For You (The Shore Book 2) (28 page)

“What?” Jessa’s voice turned kiddingly defensive. “A girl can’t call her friend to see how things are going? To find out what’s new in her life? Just to shoot the shit?”

“A girl absolutely can. The difference is,
you
never do.”

“Fine,” Jessa sighed. “You got me there.”

“Ha! Okay then, how ‘bout you tell
me
what’s up?”

“Well…”

“Ohmygod! Wait! I have something to tell you! I can’t believe I didn’t call you sooner!” She didn’t give Jessa even the slightest chance to finish her thought. “You will never, not in a million years, guess who knocked on my door the other day.” Madison’s was full of excitement, talking a mile a minute.

Knowing there was little that got her friend
that
excited, Jessa decided to put her news on the back burner and play along.

“Umm … Channing Tatum?”

Madison laughed. “No, however that would be damn nice!”

“How about … Jake Owen?”

“And I would be excited about a country singer knocking on my door because …?”

“Hey! Don’t be rippin’ on my boys! I
am
impressed you knew he was a country singer though. Plus, that man is fucking gorgeous!”

“Sorry,” Madison grinned. “You get one more guess.”

Jessa thought for a moment and then pulled another name out of her ass. She seriously had
no
idea who could have been knocking on Madison’s door.

“Okay, how about Ryan Reynolds.”

Madison laughed again. “No. Not even close. This person isn’t a celebrity. Or male, for that matter.”

“Then just tell me who the hell it was.” Jessa chuckled as she shook her head.

“My daughter.”

Jessa was quiet as she replayed in her mind what she thought she heard Madison say.

“Did you hear me?” She had expected
some
sort of response.

“Did you just say ‘my daughter’?”

“I did.”
 

“Holy shit, Mad!”

Madison laughed. Jessa was the only person who knew she had given birth, besides Ellie, of course. She still couldn’t believe she didn’t think to call her sooner.

“It’s all kind of amazing.”

“Who is she? What’s her name? What does she look like? How did she find you? What’s she like? What happens now that she found you?”

“Whoa! Slow down. I can only answer one question at a time,” she chuckled.

Madison ran down the events that happened, starting with Issy showing up on her doorstep and finishing with Declan finding the letter Ellie had left for her.
 

“Ohmygod, Mad. That’s just … unbelievable.”

“I know. It was so surreal, seeing the drawing I made and the letters from Ellie. It brought all the memories right back.”

“Are you okay? That’s a huge piece of your history coming back into your life.”

“Yeh, I really think I am. I’m excited to spend time with her. Get to know her.”
 

“I am so happy for you, Mad. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like.”

“She is awesome. I think you’d like her.”

“That’s a foregone conclusion - she came from you. There’s no doubt I’ll love her, too.”

Madison felt like the smile on her face would never go away. Her life had completely changed in the last few days and she couldn’t have been happier about it. As she started to calm down, she remembered it was Jessa that had called her. “I’m sorry. I totally cut you off before. What was it you wanted to tell me?”

“That was some pretty major news. But … I have some pretty big news myself.”

“Uh oh. It’s not time for Grammy nominations, so it can’t be that.”

Jessa laughed. “No, not quite. This is personal anyway.”

“Personal, huh? I have no idea. Just tell me.”

“Well … Trent and I just got back from Vegas last night -”

“And you two visited one of the little white chapels?” Madison teased, interrupting Jessa’s story.

“We did!”

Madison nearly drove her car off the road. “You what?”

“Trent and I got married.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No. We decided to just do it. I had a meeting and asked him to go with me. While we were out one night, he asked if I’d marry him.”

“And you decided to just hop on down to one of the chapels?” Madison didn’t care that the hurt in her voice was coming through.

Jessa laughed, obviously happy with their decision. “Pretty much.”

“Are you pregnant? Because you know you don’t have to get married just because -“

“Mad! No. We … we didn’t want to wait, so…”

“Wow.” Madison’s voice almost sounded angry.
 

