Unforgettable You Page 6

  “I don’t see how we’re ever going to find out more about your father if she won’t tell you anything.”

  “That’s why we’re trying to come up with ideas, remember?”

  Annie blew another bubble, which made a soft poof as it broke. “I hate to tell you this, but I don’t even see a place to start.”

  “We aren’t very good detectives if we give up that easily.”

  “Then...what are we going to do?”

  “My mom had to show my birth certificate to get me into school.”

  “Which means...”

  “I saw it.”

  “Why is that any big deal?”

  “Because a birth certificate says when and where you were born. It also says who your parents are.”

  Annie jumped to her feet. “Did it have your dad’s name?”

  “No. And my mother used Brooks as her last name, so that didn’t tell me anything, either.”

  “Her last name is Brooks now.”

  “It’s always been Brooks, except when she was married to Eric.”

  “Then I still don’t get it,” Annie said, growing exasperated.

  “My birth certificate said I was born here. That means my father had to have been alive close to that time and living here, too. It takes...you know—” she lowered her voice to a whisper so that there would be no danger of Annie’s older brother hearing them in the next room “—s-e-x between a man and a woman to have a baby.”

  Annie giggled. “I can’t even imagine letting a boy put his thing in me.”

  Maya shuddered at the prospect. “Me, either. But it can’t be all bad if everyone does it, and my mother must’ve done it with my dad or I wouldn’t be here.”

  “If your mother was still in high school when she got pregnant, maybe he was, too.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.”

  “Well, if your dad was in high school when your mom got pregnant, he was probably living with his family. Do you think they could still be around? His parents at least?”

  “I wish, but my mom told me they moved away.”

  “Did she say where they went?”

  “She said she wasn’t sure.”

  Annie pulled out the tie holding her hair back and let it fall as she combed her fingers through it. “Wow. This is going to be hard.”

  The thought that she might never know anything more than she did right now was discouraging. Maya wasn’t out to make her mother feel bad about the fact that she didn’t have her father in her life. She’d once had a schoolteacher pull her aside to tell her she had a very nice stepfather and should be grateful for him. But Maya hadn’t been complaining about Eric when she wrote that paper about her father—she just wanted to fill in the blanks. Even those kids who didn’t have any contact with their father had usually met him—or at least seen a picture. Maya knew almost nothing! “It’ll be easier now that I’m living here.”

  “In what way?” Annie asked.

  “We know he was probably close to my mom’s age. And we know he was living here when she got pregnant, which would be nine months before I was born. I say we go to the library.”

  “How will that help?”

  “The motorcycle wreck that killed him should’ve been reported in the paper. I tried to find something about it online, but it said old newspapers were put on micro...something at the library.”

  “Good! We’ll find out what that means, because you’re right. Wrecks and deaths and murders and stuff are usually in the paper, especially here, because we don’t have a lot of other news.”

  “If that doesn’t work, maybe there’s a way to learn who was living here the year I was born,” Maya said. “A list or something. His name is weird, like you said, so if we look through all the school yearbooks from that time, we might find him. There can’t be two Madsens.”

  Annie’s eyes flew wide. “Of course! You’re so smart! Even if we can’t find any high school yearbooks at the library, we can ask at the high school. The secretary or someone else probably keeps them. Did your mother go to Albany or McGregor?”

  “The colors of her graduation tassel were red and white, so...”

  “The Bulldogs. That’s McGregor. We’ve narrowed it down some already.”

  “Annie! Maya! Neil! Dinner’s ready!” Annie’s mother called from downstairs.

  Maya heard Annie’s brother’s door open and rolled off the bed. “Do you think we’ll find anything?”

  “Of course I do. All we needed was a start, and now we’ve got that,” she said and lifted her hand for a high five.

  * * *

  It was so anticlimactic to learn Jada was in town and then have the rest of the month go by without a single sighting or confrontation. Maddox almost laughed at himself for ever having considered moving. He would’ve given up a good job for nothing. A decent living arrangement, too. Because he avoided stopping in town whenever possible and mainly just went back and forth between the orchard and the school, he’d been spending a lot of evenings playing chess with Uriah. At first, he’d done it because he couldn’t bring himself to say no to someone who was so obviously lonely, especially when he was bored himself and had no good reason to refuse. But it was getting to the point where he looked forward to the challenge Uriah posed. The old man wasn’t easy to beat. He still had a sharp mind, but that was what made Maddox feel sorry for him the most. His body was slowing down, could no longer keep up with all that had once been so easy for him, which had to evoke the worst kind of frustration. It had to be sad to lose the people you loved, too. Maddox always felt bad when he saw Uriah’s gaze linger on the photograph that graced his wife’s piano—their wedding picture. And he was still curious about Uriah’s son. The man never talked about him.

  “Your move,” Uriah said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Maddox grumbled. He’d let Uriah split his king and queen with a knight, so he had no choice except to move his king out of check, which would sacrifice his queen. Maddox had battled back from a deficit before, but he wasn’t seeing a clear way out this time.

