“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But it was fun to catch up on old times. I can’t believe you were even able to make time, now that you’re a big, famouscelebrity.”
I slapped my hand against my forehead. “Don’t remind me about that stupidcrap.”
“What are you talking about? You’re social-media famous. Everyone in town knows who you are. You have to enjoy that at least a tinybit.”
Who could have imagined how far one little pic of me rescuing a Shar-Pei would go? Suddenly I found myself the target of not only the people of Fever Falls, but also national media outlets wanting to do interviews and talkshows.
“It has its perks, like people around town being friendly. I’m fine with all that, but when I changed my number because the press wouldn’t stop calling, they started calling Mom andKeegan.”
“If you had more exes, you’d know how to deal with that. Trust me onthis.”
I enjoyed her playfulness about my situation. I could tell she was just trying to lighten me up about it, but I wasn’t used to being the center of attention, not for such a stupid reason, at least, and it was one of the reasons I turned down the talk-show circus that so many wanted me to partakein.
Not mything.
Once Mads finished grabbing her belongings for work, we headed downstairs, where Mac sat in the corner of the living room in the charcoal-gray bed I bought for him the day after I rescuedhim.
“Aw, there’s the real star of the show,” Mads said as she approached him, then stooped down and gave him a good neck rub. He panted, swiping his tongue across her arm before licking at the cast on his right leg. “Mac, bet you didn’t know this was going to get you in a nice little townhouse with a pretty face like Jace’s, didyou?”
“He didn’t know that truck was going to get him to a lot of places,” Ijoked.
“I still don’t get how a Shar-Pei wound up trapped in a truck in FeverCreek.”
“Eh, wife and husband had stopped for a picnic at the park. The wife had gotten out on the passenger side, and before she could grab their picnic basket, this stray Shar-Pei smelled the food and leaped inside, onto the floorboard. It surprised the husband, a retired vet, who bounded out the other side out of instinct without putting the truck into park. So as the thing went rolling down to the creek, the door shut on the pooch’s paw, which I think scared him about as much as the adventure of the truck sliding downstream until it got stuck on arock.”
“Poor baby,” shesaid.
“Poor baby?I’ve been treating Mac like a king. He doesn’t want for anything these days. And he’ll only eat pedigreed dog food. He’s gonna be the most spoiled little fella intown.”
“Somehow I don’t doubt that,” Mads said, enjoying a laugh. “But that doesn’t really explain how you wound up on the scene without a shirt on.” She glared at me, appearing suspicious ashell.
“There were some ladies at the park, and Beau told me to put on a bit of a show for them,” Iadmitted.
“Oh, you guys are theworst.”
“Hey, we get our kicks where wecan.”
“And a few women’s digits, apparently. So what made you decide to take this guyin?”
“Let’s just say we kind of hit itoff.”
And we had. I’d saved plenty of animals, and typically, we either returned them to their owners or took them to the shelter, but there was something special about that little Shar-Pei, and I couldn’t stand the idea of taking him to the shelter, so Icaved.
Mads offered Mac a few more pets, and then we headed to the door. In just a pair of jeans I’d thrown on before we came down, I opened the door, and we hugged itout.
“Take care of that doggie and that ego for me, willyou?”
“All overit.”
She looked out the door, glancing around. “Oh, no paparazzi? How disappointing. Here I thought I was getting lucky with Mr.Superstar.”
I laughed as she winked and headed to her Toyota Corolla in the drive next to my JeepWrangler.
Always a fun time withMads.
I stepped back into my townhouse. Mac relaxed in the doggie bed, and I collapsed onto the couch, appreciating the fun times Mads and I had shared. We didn’t hook up much, especially recently, so when she messaged me for a little booty call before work, I was totallygame.
Hell, it was nice to mess around with someone I already knew, rather than one of these women who only seemed to take an interest since I’d made headlines over my picture withMac.
