As if being a bleached blonde was some sort of crime against humanity.
Fay lifted a hand to her hair. “Just a few highlights. They’re not too much, are they?”
“No,” Maddie said slowly. “It looks really pretty. My question would be why?”
“Why what?”
“Why the highlights? Jeez, a few days ago you weren’t even washing your hair regularly and today it’s all—” She waved her hands. “Fluffy and cute. And...” She leaned forward, noted the shine to her friend’s mouth, the subtle color that made the blue of Fay’s eyes stand out. “You’re wearing makeup.” Maddie narrowed her own eyes. “What did you say you were doing tonight?”
“Oh.” Fay blinked. Several times. “I’m, uh...not sure I mentioned it, actually.”
“Well, then, why not lay it on me? And for God’s sake, stop all that blinking before you have some sort of seizure.”
Fay’s eyes stayed open. Her gaze landing everywhere but on Maddie. “Book club,” she blurted.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m going to a book club meeting.”
“You don’t belong to a book club.”
“I’m thinking of joining one and thought I should attend a meeting before I committed.”
Maddie shook her head. “God, I cannot believe you’re lying to me. Right to my face. If you don’t want to tell me where you’re going, what you’re doing, all you had to do was say so.”
“I’m sorry,” Fay cried, twisting her hands together. “I don’t want to lie to you, it’s just...”
“It’s just what? Hey, come on. This is me. You can tell me anything.”
“No. I can’t. Not if it’s something you don’t agree with. Then all that happens is you tell me what I’m doing is wrong and then you get disappointed and upset when I don’t do what you think I should.”
Maddie froze, too stunned to move or argue. Too hurt to take a full breath.
You’re always so stubborn. So certain you’re right. You just roll over any opposition.
Dear Lord, was that really how people saw her? Was that really how she was?
She swallowed but the painful lump in her throat remained. “You’re meeting Shane.”
“He wants to talk. See if we can try and work things out. And I knew you’d think that was a bad idea.”
A bad idea? How about a horrible, rotten, the-worst-idea-ever?
What was Fay thinking? Why was she doing this to herself? Maddie wanted to remind her of Shane’s lies, of all the ways he’d hurt her over the past few months.
She swallowed it back, every last word, feeling as if she was choking on them. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Didn’t want her fragile spirit crushed, her heart broken again. It was too painful to witness. And only served to remind Maddie how close she’d been to being that weak, that willing to give up her pride when Neil had left her.
“If it means getting my husband back, my family back,” Fay said, sounding sure and determined, “I’m willing to risk it.”
“You can forgive him?” Maddie asked, thoroughly confused as to how someone could willingly put their heart on the line again and again. “It’s that easy?”
“Not easy but worth the effort. I know you think I’m stupid—”
“Never,” she said heatedly, appalled that Fay would even consider that. “Not even once.”
“I love him, Maddie. I still love him. And whether that’s right or wrong, I’ll do whatever I have to so we can be together again. Forever.”
Maddie winced. Hadn’t she had the same thought twelve years ago about Neil? She’d done everything in her power to make Neil love her. To want her. Her forever had been short-lived, her heart broken, her pride crushed. But she’d picked herself up, brushed herself off and moved on. She’d become stronger, smarter because of it. She’d survived.
“I hope,” Maddie said, “for your sake, that things work out between you two. Just...be careful, okay?”
Fay gave one of her heartbreakingly sweet smiles then hugged her hard. “Don’t worry. Once I have Shane back, my family back, I’ll be fine.”
Holding on to her best friend, Maddie prayed she was right.
CHAPTER TEN
“WE’RE NOT GOING to have enough potato salad.”
By the alarm in Gerry’s voice, you’d think they’d run out of air to breathe.
Neil shut the kitchen door on the sounds of conversation, laughter and music outside.
“There’s not another potato famine,” Carl said, coming up behind Gerry to wrap his arms around her waist. “Didn’t you make pasta and macaroni salads? And what about that stuff with the beans and peppers?”
“Yes, yes, we have those.” Turning, she frowned at him. “I didn’t say we didn’t have enough food.”