Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (60 page)

Faith stood next to her, her expression a miserable mix of sadness, anger, and disbelief. Jamison could tell Faith was conflicted about what to feel, but Maddie was easier to read. The moment their eyes met, he knew she’d heard what he’d done, and that the knowledge was killing her, cutting right into the heart Jamison had promised himself to protect.

She shook her head, just once, before turning and hurrying back into the bakery, but that simple gesture was enough for Jamison to know it was over. There would be no proposal, no baby, no future for him and the woman he loved. He’d lost her. He’d fucked it up, and there was no going back. He might as well return the ring right now.

No
, a voice deep within him cried out as he scooped the jewelry bag off the ground, wincing as something bruised inside him sent a flash of pain through his side.

He couldn’t let Maddie cut him out of her life until she’d heard the truth. He had to go to her, to try to explain everything in a way that she might understand.

He was starting across the street when Jake appeared in his path.

“You slept with his wife,” Jake said in a voice so low and angry Jamison could feel it vibrating in his chest. “He wasn’t just your boss, he was your brother. He trusted you with his life, and you betrayed him to get your rocks off.”

Jamison shook his head, needing Jake to understand it wasn’t like that. “I loved her, Jake. Or I thought I loved her. She was going to divorce him, and—”

“But they weren’t divorced, so you should have kept your hands to yourself until they were,” Jake said, in true Jake fashion.

His brother saw the world in clear blacks and whites. There were no shades of gray, and no tolerance for those who crossed lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Jamison had been lucky enough to earn Jake’s forgiveness for keeping that stupid kiss with Naomi a secret for fifteen years, but he had a feeling there might not be any coming back to the easy relationship they’d had after this. His hunch was confirmed when Jake added—

“I can’t believe I trusted you to be my baby’s godfather.” He crossed his arms, jaw hardening as he clenched his teeth. “I should have known better. I mean, I knew your moral compass was set a little differently than mine, but I believed you had one. I believed you were a good man who would be a good influence on Noelle as she grew up, helping her learn right from wrong. But obviously I was mistaken.”

Jamison pulled in a breath that emerged with a miserable-sounding wheeze. “Listen, Jake. I know I screwed up, but—”

“I can’t change the baptism papers,” Jake pushed on, ignoring his attempts to apologize. “That’s set in stone, whether I like it or not, but I don’t have to have a liar and an adulterer standing next to me at my wedding. Don’t bother coming to the rehearsal tomorrow. I’ll do without a best man.”

Jamison fought to swallow past the lump in his throat. A part of him had been expecting this since the moment Jake glared down at him over Art’s shoulder, but it still hurt like hell. He didn’t want to be cut out of Jake’s life; he didn’t want to miss seeing his brother and the woman he loved get married.

“Please. Things with me and Wendy ended almost a year ago,” Jamison pleaded. “Before I ever came back to Summerville. I’m not the same person I was then. I swear, Jake, I know what I did was wrong and I would never—”

“It doesn’t matter, Jamison,” Jake said, the disappointment in his voice harder to take than his anger. “The fact that you could do that to someone who cared about you as much as Art obviously did…I can’t wrap my head around it. And I can’t say I’ve ever been more ashamed to call you my brother.”

Jamison flinched, feeling the words like a knife through his already bruised insides. “I don’t want to lose you, Jake,” he said softly, not knowing what else to say. “Can’t we try to talk this out?”

“I’ll always be your brother,” Jake said, “but I’m not sure about anything else. I don’t have friends I can’t trust.”

Jamison sighed miserably, dropping his eyes the ground.

“I’m off until after the honeymoon starting tomorrow at noon, but I’ll rework the schedules for the rest of the month so we won’t be here at the same time,” Jake continued. “And I’ll be asking Faith to be my contact when I’m not on duty. She can make sure the important emails are forwarded and…all the rest of it.”

“So that’s it?” Jamison said, anger rising inside of him as he lifted his gaze to Jake’s. “I make one mistake and you cut me off?”

Jake met his eyes with a cold look. “It’s not your first mistake, and we both know it.”

Jamison’s jaw clenched. He should have known. He should have fucking known.

