Libby tossed her head back and laughed. “God no,” she said, smiling with amusement. “He wasn’t that kind of dad. He was the kind of dad who sometimes gave me money and every once in a while would take me to dinner and ask how I was doing. And then I wouldn’t hear from him for months.” She paused, looking off for a moment. “He took Emma and me to Disney once. But even then, I remember he stayed in the hotel watching sports while Emma’s mother took us to the park.”
As a child, Madeline had been dragged to Disney World with her mother and her friends, usually left to fend for herself, loosely chaperoned by some teen, while her mother and her friends stayed behind in a seedy hotel and drank. Madeline hated Disney because of that.
“How did you end up in California with Emma, if he was married to your mom later?” Madeline asked.
Libby sighed. “Oh, the drama.” She paused to pin a pillowcase. “We lived in Colorado Springs. When I was about eight, he and my mom broke up, and he went back to Emma’s mom in California. It was like a soap opera. Anyway, Mom and Dad had this big, ugly custody fight and she lost the first go-round. Dad didn’t want to pay child support.” She smiled sheepishly at Madeline. “I guess that’s no surprise.”
Madeline smiled back. “Unfortunately, no.”
“I was there a year or so with Emma and her mom, then Dad thought I’d be better off with my mom and shipped me home. My mom had met her second husband by then.”
“Do you keep in touch with Emma?” Madeline asked.
Libby clipped a sheet on the line. “Not really. Emma’s different. She’s always out in the world doing things. And she’s not very sentimental. Me, I’m more of a homebody. What about you?”
“It’s just me and my mom,” Madeline said. “She never married. And she wasn’t very good at holding down a job, so we bounced around a lot.”
“Looks like we have a few things in common after all, Madeline,” Libby said.
Madeline wasn’t sure why Libby said it precisely that way, as if she had already determined that they had nothing in common. Generally, Madeline would agree. But Madeline was beginning to warm to Libby. There was something about her that Madeline could relate to. As much as she hated to admit it, it was something sad.
“I’m going to Denver tomorrow,” Madeline announced, turning back to business and the safety she felt in the midst of rules and tasks that needed completion, “I have to return my car to Denver. I’m going to catch a ride back with Luke. So I don’t know how late I will be.”
“Luke, huh?” Libby asked slyly.
“It’s not like that,” Madeline said. “He’s just doing me a favor.”
Libby looked as if she didn’t believe Madeline for even a moment. “You have to admit that he’s not too hard on the eyes.”
“He’s okay,” Madeline said, but she could feel the telltale heat creeping into her cheeks and smiled self-consciously.
“Okay?” Libby snorted. “Most women I know would kill to have a shot with a guy like Luke Kendrick. But then, I hear he is still in love with Julie Daugherty.”
Madeline’s heart fluttered. “Who?” she asked coyly, knowing very well who. A pretty blonde woman with an adorable baby girl, that was who.
“Julie Daugherty. They were together for a few years. They were supposed to get married a while back, but then she broke it off.”
That certainly had Madeline’s attention. “Really? What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Libby said. “I just heard it through the grapevine.”
This is what happened when attachments formed, Madeline thought. Disappointment. Deep rivers of disappointment. Perhaps this was a good thing. Madeline didn’t want any attachment, so the rumor served as a reminder that she was experiencing nothing more than a little mountain flirtation that Trudi would congratulate her for. Nothing more.
As Libby chattered about something Julie did in high school, Madeline reminded herself that her life was in Orlando and she needed to concentrate on doing what she needed to do so she could go home. She really couldn’t afford to be wandering around the mountains thinking silly thoughts about a man she would not know more than this week. Nor did she want to be on hand when the Johnsons began to show up.
In fact, when she left here today, she would drive to town and call Stephen, get the name of that realtor. No use putting that off, was there?
Yep, hearing about Luke and Julie was a good thing. It gave her perspective again. And Madeline would ignore that hearing it felt a little like being punched.
NINETEEN