Cold Feet. Brenda Novak

you’d want to know,” she said. “He tried stopping by your place before coming here. I guess you weren’t home, but I’m sure he’ll try again.”

      “Did he hit you up for money?”

      Madison didn’t want to admit that Johnny had asked for money, because she probably shouldn’t have given him any. But letting him have what he wanted was the easiest way to deal with her conscience over everything that had happened—or not happened—in his life.

      “He asked for a few bucks,” she said.

      “Did you give it to him?”

      “What do you think?”

      “Madison, we’ve talked about this before.”

      “I know.” The emotions that made her give Johnny the money were so complex she couldn’t have explained them if she’d tried. Especially because she felt some of the same guilt about Tye. He’d certainly turned out a lot better than Johnny, but he’d endured the same kind of childhood, and it had taken her years to get to know him well enough to feel comfortable calling him occasionally. “I won’t give him any more,” she said.

      She could hear Brianna at the door, greeting Caleb with a chilly, “Oh, it’s you. ” Momentarily distracted, Madison covered the phone to tell Brianna to mind her manners. But she was trying to get the pancakes off the griddle at the same time Tye was asking where she’d moved their father’s coffin. She decided to have a talk with Brianna later. “He’s at the Green Hill Cemetery in Renton,” she told Tye.

      Caleb’s footsteps came down the hall and into the kitchen. She turned to wave a welcome, and ended up letting her gaze slide quickly over him instead. Not many men looked so good in a simple rugby shirt and a pair of faded jeans.

      No wonder he had beautiful blond women visiting him in the middle of the night. The only mystery was that the woman hadn’t stayed until morning and made him breakfast herself.

      He gave her a devastating smile. “Smells great.”

      Madison told herself not to burn the food. “I hope you like pancakes.”

      “I like everything.”

      Suddenly remembering that she had Tye on the phone, she cleared her throat and told Caleb to have a seat. “I’ll be with you in a second,” she said. “I’m talking to my brother. I hope you don’t mind.”

      “No problem.” He removed the newspaper he’d been carrying under one arm and spread it out on the table.

      Brianna sat directly across from him, twirling the fork at her place setting and glaring at him.

      Madison threw her daughter a warning glance. Then she turned her attention back to Tye, because there was something she still wanted to ask him. Johnny had told her that Tye and Sharon were having problems, but Tye acted as though nothing had changed.

      “Would you and Sharon like to drive over and have breakfast with us today?” she asked, trying to introduce the subject of Sharon as naturally as possible. Madison hoped, if he needed to talk, he might feel safe opening up to her. “It’s nearly ready, but you don’t live far. We could wait.”

      “Not today,” he said. “The kids have soccer games.”

      “Oh.” Madison poured more batter on the griddle, wondering what to say next. She wanted him to know he could trust her, but she didn’t want him to think she was prying into his personal business. “Maybe Brianna and I could come and see them play.”

      “Next week would be better,” he said.

      “Next week” would probably never come. Madison wanted to see more of her nieces and nephews, but Tye was always so aloof. “Well, you know I’m here if you need anything, right? You’d call me if…if you ever felt like you wanted to talk, wouldn’t you?”

      “Of course,” he said. But she knew he never would. Madison was fairly certain he still harbored some of the resentment he’d felt toward her when they were young. She had no idea what she could do to overcome it. She’d never mistreated Johnny or Tye. Some of the anger they felt toward Ellis for not being there when they needed him, and her mother for being such an unresponsive stepmother, had slopped over onto her.

      “I’d better go,” he said. “I don’t want to make the kids late for their games. Thanks for telling me about Johnny.”

      “Sure.” She hung up, feeling slightly hurt that Tye never wanted to include her in his life.

      The rattle of the newspaper behind her reminded her that she had other things to think about.

      She poured Caleb Trovato a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice and motioned for Brianna to put down her fork and quit staring daggers at him.

      “Thanks,” he said, lowering the paper enough to look over it. He glanced at Brianna, grinned and went back to reading his paper.

      Brianna’s expression darkened the moment she realized her acute unhappiness at his presence caused Caleb no discomfort.

      Madison decided she really had to talk to Danny about unifying their efforts to raise their daughter as a happy, well-adjusted child. “Did you sleep well?” she asked Caleb, cracking an egg into the skillet she’d just gotten out.

      He folded the paper and set it to one side. “Very well. You?”

      She was more than a little curious about Caleb’s late-night visitor. But she wasn’t about to mention it. She didn’t want to seem like a nosy landlady—especially when she guarded her own privacy so carefully. “Fine, thanks.”

      “Was that the brother who came by last night?” he asked, nodding toward the telephone.

      “No, that was Tye. He’s a year older than Johnny.”

      “Do you have any other siblings?”

      “Just the two brothers.”

      “They’re both weird,” Brianna volunteered, wrinkling her nose. “And Johnny stinks.”