“Mad, come on. Be happy for me.”

“I’m just surprised, Jess, that’s all.”

“I know, but … I love him, Mad.”

“How long have you guys been together? Hell, you haven’t even told me anything about him. I barely met the guy. Didn’t you want us at your wedding? Your friends and family?”

“I knew my parents wouldn’t be happy, that they’d have wanted to be there, but … I figured of anyone, you would understand.” It was Jessa’s turn for the hurt to be heard. “We’ve been together for a few months. It’s so different than any of the others guys, Mad. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just … I feel it in my bones. I would be devastated if something happened to him. I want nothing more than to make him happy. Help him fulfill his dreams. He’s a musician, and he’s
so
good. He’s on the cusp of getting his first deal and I want to help him with that.”

“So he’s just using you to advance himself in the business?”

Jessa sighed. “No. Come on, you know me better than that. He’s working his own connections. I just … Can’t you be happy for me?”

Madison took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m sorry, Jess. I’m just confused. Remember what happened last time? You thought what’s-his-name was all that, and it turned out he was
 
using you.”

“I know, but it’s not –”

“What, not like that? Not like he’s a musician? Not like he’s looking for his big first break? And he sees a beautiful woman who clawed and dragged her way up the food chain? Hell, your phone alone has how many phone numbers in it? Managers, producers, musicians, singers that have made it big?”
 

“Mad, stop it.”

It was quiet on the other end for a long moment.

“I appreciate you watching over me, and I totally get your concern. And believe me when I tell you the last thing I want is a repeat of what happened last time. I never want to go through something like that again, which is why I told Trent what happened, so he knows. I also told him I’d castrate him if he even thought about using me like that.”
 

Madison grunted but didn’t say anything.

“I get it, Mad, I do. This time it’s different. Maybe when you meet someone, and fall in love yourself, you’ll understand. You’ll understand why I made the choice I did.”

“Are you happy?” Madison’s tone had changed. It was softer now. She wasn’t convinced what happened was a good thing, but she trusted Jessa. The woman knew how to handle herself and had no doubt she would follow through on her threat if Trent hurt her. Hell, Madison would hand her the dull knife.

“I am
so
happy, Mad.”

“Then I’m happy for you, Jess. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Thank you.” The smile had returned to her voice. “When I come to town next time, the four of us can get together for dinner, okay? You can get to know my husband, and I can get to know your daughter.”

“That’s so weird to hear. I do like the idea though. Besides, I need to give him the threat of death and dismemberment if he hurts you.”

Jessa laughed, glad to hear her friend had turned back to her normal self. “Just leave his manhood alone, okay?”

“Manhood?” Madison laughed. “We’ll see about that…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Declan and Ty arrived at the condo a few hours later.

“Home sweet home.”

As Ty looked around, Declan suddenly saw the place with different eyes. It was plain, and quite frankly, a little dull. He hadn’t planned on spending much time there, but started thinking he needed to invest some time into making this house more of a home, especially if he was going to be staying in Charlotte to be close to Madison.
 

Thankfully Aidan and his partners had some pretty powerful connections and were able to pull a lot of strings. Declan was given permission to take Ty to the home where he’d been staying, get his things and bring him back to the condo. For good. Tyler Johnson was now Declan’s legal responsibility for the next seven months and three days – until the day Ty turned eighteen and legally became an adult.

“Come on. This way.” Declan threw his bag on the couch and started giving him the tour. They walked through the living room to the kitchen, then hung a left to a hallway that had three doors. He opened the one on the left. “Bathroom.” He came to the second door but pointed at another down the hall. “That one’s my bedroom.” He opened the door in front of them and walked in. “And this is where you’ll be staying.”

The room had a simple double-sized bed in the corner with a table beside it. A dresser was on the opposite end and a small chair sat next to the window. It was quaint and functional, but that was about it.

“I see you’ve done a lot with the place,” Ty teased as he took in the room.

“Hey, I don’t sleep in it.”

