Bring on the Rain (28 page)

“
Were you thinking about
Grandma?”

“
Yes. “ What a perfect
conclusion to let her draw.

Brook kissed her cheek. “You okay
now?”

“
I’m fine. You played real
good.”

Brook smiled. “It was cool. Made me
wish I had my own band.”

“
Maybe you’ll hook up with
some people, in school?”

“
Maybe.” She got ready to go
and sit with Karla again, and asked if they were going to the mall
Sunday.

“
Yes.” Madeline asked her if
she’d noticed the Jeep.

“
Oh yeah, Coy and I looked
it over. It’s way cool, Mom, much better than that piece of crap
Bronco.”

She laughed on a sigh.
“Yep.”

“
Karla wants to know, if her
mom asked you, about her staying with us?”

“
Yes, I said it was okay.
Hey, Brook, I’m not mad at her, tell her. She can talk to me, you
know.”

Brook nodded. “Will-do. Say, is this a
good time to ask why Mitch was holding your hand?”

“
Not unless you want to
discuss a prescription I found in your pants pocket?”

“
You didn’t throw it away,
did you?”

Madeline blinked at her, whispering,
“Birth control pills, Brook?”

Her daughter looked around smiled at
someone, then said muffled, “M—o—m,” In that teenager
way.

Madeline thought, nothing like that
one, to bring you back to the present. “Are we going to talk about
this later?”

“
Yes.” Brook looked bent out
of shape.

“
All right.”

Brook went to join Karla. Coy was off
stage and joined the teens, as well as a cousin who was taking a
break.

Madeline vowed she would strangle Mitch
if he played a sad tune. He did not, he kept the tempo up, and the
last song played was another patriotic melody.

The crowd clapped and the band said
their thanks, closing the day with a prayer.

She sat still while the crowd thinned.
No way was she getting in a traffic jam, not with her new
car.

Brook walked up to her. “We’re all
going out to eat, Mom, Karla will be staying over
tonight.”

Madeline reminded, “Be careful, Brook.”
She strolled over to Karla and put her arm around the girl’s
shoulder, and directed her a bit away. “So, you coming to stay at
my house awhile, huh?”

“
Yes, if it’s
okay?”

“
It’s fine. What’s it going
to be, a week?”

“
From Friday to the next
Sunday, I think.”

“
Okay. I’ll let you and
Brook work out the details.” She looked at the girl. “Nice
outfit.”

“
Tony bought it. I feel a
little...out there, in it.”

“
You like him
now?”

“
Hell—ah, no. Not…He’s a
creep. But Mom had a fit on me. More than one lately. She’s
stressing about it, so I’m playing the game.”

“
The game?”

“
Yes, biting my tongue and
tolerating him. I go out with them, cause she says I
should.”

“
I heard he’s helping you
get a car?”

“
Well, not really, I mean,
Mom had already decided but she sort of let him take over.” Karla
rolled her lined eyes and whispered dryly, “She’s been doing that
too much lately, letting him run stuff, and giving him credit for
everything.”

“
So you don't dislike him,
simply because you don't want to replace your dad. Or that you
don't want anyone taking Jenna’s attention.”

“
No. It would be cool if Mom
had a guy who loved her. Mom’s special, we fight sure, but she
spends all day working with hurting people. She works hard and puts
up with my shit too. 0hp, sorry ‘bout that. What I mean is, she
stayed alone long enough to raise me, without all the crap guys can
do to mess up your head. And when she finally picks someone to
date, it’s Tony the tarantula.”

Madeline grinned at that, but asked,
“What is it, about that guy?”

“
He’s friggin' cold.” Karla
answered with a snort. “He’s as icy as Mom is compassionate. I kid
you not. The dude kisses Mom with his eyes open.”

“
Jeez.”

Karla nodded. “They’re ready to leave.”
She looked at the three waiting for her.

Madeline brushed silky hair back from
her face and met Karla’s eyes meaningfully. “We’re all trying to
look out for your mom, okay. Ruby, and you, me too. If this guy
makes her happy, well. But right now, Jenna is keeping us at arm’s
length.”

“
I know. Mom‘s got good
friends. ” Karla hugged her impulsively, and turned, heading off
with the others.

Mitch was helping pack away the gear.
Madeline observed Jason and the others taking the guitar cases and
amps to the trucks.

She walked up to the side stage. “Y’all
were great. I’m going on home. Jude? If Coy brings Brook and them
by, please remind her, she has a curfew.”

Ruby seemed to have drifted off with
the coach.

Jude nodded “Coy does too.”

“
Fine.”

“
Wait, I’ll walk you to your
car. You parked down the street and it’s pitch dark.” Mitch stopped
her as Madeline turned. He spoke to someone about making sure his
guitars got to the house, and then caught up with her.

It was deserted around her car. Most of
the traffic had passed by. A distant light atop one of the
buildings provided minuscule vision. Standing by her jeep, they
were no more than thick shadows in a bluish atmosphere.

Mitch turned her before Madeline could
open the car door. He linked their hands at his sides and pressed
gently, until she was against the car, he against her. His lips
brushed her brow and down her temple a few times. He murmured
against her skin, “We’re not laid yet, Madeline.”

She closed her eyes, enjoying his
warmth, his scent, and hard body against hers. His fingers felt
good, palms warm, dry, hard, and strong.

He leaned back enough to rub his face
down the side of hers, then turned his head and found her mouth.
Mitch kissed her differently this time, tender, pliable,
considerate, and slow. His head moved in a rhythm to accommodate
his petting tongue. Lightly, barely touching, and strangely enough,
as erotic as the harder ones he’d given before.

