18. Cole

Chapter 18

Cole

“Hey, Dad! Check this out.” Natalie’s smiling face behind the counter was the first thing I saw when I entered the Confectionery door. It was after lunch and before school let out, so it was slow. The dining area was practically empty.

She held two little jars, one in each hand, and shook them over her head.

“Whatcha doing, kiddo?”

Madi came through the swinging doors to join her with two jars of her own. “We’re making small-batch compound butter to go with the fresh bread.”

Evan trailed behind her. Somehow, while he was here, he had grown a faint chocolate-colored mustache. “Dad! You’re here! We had a sprinkle fight in the kitchen. Sprinkles are everywhere. It was amazing. And this time, the brownies have frosting. You’re going to love them. Madi let me frost them and add sprinkles!” He shook his head, and a few sprinkles flew out. “See? Some of them are tiny, like sugar.”

“We’re also dancing.” Kenzie burst through the swinging doors, shaking her hips along with her jars in her hands. “Come on, kids,” she said to Nat. “Don’t leave me hanging. One woman conga lines are just sad. We have the whole place to ourselves. Let’s do this! Oh, Ev, you got a little something on you. Frosting mustache! It happens to the best of us.” She wiped his face with the hem of her apron and then handed him a jar. “Shake it like I showed you,” she ordered.

The kids smiled as they followed Kenzie and Madi around the dining area, and my heart lightened. They were dancing, and they had smiles on their faces. Shaking butter jars and partying with Kenzie and Madi was not what I expected to find when I got here, and I couldn’t be more relieved.

I also couldn’t seem to take my eyes off Madi. Each time I saw her, I wanted to look at her longer. I wanted to get lost in her. I wondered if there would ever come a day when I didn’t have to look away.

“When you get Madi and Kenzie together, you get nothing but trouble and fun. You’re guaranteed to laugh, that’s for sure.” Gigi raised an eyebrow at me from her table in the corner. “Come and sit with me a spell. Do you have time?”

“I do, in fact.” I joined her, smiling in thanks when she poured me a cup of tea. “How’s the ankle doing?”

She looked at Madi across the room, dancing with my children. “My doctor says it’s almost healed.” Her somber eyes shifted to mine. “But I don’t have to tell her that yet, do I?”

No. Please don’t.

But instead of telling her what I wanted, I answered with what was right. “I wish I could agree with you. But lying never leads to anything good. Even the little white ones.”

“I know.” She patted my hand and sighed with a sad little smile dancing across her face. “You always were a good boy, Cole. You always make the right choices.”

I squeezed lemon into my tea and stirred. “The kids’ moods are polar opposite from this morning. You work miracles in here, Gigi.” I had to change the subject before she delved further into my growing feelings for Madi. I wasn’t ready to talk about that with anyone yet.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit. Kenzie heard the words ‘sad kids,’ took one look at their faces when they showed up, and then turned her personality to the high setting. They’ve been laughing nonstop since they got here. And by now, you know how Madi is, don’t you?”

“I do. She’s an angel. I wish she didn’t have to go home. I wish—never mind. What I want is irrelevant. I wish she could stay, and I shouldn’t.”

“I do, too, my darling. More than anything. She belongs here.” Her shrewd eyes met mine. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I shouldn’t do anything. I should let her go. My life is a disaster.”

“Nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense.” A hot ache grew in my throat as I watched Madi across the room. “The last thing she needs is to get involved with a guy like me. Take this morning in the street with Sherry, for example. And Bookers, when I knocked Todd out. And you know Sherry won’t let up until she forces Nat to forgive her. What am I going to do about that?”

“Things have a way of sorting themselves out when you care as deeply as you do. You’re a good father and a good man. You’re their anchor amid all this upheaval. They will be okay as long as they have you. Believe in yourself, Cole.”

“I wish I could. We have an appointment with a family therapist next week. That’s what’s really going to get us through.”

“See? That’s excellent. You’re already making the right decisions.”

“Thanks, I⁠—”

“I’m pooped.” Madi sat in the chair across the table, and I let the subject drop.

“Are you too tired for dinner tonight?” I asked. “This morning was a lot.”

“I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.”

“Why don’t you two head upstairs and have your meeting now,” Gigi suggested. “The fundraiser is coming up fast. You can’t fall behind on the planning. Order takeout and get to work. Kenzie and I can take the kids home to my place and rustle up some dinner. Right, Kenzie?”

My pulse kicked up. The idea of having alone time with Madi took over my thoughts. The possibility of being able to talk to her, laugh with her, and kiss her again uninterrupted was a heady thing.

“Absolutely. After we close up here, we can grab a pizza and eat at Gigi’s place. Sound good?”

“Yes! Please, Dad.” Evan put his hands together like he was begging. “I want to play with Basil in the backyard.”

“I don’t see why not. As long as you’re both doing all right, Nat?”

“I’m feeling so much better. Today was fun. We can talk about everything later. I don’t want to think about any of it tonight.”

“Okay then.” I stood and held out my hand to Madi. “Shall we?”

She took my hand and stood. “Can we order sushi?”

“You got it.”

“Yay! And sake.”

I grinned at her. “You got that too.”

“Oh! And a Diet Coke.”

“Whatever you want.” I chuckled.

“Make him buy you a dragon roll,” Evan suggested. “The one they light on fire. He hates that.”

“Fire should not be used for fun,” Natalie singsonged my frequent rant as she sat across from Gigi.

People didn’t take fire as seriously as they should. What kind of fire chief would I be if I didn’t talk about fire safety whenever I could casually sneak it into a conversation?

“All right now. Come on, guys.” My lips twitched in amusement. I’d save the repeated lecture for another day.

“I want a dragon roll,” Madi teased—Smacking Evan’s outstretched hand in a high-five.

“Not you too? Ahh, Madi.” I shook my head in mock disappointment. “And I was telling Gigi I thought you were an angel.”

“Okay, I want a dragon roll. Hold the fire,” she amended her request, barely able to keep the laughter out of her voice.

“Atta girl.” I winked at her. “Being good can be fun. You’ll see.”

Her eyes heated on mine. I watched the emotions play across her face from amusement to hot and couldn’t wait to get her alone.

“Why don’t you two go to Madi’s place right now?” Gigi suggested. “We have it under control down here. Don’t we?”

“We sure do,” Kenzie agreed. “Right, kids? Sweeping up all the sprinkles in the kitchen will be so much fun.”

“Go ahead.” Natalie waved. “We’re okay. We had an awesome day. I promise.”

“Later, Dad.” Evan waggled his eyebrows up and down at me.

“Watch it, bud.” I grinned at him.

I guess I was dating Gigi’s hot granddaughter, just like he’d predicted.

I tried to recall what time I had any game in my past, but then I grew dismayed when I realized it was back in high school when I first got with Sherry.

It didn’t matter. Thinking about Madi brought out something primal in me. Our chemistry just existed; I didn’t have to try when it came to her.

It was only when I got stuck in my head that I doubted myself.

She had freed something in me, and I should get out of my own way and let it happen. I deserved to be happy as much as anyone else did.