Ty turned and faced Declan, looking him in the eye. “All joking aside, I just wanted to say thank you. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. We’ve got some thing to iron out, but I think this’ll be good. And tonight we’re going to sit down and talk about the rules.”

Ty nodded. “Okay.”

“Make yourself comfortable. I need to go make a call.”

Declan left Ty’s room and walked to his own, closing the door behind him. He wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. He didn’t know the first thing about caring for a seventeen-year-old boy.
 

“Hey, babe,” Madison offered in greeting as she answered the phone. “How are things going?”

“Well …” Declan sighed.

“Uh oh.” She wasn’t sure she could handle any more bombs.

“No, things are okay. We found out Ty’s been sleeping at the gym the last few weeks.”

“What?”

“And now … now he’ll be sleeping in my spare room.”

“Wow … I didn’t expect that answer.”

“Yeh, me either.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“I am. I want to do whatever I can to help him, Mad. He’s had such a shitty life, I want there to be some good that happens.”

“You sound like Ellie,” she responded with a smile.

“I can’t say you haven’t been popping in my mind all day.”

“You’re doing a good thing. Ty is very lucky to have you.”

“I hope he still thinks so after I lay down the rules tonight at dinner.”

Madison laughed. “Don’t be too hard on him. He
is
almost an adult.”

“I know.”

They were quiet for a moment until Declan broke the silence.

“How are things at work?”

“Fine,” Madison sighed. “I had some explaining to do with my boss. Good thing he likes me.”

“Oh he does, does he?” Declan teased.

Madison laughed. “Not like that. We just have a good working relationship. He’s very understanding.”

“That’s good.”

“I should probably get back to it. I have about a thousand more emails to get through before I can head home.”

“Okay. I’ll call you later.”

Chapter 26

Madison thought about Issy as she waited for the gas pump to stop. She had texted her from Ryan’s house to let her know she’d arrived at the shore and would be back in Charlotte the next day.
 

Since Declan was busy with Ty for the evening, she was contemplating sending Issy a text to see if she wanted to get together for dinner. She started typing the words when her phone rang.

“Hey, Issy.”

“Hey. How’s it going?”

“Good. I was just on my way home from the office and about to send you a text.”

“You were?” Issy sounded surprised.

Madison laughed. “I was. I wanted to let you know I was back in town.”

“Oh. Thanks. I was wondering that.”

“So what’s up?” Madison asked nonchalantly.

 
“I was, umm, just wondering if you were busy tonight.”

Madison smiled to herself. “I’m not. What did you have in mind?”

“Dinner, maybe?”

“Dinner sounds great. I need to head home real quick and grab a shower, but then I could meet you somewhere, or pick you up. Whatever works for you.”

“Do you think you could pick me up? I could introduce you to Brooke real quick. She wants to meet you.”

“That sounds perfect. Why don’t you text me your address and I’ll text you when I’m on my way. It won’t take me long at the house.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

Madison hung up the phone and bit her lower lip as she smiled. She wasn’t sure how her relationship would work with Issy, but she was excited to see her taking the initiative so they could get to know each other.
 

A little over an hour later, Madison pulled into the driveway of Issy’s house. The neighborhood was near where she lived while going to school and the houses brought back a lot of memories.

She walked up to the door and knocked. A moment later, Issy answered with a smile. “Hey!”

“Hi.”

“Come on in.” Issy opened the door and stepped aside.

Madison walked into the living room and smiled to herself. The furniture and décor were very mix-n-match, just like it had been in her house during her college years. Her eyes went to the couch where a blonde-haired girl was looking at her skeptically.
 

“Madison, this is Brooke, my best friend. Brooke, this is Madison, my biological mom.”

Madison stepped forward and offered her hand to Brooke. She accepted it but stayed seated.

“It’s nice to meet you, Brooke. Issy has told me a bit about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too.”

It wasn’t that Brooke was being cold, she just wasn’t being warm. Madison wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, so she did the only thing she could think to do.