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  Beth sighed and looked out over the yard. It needed mowing already. “She’s been drinking.”

  “And you’ve been making excuses for her.”

  She squared her shoulders and faced him. “Excuse me if I don’t want you in my business, judging what I’ve done wrong.”

  He angled his head. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  She didn’t know. She reached behind her and gripped the rail. She’d made mistakes with Linda, no doubt, had indulged her too much. The child had essentially grown up with no parent but Beth. But she wasn’t going to admit that to Maddox.

  “Were you drinking?” She motioned to the scar by his eyebrow. “The night you wrecked?” The moment she asked, she wished she could take the words back. His mouth tightened, and something flashed in his eyes before he erased it.

  “I’ve been sober sixteen months, Beth.”

  He looked so betrayed, but she buried the tenderness, the urge to apologize, to soothe, to show him she believed in him. “So, no, then.”

  His eyelids flickered. “No.”

  “Is that why you came here? To get away from all that? Because you have to know they’re going to follow you here.”

  He ignored that, looking out over the yard. “I came by here to see if me playing at Quinn’s is going to be a problem for you.”

  And he expected her to tell him the truth? That she wanted him gone, in the past where he belonged? Like she’d let him know that weakness. “What, because we slept together a million years ago?”

  Something in his face hardened. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Really?” She folded her arms under her breasts and leaned against the rail. “Because I remember getting naked with you in the back of that Buick.” It had been her first time, and his. Yet instead of fumbling, he’d been so gentle and sweet and—best not to think about that. She wanted to turn away from that memory, but then…the whole weakness thing. She leveled a gaze at him. “I’m sure you’ve been naked with plenty of girls since.”

  His mouth twisted as he glanced toward the back door, like he was worried Linda would overhear. “Beth.”

  Suddenly making him as uncomfortable as she was no longer held its appeal. “Don’t worry about it, Maddox. You’re back, I’m still here, no big. It’ll be good for the town that you’re here.” God, she was such a liar. But was she really strong enough to ask him to leave? She relaxed her stance a bit, because he had been her first. “It’s not a problem. And thank you for helping with Jonas. But you should probably go now.”

  He rested his hand on the doorknob, but his body was turned toward her as if he was reluctant to leave. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow night then.”

  Not if she could help it.

  Beth looked good. He shouldn’t be thinking that as he drove away from her tiny house on the edge of town. He’d left her behind once, and he sure as hell wasn’t staying here long. But the years had been good to her, her figure had filled out past that skinny girl in the back of the Buick. She was strong, but God, she was bitter. He’d been afraid that would happen after her mama died and her daddy stopped coming home and she was left with a ten-year-old, a six-year-old and a two-year-old to raise. He hadn’t thought to ask what had happened to her brothers. She seemed to have her hands full enough with Linda. Where were Adam and Joey when she needed them?

  Of course, if they’d managed to escape Bluestone, she wouldn’t have called them back to help her out. She would have been happy to see them on their way. But doing it all on her own was taking its toll. He hated seeing her unhappy, and knowing that somewhere down the road, he was responsible for it.

  If only he could make sure she was happy again before he left this time.