Page 12 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“Ugh. Is that really something your mother should know?” Maddie asked.

Matt sighed softly even though the corners of his mouth twitched. “No, never. Although you’d probably tell her about all my affairs.”

“I like your mom,” she said lightly. “And, speaking of your affairs with women: seriously, Matt? You forgot her name?”

“It wasn’t intentional!”

“I don’t care. You can’t become that kind of a man. If you do, I’ll have to end our friendship.”

He made a face and closed the trunk. “If you must know, I wasn’t exactly delighted with myself, either, so I decided to lay off dating for the time being.”

Silence. Then: “Wow. Okay.”

“Don’t sound so stunned!”

“Oh, I’m not stunned because you don’t want to spend every night in a stranger’s bed. I’m just shocked that you call what you dodating.”

He sighed. “Always nice to hear your opinion. Anyway, you’re the one pushing women on me!”

“I’m not pushing them on you, I simply point out candidates who are looking for the same thing, so that no one…”

“…gets hurt,” he finished her sentence. “I understand. It doesn’t matter.” He truly didn’t feel like talking about it anymore. “Maddie, I’m late. Oh, and my mom invited you to her silver wedding anniversary in Napa.”

“I know, that’s why I’m calling.”

He abruptly paused. Shit, his mom worked fast. “What, you didn’t just want to say how disappointed you are in me?”

“Nah. I wanted to ask if it was okay with you if I went.”

“Of course, it’s okay,” he said, surprised.

“Good. I still wanted to ask before I accepted.”

That didn’t surprise him. Maddie always thought about everyone else’s feelings before worrying about her own.

“I’d love for you to come, but only if you keep quiet about how many women I’ve slept with.”

“Deal. But that’ll be difficult because you…”

“Maddie, don’t you have that important meeting?” he interrupted hastily. “You should be preparing for it instead of pointing out my inadequacies as a man.” For the past two weeks,she’d been talking about how she would land the client of her life today.

“I’m doing both,” she said innocently. “Besides, I’ve been preparing for days. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone to the Ice Lounge yesterday. Matt, I’m so excited.” Her voice went up an octave. “Geller will sign today and then I’ll find her dream man and she’ll tell all her rich friends about it. I’ll never have to eat ramen again; I’ll be wallowing in oyster buffets.”

“You don’t like oysters.”

“No, but I can still roll around in them! Wait, actually, that would be a waste of food.”

A smile crept across his face. Maddie sounded happy. That was good. His mother was right: She worked too hard and deserved success. “I’m happy for you,” he replied honestly. “And, hey, when you’ve landed the rich fish, we should celebrate tonight at the Sunny Umbrella?”

“It’s Sunday. I don’t drink on Sundays.”

“But you deserve it.”

“Um, don’t you have a game?”

“Nope. Not until tomorrow.”

“Fine. Then we’ll celebrate at the Sunny Umbrella. You can pick me up at six. And, oh man, Matt, this could be a really big deal! It’s even worth working on Sundays for this.”

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