Page 83 of Fall at Once

“I’ll go down there tomorrow.” I decided. “First thing in the morning. I’ll sit outside of her place and wait if I have to. We can talk it out, and I’ll make everything okay again.”

“Tomorrow is the fundraiser,” Quinn reminded me.

“Shit, I can’t miss that. I promised her I’d be in that auction. Plus, we spent all that time planning it. Missing it would let her down. Do you think she’s still coming?”

“I have no idea,” Gigi answered. “But I know she is not one to back out of her responsibilities, so she’ll probably be there.”

“Okay. I have time. It’s not like she will move on in the next twenty-four hours, right? She won’t forget about me.”

I pulled out my phone to send her a text. I didn’t want to upset her by calling. Or maybe I should call her. I had no idea what to do.

COLE: I’m sorry. Can we talk about this?

MADI:…

“She’s not going to answer me.” I shoved the phone back into my pocket. “Not like this. Texting is a weak move. But I don’t want to make things worse by not reaching out.”

“Give her the night to calm down and get her head together,” Gigi said. “Let her be. She’ll read the text when she’s ready; at least she’ll know you tried to get in touch. That counts for a lot, Cole.”

“Okay. You’re right. I’ll get started fixing this tomorrow.”

I glanced over at Tate. He popped an eyebrow. “Send her flowers, at least.”

“And don’t cheap out,” Quinn added. “Get roses. Red ones.”

“Oh no,” Gigi protested with a sly grin. “Get her peonies. Baby pink peonies.”

Tate grinned. “You heard the lady.”

I got the strangest sense of déjà vu when the word peonies came out of her mouth.

Years ago, my mother used to grow peonies in the backyard. Maybe that was why.

“Peonies it is. I’m going to get her back. I can’t believe I let her go in the first place.”

“I have all the faith in the world in you, Cole.” Gigi smiled.

Chapter 27

Madi

The elevator ride up to my apartment in Colorado Springs felt all wrong. It was like blasting off in a slow rocket ship to another planet. Or a time machine to the past. I didn’t belong here anymore, and I don’t think I ever did.

I didn’t want to leave Cozy Creek when I finally felt like I had a real home there. But how could I stay if I couldn’t have Cole?

I unlocked the door and stepped inside. After looking around, I was struck by the fact that my memory of being here with Ross had faded into insignificance. He meant nothing to me now that I tasted actual heartbreak. It would devastate me if I couldn’t work things out with Cole.

I set my purse on the console table by the door and dropped my hastily packed overnight bag on the floor. It felt weird notto be greeted by a chorus of“Where have you been?”meows, but thankfully, Kenzie would drive the cats to my place tomorrow after the fundraiser—which I still hadn’t decided if I would attend.

Luckily, Monica had always approved the décor and food and took care of the final run-through of the venue on the day of the fundraiser, so I had completed my part of the planning. I also had no excuse to show up other than my desire to be there.

With a groan, I found my way to my boring beige leather couch, which had no cute stripes or colorful toss pillows, and plopped down, kicking my feet up on my perfectly adequate coffee table.

This sucked. I felt wretched and couldn’t escape thinking I’d made a colossal mistake.

Had I pushed him too hard?

With everything that happened with Ross and how I’d never managed to stand up for myself where he was concerned, I was worried that I’d overcorrected when it came to Cole and jumped the gun by insisting we talk about our future.

---