only said, “Leo? Did you stop at the store like I asked?”
“Have I ever let you down?”
She removed her hat and ran a hand through her chin-length hair, the dark color now thanks to her hairstylist instead of nature. “Shall I start a list?”
“Ouch,” he said cheerfully.
“Bagged salad?” Rose asked as she pulled items out of the cloth grocery bags on the counter. Her sigh was a pure work of art, one Maddie hoped to emulate someday. “Have I taught you nothing? You should’ve gone to Pineview Market. They have the best produce.”
“I did go to Pineview.” Leo walked over to stand between his mom and his sister. “What’s the problem? You open the bag, add some dressing, toss it a few times and voilà! You’re done.” He shook his head sadly. “You really should be thanking me. I saved you both time and energy. You know, in case you wanted to throw together a batch of those peanut butter brownies the guys at the station all love.”
Maddie put a container of feta cheese into the refrigerator. “Wow. Subtlety, thy name sure ain’t Leo Montesano.”
Subtlety has never been one of your strengths.
She slammed the door shut harder than necessary. Hated that after all these hours of trying to forget Neil was in town, his voice still lingered in her head. Hated even more that she hadn’t been able to hide her reaction when he’d touched her.
Stupid hormones.
“I’m sorry,” Rose said, neatly folding the bags and placing them back into the bottom drawer, “but I already promised your father I’d teach him that new computer program tonight.”
Maddie turned to find Leo sending her a pleading look. “Uh-uh. Not going to happen. Make your own brownies.”
“Don’t do it for me,” he said. “Do it for the guys who serve this town so honorably. So selflessly. They give their time and risk their lives with little pay and even less gratitude, all for the people of—”
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it.” She turned to her mother, who’d started humming softly along with Leo’s words. “‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’?”
“Such a grand and heartfelt speech deserves a bit of background music.”
“You’d better make two batches,” Leo told Maddie. “Some of the guys are real pigs.”
Maddie frowned at her mother. “This is all your fault. You had three boys running around but was it enough for you? No,” she continued when Rose opened her mouth. “It wasn’t. You had to try for a girl one more time. Did you even consider the trauma they’d inflict upon me?”
“You survived,” Rose said, shoving plates at Leo so he could set the table. “And grew up strong, independent—”
“And able to kick any poor sap’s ass,” Leo added as he headed into the dining room.
“Not quite what I was going to say.” Rose shrugged. “But overall, an apt description.”
“I’m sending you the bills for my therapy sessions,” Maddie muttered as she checked her phone. Nothing. She slid it back into her pocket.
Rose sent her a knowing look. “Honey, stop worrying. She’s fine.”
“Stop reading my mind. It freaks me out.” She leaned against the counter and crossed her feet at the ankles. “So obviously you’re aware that Bree is spending the night at the Pettits’?”
“I saw Big Leo while I was in the garden and he told me.”
“Did he tell you that she didn’t want to go? That when I told her Neil was in town and wanted her to spend the night, she asked me if she could stay home.”
More like begged Maddie to let her stay home. Like she had back in April when Neil had wanted Bree to fly out to Seattle for a few days. Unlike then, this time Maddie hadn’t given in.
“I made her go,” she said softly, running her thumbnail along the rounded edge of the quartz counter. “Maybe I shouldn’t have.”
“Neil is her father. He has every right to want his daughter to spend the evening with him.”
“He hasn’t seen her in six months. Six. Months. I’d say any rights he had are null and void now.”
At the sink, Rose rinsed off the onions. “I’m not sure a judge would agree.”
Leave it to her mother to bring logic into the conversation.
Maddie curled her fingers into her palms, her nails digging into her skin. Sure, technically, legally, Neil had partial custody of Bree and was entitled to have her every other Christmas, one month in the summer and one week four times a year. But he’d rarely taken advantage of the agreement they’d made