Stealing Home Page 6

  “I doubt it,” Maddie told her. “Tyler answered the door and told her to get the hell away from our house. Kyle ran upstairs and locked himself in his room and Katie burst into tears. It took me a half hour to calm her down. It’s breaking my heart to see how much she misses her dad.”

  “And what did Noreen do during all this commotion?”

  “Stood there wringing her hands and telling me she just doesn’t understand why the kids don’t like her anymore. I told her to ask Bill. I should’ve said that maybe even her little pea brain could come up with an explanation if she really tried.”

  Dana Sue chuckled. “That would have been a nice shot.”

  Maddie sighed. “One she deserved, but it hardly solves anything. I’m sure Bill is going to be on a tear once he hears how she was received by me and the kids. I’ll have to listen to another of his tirades about how we’re not giving Noreen a fair chance, that she’s in his life now, that she’s having his baby, that I promised to help smooth things over and now they’re worse than ever, and on and on and on.”

  Dana Sue gave Maddie a penetrating look. “Something tells me you’re not this upset just because Bill’s going to have himself a hissy fit.”

  “Of course not. I’m upset because my kids’ lives have been turned inside out and I can’t seem to do a thing to help them. I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Where are they right now?”

  “My mother’s taken them to Charleston to dinner and a movie.”

  “Her idea or yours?”

  “Mine, if you must know, at least the part about them spending the afternoon with her. I was desperate. I figured they needed a break from me as much as they needed one from Noreen and their dad. All this tension has taken a terrible toll on them.”

  “And on you,” Dana Sue reminded her. “What are you doing for yourself?”

  “Running to you,” Maddie said.

  “If we had our spa, you could soak in the hot tub and have a massage,” Dana Sue reminded her.

  Maddie frowned. “My thirty days have barely begun. Stop pressuring me. I really don’t need that on top of everything else today.”

  “Just pointing out one of the advantages of going into business with me and Helen,” Dana Sue said mildly. “I could list more.”

  “Not necessary. I think I have a handle on most of them,” Maddie admitted.

  Dana Sue studied her intently. “Meaning?”

  “Nothing,” Maddie said. “Ask me a couple of weeks from now.”

  “You know you’re going to agree to this. You’re just being stubborn.”

  “Maybe I’m just enjoying keeping the two of you dangling on the end of my hook,” Maddie retorted. “It’s rare that I have the upper hand.”

  She finally popped one of the peeled shrimp into her mouth and savored the burst of spices. “Mmm, these are fantastic!”

  Dana Sue chuckled. “I’m glad you like them. For a while there, I thought you were just going to mangle them as some sort of bizarre therapy. How about a glass of wine to go with them?”

  “Sure. Wine sounds good,” she said as she ate another shrimp, then licked her fingers.

  “You know,” Dana Sue said, “I think you’d feel a whole lot better about your life if you had something positive to look forward to. You need to remember how capable and smart you are, that marriage to Bill didn’t define you. I know launching this place kept me sane when I kicked Ronnie out.”

  “But you’d been dreaming about opening your own restaurant for years,” Maddie countered. “I’ve never envisioned opening a fitness club.”

  “Neither did I,” Dana Sue admitted. “Not till Helen brought up the idea. Then it just seemed to fit with where we all are right now.”

  “Just give me some time to catch up,” Maddie pleaded. “I’m afraid if I agree to it now, when everything else is so overwhelming, I’ll just freak out and ruin it.”

  “I’ve seen you in a crisis, Maddie. You don’t freak out. You dig in and get the job done. Remember prom when the money we’d been counting on suddenly vanished? You charged out and got donations from every business in town and managed to pull off the best senior prom our school had ever had.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Maddie reminded her.

  “But you still have that same drive and ingenuity,” Dana Sue insisted. “You just need a new challenge that’s more interesting than the annual hospital ball to kick ’em back into gear.”

