Christmas in Magnolia Cove (6 page)

“Fabulous. We got to tell both sets of parents that they are going to be grandparents! It was so fun. My Mom was in shock, but she is already planning the baby shower. I hope you’ll come…” Jenny continued spewing excitement over her pregnancy news while Madison formulated design plans for the house in her head.

“Of course I will come. Oh, there’s the contractor pulling up. I’d better get inside and get ready to meet with him.”

“Sure. I will chat with you later!” Jennifer said as she walked down the street toward her car.

Madison walked up the steps and unlocked the front door. She was excited to meet with the other half of her contracting team, especially since he would be the one that she worked with daily throughout the renovation. She really liked Buddy, but this guy looked younger… at least from far away.

As she walked inside, Madison looked around again. She would have never believed that the Granger place would one day be hers. Her trip back to Magnolia Cove had been a whirlwind of emotions from confronting her sister to finding out about her mother’s illness to seeing Brooks again. She was starting to feel hopeful, like nothing could touch her now. Those old high school memories could be wiped clean, right?

Wondering where the contractor was, Madison peeked out of the living room window. He was bent over the side of his truck, messing with something in his toolbox. She noticed his nice physique immediately, which was further accentuated by his rugged cowboy boots and perfectly tight jeans. Wearing an emerald green Henley, she started to imagine those muscular arms around her waist.

What is happening to me?
She thought. Her libido seemed to be on overdrive lately. First, she ogled Brooks and now this random contractor. She wondered what was going on in her head.

As he started to turn around, she ducked out of the window so he wouldn’t see her staring at him. Nonchalantly, she walked back into the foyer and opened the door for him. Carrying a heavy, metal toolbox, she could see the muscles bulging in his biceps. When she finally looked up, her heart stopped for a moment. Was he good looking? Yes. Was he completely and totally hot? Yes. Was he one of her biggest bullies from high school? Absolutely.

“Oh, my God…” she whispered with her mouth gaping open.

“Don’t I know you?” he said with a finger up like he was trying to place her.

“Well, I would certainly hope so, since you spent your high school years bullying me!” she snapped without thinking.

“Excuse me?” he said as he put down his toolbox and held out his hands in confusion.

“I’m Madison Carter… you know, the red head that you bullied through school?” she said with her hands on her hips.

“I wasn’t a bully in school. You must have me confused with someone else,” he said shaking his head.

“Wyatt Reed, right?” she said.

“Yes…” he said with a sexy smirk that she wanted to smack right off his annoyingly handsome face.

“Then I’m not confused, but you are apparently. Now, get out! Get out of my house!” she said walking behind him and opening the door.

“Madison, you hired my company to do this job. We gave up another job for this one…”

“Well, go get it back because I refuse to work with you!”

“We have a contract.” He stood still in the foyer, back turned to her, not moving.

Madison slowly shut the door and walked around in front of him.

“Can I just ask you something?” she said as she gathered up the courage to stare him in the eye.

“Certainly.”

“Why were you so mean to me? What did I ever do to you?”

“First off, I don’t remember being mean to you, Madison. I do remember your fiery red hair and those crystal clear blue eyes that you are currently using to shoot darts through my head. Secondly, I was a kid. Haven’t you changed since high school?” His logic escaped her as her anger spewed forth.

“Seriously? How can you not remember? You and your buddies made my life a living hell. You sang mean songs about me on the school bus and in the halls. Your dick best friend, Cameron, started all kinds of vicious rumors about me…”

“You can’t blame me for Cameron…”

“No, but you certainly did nothing to stand up for me, did you? Coward.” Madison turned away for a moment to keep her tears from spilling out.

“Look, I came here to do a job in good faith as written in our contract. I am not here to be a punching bag for things I may or may not have done many years ago. I suggest you move on, Madison,” he said in a monotone voice.

Madison realized that her reaction to him would only make her look weak. She needed the house renovated, and his company’s timeline and bid had far outweighed the others. With the new revelation of her mother’s health issues, she knew that she had to act like a professional and get over it.

“You are right, Mr. Reed. I need your services, so I will try to refrain from rehashing the past again. It was just a shock to see you,” she said softly as she avoided eye contact.

“Good. I’m not here to make your life miserable, Madison. People change. I’m sure you realize that. Mind if I take a look around the place?” he asked.

“Sure. Go ahead. I will wait down here,” she said as she sat down on a small bench in the foyer.

As he walked up the stairs, he looked back at her. “For what it’s worth, I should never have made fun of your red hair.”

“Oh, really?” she said sarcastically.

“Really. I’ve never seen such a beautiful combination of red hair and blue eyes.” With that, he walked up the stairs and Madison tried to catch her breath.

