“Dude, no. You two just met in a nontraditional way. Which will not stop me from making jokes about how you like to keep it in the family, but seriously, who cares?”
“The rest of my family,” I point out.
Wyatt shrugs. “They’ll get over it,” he says, and he’s probably right.
The next evening,I’ve got the key in my apartment lock when my phone rings, and my heart soars stupidly.
“Hey, I was about to call you,” I say, tossing my stuff onto a chair, where it joins yesterday’s pile. “I just walked in the door.”
“How was work?” she asks.
“Thrilling,” I tell her. “The fast-paced, high-stakes world of auto and homeowners’ insurance is second to none.”
“Your boss urgently needed more PDFs?” she asks, laughing.
“Always. I keep offering to show him how to do it, but I think he gets a rush from sayingMy assistant will get those to you. I’m not even his assistant, technically.”
“Do you ever get to investigate fraud? That could be fun.”
I blow out a breath and flop backward onto a couch. Zorro hops up half a second later,mrrping. “Nah. If someone seems fishy it gets sent up the chain, usually. I get to make coffee, keep a calendar, and look pretty when people come in for meetings.” It’s a tedious, boring job, but I’ve had way worse ones. At least for this one I don’t have to wear a hairnet. “I’m trying to talk Bill into letting me keep their awful website up to date. Maybe blog about insurance. How are you?”
There’s a slight pause on the other end of the line. “I had a thought,” Madeline says.
“Yeah?”
Zorro chooses this moment to get on my lap and meow, loudly, in the direction of my phone. “Dude,” I mutter.
“Hi, Zorro,” she says.
“It’s Madeline,” I tell him. “You liked her.” He puts his teeth on one of my fingers. “Yes, youdid. Tell me your thought,” I say to Madeline.
I can hear her inhale, a little nervous sounding, and I try not to smile. I wonder what she’s wearing and if I’m about to find out.
“I didn’t get to see you much this weekend,” she says.
“I know. I wanted more time, too.” I spent some of my lunch break today looking at Google Maps and gas prices, trying to figure out how often I can get out there. I thought about driving down just for Friday night, maybe, but I’ve got to work at my other job all weekend because it’s nearly Valentine’s and flowers are in huge demand. Next weekend is the wedding anyway. I’ll live. “Twelve more days, though.”
“I could come there,” she says, and I can practically see her with her hair pulled back from her face as she aimlessly wanders her apartment in giant fuzzy slippers. “I work from home half the time anyway, and no one really cares where I work from as long as I get it done. So as long as your place has internet?—”
“Yeah, of course. Wireless. It’s cable, it’s pretty fast,” I say before I can stop myself, like the internet speeds here are something to brag about. “You could really do that?”
“If you don’t mind me being underfoot for a couple of days,” she says, like it would be some kind of burden on me.
“Madeline,” I say as Zorro purrs on my lap. “There’s nothing I want more than you under—uh.” She laughs again, and I flop my head back against the couch. “That sounded better in my head. I would love for you to come.”
“You’re sure?”
“Quitaskingthat. Yes.”
“Okay,” she says, and then pauses, clears her throat. There’s clinking in the background. “That’s good, actually, because I’m at a coffee shop in downtown Sprucevale right now.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
MADELINE
Javi’s waitingby the front door to his building when I pull up. I’m barely out of the car when he pushes me against it, his mouth already on mine. It’s dark out, winter in the mountains. The lights outside his building glow orange. I sink my fingers into his hair and kiss him back.
“How long can you stay?” he asks a minute later.
