Love in Maine Read Free Page A

wherever, if you don’t want the smell in the
     house.”
    “Oh, it’s not that, dear. Please don’t go to a restaurant, that’s just silly. I just
     meant I won’t be serving it or eating it.”
    “Well, after tonight I wouldn’t expect you to be serving me anyway—”
    “Yeah, right,” Henry mumbled.
    Maddie sat up straighter. She was not going to let this guy get to her. So he didn’t
     want a stranger in his mom’s house. Okay. Fine.
    Janet rolled her eyes as she finished putting dinner together. She stood at the stove
     and plated the food. “Just ignore him, Maddie. He’s very suspicious these days.” Janet
     spoke as if her enormous son were not even in the room. “I like you. That’s all that
     matters. Henry doesn’t live here, so he can just mind his own business.”
    The ignored Henry stared at his mother’s rigid back. The room was silent, and even
     the nighttime insects outside the screen door and open window over the sink went quiet.
    His voice was low and steady when he replied, “You are my business, Mom. Or so I thought.” Then he got up and walked over to the stove to
     give his mother a kiss good-bye. “You enjoy your dinner and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Janet turned to face her son, and Maddie tried to make herself invisible. “Hank, don’t
     worry, sweetheart. I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.” She reached up and patted his
     cheek. It looked like it was about all the physical contact he could stand. “You go
     on home and get a good night’s sleep.”
    He nodded once, then turned to the left and showed himself out the back door off the
     kitchen.
    Janet and Maddie listened to his hard, sure footsteps as they faded into the night.
    “Wow. He’s quite . . . something,” Maddie said.
    Janet smiled a sad, dispirited smile. “He’s had a rough go, so I probably spoil him.
     He’s gotten a little protective in return. He’ll come around. Not to worry. Now, let’s
     enjoy our delicious dinner.” Janet had set down two plates piled high with fresh leafy
     vegetables, grilled corn on the cob, and a hunk of what looked like freshly baked
     bread. Maddie had never tasted better food. Washing dishes for four hours straight
     had turned her appetite into something formidable.
    Turned out that washing dishes and waiting tables eight hours a day, five days in
     a row, turned her appetite into something resembling a ravenous beast. She finally
     had to tell Janet that she needed steak and fish and chicken, and lots of it, and
     of course she would buy it herself. But since Maddie hadn’t gotten her first paycheck
     yet, she asked Janet if she could pay her for her share of the food on Friday night
     when Phil was going to pay her. She was down to twelve dollars, after giving fifty
     as a down payment to Janet and spending very carefully on food that she had to buy
     when she wasn’t at Phil’s.
    Luckily, Henry Gilbertson hadn’t crossed her path since that first awkward night.
     Janet talked about him all the time, as if the three of them were great old friends,
     but Maddie figured Henry was avoiding her and that was fine by her. It turned out
     Henry lived in the apartment over Janet’s garage, but it was far enough away that
     Maddie never actually saw him. Apparently he worked twelve-hour days, most of it underwater
     in two-hour shifts.
    Janet went on and on about what a successful career he’d had as an engineer diver
     in the Army. And then she went on and on about how smart and wonderful he was. At
     first Maddie thought she was trying to play matchmaker, but eventually she realized
     that Janet was just insanely proud of him, so she let her rattle on. If half of what
     Janet said was true, he was a pretty intense guy. Maddie promised herself that she’d
     try to give him a second chance the next time she saw him. As long as he wasn’t a
     total jerk again.
    Friday afternoon Phil handed Maddie her first paycheck. For some reason, she wanted
     to take the