Page 35 of Since We're Here
“Oh, that feels so nice.” Maddie’s voice is muffled against my chest, and I look out over the wild Atlantic Ocean.
“Madison.” I move my hands slowly on her back, with the excuse that I’m getting her blood flowing, keeping her warm so her muscles don’t freeze up before we get back on the bikes. “Answer the question.”
She breathes in deeply. “A series of things happened.”
“Starting with?”
“I got dumped.”
I look down at her, and she turns her face up to mine.
“Tell me.”
“His name was Blue.”
“Blue?” I snort. “You got dumped by a man named Blue?”
She presses her lips together and nods, a hint of amusement raising a blush.
“I met him in Saint Lucia in the fall. I was there for a month volunteering, and I thought we fell for each other. I fell for him, at least. I always fall too fast.” Maddie says those last words mostly to herself. “I went back to Jersey to start my hospitality program.”
“How’s that going for you?”
“I’ll get to that part.”
“So what happened with Blue?” It takes a lot for me to say the man’s ridiculous name.
“We talked a lot, video chatted, texted, everything. I saw him in December. After the holidays, he got quiet. I doubted everything. So I booked an internship at a resort in Saint Lucia.”
“And then?”
“And then I found his new girlfriend’s Instagram. She’d tagged him, and it popped up on my feed. He’d completely moved on and hadn’t even told me.”
“Hence your social media ban.”
“Yup.”
“Well. Feck Blue, right?”
Maddie steps back from me and crosses her arms on her chest, turning to face the gorgeous view once again. In every way, my arms feel immediately empty without her in them.
“Yeah, fuck Blue.”
She’s so far away, with that longing look in her eyes. I clench my fists at my sides, my hands itching to touch her again. To comfort her.
“But now you’re in Dingle.”
“Mmm, I am.”
“I think I’m missing a connection between the two.”
She glances at me. “I was too chicken to tell Reese. I didn’t want her to know about my latest fuckup. When I couldn’t get a refund for my flight, I thought about this road trip, and how I just needed a minute to regroup and restart my life...”
“So you changed your flight to Dublin.”
“That I did.”
“You might be the dictionary definition of impulsive.”
