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with satisfaction. “If we’d had to go in front of a judge, it might have gone differently, but Bill was especially anxious for a settlement so he could be a proper daddy to his new baby before the ink is dry on the birth certificate. As you reminded him on your way out the door, Maddie, he’s the one in a hurry.”

      Helen regarded Maddie intently. “It’s not a fortune, mind you, but you don’t have to worry about money for the time being.”

      “I still think I ought to look for a real job,” Maddie said. “However much the settlement is, it won’t last forever, and I’m not likely to have a lot of earning power, not right at first, anyway.”

      “Which is why you should take us up on our offer,” Dana Sue said. “This health club could be a gold mine and you’d be a full partner. That’s what you’d get in return for your day-in, day-out running of it all—sweat equity.”

      “I don’t see what’s in it for the two of you,” Maddie said. “Helen, you’re in Charleston all the time. There are some fine gyms over there, if you don’t want to go to Dexter’s. And Dana Sue, you could offer cooking classes at the restaurant. You don’t need a spa to do it.”

      “We’re trying to be community minded,” Dana Sue said. “This town needs someone to invest in it.”

      “I’m not buying it,” Maddie said. “This is about me. You both feel sorry for me.”

      “We most certainly do not,” Helen said. “You’re going to be just fine.”

      “Then there’s something else, something you’re not telling me,” Maddie persisted. “You didn’t just wake up one day and decide you wanted to open a health club, not even for some kind of tax shelter.”

      Helen hesitated, then confessed. “Okay, here’s the whole truth. I need a place to go to work off the stress of my job. My doctor’s been on my case about my blood pressure. I flatly refuse to start taking a bunch of pills at my age, so he said he’d give me three months to see if a better diet and exercise would help. I’m trying to cut back on my cases in Charleston for a while, so I need a spa right here in Serenity.”

      Maddie stared at her friend in alarm. If Helen was cutting back on work, then the doctor must have made quite a case for the risks to her health. “If your blood pressure is that high, why didn’t you say something? Not that I’m surprised given the way you obsess over your job.”

      “I didn’t say anything because you’ve had enough on your plate,” Helen said. “Besides, I intend to take care of it.”

      “By opening your own gym,” Maddie concluded. “Won’t getting a new business off the ground just add to the stress?”

      “Not if you’re running it,” Helen said. “Besides, I think all of us doing this together will be fun.”

      Maddie wasn’t entirely convinced about the fun factor, but she turned to Dana Sue. “And you? What’s your excuse for wanting to open a new business? Isn’t the restaurant enough?”

      “It’s making plenty of money, sure,” Dana Sue said. “But I’m around food all the time. I’ve gained a few pounds. You know my family history. Just about everybody had diabetes, so I need to get my weight under control. I’m not likely to stop eating, so I need to work out.”

      “See, we both have our own reasons for wanting to make this happen,” Helen said. “Come on, Maddie. At least look at the building tomorrow. You don’t have to decide tonight or even tomorrow. There’s time for you to mull it over in that cautious brain of yours.”

      “I am not cautious,” Maddie protested, offended. Once she’d been the biggest risk-taker among them. All it had taken was the promise of fun and a dare. Had she really lost that? Judging from the expressions on her friends’ faces, she had.

      “Oh, please, you weigh the pros and cons and calorie content before you order lunch,” Dana Sue said. “But we love you just the same.”

      “Which is why we won’t do this without you,” Helen said. “Even if it does put our health at risk.”

      Maddie looked from one to the other. “No pressure there,” she said dryly.

      “Not a bit,” Helen said. “I have a career. And the doctor says there are all sorts of pills for controlling blood pressure these days.”

      “And I have a business,” Dana Sue added. “As for my weight, I suppose we can just continue walking together a couple of times a week.” She sighed dramatically.

      “Despite what y’all have said, I’m not entirely convinced it isn’t charity,” Maddie repeated. “The timing is awfully suspicious.”

      “It would only be charity if we didn’t expect you to work your butt off to make a success of it,” Helen said. “So, are you in or out?”

      Maddie gave it some thought. “I’ll look at the building,” she finally conceded. “But that’s all I’m promising.”

      Helen swung her gaze to Dana Sue. “If we’d waited till she had that second margarita, she would have said yes,” Helen claimed, feigning disappointment.

      Maddie laughed. “But if I’d had two, you couldn’t have held me to anything I said.”

      “She has a point,” Dana Sue agreed. “Let’s be grateful we got a maybe.”

      “Have I told you two how glad I am that you’re my friends?” Maddie said, feeling her eyes well up with tears yet again.

      “Uh-oh, here she goes again,” Dana Sue said, getting to her feet. “I need to get to work before we all start crying.”

      “I never cry,” Helen declared.

      Dana Sue groaned. “Don’t even start. Maddie will be forced to challenge you, and before you know it, all of Serenity will be flooded and you’ll both look like complete wrecks when we meet in the morning. Maddie, do you want me to drop you off at home?”

      She shook her head. “I’ll walk. It’ll give me time to think.”

      “And to sober up before her mama sees her,” Helen taunted.

      “That, too,” Maddie agreed.

      Mostly, though, she wanted time to absorb the fact that on one of the worst days of her life she’d been surrounded by friends who’d given her a glimmer of hope that her future wasn’t going to be quite as bleak as she’d imagined.

      2

      It was almost dusk when Maddie walked through the wrought-iron front gate of the monstrosity of a house that had been in the Townsend family for five generations. According to Helen, Bill had reluctantly agreed to let her remain there with the children, since the house would one day be Tyler’s. Staring up at the massive brick facade, Maddie almost regretted winning that point. She would have been happier in something cozier with a white picket fence and some roses. The upkeep on this place could bankrupt her, but Helen assured her she’d made provisions for that, too, in the settlement.

      As she opened the front door, she braced herself to deal with her mother. But when she walked into the family room at the back of the house, it was Bill she discovered sitting on the sofa with Katie napping in his arms and the boys lounging in front of the TV, their attention riveted on a show she was pretty sure she’d never allowed them to watch. She immediately stiffened at the sight of some sort of extreme-fighting competition.

      One thing at a time, she warned herself. Getting rid of her soon-to-be ex was her first priority.

      Before she opened her mouth, though, she allowed herself a long hard look at him, something she hadn’t dared to do earlier. His blond hair was still thick, but there were a few silver strands she’d never noticed before, and an unhealthy pallor beneath his tan. The lines on his face, which once had lent character to his handsome features, made him look tired now. If it was still her business, she’d

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