Page 5 of Almost True
We didn’t stop talking until I got an alert on my phone. An obnoxious alarm that blared and startled both of us.
Regret hit immediately. I didn’t want to leave. I hadn’t talked to someone like this in years. Maybe ever. I hadn’t clicked like this with a man in my entire life.
“Does that mean you have to go?” he asked, flagging Brandon, who nodded at him.
“Yes. But please, I’ll get my bill. Really, I—”
“Maddie, come on. It’s not like I’m expecting anything here, but we’ve had a nice time, right?”
I nodded, pleased to hear my name on his lips and his assertion about our evening. The last two hours had absolutely flown. “We have. I’ve loved talking to you. But why don’t I buy?”
He squinted at me, a similar look he’d given only once or twice over the course of the night, but it made my stomach twist. He was so handsome, and that expression made him seem so serious and just… irresistible.
This was both a kind of test I’d grown used to giving and also just the right thing. I didn’t know what he made in his tree farm business, but it couldn’t be much. We hadn’t talked in depth about what our day-to-day lives were like—maybe we both had things we were keeping close and didn’t want the other person to know. I didn’t like that thought—that I didn’t really know him. It felt like I did. But I couldn’t let him pay for my drinks and the appetizer I’d ordered an hour after sitting down.
“If it’s important to you that you pay, then please do,” he said with a small nod just as Brandon dropped the check.
I quickly signed to my room, scribbled my name as best I couldjust in case, and signed with a flourish and a giant tip, then flipped the booklet closed and slid it away.
“Done. Thank you.”
“Thankyou.” He stood and held out a hand. “Can I walk you to the elevators?”
A cage of butterflies dumped over in my chest and had their way with my insides as I took his hand and stood from the seat. We’d touched on and off since I broke first contact with my hand on his wrist earlier, and every time sent a little thrill chasing through me. Now that he’d initiated, I didn’t want to let go.
Regrettably, he released me before I could slide our palms close and link our fingers.
“Yes. Please.”And come upstairs.
But no. I couldn’t ask him that. I wouldn’t. Maybe if I really was this woman—this person who was some anonymous businesswoman meeting a nice guy at a bar… but still no. My heart had never been casual about relationships or love, and it still wasn’t. Despite the tempting slide toward cynicism lately, I wouldn’t have been able to do something like that in any version of my story.
We walked slowly, arms brushing, out of the bar. At just before ten on a Sunday, the place was nearly empty. Brandon would be turning out the lights and closing up. I’d be boarding a plane back to New York. Aidan would find his way home.
The evening would be over.
My heartbeat accelerated steadily as we padded down the carpeted hallway. No one else was around, thankfully, so by the time we got within ten feet of the elevators, we were completely alone.
“Thank you for talking with me tonight. I—I can’t tell you when I’ve enjoyed a conversation more.”
His earnest tone urged me closer.
“Same for me. I don’t do this often, but I’m so glad you said something to Brandon.” I grinned, still relishing the memory of how we’d started talking hours ago.
“I am, too.”
“Will you—”
“Can I—”
We both laughed, the first awkward simultaneous attempt to say more beating back the boldness I’d almost had when asking if I could get his number. I couldn’t actually do this. I wasn’t actually this woman.
My phone alarm blared again, and I fumbled to silence it, the invasive sound pushing my pulse to a race. “Sorry. I’m a little weird about staying on schedule.”
He grabbed my hand then, slowing everything in me to a steady thud. The contact lit my nerves in a new way—a twinge of actual nervous energy, and more.
“Don’t apologize. You’re a woman who gets things done. I like that.”
Of all the things he’d said to me tonight, this one made me blush. There was no sense in it considering I’d been complimented in that exact way most of my life, but the fact that this man didn’t know who I was or what I’d done and yet still sensed that about me made the statement feel particularly rewarding.
