Page 16 of Almost True
I laughed, but no denying I felt the same. The answer was definitive and clear. Granted, hehadcalled her baby, but she hadn’t reciprocated—in truth, I’d shut the door right after so maybe she’d smacked him upside the head. He needed it. In fact, I’d noticed she hadn’t touched him the entire meeting and had seemed annoyed every time he’d tried to speak for her. Maybe he really had invited himself.
“Do I really want to do this?” I asked John, but more truthfully, myself.
“Yes. You do. Because even if the story is she just broke up with him and he’s a d-bag and she’s not ready for a relationship, you won’t spend your time wandering around thinking about what might’ve been. And if not?”
I tapped out my response, agreeing to meet the next morning, and braced myself for whatever was coming because the look on his face told me I’d need it. “If not?”
He smirked. “Then you’ll land yourself a millionaire sugar mama.”
CHAPTERNINE
Maddie
Sadie, the owner of Rise and Shine, greeted me when I entered the adorable little coffee shop and bakery. “Welcome back.”
“Thank you. Is it okay if I wait for a few? I’m meeting someone.”
Though there were a handful of other people, Aidan hadn’t arrived yet. He didn’t strike me as the kind of man to just not show up, but the nerves twisting through me wouldn’t stop hounding me. He’d been thrown at the meeting yesterday, and based on his response to my messages last night, he’d clearly thought Chad was my boyfriend.Gross.I’d set that straight, and I hoped he could take the reality of my life in stride.Please, please take it in stride.
Sadie smiled. “Of course. No rush.”
I eyed the two open tables, unsure which would be better. The one I wanted was tucked right next to the window and offered a view of the towering mountain peaks, the resort up on the bench, and Main Street. The other would be less likely to draw attention.
Then I remembered I didn’t have to be secretive. I didn’t have to hide anymore, and I didn’t have to be afraid. Sure, it was possible someone else could choose to stalk me, but the odds were low. My book had hit all the best-seller lists thanks to the tireless work of my own publicity team and the publisher’s and the million and one interviews I’d done around the country, but it’d been almost eight months since the last one of those. And so far, if anyone noticed me in town, they didn’t care who I was. It probably helped there were much more famous people milling around both as residents and visitors. In any case, the rigid set to my shoulders softened with the reminder.
I slipped into the chair facing the north end of Main Street, and my stomach flipped at the sight of the man checking his watch as he approached the coffee shop. He frowned down at his wrist, no easy charm or smile to be found. Granted, he hadn’t really been that way with me the first time we’d met either. It’d been more intense—sweet heat and the focus of his attention like a spotlight on me but in the unfamiliar way I didn’t mind since it washis.
He didn’t notice me as he turned into the entrance and pulled the door. As the bell rang, I internally debated whether to stand. Waste of time, so I squashed the trepidatious feeling and simply met his gaze when his found me a moment after entering the bright shop.
I stood and stepped forward, eager to simply be near him again. The self-control I’d normally have, that part of me that stood tall and strong and implacable, had gone MIA. I inched forward, drawn toward him like he’d beckoned me.
He didn’t say anything, and that threw me. I hadn’t deluded myself into thinking he’d be happy to have discovered who I was in the real world, but I certainly hadn’t expected the standoffish set of his shoulders. He’d agreed to come and had seemed to believe that Chad was nothing to me, but maybe this was just humoring me for some reason. Granted, he’d never struck me as someone who’d do that in the past, but I didn’t really know him.
Just like he didn’t really know me.
And yet he did. In some ways, it felt like my conversation with him was the first one I’d ever had with a man where I’d been myself. With almost every other man I’d dated, I’d been Madeline Reynolds, CEO. They’d wanted to date that side of me, but not the daughter and little sister. Not the reader and podcast nerd. Not the woman who could eat pasta every night of the week for the rest of her life and never tire of it.
It’d been freeing, but suddenly, his lack of smile or hug oranything, so different from our first meeting two days ago, sent ice into my veins. I felt stripped down and vulnerable in a way I didn’t ever feel as Madeline. And there, apparently, was one more twist in this dream. That openness I’d loved had also left me without anything between me and this potential disaster of an encounter.
“Ready to order?” Sadie said from behind the counter.
“Yes. I’ll have a half-caf flat-white with skim, if you have it. Aidan?”
His eyes flicked down to me. “Coffee. Black.”
“Is that together or—”
“Together.”
“Separate.”
My eyes jumped to him, awkwardness shooting through me. “Oh, right. Sorry. Separate.”
I wasn’t a blusher, but there it came, a creeping heat at my neck and climbing to my cheeks. Apparently, my body didn’t follow my orders when it came to Aidan Wallace.
Thankfully, Sadie breezed over the weirdness and nodded. “I’m heading into the back, but Garrett will be right out with your drinks.”
I nodded, and Aidan said, “Thanks, Sadie,” so he did know her. Of course he did. He probably knew everyone in the shop right now, though no one else had greeted him.