Wyatt Reed was used to getting what he wanted. Even in high school, he was a jock with girls following him everywhere. He was a baseball player who hoped to get a scholarship to college, but that never happened. A shoulder injury and subsequent surgery dashed any chance he had at becoming a Major League Baseball player.

Partnering up with his father’s best friend, Buddy, had proven to be a winning plan when it came to business. The two of them were awarded most of the contracting jobs in town, but he was second guessing the latest job Buddy had signed.

“Man, I’m telling you, she was mad. That red hair ain’t for nothing,” Wyatt said as he kicked back and put his feet on Buddy’s scuffed-up coffee table.

“Well, did she have a point? Did you bully her?” Buddy asked.

“That was so long ago. Kids make fun of each other, you know? Is it always called bullying?” Wyatt asked, leaning his head back and rubbing his hand over his eyes.

“Apparently she felt bullied. Think back. Do you remember anything about that time?” Buddy asked.

Wyatt sat for a moment and tried to think back. He had been so popular and busy in school that he didn’t think he even had time to bully anyone. He did remember Madison. She was tall and skinny with that fiery red hair and those crystal clear eyes. She was quiet and kept to herself. He remembered her being kind of artsy too.

“I really don’t remember any specifics, Buddy. How can I apologize for things that I don’t remember doing?”

“Sometimes it’s okay to apologize, even if we only think we might have done something wrong, Wyatt,” he said. Buddy had been Wyatt’s father’s friend since they were in middle school together. Buddy was also known as the down-to-Earth one while Clay Reed had been wild as a buck and always in trouble.

When Wyatt’s dad had passed away two years prior, Buddy had taken over that fatherly role. Whether Wyatt liked it or not, his business partner was like a surrogate father, and he gave a lot of the same advice to the son as he gave to the father.

***

“Good morning,” Wyatt said as he walked into the Granger house. Madison was busy holding up paint samples and looking at cabinet stains in the kitchen. It was a bright, open space but lacked any kind of design appeal. She wanted to hold on to the historical value of the home while also making it livable for the guests who would stay there.

“Good morning, Mr. Reed,” she said without looking at him.

“Please don’t call me that. My Daddy’s name was Mr. Reed.”

“Was?” she asked turning around.

“He died a couple of years ago. He had a heart attack,” Wyatt said. For a moment, she could see the pain in his eyes and connect it with her own. It was a momentary lapse in judgment, she thought, because he had taunted her throughout her grief over her father in high school.

“Sorry to hear that,” she said in a detached voice as she went back to looking at paint samples.

“Where would you like me to start today?” he asked.

“Probably here in the kitchen. We have a plumbing issue under this cabinet,” she said pointing to the sink.

“Got it. I’ll start at the sink, and then we can take it from there.”

“Buddy had assured me that there would be a crew working here so that things would be done by December tenth. Is that still the case?” she asked, worried that they would be alone in the house together for weeks.

“They’ll be here in a couple of days, once I get these small items done.”

“Fine,” she said.

“Madison?” he said as he walked toward her in the kitchen.

“Yes?” she responded feeling his presence too close to hers.

“I am sorry.”

“For what?”

“For whatever I did to you in school that made you think I was a bully. I was just a big, stupid jock following whatever my buddies did. I wish I could remember specific things that I did so I could apologize, but I honestly don’t remember anything at all.”

Madison felt a cross of compassion mixed with anger. She wanted him to remember what he did, but she couldn’t help feeling good that he’d apologized. It dawned on her that he might be apologizing simply because he didn’t want to lose the job.

“You don’t have to apologize. I’m not going to break the contract,” she said pursing her lips and holding up her hands to stop him from coming too close.

“Is that why you think I am apologizing?” he asked with his hands on his hips. “I was seriously trying to repair whatever damage I had done in school. You are an impossible woman!”

“You think a simple, general apology will repair what you did to me? I thought I was ugly and useless. I missed Homecoming and Prom because of the lies your buddies spread about me. My father died when I was sixteen, and the bullying never stopped. I never got a break. Kim Dixon cut part of my hair off at the movie theater once…”

“Wait. Kim Dixon?” he asked.

“Yes, you knew her well. Didn’t you guys date?” she asked.

“Oh, my God… I remember now… Kim hated you with a passion. We went out in junior year…” his voice trailed off.

“So?”

“Kim was the instigator. I can’t believe I didn’t remember this…”

“Remember what? Will you finish a freaking sentence?” Madison said irritated.

“Kim told me that you had ratted on her for cheating on Mr. Gilroy’s math final.”

“Never happened,” Madison said shaking her head.

“I know. She was lying to me…” he said with a smirk as he thought back to those old high school memories.

“Why would she do that? Why would she pick me to torment?”

“Because I said you were pretty,” he said looking down shaking his head.