  Maddie listened to the conviction in her friend’s voice. She wanted desperately to believe her, but after the day she’d had, she didn’t have the energy to do much more than eat shrimp and finish the glass of wine Dana Sue had poured for her. When she’d swallowed the last bite and taken the last sip, she stood up and gave Dana Sue a fierce hug.

  “Thanks for being here for me.”

  “Anytime. You were there for me when my marriage broke up. This is the least I can do for you.” She studied Maddie worriedly. “You’re not going home to sulk and undo whatever good I’ve done here today, are you?”

  Maddie laughed. “No.”

  “What, then?”

  “I’m going to go home and crunch some numbers and see if all three of us have lost our minds.”

  A grin spread across Dana Sue’s face. “Well, hallelujah!”

  “I haven’t said yes yet,” Maddie warned.

  “But you’re on the verge of it. I’m calling Helen.”

  “Don’t. She’ll just come over and pester me. It’ll ruin my concentration.”

  “Okay, okay. I won’t call her tonight, but I’m telling her first thing in the morning. Then you’re all coming here after church to celebrate. I’ll bring Annie and you bring your kids and your mom. We’ll turn it into a party.”

  “Let’s hold off on any celebrating. It might turn out to be a wake, if I decide the numbers don’t make sense.”

  “We can wait but you won’t,” Dana Sue said confidently. “You seem to have forgotten how you helped me to squeeze every last penny till it squealed when I was opening this place. I’m sure you’ll be just as creative with Helen’s capital and my contribution.”

  Maddie shuddered. “Creative is not a word I like to hear associated with bookkeeping.”

  “Whatever,” Dana Sue responded with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We’re going to open a health club. How wild is that?”

  “Pretty wild,” Maddie confirmed.

  Maybe flat-out insane.

  Cal knew Maddie Townsend the same way he knew all the parents of the kids on the team, which was to say better than most teachers knew the parents of their students but far from well. Maddie had always impressed him by never missing a game and being one of those rare adults who didn’t torment their kids with unrealistic expectations or him with irrational harassment when their sons were on the field. Her husband was the same way.

  Today for the first time when she arrived in his office for their scheduled appointment he noticed deep shadows under Maddie’s eyes and a nervous tic in her cheek. Despite the care she’d taken with her appearance, which would have passed inspection at some fancy Junior League function, she seemed uneasy about meeting with him.

  “Should we wait for Dr. Townsend?” he asked.

  “He’s not able to be here,” she said tightly.

  Cal heard a faint note of bitterness in her voice. “Oh? I’ve never known him to miss a game or a meeting.”

  “Actually, I didn’t tell him about this one. Tyler asked me not to.”

  “I see,” Cal said, though he wasn’t sure he did. “Is there some sort of problem between Ty and his father?”

  She regarded him with misery and embarrassment in her eyes. “You may as well know that Dr. Townsend and I are getting a divorce.”

  Cal knew his mouth must have gaped at that, because she gave him a wry look.

  “I know,” she said. “I was shocked, too, and I lived with him.”

  “I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate, but what else was the
re to say?

  “Not your problem. Could we just focus on Ty, please?”

  “Actually, I’m beginning to see what’s going on with him,” Cal replied. “He’s been having a lot of trouble with school lately. I’m sure his other teachers have been in touch with you about that.”

  She shook her head. “I had no idea. He’d mentioned something about a couple of bad baseball practices, but that’s it.”

  “Well, I’m sure they’ll contact you before things reach a crisis stage—or perhaps you should take the initiative, just in case…”

  “Just in case what?”

  “Kids have been known not to take home notes they don’t want their parents to see.”

  “Surely Tyler wouldn’t,” she began, then shook her head. “Of course he would. I’ll call the other teachers as soon as I get home.”

  Cal gave her an encouraging smile. She looked as if she could use some moral support. “Hey, he’s a good student. A few bad grades don’t mean the end of the world. He’ll catch up. More troubling to me is his complete lack of interest in his game. He excelled in his classes because he’s smart, but he excelled in baseball not just because of talent, but because of his passion for the game. He seems to have lost that.”

