I Speak...Love (A Different Road #3) (9 page)

I see it coming, and I flinch like someone is about to cold-cock me in the face as the woman’s arms wrap around me. Nina lets go of my arms, then her hand gently pats my back. I stand stiff as a board as a woman I don’t even know hugs me. The woman removes herself from me, then smiles at me.

“Oh, I’m Courtney by the way,” she says. “I’ll see you Saturday,” she says, then with a wave, she leaves.

The room stops spinning, and it’s then I realize I was just hired to do my very first paid photo session. Wait? It is paid. Right? Even if it’s not, who cares? Someone asked me to do a photo shoot!

The rest of the day, the leather bracelet Maddy gave me catches my eye and I can’t concentrate. Great, like I need one more thing to distract me. It was so unexpected of her to give me a gift though, but I really do love it.

At six, I pack up my briefcase and head home for the evening. I park in the driveway intending to go right back out to grab a quick bite to eat before I close myself in my office for the rest of the night and work. I go upstairs to my room and change out of my suit into a ratty old pair of faded, ripped jeans and a white t-shirt. I slip on a pair of chucks, then head back to my car. I put my hand on the top of the steering wheel to back out of the driveway, but the leather cuff on my wrist gives me a different idea.

Instead of driving to a fast food joint, I drive outside of Malibu to Maddy’s house. Her catering van is sitting in the driveway, so I get out of my car, walk up to the door, and knock.

No answer.

I walk halfway down the driveway and look down the street both ways. I wonder where she is. I get back in my car and decide to try and knock on the door again in fifteen minutes. Maybe she’s in the shower. Shit, that wasn’t a good idea to think about Maddy naked and wet in the shower. As I get in my car, my growing hard on strains the fabric of my jeans. I pull down the pant leg of my jeans, then adjust the unforgiving fabric around my cock.

No, you can’t think about her like that. You’ll only break her. Everyone you come into contact with will only end up hurt.

As I shake that thought, I see Maddy in a determined walk/jog coming down the street. The closer she gets, the more I see the distraught look on her face. I get out of my car and meet her just before she gets to the driveway of her house.

“Maddy?” I ask, concerned. She stops, and her eyes come to mine. They’re thick with unshed tears, and I haven’t seen her this upset since the day Kate almost drowned. The tears in her eyes start to ripple, and I can tell she’s trying extremely hard to keep them from falling down her face. She hasn’t said a word, and I’m starting to really worry. I gently place my hands around her arms, but she immediately pulls her arms away, then she backs away from me. I hold up my hands in surrender and look at her. “Maddy. What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I ask.

Her eyes slice away from mine and after a few minutes she raises her finger in a
just a minute
gesture, then she walks away from me up the driveway. She digs in her pocket, removes her keys, then inserts it in the front door. I slowly walk up the driveway and gently approach her. Her arms go rigid to her sides, and she doesn’t open the door. Her head tips up, then she grabs the keys and unlocks the door. She disappears into the house, and I walk just inside the door, leaving it open. I run my hand over the stubble on my jaw and wonder what I should do. Should I call Kate? I give her a few minutes to come back, but when she doesn’t, I reach in my back pocket for my cell phone. The door down the hallway opens, and Maddy walks out toward me. Her eyes no longer hold tears, but her face is red like she was crying in the bathroom the whole time.

“Maddy?” I question again.

She toes off a shoe, then with her leg, she forcefully flicks it clear across the room toward the front door. It slams against the wall with a loud thud, then it bounces on the floor. She does the same thing with her other shoe, then she goes to the refrigerator. I close the front door, then follow her into the kitchen. She removes two bottles of water and hands me one. Her silence is really freaking me out. We both stand in the kitchen, and if she doesn’t say something soon, I’m definitely calling my sister.

She sets her bottle of water on the kitchen island, then removes the bottle of water from my hand and twists the top off. She hands it back to me, then she looks at the water. I take a sip and only then does she crack the cap on her own and take a sip. Interesting she wouldn’t drink until I did.

“Maddy, if you don’t stay something soon I’m going to call Kate,” I tell her.

Her sorrowful eyes come to mine and fill with tears again. She swallows a huge lump in her throat, then she walks out of the kitchen into the family room. She plops down on the couch, then I sit down next to her and face her.

“Someone stole my camera,” she whispers, then takes a shuttered breath.

“What?” I ask, instantly filling with anger. She doesn’t say another word. She just starts to wring her fingers in her hand. “What do you mean someone stole your camera? Just now?” I ask, getting off the couch.

