Two to Tangle (A Tangle Valley Romance #2) - Melissa Brayden Page 0,79

an hour before she needed to get ready for the ball game, and she knew what she needed to do. It had been a handful of days since the difficult dinner at the Crown Jewel, and she and Madison still needed to talk.

With nerves aflutter, she found Madison in her office, the one that used to belong to Jack Wilder when he was winemaker. But Madison had made it her own, organizing the clutter and using technology to cut back on the endless notebooks and binders Jack had relied upon. The door stood open, but typing something diligently into a spreadsheet, Madison hadn’t heard her enter. For a moment, Gabriella simply watched her work. Madison wore her work glasses, which, back in the day, Gabriella used to love on her. Smart, sexy, and businesslike all in one. That had been a different time, a different them. Right? Hadn’t it been?

“Knock, knock,” she said finally.

Madison looked up and took off the glasses. A smile. Good. “Hey. Didn’t see you there.”

“Didn’t want you to for a moment. You were so focused.” Gabriella leaned against the door. “Hi, back. Is this an okay time for a chat?”

“Uh-oh,” Madison said, making a point to look guilty. “I guess I should have seen this coming, and I totally get it. Everything you’re going to say I’ve likely said to myself, just with a lot less charisma.”

“There’s nothing coming other than us maybe finding common ground.”

“Why don’t we take a walk? I haven’t done that today, and I like to look in on the fruit.”

“I’ll follow you. The fruit will appreciate our visit, I’m sure.”

Maddie led the way through the vines that had truly started to flourish over the past couple of weeks, bursting with green grapes. “These guys look like they’re on track, not that I know anything about them,” Gabriella said, touching the small buds of fruit.

Madison stared down at the vines. “The warmer month has been great, and the dry spell we’ve had is really going to boost the sugars. I think we’re in for a nice balance.” She sighed. “I hope for another couple of weeks like this one.”

“I’ll hope with you.” They walked a bit. “So…dinner the other night was certainly something.”

Madison nodded. “I hate that we made you leave.” She shook her head and looked over at Gabriella. “I was beyond childish. I can admit that.”

“You definitely kicked it off.”

“I’m really sorry.”

Now this was the Madison she recognized, and she took advantage of the opportunity. She wanted to understand where Maddie was coming from, what had propelled her. “You don’t like Ryan. That much I understand. But—I have to ask—is there more to this? It’s starting to feel like perhaps there is.”

Madison nodded and took a moment, staring up at the sky as they walked. “I honestly didn’t think so at first. I didn’t like the things I’d heard about Ryan, how she was out all the time, her flitting from woman to woman on a whim.”

“I’m not going to argue that I like those things, either. But I do believe that people grow and change. Don’t we all?”

“I hear you. But it’s you we’re talking about, and my standards are different.”

Gabriella took a deep breath and admitted the truth. “I’d likely be protective of you, too.”

Madison laughed. “Trust me. I know that for a fact. You’re a bulldog when people you care about are at stake.”

“Fine. Guilty.”

“But over time, maybe I’ve come to see that my behavior might be rooted in something a little deeper.”

Gabriella rolled her lips in, nervous, but didn’t say a word.

“I thought I was long done with us, you know? The romance part anyway. We weren’t a good fit. It was obvious as hell.” Madison shook her head, looking distant and confused. “But what if we gave up too soon, and it just took Ryan coming into your life for me to see that?”

“Madison.” She paused their walk and turned. “You’re forgetting what it was like. We hit daily roadblocks. It became a passive aggressive, unproductive way to live life. I adore you, and you adore me, but I think what we’re dealing with is you watching me in a relationship for the first time.”

“What if it’s not just that?”

Gabriella blinked, terrified of the question.

“Because I’ve tried that on and it doesn’t fit.” Madison held up a reassuring hand. “I’m not trying to disrupt anything that you have going. I will apologize to Ryan at the game today, even. But maybe what I’m feeling is