  She sighed. “I thought as much, based on some of his comments to me, but to be honest, I have no idea what to do about it. Baseball was always something he and his dad shared. Bill’s not particularly athletic, but he loved the game. He started taking Ty to Atlanta Braves games when he was a toddler. Then he coached him in Little League. I tagged along, but I didn’t absorb much about the finer points of the game.”

  Cal gave some thought to the implications of that. “So, now that his dad’s moved out,” he suggested slowly, “Ty’s rejecting baseball—either deliberately or subconsciously—the way he thinks his father’s rejected him?”

  She regarded him with surprise. “Why, yes. I think that’s it exactly.” She leaned toward him as if he might have other answers to life’s mysteries. “What do we do about it?”

  Cal hated to admit it with her looking at him so hopefully, but he was as much at a loss as she was. Identifying the problem was a snap compared to solving it, but at least he now knew what he was dealing with. “Let me think about that and get back to you, okay?”

  She nodded. “Anything you can suggest will be greatly appreciated. I wish I’d come to you sooner, but the divorce isn’t something I’ve wanted to talk about.”

  Cal regarded her with sympathy. “No one does, which is probably why kids internalize their feelings.”

  “You’re right again. Believe me, I want to see that old spark back in Ty’s eyes when he walks onto a ball field. He needs baseball right now.” She studied Cal worriedly. “He mentioned you might pull him from the starting rotation.”

  “I’ll have to if he doesn’t get his concentration back, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Now that I understand what’s going on, hopefully I can come up with some way to get him back on track. Maybe this is none of my business, but is the divorce final?”

  “The paperwork’s done, but we don’t have the decree yet.”

  “Are things settling down some at home, though?”

  “Some,” she said in a tone that conveyed the opposite.

  “They will,” he said, feeling a sudden need to reassure her. It was almost as powerful as his desire to get Tyler back in his pitching groove. “I’ll be in touch soon, Mrs. Townsend.”

  “Call me Maddie, please. I’d just as soon not be reminded of anything Townsend right now,” she said, giving him a wry smile. “Besides, it makes me feel ancient.”

  Cal laughed at that. “You’re hardly ancient. If I didn’t know you have a sixteen-year-old son, I’d swear you were my age.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “Flattery won’t get you much more than an extra batch of chocolate-chip cookies next time it’s my turn to bake for the team.”

  “I’ll take the cookies, but it wasn’t flattery,” he told her.

  In fact, for the first time since his own divorce from a woman who’d married a baseball celebrity, not a has-been, he was actually feeling a stir of real interest in a woman, and age was the very last thing on his mind. Of course, given the multitude of complications involved, he’d have to be out of his ever-loving mind to do anything about it.

  5

  The meeting with Cal Maddox had shaken Maddie more than she wanted to admit. Until now, Ty had been a near-perfect kid. He’d never given them any trouble. He’d made good grades and excelled at baseball. Now all of that was at risk. It made her see that building some sort of bridge between Tyler and Bill was more important than ever, but how could she possibly do that without further alienating her son, who claimed to be dead set against his father being in his life?

  Maybe she was going to have to swallow her pride and go to Bill and plead with him to take the initiative and make more of an effort to understand his son’s point of view. Perhaps if he realized what was at stake, he would keep Noreen out of the picture, at least when he was spending time with Tyler. Right now Bill seemed stubbornly determined to unite them into one big happy family, no matter how his children—especially Ty—resisted the idea. Maybe she could make Bill see how desperately Ty needed some one-on-one time with his dad.

  Determined to fix things for her son’s sake, she headed for Bill’s medical office in a small brick complex he and a business partner had built several years ago. Its professional suites also housed a dentist and an orthopedic surgeon, as well as an outpatient rehab facility for the surgeon’s patients.

