“Where are you going?” she demanded.
Cole turned, and after eyeing her from head to toe, which darkened the color of her cheeks a bit more, he tipped his hat with a finger and thumb. “You don’t want a man telling you what to do any more than I want a woman telling me what I’ll do.” With that thought screaming in his mind, he left. He didn’t want a woman telling him what to do. That hadn’t changed and never would.
* * *
Maddie flinched at the slamming of the door and swallowed hard, trying to dissolve the pain burning the back of her throat. Fine. She certainly didn’t need him.
Anguish, stronger than ever, welled inside her, and so did anger, and she stomped one foot. A useless, silly action, but she couldn’t come up with anything better. Damn him. All his talk about adventures, things he’d seen, made her want to see things she’d never even known about. She wanted things, too.
Like beds. Before meeting him, she’d never wanted a huge, soft bed, complete with pillows and sheets. She’d gotten used to them, though, and didn’t want to go back to living without them. Floors, either, or outhouses or food that actually tasted good.
Maddie pressed a hand to her forehead. In truth, none of those things mattered. She’d lived without such luxuries before and could do so again. It was living without Lucky that had her insides feeling as if someone had just gutted her like a fish.
She could do it—live without him—she just didn’t want to. The truth of that filled her with a burning intensity and left her afraid to swallow. If she did, she’d start crying, and that she would not do.
Her hands, balled into fists, began to quiver as the pain in the pit of her stomach swelled. Refusing to be overcome, Maddie spun around, but then paused. It was only midday, but her chores were all done, and rain still battered against the canvas roof. Lucky would be soaked, could likely catch his death of cold.
“Good for him,” she muttered in an attempt to battle with herself. It didn’t work very well. Worry now joined everything else swirling around inside her. As did regret. She should never have said all she had. In actuality, she didn’t want to move. Leastwise, not without him.
Chapter Ten
Hours later, Maddie froze in her pacing upon hearing Homer’s screech. Heart tumbling at how the bird always signaled Lucky returning home, she rushed to the door.
Her shoulders drooped as Jack, holding Homer inside his dripping wet coat, hurried forward. Digging up a smile, she held the door open, silently inviting them in.
“I was hoping the rain would let up come nightfall,” Jack said, putting the bird down before shedding his canvas coat.
Homer squawked and flapped his wings, ridding them of water.
“It’s coming down harder now than before,” Maddie pointed out.
“Nice and warm in here, though,” Jack said, leaving muddy footprints as he meandered closer to the stove. “Cole knew what he was doing when he hauled this stove home. Everyone else is shivering and sopping wet.”
“There’s stew in that pot.” Maddie pointed to the kettle on top of the stove. “Would you like some?”
Jack hesitated, which had her adding, “Albert brought it over earlier.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Jack said.
Maddie gathered a plate and two cups. Coffee she had learned how to make, and had grown to like it. The two of them sat at the table, and while Jack ate, Maddie fed Homer a few raisins, which were now quite hard, but the bird didn’t seem to mind. She also forced herself not to ask if Jack had seen Lucky.
“I told Cole that Homer and I would come and check on you this evening,” Jack said.
She lifted her gaze.
“When he borrowed the boat earlier,” Jack explained. He frowned, though, as if he expected her to already know that. “I reckon he’ll stay in Bittersweet until the rain lets up.”
Nodding, she gave Homer another raisin.
“I sure was taken aback when he told me about the hurricane today.”
Surprised, and confused, she frowned. “What hurricane?”
“The one that wiped out DuMont Shipping last year. Belmont started the company, Cole’s grandpappy, but his grandmother, Annabelle, she’s the one who built it. After Belmont died, Cole’s father and Trig took over hauling in stores for Annabelle to sell. She did, too, sell things. Made a fortune doing it, but I guess it’s all gone now.”