Page 82 of Mad Rivals
She giggles, and I hear my name at the counter, so I head over to grab our food.
“Will you be okay staying at Casa de Van Buren without me there full time?” I ask.
“It’ll be weird, I think. I’ve been banking up my paychecks for the last couple months, and with a steady paycheck not dependent on commission, I think I can finally afford a place to stay that isn’t in the bad part of town.” She reaches over and squeezes my arm. “And I have you to thank for that, by the way.”
“I’m glad we made the change when we did. Honestly it feels like that’s when our luck started turning around. Things just feel like they’re falling into place, don’t they?”
She nods. “To be perfectly honest, I already felt like I was overstaying my welcome with your folks. I’ve been putting out feelers, and Lainie in the marketing department is actually looking for a roommate. Her current one is getting married and moving out soon, so it’s perfect timing.”
“You’ve been putting out feelers?” I ask. “What about our pact?”
She purses her lips. “You’re breaking it first.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, and a little bit of sadness pulses in my chest at the end of this era.
She shakes her head. “Don’t be. It’s not going to change our friendship. We just won’t be living together anymore.”
I hope she’s right. It’ll be strange not being together after all the years we have been, but truthfully our work schedules, Madden, and the fact that she’s dating Lance now tell me that things were starting to change anyway.
“Love you,” I say.
“Right back at you.” She smiles, and then we both attack our sandwiches.
When I get back to the office, I email my dad a draft of my travel schedule, and then I dig into work on SCS. I chat with Sara about some of the projects I’m handing off to her, and when I get back to my desk, I see a reply from my father.
This looks good. Send it to Darla for booking.
I can book my own travel, but he never really thinks about that since Darla does everything for him. He assumes Darla does everything for everybody, I guess.
And so I let her book my flight to LAX, which heads out Sunday evening, and my hotel near Aliso Viejo. I’ll stay for the week and return next Thursday night.
I hate to waste the company’s money, and furthermore, I hate to fly into LAX when the San Diego airport is much closer to Madden’s place.
But for now, these are the prices I have to pay in order to keep my relationship with Madden a secret. I just hope it’ll all turn out to be worth the effort in the end.
I wait until I’m in my car on the way home to call Madden.
“Hey, babe,” he answers, and I’m smiling just at the sound of his voice.
“Hey,” I say. “How’s California?”
“Lonely without you here.”
My chest warms. “I have some good news, then.”
“Oh?”
“My dad wants me to take on a bigger role in the LA office. Oliver runs that location, and I reached out with some ideas. He told my dad he needs help, so my dad asked me if I could give up all my projects except SCS here and commute back and forth.”
“Are you serious?” he asks. It was the same reaction I had in my own head when my father first presented the idea to me.
“I am. He said the LA office had some new ideas and wanted to hire a new employee, but he basically offered me up instead so they don’t have to worry about the training curve.”
“Holy shit. That’s incredible, Ken.” His voice is warm, and I can hear the excitement in it—a relief to the insecurities that made their way into my brain. “When do you get here?”
I don’t know why I was worried. Whatever this is, it’s genuine. It’s more than just sex, though the sex is incredible. He might’ve fallen first, but I’m right there with him. “Sunday night.”
“I wish it was tonight instead,” he says.
