Page 34 of Deserving Maddie

Ray: So how is your day besides yelling at poor defenseless mechanics who are only doing as they were told?

Ray wondered what look Maddie would be giving him if she were standing in the same room. He could imagine it would be one of impatience.

Maddie: Hectic. Kat is leaving in two days and insists she needs to see a million things before she goes.

Ray: What is there to see? Divot isn't exactly a thriving metropolis and neither are the surrounding towns.

Maddie: That's exactly what I tried telling her, but she refuses to listen to me. She's trying to convince Gabriel to give the town a chance. I think this is her way of doing that.

The mention of her son was like a bucket of cold water over his head. He had to remember it wasn't just Maddie. She was a package deal and with her came two kids. One of which didn't appear to be thrilled with him the few times they interacted.

Ray: Was Gabriel not happy you moved here?

He worried he'd crossed a line when Maddie didn't immediately answer him. He had to wonder if her kids were a topic that wasn't allowed to be discussed. If so, he understood why. Probably the same reason she never told him that she actually had children. That was too intimate for what they had going on.

Maddie: That's one way of putting it.

Ray: What's another?

The three little dots popped up and then disappeared. He needed to put the phone away before he fixated on the fact that whatever Maddie wanted to tell him, she kept changing her mind.

Ray logged into his computer and pulled up the file he had on Wraith. It was the exact same information he had given the team. He took the time to review everything he had, and make notes where he felt he needed to dig more.

It was a system he had learned to utilize when he was at MIT. He found that he could absorb the information better if he read everything through once and made a note when there was something he either didn't understand or wanted to learn more about.

He was just making another note about a carjacking when his phone beeped with an incoming text message. It was pathetic how quickly he abandoned what he was doing to see if the message was from Maddie. He was relieved to see it was.

Maddie: He hates me for taking him away from his friends and everything he knew. I just wish he would understand I was only trying to protect him from the truth.

Ray thought back to what Blue said about how things look good on paper, but maybe that wasn't accurate. Was there a possibility that Maddie's husband wasn't the perfect man everyone made him out to be?

Ray: What kind of truth?

Maddie: Nothing. I've just had a stressful few days and spoke out of turn. Thank you for paying for my car. It wasn't needed, but I appreciate it.

He wanted to text her back and apologize for making her feel uncomfortable enough that she felt the need to end the conversation, but he thought better of it. Whatever secrets she was holding weren't ready to come out. He would make sure she realized that he was someone she could trust.

Chapter 16

Howcouldshebeso stupid? Maddie had decided to come home for lunch and confide in Kat. She should've known her best friend would try to find a way to convince her that it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be. Maddie had sworn never to tell anyone about her suspicions outside of Kat, and there she was opening her mouth to Ray the first time he asked her what was wrong.

"You need to stop worrying. Everything is fine," Kat chided her.

"Fine?" she snapped. "How can you say things are fine? I almost confessed to Ray what really happened to Anthony!"

"You mean what youthinkhappened to Anthony, since you never got confirmation from his captain."

No, of course, she wouldn't get confirmation from Anthony's boss. He was as dirty as they came and was always covering up the shit Anthony did. How the man was still allowed to be in charge was beyond her. Maddie thought for sure after Anthony's death, someone would finally step in. But it hadn't happened. Until now. The email stating the insurance money was on hold was proof enough.

"Semantics, but yes. I almost let what I think happened to Anthony slip when Ray asked what truth I was talking about."

"Would it really have been a bad thing if you told him? He would probably understand, and from what I can tell, he really likes you."

Of course, the man had to like her. Not to mention he was nice.

Three torturous days. That's how long she managed to convince herself not to text him or reach out in some way. She was proud of herself, too. Then he had to go and pay the mechanic for the work on her car. It was the perfect excuse her subconscious needed to override her brain. Before she had known what she was doing, her fingers had dialed his number. Luckily, he hadn't answered, but did she stop there? Oh, no. She went and sent him a text message. She opened that line of communication again. All of her hard work went up in smoke.

Poof.

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