AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You don’t have to tell me what happened,” I said, not wanting to ruin the nice evening we’d been having.
“That’s okay,” she said. “I don’t mind talking about it.”
I took a big bite of my burger, and she did the same, her eyes flicking to mine once or twice while we chewed and scanned the casual restaurant. I’d considered taking her somewhere fancier, but burgers and shakes seemed more fitting after target practice.
Maddy took a sip of the ice water Marcie brought to the table before continuing. “I’ll give you the short version because no one likes a storyteller who drags out an unhappy tale.”
I lifted my brows to encourage her and kept eating.
“Basically, when I was sixteen, he ran off with my best friend’s mom, leaving my mom with a bunch of gambling debt she didn’t even know about. Maeve and I stayed with my mom, and James went to live with him, so he effectively stole my two best friends from me in one fell swoop. Then he found Jesus, and now he’s happier than ever. And for all I know, he sleeps great at night and has no regrets whatsoever.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Not exactly a brilliant role model.”
“So you guys don’t talk?”
“Not really.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean, he calls me on my birthday, but I think that’s motivated by guilt more than anything.”
I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry, Maddy. I knew he walked out on you guys, but I didn’t know it was so he could be with your best friend’s mom.”
“Ex-best friend.”
“So you guys don’t talk either?”
“No.” Her brown eyes drooped at the edges. “But to be honest, I miss her a lot more than I miss him.”
“When was the last time you talked to her?”
“When she told me that my dad moved in with her and her mom.”
A heavy exhale parted my lips.
“What was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could keep going over to her house when my mom’s heart was broken. I didn’t want to cut her out of my life, but—I don’t know. It’s fucked up. I wish it never happened because I loved that girl like a sister.”
“Any idea what she’s up to now?”
“She’s a writer,” Maddy said. “Or a wannabe writer, I guess. I don’t really know. James tells me what she’s up to every now and then if he hears anything.”
“Sorry I asked.”
“Don’t be. It’s all in the past, and I learned a lot from it.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that loyalty counts for a lot, and you have to be careful about letting selfish people into your life.”
Me and my big mouth. I wished I hadn’t asked that. Now all I could think about was my best friend partying up in London, oblivious to the fact that I was over here falling under his little sister’s spell. I wasn’t sure what was worse: betraying James or having Maddy think I was a disloyal piece of shit like her old man. Fuck.
If only my guilt trumped my curiosity about her. Then maybe I could back off. But she was too special, too different from the women I’d taken out in the past. I felt like I could talk to her, like I could be myself with her.
Like I could like myself with her.
