Page 24 of All Because of You

“No, really, Ash.” Madison picked up her cup. The first sip burned the tip of her tongue and roof of her mouth. She blew, took another, and allowed her shoulders to relax. “Thank you.”

A small smile curved over Ashley’s lips. “My pleasure. Now spill. The story, not the drink.”

Madison laughed. “So, remember that pen-pal program we had to participate in during senior year?”

“Oh yeah. That was kind of cool in concept. But whoever I was paired with was a real slacker.” Ashley took a drink. “I think I only got one or two letters from her all semester.”

“You never found out who you had, huh?”

“No.” Ashley scrunched her nose. “Were we supposed to?”

“Not necessarily. I think it was a secret for a reason. So you could be ‘your most honest self.’” At first, Madison hadn’t been. She couldn’t remember exactly what that first letter to her pen pal had said, just the feel of it. Because there was no way she was opening her most private thoughts up to a stranger.

But then, something had happened. Her pen pal had been gut-wrenchingly honest. At least, she’d thought so at the time. And that had nudged something inside of her to do the same.

“Wait.” As Ashley sat straighter, the legs of her chair scraped the floor. “Did you find out your pen pal’s identity?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“We . . .” Madison averted her eyes, studying the popcorn texture of the ceiling as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. “Over the four months that we exchanged letters, we started writing to each other more and more frequently. I must have dropped a letter in the box every other day from March on. Just before graduation, my pen pal suggested we meet.” She glanced back at Ashley, who leaned forward, her mug pushed aside.

“And?”

“And so we arranged a time. I got held up after school with a group project and was a bit late in meeting. When I got to Froggies—” She bit her lip, remembering how her stomach had twisted, her jaw dropped. “It was the last person I thought it’d be.”

“It was Evan, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“I stood there staring at him for what seemed like forever. I’d almost gotten up the nerve to say hi, but then Roxy and her gang walked in behind me.”

Madison had been so intent on watching Evan, she hadn’t noticed until Roxy threw her arm around Madison’s shoulder and leaned in close to whisper,“As if he’d ever be into a nobody like you, Lizard Lady.”

She pulled herself out of the memory to refocus on Ashley. “The look on her face, the way all of them laughed . . . I knew I’d been duped.”

“Duped?”

“Obviously, they’d found out I was Evan’s pen pal and thought it’d be hilarious to humiliate me. I mean, he wrote all sorts of things that made me think—” She slammed back the rest of her hot chocolate, which, she was relieved to notice, was no longer scalding. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore. It just means I should have known better than to let myself like him now.”

Ashley folded her lip between her teeth for a brief moment. “Have you given Evan a chance to explain himself? About the hardware storeandthe past?”

“Not exactly.”

“I mean, I get it. It does sound like he wasn’t totally truthful about the hardware store, but maybe he has his reasons. Or maybe things aren’t what they seem like. You’ll never know if you don’t hear him out.”

Madison groaned. Ashley had a point. “I’ll think about it.”

Chapter 6

Dad was going to be furious.

Evan hung up the phone and scrubbed a hand across his face.

He’d been waiting all week to hear from Hank Aldrin after informing him on Monday about Madison’s plans to reopen Hole-in-the-Wall Hardware, but the man had been radio-silent—probably to leave Evan to sweat it out. Now, it was Friday morning, and Hank had finally let him know the contract was a no-go if there was a competitor in town.

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