“Were you two fuckin’?”
“What the hell, Foster?”
“Call me crazy, but I swear, I can smell sex in the air,” my brother said.
“Oh, Foster,” Addison said from the doorway.
Foster jumped a foot in the air and burst out laughing. His face turned red, but he turned to look at Addison. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to bring my car in tomorrow. It’s not working right.”
My brother swallowed. “Okay. Sure. That should be fine.” He held up his hand, obviously flustered. “Can you do Tuesday instead?”
“Yep.” She beamed at him and walked away.
My brother breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, and, Foster?” Addison called from the stairs.
“Yeah?”
“Yes, we were fucking. Thanks for waiting until we were done.”
I’d never seen my brother more embarrassed in his life.
Fifteen
Addison
On Monday, I went to Des Moines for the day to meet up with some friends. We’d decided to play hooky and go shopping instead. Plus, I needed some girl time.
Pete was kind enough to trade cars with me for the day in case mine broke down. I didn’t want to get stuck out of town, and Pete didn’t have plans to go anywhere far, which was a relief because I needed to get out of Brook Creek.
Des Moines was the largest city in Iowa, and sometimes, I considered moving there. There was so much to do. You didn’t know everyone, and they didn’t know you. And there were no ex-boyfriends that haunted my past there. At times, it made me ask myself why I still lived in Brook Creek.
“So, after twelve years of just—poof—being gone, Maddox shows up, back in town?” Marie, one of my closest friends, asked me as she rubbed her huge belly.
I was going through a bunch of shirts on a clothing rack while she stood next to me with a look of incredulity on her face.
“That’s right,” I said as I pulled a cute top off the rack and looked it over.
“And he never went to prison?” my other good friend Darcy asked.
“Nope.”
I had already told the ladies about Maddox sudden reappearance. It was one of the reasons I wanted to meet up today with them. It was too important to discuss over the phone, and I needed their advice on how to handle the situation.
“What happened to him then? I mean, how did he end up going into the military?” Darcy asked, taking the shirt from me and holding it up under my chin. She shook her head.
I shrugged and took the shirt to hang back up. “I still don’t know. His record is sealed.”
“You haven’t asked him?” Marie asked.
“Um…I haven’t had the opportunity to ask. We’ve either been not talking to each other or…”
“Fucking like bunnies,” Darcy finished for me.
“Yeah, that. Although I wouldn’t say we were bunnies,” I said with a laugh.
“I can’t believe he just came in your room, didn’t say a word, and had sex with you,” Marie said, her dark eyes wide.
“I think it sounds hot,” Darcy countered with an almost-dreamy look in her own blue eyes. “I wish someone would sneak into my room and ravish me.”
“Not me. I need to be wooed,” Marie said.
“Says the woman with the most romantic husband in the state,” Darcy said. “Not all of us are as lucky as you. He probably gives you six orgasms a night and apologizes for not giving you more.”
Marie’s husband, Desmond, was tall, dark, and handsome, but he was also one of the nicest guys in the world, and he doted on her.
“Yeah, I am lucky, aren’t I?” she said with a smile as she hugged her growing belly. Her beautiful dark skin was practically glowing.
“You are lucky,” I told her. “Now, feel sorry for the rest of us.”
Marie laughed.
I picked up another shirt and held it up to her. “This would look great on you.”
She took it from me. “It’s adorable. But I should probably wait to buy clothes until after I have this baby.” She put the shirt back and looked at her watch. “Is it time for lunch yet?”
“What time is it?”
“Eleven.”
“I could eat,” I said.
“Sure,” Darcy agreed, pushing her blonde hair over her shoulder.
We left the store and walked down the mall to the restaurant we had previously decided on. I put our name in with the hostess, and we waited to be seated.
“So, what are you going to do about Maddox?” Marie asked me.
“I honestly don’t know. Part of me is still really angry with him, but then the two times we were together, I really enjoyed it. Not just the sex,” I clarified. “I like that I forgot about what had happened. I like that we could just be together.”
“But you know that, eventually, your resentment will probably get worse.”
I leaned my head back against the wall of the bench we were sitting on. “I know.” I lifted my head as a thought occurred to me. “I forgot to tell you ladies. The weird thing is, I feel like Maddox feels the same. From the moment I saw him again, I feel like he’s the one mad at me. But I can’t figure out why.”
“Addison for three,” the hostess called out.
We followed her to our table and took our seats.
“You don’t think Maddox blames you for getting sent away, do you?” Marie asked.
“I can’t imagine why. I went to the sheriff right away and told him that Maddox was with me at the time of the robbery.”
“Yeah, but you never went to court and testified,” Darcy pointed out.
“I would have. He’s the one who never asked me to go to court for him.”
Marie gave me a sad smile. “Maybe it’s because he found out he wasn’t going to jail. Whatever happened that caused him to go into the military instead of prison, he didn’t ask you to testify because he didn’t need you anymore.”
I flinched at her words.
Marie grabbed my hand. “Oh, hon, you know that’s not what I meant.”
I squeezed her fingers to let her know I wasn’t offended. “I know. But maybe you’re right. Maybe he saw his opportunity to escape Brook Creek and his family, and he took it. Maybe I would have weighed him down. Maybe I would have been a reminder.”
“It still doesn’t make it right that he just ditched you.” Darcy said.
“I know.”
But I had to wonder, Would I have done the same thing if I were him?
And then I remembered all the nights I had cried for him. No, no way. I would have tried to take him with me. I would have at least said good-bye.
“Now, you know why I don’t know what to do with him,” I said.
“I think you need to sit him down and talk to him,” Marie said.
I knew Marie was right, but I really didn’t want to. I didn’t want to fight with Maddox. And, if I was being really honest, I didn’t want to hear about how he’d never really loved me. Anger was an easier emotion to deal with. I’d already had my heart broken by him. If he said anything to me about not caring about me when he’d left, I didn’t think my heart could handle it. Even after all these years.