “I can’t wait to watch it, though. I’m still rooting for Marla to get doused in the river.”

“We all are,” Aaron said. “We’ll make that our weekend pool.”

“Good idea.”

Nick sighed, but when Maddie squeezed his hand reassuringly, he gave in. “I guess we’re staying,” he said. “I’m reserving the right to put an end to this the second I feel like it’s getting out of hand, though.”

“Dude, if it gets that far I’ll toss Marla out myself,” Aaron said. “I figure one more night with her is all Max is going to be able to take. He said he liked the sex. It was her insistence on talking afterward that irritated him.”

Nick grinned. “Okay. I need a drink if I’m going to be expected to make small talk with Marla and Cassidy, though.”

“I guess it’s good Max bought out the liquor store then,” Aaron said. “Something tells me we’re all going to need a bunch of drinks before this night is over with.”

“SO, MADDIE,
I was sorry to hear about your mom.” Lauren Bishop brushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and fixed Maddie with a sympathetic look from across the dinner table. “I always liked Olivia. Last time I was in town, I guess it was two years ago now, she gave me a great reading at one of the fairs. She told me I was going to be rich and famous.”

“Are you rich and famous?” Marla asked, making a face.

“No.”

“It doesn’t sound like a very good reading then, does it?”

Lauren placed her tongue in her cheek and narrowed her eyes in Marla’s direction. “I see you’re exactly the same as you were in high school. You’re even wearing the same training bra if I’m not mistaken.”

“What’s going on?” Maddie whispered, leaning over so only Christy could hear her. “Does Lauren dislike Marla? I thought they were friends.”

“They were friends junior year,” Christy said. “Senior year Marla slept with Lauren’s brother, and when he broke up with her, she told the girl he took to prom that he knocked her up. The rumor got back to Lauren’s mom and it was a whole big thing. Then, the day before graduation, Lauren beat the crap out of Marla and Marla had to go to graduation with a black eye.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I got an A in gossiping,” Christy said. “You can imagine how disappointed I was when I found out I couldn’t major in it in college.”

“Ah.” Maddie sipped from her glass of wine and then shifted her eyes to Nick. From all outward appearances he looked relaxed, although Maddie knew he was poised to spring into action. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mad,” Nick said, slipping his arm around her shoulders and giving her a brief squeeze. “I’m actually enjoying Lauren taking Marla down a peg or two.”

“You just want to see if they’re going to wrestle.”

“We all want to see that,” Max said, leaning between the two of them and smirking. “Why do you think I invited Marla? I knew there was a chance one of the women here would wrestle her. I’m hoping it’s in underwear and bras.”

“Thank you for that visual, Max,” Nick said, making a face.

“Hey, I think that sounds like an awesome visual,” Brian said, winking from across the table.

“What are you guys talking about down there?” Aaron asked from the head of the table.

“We were talking about … how great this house is,” Maddie lied.

“Actually, we were wondering how long it would be before Marla pissed off one of the ladies here enough to get the wrestling going,” Max replied, guileless.

“We’ve got a pool going,” Aaron said.

Marla’s gaze bounced between Max and Aaron, her eyes slits as she decided how angry she should be at the suggestion.

“Maddie, you reopened your mom’s shop, didn’t you?” Lauren asked, directing the conversation back to a safer topic.

“I did,” Maddie said. “It’s been going pretty well. Although, we have construction going on upstairs and in the garage, so it has kind of been a pain to have customers in there with all that noise. I’m going to be so happy when everything is finished.”

“Oh, I’ve always loved your house,” Lauren said. “It’s beautiful. I hope to be able to afford a Victorian of my own one day down the road. What are you having done?”

“We’re turning the garage into an apartment for Granny,” Maddie said. “Then I’m having the floors buffed in the master suite.”

“We’re upgrading the bathroom, too,” Nick added. “It was pretty obsolete. We’re having one of those garden tubs put in, and we’re having the whole thing repainted.”

Lauren lifted her perfectly manicured eyebrows. “We?”

“I’m moving in with Maddie,” Nick said.

“That was quick,” Max said, settling in the chair beside Marla.

“Very quick,” Marla griped, making a face. “Some people might even call it rude it was so quick.”

“What people?” Brian asked. “They’re in love. They want to live together. I don’t see who it’s hurting. If Maude is fine moving into the garage, I don’t think anyone else should care.”

“Yes, I’m sure that poor old lady is perfectly fine being shuffled off into the garage,” Marla said.

“Poor old lady?” Aaron laughed dryly. “Maude Graves doesn’t do what she doesn’t want to do.”

“It was actually her idea,” Maddie said. “She’s been having trouble getting up and down the stairs, although she hates admitting it. My mother had plans to do the same thing before she died. I do love the house, but I never realized how dangerous those stairs could be for someone who is elderly.”

“That’s a convenient excuse,” Marla said.

“Shut up, Marla,” Christy said. “Unless someone invited you to act as a house designer for Maddie and Nick, you should probably keep your trap closed.”

“You shut up, Christy.”

“No, we all want you to shut up, Marla,” Lauren said. “Why don’t you let the adults talk for a few minutes?”

Marla crossed her arms over her chest, irritated. “I don’t like being talked to like this.”

“Then shut up,” Max said, keeping his attention on Maddie and Nick. “What are you going to do with your house, Nick?”

“I’m selling it to my brother,” Nick replied. “His house is on the market right now. He thinks he’ll be ready to move six weeks from now. I wanted to keep the place in the family because I love to fish out there. This really is the best of both worlds.”

“It sounds like you guys have it all planned out,” Lauren said. “I’d love to see it when you’re finished with the renovations.”