Page 25 of Deserving Maddie

Maddie did her best to stifle the laugh behind her hand. She had a ton of work she should be catching up on, but this conversation was too good to pass up.

Maddie: If she was the love of his life, how didn't he know she hated clowns? That should've been a first-date topic.

Ray: I know, right!! I told him the same damn thing but he wouldn't listen to me.

The back-and-forth they had came naturally. There was something about Ray that made him easy to talk to. It differed from the physical encounters they had; both of those were great, but it was the conversation with him that was going to be her downfall.

Even knowing that, she couldn't seem to stop herself from once again picking up her phone and asking him a question.

Maddie: So what made you suggest the circus in the first place? I mean it's an okay place for a date but not what most would choose.

When Ray didn't immediately answer, as he'd done for the majority of their conversation, Maddie started to wonder if she had offended him. He appeared pretty laid back, but maybe dating was a sore subject for him.

She contemplated sending a quick message telling him to forget it, but before she could pull up the message thread, her office phone was beeping.

"Mrs. Robinson?" her assistant's sweet voice flowed through the line.

The use of her last name always made her cringe. She wanted to change it back to her maiden name, but already knew what kind of response her son would have on the subject.

"Anne. Please call me Maddie. I insist," she sighed.

They had the same conversation every time and nothing ever changed. Anne would use it immediately but revert right back. It was exhausting.

"Yes, Maddie. There's a Mr. James here to see you."

"Send him back."

She wracked her brain but came up empty. She didn't know any Mr. James', and as far as she could remember, there wasn't one her firm represented.

One look at the man entering her office and her stomach dropped. She knew this man, but not because she represented him. He was Ray's boss.

"Mr. James, is everything okay? Is Ray okay?"

Maybe that was why he hadn't responded. Something happened to him. But wait, no. His boss wouldn't be delivering that news in person. Not to her, anyway. She wasn't Ray's next of kin or anything important to him.

"Please, for the love of God, call me Wes. As I told your assistant, Mr. James is too damn formal and makes me sound stuffy as hell."

That was something they could agree on, but he didn't answer her question.

"What can I help you with, Wes?"

She really hoped it wasn't legal advice. Ray insisted he had nothing to do with the mob, but the man standing in front of her didn't look like he particularly cared what the law was. He would do what he wanted to anyway.

"I was told I wasn't very nice to you."

Her jaw slammed off the floor. She waited to see if this was some kind of joke. Or maybe Ray would pop through the door and screamgotcha. That seemed like something he would do. But it was now going on a full minute and Wes's facial expression didn't budge.

"I'm sorry." There was no hiding the confusion in her voice. "Are you being serious? This isn't some joke?"

"I don't joke about apologies."

"Well, you never actually apologized. You only said you weren't nice to me."

"Exactly."

Okay, someone had to be pulling her leg. There was no way Ray's silver-fox grumpy boss drove all the way to her office to provide some half-assed strange apology.

"I'm going to be very honest and say I have no idea what’s going on here right now. How did you find me and why did you come over to tell me you weren't very nice to me? Something, by the way, I wholeheartedly agree with you on."

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