was in some kind of danger? Why else would she want me off the island? Did she have some kind of tie to the case? I couldn’t recall her ever having had any sort of association with Chelsea. But who knew? One thing I was learning, sometimes painfully, was that around here nothing was ever as it seemed.
At around four o’clock in the afternoon, I drove down to the café to visit Helena before Adam got back. “Maddy!” Helena exclaimed when I walked through the door. “I’ve been bored to tears all day. You sure are a sight for sore eyes.”
She came out from behind the coffee bar in the back to greet me, and I met her halfway, where she pulled me into a warm hug. “Adam’s meeting me at six,” I said, stepping back. “But I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk before he gets here.”
Helena gestured to one of the tables. “Here, let’s sit.” She paused. “Oh, did you want anything to drink?”
“No.” I shook my head, while sitting down. “I’m fine.”
“So is something going on with you and Adam,” she asked, slipping into the seat across from me. “That is what you want to talk about, right?”
I had absolutely no intention of divulging even a hint of the many things Adam had shared with me, but I was curious to get her opinion on the things Jennifer had said. And, since she and Nate knew him so well, see if she had any insight into Adam’s feelings for me. After all, Nate was Adam’s closest friend, and he’d confided in him in the past. And sure, I’d be talking with Adam soon enough, but one could never have too much information. Especially when it came to matters of the heart. So I began with, “I don’t know what to think, Helena. I mean, I know how I feel about him, but I’m not sure he feels the same.”
Helena patted my hand reassuringly. “Adam’s interested in you, Maddy. We’ve known him a long time, and he’s different now that you’re in his life. Even when he speaks of you…” She trailed off, considered, and then said, “You just make him happy, even Trina thinks so.”
“I know, but…” My voice faltered.
“What?”
“It’s stupid,” I said, casting my eyes down. “Just some stuff Jennifer Weston said yesterday. I shouldn’t let it bother me, but it does.”
“What did that miserable bitch say to you?”
I needed to talk to someone, at least about the things I could, so I told her some of the things Jennifer had said, mostly the comments about how I was “just a novelty” and how “it would never last.” But I was careful to leave out Jennifer’s angry reaction when I’d mentioned Chelsea’s name.
When I finished, Helena said, “Jennifer is a bitter, unhappy person. She’s been that way for years, and the whole J.T. mess made her even meaner. She enjoys needling people and saying things to purposely hurt them. Don’t let her get to you. Adam is not using you.”
“Yeah, but Lindsey obviously meant very little to him,” I countered. “He dropped her without a second thought. Who’s to say he doesn’t do the same to me?”
“I told you, that relationship was different from the one you and Adam have.”
I knew she was right, but I was looking for reassurance. After everything Adam had shared with me, I should have been confident that he cared very deeply for me. But the one thing nagging me was that he’d told me only after I’d snooped around and discovered those things.
“Why don’t you talk to him? Just ask him how he feels.”
“I did,” I replied. “We’re supposed to discuss it tonight. That’s why he’s meeting me here.”
Helena smiled triumphantly. “See, just the fact Adam even agreed to have a ‘relationship discussion’ speaks volumes.”
“I suppose.”
“It does, trust me.” Helena lowered her voice to an almost whisper. “And between us, I think you’re helping Adam learn how to love again.”
God, I wanted to believe she was right, especially about the love part. Adam had forgiven me rather easily when he’d discovered my duplicity. Now the ball was in my court to prove to him I could be worthy of his trust and, hopefully, his love.
Helena and I talked for a while longer. She told me she was going to close down the café on Monday for a couple of weeks, so she could go down to Boston and help Trina with wedding preparations. She invited me to join