Page 85 of Ever With Me

Naomi turned, shook her head, then was out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

“That went well,” Maddie said, her voice flat and defeated.

He’d wounded her when he’d said the thing about the concert, clearly. “Maddie, for what it’s worth?—”

“I’m sorry. She was insanely rude, and you don’t deserve that. My sister—well, all my family, really—gets a little carried away with the protectiveness. The double-edged sword of being close, I guess.”

“She’s right not to trust me and probably to be worried. But this started as a business arrangement between us, Maddie. It’s cleaner if we just stick to that, don’t you think?”

Maddie blinked at him. “We left business behind at least one hangover and a few kisses ago, Brooks.”

“But maybe we shouldn’t have. Crossing that line only confused things. Hell, I probably shouldn’t have asked you for that time, either. It was stupid of me. It’s better if we just go our separate ways and part as friends.”

A few beats of tension-filled silence settled in the space between them.

Tension that had only been made worse by letting himself get carried away. Those searing kisses had clouded his judgment.

The sadness on her face was killing him.

She’d been let down by people, too. Her family, clearly, who wouldn’t ever approve of him.

And that asshole in the café who had broken her heart. Brooks had really wanted to punch him, especially after seeing Maddie’s crestfallen look at the engagement news. She didn’t deserve that.

She deserves so much more. More than I can give her.

“I’m going to ask around and see who else can play at that concert for you. I don’t want to leave you in a lurch.” As though that could absolve him from walking away.

“Thanks.” Maddie nodded at last. “I’ll drive you back to your place, then.”

When you do that, I’ll be completely alone.

Can’t we stay here? Together?

But he didn’t voice the thought, pushing it away as quickly as it came. The outside world had already pressed in on the bubble of separation they’d existed in this week.

It was time for him to go.

23

MADDIE

Nothing sounded worsethan going to family pizza night tonight, and as Maddie drove back from dropping off Brooks, she turned down the street for Pops’s house instead.

Maybe she could catch him before he and Bunny left for her parents’ house.

Pops’s house had long been one of Maddie’s favorite places in the world. After he and Bunny had married, the strangest part of going over there was how Pops’s place no longer felt likehisquite as much. They’d remodeled some, and Bunny’s favorite furniture and decorations graced the space. Grace Wagner had moved into Bunny’s old house and kept most of the furniture, and it made sense that Bunny and Pops have a place that was theirs.

. . . but that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes get nostalgic about what it was before.

As it so happened, Bunny was on the front porch with her closest friend, Millie Price, when Maddie pulled up. Maddie smiled at both women as she approached the front door, genuinely happy to see them.

“Hiya, sweetheart,” Millie said, jumping from her seat to give her a hug. “Bunny tells me you bagged yourself a fine-looking new man.”

Oh gosh.

Not who she wanted to talk about right now. “Just a friend,” Maddie corrected gently as Millie took her hand.

“I don’t know, sweetheart. He seemed to watch you with a lot more interest than just friendship,” Bunny said with a knowing glance. She gestured to her cell phone. “I was just showing Millie his picture online. Whole town is buzzing about him, you know.”

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