  She used her key and slipped in through the back door. It was the only way to avoid the waiting room and all the curious glances she was bound to receive there. Instead, however, she ran smack into Noreen, who was coming out of Bill’s office with her lipstick smudged and her uniform mussed. Maddie had to wonder how the patients would feel if they’d witnessed the same thing.

  “Maddie!” Noreen said, looking dismayed as she smoothed the wrinkles in her uniform. “What are you doing here? I had no idea you still had a key.”

  Maddie bit back an angry retort. The truth was that Noreen had more of a right to be here than she did and that grated.

  “I need to see my husband. I gather he’s in his office,” she said and brushed right past Noreen without further comment.

  When she firmly closed the door behind her, Bill looked up from the files on his desk and regarded her with uncertainty. “Maddie, I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Obviously,” she said, noting the fact that his tie was askew and his thick blond hair was messed up. “You know, if you keep this up, your reputation in this town is going to suffer.” She leveled a look into his eyes. “But then, Helen has already pointed that out, hasn’t she? I’d recommend a few minutes in front of a mirror before you start seeing patients.”

  His cheeks colored, a sure indication of his embarrassment. “Why are you here?” he asked stiffly. “Just to pass judgment on me?”

  “Not my job,” she said briskly, fighting the urge to say a whole lot more. She couldn’t afford to stir his temper, not when she was on a very specific mission.

  “Did you come to apologize about Saturday?” he inquired. “If so, Noreen’s the one you really should be talking to.”

  “Don’t push me,” she warned. “I’m here about Tyler. I just had a very distressing meeting with Coach Maddox.”

  Bill flashed her a startled look. “Why wasn’t I told about a meeting?” he demanded.

  “Because Tyler didn’t want you there,” she said bluntly. “And that’s the heart of the problem. You asked me the other day to help you mend fences with Tyler. I can’t do much more than tell him repeatedly that you’re still his father and that you love him. Obviously he doesn’t believe me. You’re going to have to prove to him that your feelings for him haven’t changed before he ruins his grades and his chances to become the pro ball player he’s dreamed of being.”

  “What are you talking
about?” Bill asked. “Ty’s always had excellent grades.”

  “I haven’t spoken to his teachers yet, but Coach Maddox has. Ty’s having trouble in everything. I can only do so much. You’re going to have to help me fix this.”

  To her surprise, Bill looked uncertain. “I don’t know how,” he admitted with rare candor.

  “For starters, you could show up to pick up the kids when they’re expecting you,” she said. “Noreen is not an acceptable replacement, especially not to Tyler.”

  “He’ll just have to get used to—”

  Maddie cut him off. “You wanted to know what you can do, right? Then I suggest you listen to me. I’m trying to help before our oldest son spins completely out of control.”

  He exhaled an exasperated huff. “Fine. Whatever.”

  “Baseball brought you and Tyler together once,” she reminded him. “I think that’s the connection that can reunite you now. He’s struggling, Bill. The coach says his pitching is off and his place in the starting rotation is at risk.”

  “That’s absurd!” Bill snapped. “He’s the best pitcher they have.”

  “Not right now, he isn’t,” she told him. “I think you need to come by the house—alone—and give him some pointers the way you used to.”

  “He’ll never agree to that,” Bill said. “He’s not listening to me these days, much less spending time with me. If I show up, he’ll just hide in his room.”

  “Then go to him where he can’t hide,” she suggested. “Stop by practice this afternoon. You used to do that all the time, just to hang out and see how he was doing. I know he loved that.”

  Bill’s expression turned thoughtful. “I could,” he said, then shook his head. “It might make things worse.”

  “You won’t know till you try.” She stood up. “I don’t think I need to remind you how important this is.”

  “No, you don’t,” he agreed. “I’ll make the effort, Maddie. I promise.”

  In the past she would never have questioned one of his promises, but these days she didn’t really know this man at all. At least she’d made the overture. Now it was up to him.