Page 10 of Ever With Me

She examined it, then handed it back with a dubious shrug. “Could be a fake.”

Good God, this woman is maddening.

Sighing, he took out his phone, then opened his Instagram. Holding it out to her, he asked, “How about this?”

She brought the phone closer to her face. After a moment, she paled and looked back and forth from the screen to his face. “Damn, you really are him, aren’t you?” Redness crept into her cheeks as she returned his phone.

“In the flesh,” he said in a dry, flat tone. “And you are?”

“Madison—Maddie. Kent.I mean Yardley!”The last phrase burst out of her mouth, and her cheeks grew scarlet. “Yardley. Maddie Yardley. I-I don’t know why I said your last name. I’m just exhausted. I swear I’m not like a creepy groupie or anything. I don’t even think I’ve listened to anything by you in, like, maybe four years. It’s just late, you know? Or I guess early. Shit. I’m so embarrassed.” She face-palmed.

Brooks did his best not to chuckle. It was strangely cute, the effort she was putting into explaining away the innocent slip. “No big deal. So . . . Maddie, maybe you can see my predicament? Honestly, your little town knowing is the least of my worries.”Especially after last night. “But I can pay for the damage.”

She tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear, her eyes fixed on the car. “Brandywood might be a little town, but news around here travels like wildfire. If one person finds out Brooks Kent crashed his car into the Depot, you can count on pretty much the whole town gossiping about it, and then it just taking on a life of its own from there. Also . . .”

Noted.“Yes?”

“This isn’t exactlymystore. It belongs to my grandfather. Much as I might want to help you out, it’s not really my call to make. But I also don’t really want to call him and his wife at four in the morning. Pops has some heart issues, and I don’t want to give him a scare if I can avoid it.”

Maddie let out a long breath between puffed cheeks. “Maybe . . .” She tapped her foot with nervous energy. “Okay, so my future brother-in-law is a mechanic. I can probably get him to tow your car back to his shop within the hour—that’s the easy part. And I have the contractor who built this place basically on like speed dial—he’s a family friend—so I might get him to come out here and put up plastic or something. But the cops. . .” She massaged her temples.

No wonder she runs a successful business.Whatever other quirks she might have, Maddie seemed remarkably adept at thinking on her feet.

Her face lit. “I got it. My sister’s best friend’s brother is a cop. I don’t know if he’s on duty, but if I call him, he’d probably come out here and take a report. I can ask him not to turn it in unless it becomes necessary.”

“You mean if I somehow renege on my promise to take care of the damage.”

She gave him a steely-eyed gaze. “Yeah, I mean, you might be famous but I don’t know you.”

Smart woman.“That’s fair,” he said in a low tone. Of course, that didn’t solve the problem of him getting to Cormac’s place tonight, but he could deal with that later.

“If I go upstairs to get my phone to take pictures and make those calls, you’re not going to leave, right?”

He released a sigh. “I’ll be right here.”

“I do have security camer?—”

“I get it.” This time, he couldn’t keep the annoyance out of his voice. Maybe his reputation preceded him here.

Her lips set to a line, then she gave a quick nod and left again.

Brooks ground his teeth. Considering he’d been in jail only a few hours earlier, the phrasefrom the frying pan into the firedidn’t quite sound right.

But damn if coming here doesn’t feel like a massive mistake.

5

MADDIE

Travis Wagner,Lindsay’s boyfriend, frowned at Maddie as he came inside from loading the wrecked car onto his tow truck. “Did Dan give him a breathalyzer at least?” Travis asked Maddie in a low voice, his gaze traveling over her toward where Officer Dan Kline was talking to Brooks Kent.

Brooks Kent.As in massive rock star Brooks Kent who is in my store at five in the morning.

Maddie had done everything in her power not to freak out when he’d revealed it. She should have recognized him sooner, but he’d grown a dark beard, and she hadn’t seen pictures of him recently.

And, of course, I blubbered on and made a fool of myself in front of him.

Back in the day, she would have been totally star-struck by him. She’d liked his music and had only stopped listening to him when Hank—one of her former boyfriends—had sent her down a country music rabbit hole.

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