  Although...he still had both rooks. Maybe he could manage to bring one of his pawns across the board and get his queen back. That would take some maneuvering, but...

  After he lost his queen, Maddox captured Uriah’s knight. “Your move.”

  “I think I’m going to win this one,” he said.

  Maddox scowled at him. “I haven’t given up yet.”

  A slight smile curved the old man’s lips—right before he took one of the rooks Maddox was depending on to help save the game. How Maddox hadn’t seen that coming was beyond him. It was so obvious. “Damn.”

  Uriah chuckled. “Your mind isn’t on chess this evening. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  “It’s still early, only...what, six? You need to get out, do something. It’s a Friday, for God’s sake. The weekend’s here.”

  “And what do you think I should do?”

  “Go to a movie. Grab dinner with a date. Get a drink. You know, burn off some of that restless energy. You’re too young to be working all the time.”

  Maddox finished the soda Uriah had offered him. Uriah had confided that he’d once had an alcohol problem, so he didn’t touch the stuff these days, didn’t even have it in the house. “I’m not working all the time. I’m right here, playing chess with you, aren’t I?”

  “Yes, and you’re doing it often enough that I know you’re not doing anything else.”

  “That’s okay.” Maddox laid down his king to signify his surrender. “Let’s start another match.”

  “No.” Uriah pushed away from the board. “Get out of here.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Go do something fun.”

  Maddox had been feeling cooped up, on edge, tense. “I guess I could go to Santa Barbara...”

&n
bsp; Uriah waved that idea away with one gnarled hand. “Don’t waste your time with the drive. It’ll cost you a lot more if you need to take an Uber home. Just go down to the Blue Suede Shoe. They have a live band playing on the weekends.”

  “And if Jada is there?” They’d spoken a little about Jada, so Uriah knew Maddox wanted to avoid her.

  “Let’s face it. You’re going to run into her at some point. You might as well get it over with so you can be comfortable in this town.”

  “I’m not convinced I’ll be any more comfortable after. I’m sure she wants me gone.”

  “She might not even be there. She’s probably manning the store for her mother until nine. And if I’m wrong? Maybe she’ll feel more comfortable, too, if you clear the air. Let her know you have no ill intent. Tell her your brother won’t be moving here when he gets out on the twentieth. A little reassurance can go a long way.”

  Maddox remembered the night he’d driven past her house. He’d wanted to apologize then. He’d decided to give the Brookses some time, but three weeks might be enough. “I’m not convinced she’s ready to hear from me.”

  “Then she can say so.”

  Letting his breath go in a long sigh, he stood up. “All right. What’s the worst that can happen? They figure out a way to get rid of me like they did before?” he joked, but Uriah didn’t laugh.

  “They’d better not even try.”

  Maddox smiled at him.

  “You’ve grown up since then.” He clapped Maddox on the back. “Let’s just hope they’ll give you the chance to prove it.”

  * * *

  Jada wasn’t at the Blue Suede Shoe. At first, Maddox was relieved. He sat at the bar, had a drink and watched a Dodgers game. As he listened to others talk and laugh, he realized that he was getting lonely here in Silver Springs. Coming to a “new” place, one where the only people he knew, other than Aiyana and her two sons who also worked at New Horizons, didn’t want him around, wasn’t conducive to him making friends.

  Still, he was glad he’d come out tonight. Uriah had been right—he’d needed the change of scenery.

  Oddly enough, as the night wore on and he kept watching the door, he began to feel more disappointed than relieved. He’d never had a chance to talk to Jada after Atticus was shot, to tell her how broken up he was by it all and how terrible he felt for her brother. While the prospect of confronting her remained as daunting as ever, it was also an opportunity he craved.

  So instead of driving home when the game ended, he found himself cruising past Sugar Mama. He didn’t want to go in if Susan was there. But if Jada was alone, and the store wasn’t busy, he figured it would be a good opportunity to speak to her.

  He couldn’t see any customers inside the store, but the window didn’t show everything. Movement told him there was someone behind the counter. Was there a second person in back?

  He drove around to the alley, hoping to get a better idea of what and whom he might face, and was encouraged when he saw only one vehicle: the Chevy Volt.

  That could mean Jada was working alone...

  Or had her mother hitched a ride to work?

  He figured he might as well find out. It’d be easier to encounter them both for the first time here, while there wasn’t anyone else in the store, than in a crowded restaurant or bar.

  He parked down the street, so that he wouldn’t start any tongues wagging with his visit, and ambled down the covered sidewalk. He was grateful that the sun was finally setting. Normally, he loved the long days of summer, but tonight he felt obvious, awkward, out of place. Dusk blurred the lines around him, made him feel as though he didn’t stand out as much as he would otherwise.

  When he came close to the sign for Sugar Mama, he stopped and glanced uncertainly into the street to see if anyone was watching him.

  There didn’t seem to be, but he turned around, anyway. This was bullshit, he told himself. He was stupid to bother her. Everything had been going along fine. He just needed to keep his distance.