Madeline breathed unsteadily when the
kiss stopped. Her eyes meeting his in the night.

Mitch whispered, “But I’m your lover,
just the same.” He held her a moment. “Think of it Madeline, you
want me, call me or come to me. I’m your lover. You
understand?”

“
Yes,” she husked feeling
him all over her body.

“
I’m thinking of it, all the
time, when I lay you down at last. It’s going to be so right
because I’m mentally doing it now.”

She felt delicate, and turned
on.

He stepped back. Gave her three supple
kisses across her mouth and jaw. And made her leave, he said, while
he could still let her.

Chapter 15

Karla went to the mall with them on
Sunday. The mall closed early so they had to make good use of their
time.

Somewhere in her mind, late in the day,
Madeline knew there wasn’t one dress in the building Brook hadn’t
looked at or tried on. Something, of course, was wrong with every
one of them. In the end, they kept talking about a dress right in
town, in a boutique window.

After hours plowing through every store
in the mall, because they looked at everything, she realized they
wanted to wait until Monday when the other shop opened, so Brook
could try on that dress.

They arrived home before dark with a
couple of bags of fast food in the back. Madeline fed them, made
sure they had everything they would need of her for the day, and
crawled in her bed to catch up on lost sleep.

~*~

The following week was one of those
filled with good intentions that never got done. Those things like
washing the bed linens, cleaning closets, and painting the porch
and packing away all those winter clothes crammed in the laundry
room.

Karla ended up taking Brook shopping,
and Madeline did buy the dress in the shop window, one that looked
purple in one light, black in another, and was stunningly
expensive. It was elegant thirties influenced style, very chic and
low backed. It reminded her, Brook said, of old Bogie and Bacal
movies.

The elbow length gloves were black
silk, the shoes, an open-toe, high-heeled pump. Stockings sheer
black, and purse, a beaded clutch. Earrings, bracelet, and necklace
were all bought in the same shop.

Madeline had to cut her credit card up
and try to pay it down. She had dipped into the legacy from Dovie
to pay on the jeep. The rest of week saw it dwindle even
faster.

Because Sunny's ads were answered,
Madeline and Rafael worked late to train them, which meant handing
out money to Brook all week, for Prom decorations, and fast food
and so on. Then everything at her house seemed to tear up at the
same time.

Madeline was training two women at the
Tavern, Lauren Barrett, and Ashley Villers. Lauren Barrett was
thirty, a lemon blond, around five feet six, who had never been
married. She was a cool, calm, woman, with intelligent sapphire
eyes and had worked for years in an upscale gourmet coffee
shop.

Ashley Villers was somewhat opposite.
One of those dark redheads with jade eyes. Not big as a minute, but
with enough energy for ten people. Separated from her lawyer
husband, having not one work skill besides socializing. Madeline
worked with her and left Lauren to Rafael, because there was
something in the way Ashley threw herself into trying, that made
her want to make sure she got the job. That, and the fact her ex
was screwing her to the wall, calling the Tavern and harassing her,
causing all sorts of problems for her.

Madeline had to remind her to slow
down, not try to and overwhelm the customer or spend too much time
chit chatting with them. She was teaching her to find the balance
at work and save her hyper drive for her court dates with hubby.
Lucky for her, Ashley was also open, funny, and willing to work the
back room from nine till two, which seemed to burn the edges off
that hyper energy, because it was the most demanding.

At the house, though… on Tuesday the
heat pump blew, and the old box fans were dragged out of the attic
until the HVAC guys could come and fix it. Madeline went to work
feeling cranky and tired, wondering if Gee Gee would tell Max,
wondering if she had, why he hadn’t called to confront her
yet?

Nick, on Monday night had taken some
books home Sunny given him, and by Tuesday, he was mixing drinks
behind the bar like a pro. His super study only caused her to
narrow her eyes at him and shake her head. However, he smiled every
time he saw her, smiling in a way that told her he was aware of her
suspicious mind. He talked to Rafael with ease and listened to
Rocky like a caring big brother. She kept waiting for the
recluse/neurotic to come out. At least here, at work, he wasn’t
displaying anything near what Ruby had been describing,

On Wednesday, the neighbor’s boy left a
note saying her lawn mower and weed eater had blown up. Madeline
left him one, telling him to please borrow or rent one and let her
pay the bill for now, she had zero time to go to the hardware store
and pick one out.

Thursday and Friday were the days the
hot water heater got a leak - under her house -a house that sat on
the ground and required a digging crew to get to her pipes. Friday
they were still filling back in, when Brook, in a hurry, put foil
in the microwave and shattered the glass dish. The microwave that
had become their cooking source, because she couldn’t wait to sit
down when she got in, no way was she standing at the stove for
hours.

It figured, Madeline reasoned, getting
one new jeep, would set off a chain of money - draining bad
luck.

Jenna called her after work, reminding
her Karla was coming to stay that week, and could she make sure
Karla drove to the house on and off to check on it? Right-o, she
said, and left the house to buy more groceries, not getting back
until ten p.m. because she’d gone to four mini marts looking for
skim milk for the girl to drink.

That night, while Karla and Brook were
in Brook’s room talking, Madeline walked through the house waiting
for the roof to fall in. It hadn’t yet. She got a phone
call.

As soon as Max said Hello Madeline took
the phone in her room, locked the door, and sat down on the bed.
She swallowed the knot in her throat. ”Hello, Max.”

Silence. Then, “Ma told me.”

Madeline swallowed again. Her fingers
tightened on the receiver. “Is there anything you’d like to say or
ask?”

He seemed to be calm, but she was
holding her own breath on and off, and his tone was difficult for
her to discern. “When is it convenient for me to come
there?”