“Can I ask you a question?”
Madi sighed. “Sure.”
“Do you have a history with him?”
“No, I met him recently.”
“At the clinic?” I guessed.
“You know I can’t divulge that.”
I’d take that as a yes.
“Can you arrange your schedule so you don’t see him anymore?” I chose my words carefully, keeping them generic, so she didn’t have to break her oath.
“I already have.”
Good. Hearing that shouldn’t make me happy, but it did. Elated, in fact. I didn’t want Paul using the clinic to get close to Madi. Knowing he’d harassed Madi, Paul’s mere existence pissed me off.
I refused to consider the why behind my feelings. Me and relationships were like oil and water—we didn’t mix.
Madi and I are friends, at least I considered us to be, and friends help each other.
Chapter 13
Madi
Do you think Paul has something to do with it?Matt’s question looped in my head as I searched for answers.
“I doubt it. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence he was here today.” He probably went shopping after his clinic appointment. Though I couldn’t say that to Matt without violating HIPAA.
“Madi, I want you to really think about your answer to the question I’m about to ask. And maybe not bite my head off.”
I turned towards him, knowing that the words about to pass his sexy lips would piss me off.
“If you were to ask your father, or any of your brothers, if they thought it was a coincidence, what do you think they’d say?”
I sucked in a deep breath while reminding myself that pouting like a twelve-year-old wouldn’t get me anywhere—no matter how badly I wanted to cross my arms, stomp my foot, and ignore his question. “They’d say they don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Neither do I.”
“I know. But it’s hard to believe Paul might be a stalker or an arsonist. He’s a firefighter. He serves his community.”
“Being a first responder doesn’t guarantee that he’s not a psycho. And he knows how to handle a fire, he could have set it, thinking he could control it and put it out with relatively low risk.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Matt was right. Just because I wanted to believe the best of Paul didn’t negate the creepy circumstances of him showing up more often than I’d like. His station was a few towns over; it defied logic that he’d visit Weatherford so often.
Though I understood him not wanting to see a doctor in his hometown. Lots of guys in the Navy saw civilian doctors when they didn’t want an injury to interfere with their duties.
I’d bet a year’s salary Matt had done it.
“Why would he start fires? Surely there are better ways to get my attention?”
“I won’t pretend to understand his reasoning, but if I had to guess, he wants to come to your rescue. Be your hero.”
True or not, the idea of a man thinking he could impress me by coming to my rescue pissed me off.
“That makes sense, except he wasn’t at the clinic to help with that fire.” I clung to that as I tried convincing myself Paul wasn’t involved. He was pushy and a little awkward, but that didn’t make him an arsonist or a stalker.