  But after only three steps, he stopped again. He wanted to see her. Was that so terrible?

  Without allowing himself to think about it again, he took a deep breath, went back and walked into the store.

  6

  Jada was in the back putting the last of the cookies into plastic bags and marking them as “day olds,” which meant they’d be on sale tomorrow, when she heard the bell over the door and cursed under her breath. Of course, as soon as she started closing up early so she could go home and do her own work, she’d have a customer. It had been absolutely dead tonight. An hour had gone by since her last sale. But she should’ve known better, she told herself. It never failed.

  Plastering a smile on her face to cover her exhaustion and irritation, she hurried out to greet her new patron and froze. An older, taller and much more muscular version of Maddox stood on the other side of the display cases. His black hair was still thick and wavy and looked as though it could use a good cut, but she liked it. It softened the harsher lines of his cheekbones and jaw.

  He’s more beautiful than ever. That was the first thought that went through her mind. The rest was just panic. Since she’d learned he was in town, she’d been keeping a sharp eye out for him. She’d expected to encounter him eventually. It stood to reason that if they lived in the same area long enough, it was bound to happen. But she’d never dreamed he’d just stroll into the cookie shop one night.

  “Maddox...”

  He shoved his hands into his worn jeans. “Jada, I hope... I hope you don’t mind me stopping by. I just... I wanted to tell you a few things.” He gestured toward the door. “And then I’ll get out of here and leave you alone, okay?”

  She could hardly breathe. She saw so much of him in their daughter. Those beautiful eyes. The proud chin. The hint of vulnerability he was trying so hard to mask with all that raw masculinity.

  Thank God Maya was spending the night with Annie tonight and wasn’t helping in the shop.

  Jada swallowed hard. “Okay.” She wanted to say a few things herself but didn’t know how or where to start. It didn’t seem to matter, anyway, because her throat had nearly closed off. She couldn’t have said much if she’d tried.

  He blew out a sigh. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I want you to know that. I never intended for anyone to get hurt when I pushed you to take Atticus to that party. It’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have done it. The consequences of my actions have been...terrible. But I never dreamed anything like that would happen. It came out of nowhere. Tobias was always a little troubled, of course. And angry at the world. Hell, we both were. Still, I didn’t know that anyone would have a gun, let alone that he’d somehow get hold of it or use it.”

  “Maddox...”

  He held up a hand so she’d let him finish. “Anyway, it might seem as though I just went on and lived my life, as cavalier as you please, while your and your brother’s lives were destroyed. But that isn’t the case. I’ve thought about it almost every day since. And I’m sorry. I would give anything to change the past, but since that’s not possible, I want to assure you that I won’t make what happened worse by getting in your way or bothering you or your family now that I’m working in the area, okay?”

  She blinked several times, trying to stanch the tears that suddenly welled up, but it was no good. She could feel them spilling over her lashes and running down her cheeks.

  When he saw her reaction, the color drained from his face. “I shouldn’t have come. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry. That’s all I wanted to say. I’ll leave you alone,” he said and hurried out before she could utter another word.

  Jada wanted to go after him. She started around the counter before realizing that she couldn’t leave the store unattended. She’d have to lock up first and by then he’d be gone, or so far away it’d create a spectacle to chase him down. Her mother wouldn’t be happy if she
closed up during business hours in the first place, but to close up to speak to Maddox?

  Evangeline might see her talking to him and say something to Susan, and Jada knew how well that would go over. Once Susan had learned that Maddox was in town, Jada had wanted to tell Atticus, too. Get it over with so they all knew and could deal with the reality. But her mother insisted that any reminder of that night would send her brother into a deep depression. When Jada insisted he’d find out eventually, Susan had said she’d look for the right time to tell him herself. From the way Atticus was acting, that hadn’t happened yet.

  Jada started toward the back. She needed a chance to recover before she finished closing. But before she could even reach the small bathroom and blow her nose, the bell sounded over the door out front again.

  Squeezing her eyes closed, she tried to summon the strength to pretend nothing had happened. She didn’t want to face any customers right now.

  Besides, it was closing time. She was eager to be done.

  But it wasn’t a customer. It was Tiffany, who’d decided that they were going out tonight even if they had to drive to Santa Barbara for Jada to feel safe.

  “Jada? Was that who I think it was?” she called.

  With a sniff, Jada dashed a hand over her cheeks before returning to the front.

  “Oh God,” Tiffany said after taking one look at her. “It was Maddox I passed on the street.”

  Jada nodded. She’d repressed so many of her feelings since the night Atticus was shot. She’d had to, for her brother’s sake. He’d been what was important—helping him get through his many surgeries and recovery. She’d felt responsible for what’d happened throughout it all. She’d also immediately fallen in line with her parents’ wishes, accepting their anger and punishments for her disobedience. In a way, it meant punishing herself, too, by cutting off all contact with Maddox.

  Seeing him brought it all back—the pain, the anger and the fear. “Yeah.”