“I went for a walk like I always do to shoot some photos,” she starts with a wavering voice. “I set my camera down next to my shoe to tie my stupid laces, and a man ran up next to me out of nowhere and swiped my camera. I grabbed for it, and I was able to catch the strap.
God,
that stupid, worn strap! I had it, but it ripped completely in two right in my fingers, then he ran away,” she finishes.

“This happened just now? Show me where. Take me,” I say livid.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says.

“Maddy,” I say in a quieter, calmer voice, then sit back down next to her.

“That camera meant the world to me. It was a piece of broken shit, but it’s something I purchased with my own hard-earned money. I’ve sewn that strap so many times I’m sure it’s more thread than the actual strap. Its shell was cracked, and all the features didn’t work, but damn it—it was mine! It was me!” she yells, turning her head away from me.

It was me? I’m confused. Did he hurt her?

“Maddy, did he hurt you?” I ask, putting my hand on her upper arm.

She flinches as I touch her, but I don’t stop. Her hand comes up, and she wipes her face. She doesn’t want me to see her crying. Then it starts to dawn on me that the camera represents everything about her. It was broken just like she is. I run my hand down the back of her shoulder blade, and she gasps.

“Everything good in my life is always taken away from me. I just don’t understand why I can’t have anything good in my life,” she whispers.

My heart sinks in my chest because that’s my exact life. Everything I touch, everyone I come into contact with gets hurt or dies. Maddy is talking about her camera and I’m sure so many more things that I hope to find out about her, but for me, it’s people who are always taken away from me. I don’t say anything else to her, but I leave my hand on her back. The room starts to fill with darkness as the sun sets and after about twenty minutes she leans the weight of her body on my chest, then she rests her head on my shoulder. Soon my shirt is soaked with her tears.

As the room starts to darken, I lean into Stephen, then lay my head on his shoulder. My heart is heavy as yet again the inevitable has happened. Something I let myself love was taken away from me. I let myself slip, and I enjoyed one too many things that was going good in my life. I left the shop in shock that, me, Maddy Malone has a photo shoot Saturday. I even said it out loud. Why did I have to say it out loud? It’s like the world tips off its axis the second one too many good things happen to me.

I hurried home from work and changed my clothes, then I grabbed my camera excited to go outside on a beautiful evening. I spent my time trying my hand at macro photography. Well, as macro as the lens I had allowed. I captured ladybugs on plant leaves, bees on flowers, and I even got a butterfly perched on purple sand verbena, then I notice my shoe was untied. I carefully took the strap off from around my neck and gently placed my camera on the ground, then I tied my shoe.

Then it was gone.

It literally slipped from my fingertips just like everything else in my life. It was just my luck, I saw Stephen’s car sitting at the curb when I came home. I tried so hard to keep it together until I got myself locked safely in my house to cry. He kept asking me question after question, and I knew I couldn’t keep it together much longer. The only thing I could do was hold up my finger and leave him standing in my driveway. I walked in my house, then ran in the bathroom, and ugly cried like a heartbroken teenager.

My camera being stolen is only the tip of the iceberg. As devastated as I am, it isn’t the only thing being taken away. The camera fund I have is nowhere near close enough to buy even the broken camera I had. I don’t have enough money to even buy an entry level point and shoot camera. Now, I’ll have to call Courtney and cancel the shoot on Saturday. I let myself dream that I could be a paid photographer, and that was a huge mistake. Not only did I lose another piece of myself as well as a longtime dream, but I’ll crush Courtney when I tell her I can’t do the shoot, and Ben won’t get the photographs of his greatest blessings for his birthday . . . at least, not by me.

I let myself give in, and I let the tears run free on Stephen’s shoulder. It’s dark, and it’s a good thing he can’t see me. As I close my eyes, my stomach lets out a very loud grumble reminding me that I haven’t eaten. Hopefully, Stephen didn’t hear it.

“Maddy?” he calls.

He heard it.

“Um hmm,” I hum.

“As much as I
don’t
want to get off this couch with you right now, have you eaten dinner?” he asks.

“No,” I answer.

“Can I go get you something, or do you have something in your refrigerator I can get for you?” he asks.

“I have Fig Newton’s in the cupboard,” I answer. “Oh, never mind. I ate all of those last night,” I correct.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to go and eat anywhere, but can you at least come with me while I go pick something up? I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone right now,” he says.