Page 57 of Check the Halls
“Who’s Killian?”
“My bartender friend!”
“You can talk to him. Actually, Mads—can I talk to him?”
I hear her call to her new friend and a moment later a deep male voice comes across the line.
“Hello?”
“Killian?”
“Yeah…”
“Hey, man. I’m Ben. You’ve got my friend, Madelyn, with you?”
His voice pitches lower like he doesn’t want to be overheard. “I only served her two drinks, man, I swear. One minute, she was fine, and the next, she was slurring her words, raging about some guy named Derek, and introducing me to her gigantic pissed-off cat.”
My heart stutters in my chest. Raging about some guy named Derek?
It’s probably just a fight. All couples fight. They argue, work through it, and eventually make up. But what if it’s more than that?
“You still there?”
Shit. In my spiral over Maddy’s questionable relationship status, I forgot I was on the phone with someone. “I’m here. She’s always had a low tolerance for alcohol, but she’ll be fine. I’ll be there in–” I check the time on my dashboard– “six minutes. Can you please just keep an eye on her? Make sure she’s okay until I get there?”
“No problem.”
“Thank you.” I disconnect the call and try my best to focus on the road, instead of the thoughts and feelings threatening to overwhelm me. Of all the emotions I’m feeling, one feels far more dangerous than the rest.
Hope.
I park illegally in front of The Westin and hop out of the car so fast, I almost forget to kill the ignition. I’ve been here before for team events and I know that the bar is located to the right of the entrance. I spot Maddy the moment I cross the entryway. She’s sitting at the bar, her back to me. Her legs dangle from the tall stool she’s perched on.
I approach her slowly, working up my courage. Mynormally steady hands are trembling slightly, with either nerves or just anticipation.
“Excuse me,” I say as I lean against the bar next to her, “Can you tell me how to get to advanced Chemistry?”
The grin that takes over her face as her eyes meet mine knocks the air from my lungs. She looks unabashedly happy to see me. It’s like she’s radiating joy from every pore and it’s almost enough to make my heart fracture in my chest.
“You came!”
Of course I did. There is not a place, time, dimension this woman could wander that I would not follow her to.
I shrug my shoulders with a casualness I definitely don’t feel. “It’s not every day I get drunk-dialed by a director of operations and events.”
“I’m not drunk, I’m just blowing off a little steam.”
I scan her face, looking for any signs of distress, but find none. No red or puffy eyes, though they are a bit glassy from alcohol. No tension in her freckled brow. No indication that anything is amiss except that she’s drinking in a hotel bar. With a cat.
I dip my head down to peek into the carrier.
“Hey, big guy,” I say, suddenly choked up at seeing him after all this time. He lets out a disgruntled mew and I add, “I know. Let’s get you out of here.”
“Where are we going?” Maddy asks as she stands. She’s not falling over, but I wouldn’t call her steady.
Great fucking question, I think. “That depends on you, Mads. Do you want me to take you home?”
For the first time since I arrived, her expression clouds and her face falls. “I don’t have a home anymore.”
