Page 15 of Almost True
I cringed. “What is happening right now?”
“Shut up.” He shoved me full out, and beer sloshed over the side of my pint glass. “I’m just saying, you being happy is good. And I know you just got thrown a crazy-huge curveball about who this mystery Maddie is, but if she’s into you, why the heck do you care?”
“I really need to elaborate this for you?”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Yep. Because I’m betting all your reasons are BS.”
I leaned on the bar with an elbow and ticked off the most obvious points with my opposite fingers. “One, she’s in a different socioeconomic universe than me. Second, I am damaged goods with a child she knows nothing about. Three, I’m contracted to work for her, so she’s off-limits anyway. Four—”
“Wait, stop. First. You own your business and she’s a grown up. If she wants to date her landscape architect slash dream guy she kissed last time she visited Silverton, she can! And don’t let me hear you say you’re damaged goods again because I will call Alan and we will beat you up.”
I blinked, unconcerned with this threat. His older brother Alan was basically the sweetest person on the planet with the possible exception of their father. That said, he became genuinely upset if he heard me say anything negative about myself, and John did, too. Almost like I was insultingtheminstead of saying something true about myself.
“I see your blinky face and raise you this: you’re not broken. You might’ve been through hell, but you healed. Different than before, yes. I kind of think your night out with Maddie was the first sign of that healing, and since then, you’ve been on… how many dates?”
“A thousand?”
He choked on the swig of beer he’d just taken and coughed before shaking his head at me. “In the last eighteen months, you’ve gone on a thousand dates? So what, like two to three a day?”
“Feels like it,” I grumbled.
“This is my point, though—you’ve been out there. And I think you realized that night that you might actually connect with someone new. And now she’s back. And yes, you have some baggage, but what person in their late thirties doesn’t?”
Someone new.Internally, I cringed at the phrasing. I hated the reference to the connection I’d lost. Seven years and small moments like this still hurt like hell when facing the gaping hole my life had become without my best friend. And she was—Viv was my absolute best friend and partner.
I hadn’t met anyone who came even remotely close to her or how we interacted. Not that I wanted to find that. I understood both logically and emotionally that there was no replacing what I’d lost. But to findsomeone new…
And Maddie? She was definitely different.
I shrugged. “It’s irrelevant.”
“Good grief, you’re crusty tonight. I’m here making a great case, and you—”
“Her boyfriend,Chadwick, was the one who started off the meeting. The guy called her ‘baby.’”
He made a disgusted sound. “Ew. No. He called her a pet name during a meeting?”
My face must’ve confirmed it for him.
He sighed. “Well. Forget everything I said. If she’s to the point of putting up with someone like that, then you’re out of luck.” He clinked his glass with mine. “Drink up, cuz. Here’s to finding someone who isn’t dating a guy who sounds like he probably uses a little too much hair gel.”
I chuckled but obeyed his order and took a long pull of my beer. My phone buzzed and I took it from my pocket, fully prepared to see a message from Luca asking when I’d be picking him up.
Instead, I had a message from an unknown number.
“Aidan, this is Maddie. Can we still get coffee tomorrow?”
I sighed, and John zeroed in and read the screen. “Innnnteresting.”
I tapped out my response.“How would Chadwick feel about that?”
The responding dots popped up immediately, and I’d be a liar if I said my pulse didn’t tick up at the same time. This would tell me a lot about her.
John leaned back like he was impressed. “Ooh, Aidan with the sass.”
“I’m not worried about how he feels. He invited himself here and I invited him to leave. He isn’t a friend or anything else in my life. I’d advise avoiding Silver Ridge Resort tonight since he’s definitely not staying here.”
“Let me see! I can’t read all that upside down.” John pulled at my arm and read, then gave me the biggest cheeseball grin ever. “Oh heck yes.”
