She sucked in her breath.
“And it’s good to see you, Maddie. How’s the bookstore coming along?”
She nodded, because everyone else had. Then she said, “It’s good. Opening in a few weeks.”
“No more threatening notes?”
The temperature in the room felt like it plummeted. She was looking at Chief Lawrence, but could feel Rex’s eyes suddenly bore into her.
She shook her head. “Nope,” she said. “All is well.” Even she wouldn’t have believed her, thanks to the way her voice was quaking.
After some uncomfortable seconds, Rex broke the proverbial ice and said, “Hey, Ken. Pull up a chair. This sounds like something I should know about.”
Chapter 31
The Chief stayed nearly half an hour, until a nurse came in and said it was time for Rex to get up and walk, and that she needed to supervise him doing it. Before Maddie knew it, she was alone in the room, and extremely grateful that Ken hadn’t shared details of the notes with Rex.
“We’re pretty sure it was just some prank stuff,” he’d replied. “Remember what it was like to be bored as a kid in winter?” He no doubt was experienced at reading people’s expressions, and the look of horror that must have appeared on Maddie’s face must have helped shift the conversation.
She was also grateful for the nurse, because Ken took her interruption as the time to leave; he said good-bye to Maddie and followed the nurse and Rex out into the hall.
As Maddie sat, alone, she craved a glass of chardonnay. A big glass—even though she rarely drank alcohol, and certainly couldn’t now, what with the baby. She only wished the topic of the notes hadn’t come up right after she’d agreed with Rex that they would not have secrets from each other.
Thankfully, she was saved from her frustration because Francine arrived with three-year-old Reggie in tow.
“Hey,” Maddie said, “you’re a welcome surprise.”
“Where’s the patient? Every time I stop by, he’s unavailable.” She tossed her oversized bag on the floor. “I’m starting to feel like he’s avoiding me. I even brought this little guy so Rex could see his namesake.”
“Hi, Reggie,” Maddie said and rose to greet them.
The “little guy” lowered his head, then bashfully raised his big, dark eyes to Maddie.
“You are the sweetest boy,” Maddie said. Reggie was a wonderful reminder of how children can easily direct one’s perspective to joy. She touched her belly and smiled.
“He hopes your baby is a boy,” Francine said as she took a play mat from her oversized bag, unfolded it, and spread it on the floor, then placed three dinosaur-shaped trucks, a coloring book, and a small container of crayons on top. Reggie sat down on the mat and started to play without being prodded. “He says if Rex has a boy then he’ll have someone to play with who won’t boss him around the way our Bella does.”
Maddie laughed. At least Rafe was old enough to know better than to “boss around” a sibling.Rafe!she thought. She’d forgotten to ask Francine about someone to run the bookshop on Rafe’s graduation day.
“I need a favor,” Maddie said. “I stupidly scheduled the bookshop opening for Memorial Day weekend—and Rafe’s graduation is that Sunday. I know you’ll be busy with the Inn, but do you know anyone who could fill in for me for the day?”
Francine thought for a moment, then said, “As it happens, I do. How about me? Lucy will be home on the island for the summer, and she’s already excited to be back working at the Inn. So she can cover for me there. I can ask Charlie to cover for me at the Lord James, and I’ll cover for you. Sound good?”
“Sounds great.” Especially when Maddie remembered that “Charlie” was the name of Rex’s sous chef.
“But you’re going to go only for Sunday?” Francine asked. “Not for the whole weekend?”
“No. We’ll leave Saturday after I close the shop, and have enough time to catch the late boat back on Sunday night. A whole weekend there might knock me out, anyway. Especially since my ex will be there. Yuck.”
Francine laughed. “So, let’s see. By then you’ll be, what, more than seven months pregnant? And you don’t think that doing a round trip to and from Amherst in twenty-four hours won’t do more than knock you out? Have you forgotten how exhausting the last couple of pregnant months can be? Like how every hour seems like a month?”
Maddie slumped in her chair. “Yes, I had forgotten.”
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said all that. But yes, I’ll be happy to babysit your new shop. And if you need me for Monday, I can arrange that, too.”
“You’re an angel, Francine. I wish everything wasn’t happening at the same time, but once gradation’s behind us, my father will be here, too, and he can take over if I fall asleep between the bookshelves the next day.”
Smiling as she watched her son line his dinosaur trucks up for a race, Francine said, “You’re going to be a busy lady.”