“I’m going back to work,” Jake continued. “I suggest you get to the ER and have those cuts on your face checked out. You’re probably going to need stitches.”

Jamison nodded, but didn’t say a word as Jake turned and stalked back across the lawn and into the firehouse, followed closely by Brandon, who shot Jamison one last pitying look over his shoulder before hurrying inside.

Jamison heaved a sigh and spit blood onto the grass. He should have known. He should have known Jake hadn’t completely forgiven him for the thing with Naomi. He should have known he was on notice and that the slightest infraction—let alone something as serious as what went down today—would get him booted out of his brother’s circle forever.

He wanted to get angry and stay angry, to blame Jake for being a rigid, unyielding asshole, but he couldn’t.

This wasn’t only about letting Jake down. Jamison had let all of his brothers down, all of the men and women who had ever been a part of his firehouse family. A family, any family, was built on trust and respect and there was nothing more disrespectful than what Jamison had done. He deserved to suffer for his mistake, and knew he was going to have to work hard to earn his way back into the good graces of all the people he cared about.

Jake obviously wasn’t ready to give Jamison a chance right now—and he might never be, a thought that made Jamison’s heart feel like it was being squeezed in two—but maybe Maddie would be a different story.

Jamison knew she was upset, but she’d forgiven her ex-husband and moved past the pain he’d caused her. They were now friends who exchanged weekly emails, and Serge had cheated on her while they were married, for God’s sake. Jamison’s infraction had occurred before he and Maddie’s relationship had been anything more than friendly. Surely she’d be able to see that he deserved a second chance.

Holding tight to the hope, he wiped the blood from his face using the bottom of his tee shirt and started across the street, grateful the bakery had already closed and he didn’t have to worry about his battered features scaring away any of Maddie’s customers. He reached the front door—expecting to see the Closed sign flipped and continue on around to the back—but the Open sign was still in place and Lucy was sweeping up behind the counter.

Jamison let himself in, the tinkle of the bells above the door seeming ridiculously cheerful considering his mental and physical state.

Lucy glanced up, brown eyes widening when she saw his face. “Wow, he really did a number on you, huh? Are you okay?”

Jamison started to nod, but then shrugged instead. “I don’t know. I’m looking for Maddie. Is she upstairs?”

Lucy bit her lip, her short, stubby brown pigtails twitching as she turned to look over her shoulder and then back to Jamison. “She just scooted through the back,” Lucy whispered. “You might be able to catch her if you hurry. She told me not to say anything, but it’s obvious you two have been having a thing and it’s been making her so happy. I don’t want her to run away before she’s heard your side of the story.”

By the time she got to “run away,” Jamison was already sprinting toward the back, throwing a quick “Thank you,” over his shoulder to Lucy as he ran. He reached the rear of the bakery and banged through the door in time to see Maddie’s little white VW bug all the way down the alley to the left. He started after her, but before he could even call her name, she pulled out onto the street and was gone.

Jamison cursed beneath his breath as he tugged out his phone and pulled up Maddie’s name on his contacts. A moment later, he heard her phone ring inside the bakery. He followed the sound back inside to find Lucy standing at the end of the counter with Maddie’s cell in her hand.

Jamison ended the call with a sigh.

“She told me to keep it in case of an emergency with the bakery,” Lucy said, sympathy clear in her voice. “She decided to get out of town for the night.”

“Any idea where she’s gone?” Jamison asked.

Lucy shook her head. “No. I heard her talking to one of her friends, but I don’t know which one.” She set Maddie’s cell on top of the bakery case and turned back to Jamison with a cautious smile. “Can I get you some croissants or something to take home? To make you feel better?”

Jamison tried to smile, but realized his lip was split and decided it hurt too much. “No, but thanks. And thanks for trying to help me talk to Maddie. I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t known her long, but I know that she’s been a thousand times happier since you two started dating.”

“She told you we were together?” Jamison asked, hope sparking to life inside him, only to be doused when Lucy shook her head.

“No, but I’ve got a sixth sense about these kind of things,” she said. “And you both get all starry-eyed when you look at each other. I honestly can’t believe no one else has figured it out yet.”

