Take a Chance on Me(66)

Gracie opened her mouth, but Charlie squeezed her shoulder and she snapped her lips shut.

Maddie didn’t know what the hell was going on and, at the moment, didn’t care. She had Mitch to worry about.

And Steve.

A slow throb pounded at her temples. Unable to help it, she looked out the window, her gaze roaming up and down Main Street. Searching.

“Hello, Maddie,” a deep male voice said behind her.

Her stomach dropped like a lead weight. She slowly turned. “Hello, Steve.”

While she felt like she’d lived a lifetime since she’d last seen him, he looked remarkably unchanged: composed as ever with his blue-eyed, sandy-haired boy-next-door good looks. His tall, lean frame was immaculately dressed in a white shirt and khakis. No stress showed in either his face or stance. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect to find you so easily, but here you are. It must be my lucky day.”

Bile rose in her tight throat and she didn’t dare look at Charlie and Gracie sitting across from her, far too quietly. “What are you doing here?”

Steve smiled, a calm, easy smile. “I’m here to claim my runaway bride.”

God, reality was a cold, cruel bitch.





Chapter Seventeen



There was no more hiding. No more running. Fate had taken the choice out of her hands and now she had to do the right thing. Maddie glanced over at Charlie and Gracie.

Maddie could not, would not, have this conversation in front of them. She cleared her throat. “Can you excuse us? I’ll go outside with Steve.”

“No.” Charlie’s voice had a flat, do-not-f*ck-with-me tone.

“I’ll be fine,” Maddie promised. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jean shorts and jutted her head toward her ex-fiancé. “I owe him.”

“I’ve been taking care of her since she was fifteen. She’s perfectly safe,” Steve said, his tone calm and reasonable, as though she’d misbehaved at the church picnic instead of running out on their wedding.

Gracie shot a nervous “do something” look at Charlie, who assessed Steve like he was a murder suspect. Long, tense moments passed before he shifted his attention to Maddie.

She nodded slightly in response to the clear question in his black eyes.

“All right,” Charlie said, as though he had every right to the final say. He turned his body so Steve could not miss the silver star on his chest. “Stay where I can see you.”

“I’m not here to cause any trouble, Officer,” Steve said pleasantly. “I only want to speak to my fiancée.”

Maddie cringed at the word.

“Sheriff,” Charlie corrected. “And stay where I can see you.”

“Not a problem.”

He was so agreeable that Maddie experienced an almost irresistible urge to smack him, which was completely childish and wrong.

Steve smiled at Charlie. “Her family and I have been worried sick. I’m sure you can appreciate me wanting to make sure she’s safe, can’t you, Sheriff?”

Charlie’s only response was stern, narrowed eyes.

Guilt at the mention of her family sat like a rock in her stomach, and Maddie cursed herself for taking the easy way out yesterday by not calling them. She rubbed her temples. She had to stop this avoidance. It solved nothing. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Maddie scrambled from her seat. “Let’s go, Steve, and we can talk.”

He took her elbow. She walked toward the front door and at the same moment he pulled her toward the back booth. They stopped and stared at each other. The clatter of dishes and din of patrons was too loud, making her hyper-aware of the spectacle they made and reminding her that she was the subject of gossip. She pointed at the door. “Let’s go outside.”

“It’s ninety degrees and humid. I’m not going to have this conversation on a sidewalk,” Steve said, his grip tightening slightly on her arm.

He was right. The sidewalk wasn’t the place, and while the middle of a crowded diner wasn’t either, the only other option was his car. And there was no way in hell she wanted to be alone with him.

She went.

Once they’d reached the empty back-corner booth next to the kitchen, Steve let go of her arm and she slid into the red vinyl bench seat.

Maddie’s stomach churned the black coffee she’d been drinking.

The pink-streaked-haired waitress ran over. “Hi, like, what can I get you?”


“Nothing,” Steve said, not bothering to give Maddie a chance to answer. The girl’s face fell and she walked away, albeit much more slowly than before.

When she was out of earshot, Maddie folded her hands on the table and looked directly at Steve. She’d known him almost half her life, and yet, in some ways he was a stranger. She cleared her throat. “Steve, I’m sorry for what I did and how I left. It was unforgivable, but as I told you on the phone, I don’t want to talk.”

“Do you honestly think I’m going to let you walk away without a word?”

“There’s no letting me,” she said. Her temper sparked and she shoved it back down. “I told you I need time alone.”

He shook his head. “For what? So you can talk yourself into some notion about how you’d be better off without me?”

“Steve, pay attention,” she said, her voice a too-loud whisper. “I ran out of our wedding. Call me crazy, but that’s a problem.”