Jamison nodded, a bittersweet feeling rising inside of him. He loved that someone had noticed what was going on, but he didn’t want Lucy to be the only witness to the rise and fall of Jamison and Maddie. He wanted Jamison and Maddie to make a comeback, and for the ring in the bag he’d tucked into his pocket to find a home on Maddie’s left ring finger.

He couldn’t believe it was too late. Maddie would come home. The rehearsal was tomorrow and the wedding the day after. She wouldn’t miss Naomi’s big day, no matter how upset she was. Maddie would be back, and he’d know exactly where to find her. He could wait for her outside the restaurant where Jake and Naomi were hosting their rehearsal dinner and talk her into taking a drive. She would give him that much, at least the chance to explain.

Now he only had to figure out what to say to make her see he deserved a second chance. He had a little over twenty-four hours, and he was determined to use every one plotting ways to win back the one person he couldn’t stand to lose.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BY THE TIME MADDIE fought her way through Atlanta’s rush hour traffic to Dawn’s new apartment, it was almost seven-thirty and her crying jag had subsided, leaving her red-eyed and blotchy faced, but in relative control.

The control held through greeting Dawn at the door and hugging Marshall and Emmie, her two kids, hello. It held through digging a path between the moving boxes to the corner of the living room to spread fresh sheets on the futon Dawn had graciously invited Maddie to crash on—despite the fact that Dawn’s place was still in a state of thinly organized chaos—and eating zucchini pasta leftovers at the bar in Dawn’s kitchen.

Maddie even managed to work up a few smiles as the kids told her about their new school over bowls of ice cream. She was glad they were settling in so well, and thrilled that Dawn was now close enough to be reached for emergency meetings in less than two hours—even during rush hour.

Listening to Dawn read the kids a chapter from “Ramona Quimby, Age 8,” and helping tuck the kids into their beds kept Maddie’s spirits up until shortly after eight-thirty, when she and Dawn finally settled onto the sofa with mugs of steamy peppermint tea and a box of ladyfinger cookies open on the cushions between them.

Only then—with the lights dimmed and the kids sleeping soundly, far from the grown-up gossip—did Maddie finally let it all out.

“Wow,” Dawn said when Maddie was finished. “Is he okay? Sounds like that was a serious beating.”

Maddie nodded. “He’s okay. His brother and one of the other firefighters pulled the guy off of him before it got too bad, although even from across the street I could see there was blood.”

Dawn hummed around the rim of her mug as she took a long, considering sip. “Well, that was pretty brave, really. That he refused to fight back.”

“He refused to fight back because he knew he deserved to be pounded,” Maddie said. “He’s the one who slept with his boss’s wife. And then lied to
everyone
about it.”

Dawn’s lips pursed to one side as she reached for a cookie.

“What?” Maddie asked. “Why the prune face?”

“Nothing,” Dawn said, hesitating for a moment before she added, “I just think maybe it’s not that he lied to
everyone
that’s got you so worked up. You feel like he lied to you, is that it?”

“He did lie to me,” Maddie said. “He told me he’d never cheated on any woman he was serious about.”

Dawn shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t sound like what you found out today invalidates that claim. I mean,
she
was the one cheating, not him.”

Maddie frowned. “It takes two to tango, Dawn.”

“I know,” she conceded. “But at the same time, Jamison wasn’t the one who stood up in a church and swore to love, honor, and cherish his boss for the rest of his life, you know? That was the wife’s promise, and she’s the one who betrayed it.”

“Hmph.” Maddie’s frown became a full-fledged scowl.

Dawn leaned in, tapping Maddie’s hand gently with her cookie. “Listen, I agree it was a crappy thing for him to do behind his boss’s back, but sometimes love makes us do crappy things.”

Maddie grabbed a cookie from the box. “I don’t agree. I think if it’s real love then there should be nothing crappy about it.”

“It should be all sparkles and unicorns?” Dawn asked, lifting a pierced brow as she took a bite.

“Maybe not
all
sparkles and unicorns,” Maddie said, chewing thoughtfully. “I know a good relationship takes work and compromise, but I don’t think there should be any darkness. No big, bad secrets, no behavior that makes you feel sick to your stomach. And definitely no cheating.”