AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is Madison Delaney. How are you, Jesse?”
This is Madison Delaney. And I am fine, just fine.
So why couldn’t I sleep?
I padded downstairs to the kitchen, telling myself I was going to get a glass of water but knowing that I would be grabbing the Ben & Jerry’s too. I took the pint of milk-and-cookies ice cream and headed to my couch. I’d sat on it more that week than I had since I’d bought it two years ago.
I hadn’t told Josie, but I’d been working from home a lot.
I’d been looking for Bob. In the quiet darkness of my living room, I could admit the truth. I’d watched Mrs. Lindenmeyer walk Bibi up and down the street every day, but there’d been no sign of our friendly neighborhood UPS deliveryman. Instead, a short, muscular Asian guy had taken Bob’s place. I didn’t dare ask him where his predecessor had gone.
I might’ve even cried the last time he delivered a package. Or maybe my contact had been bothering me… I refused to think about it.
I took out my phone. I had Bob’s number. What if I sent him just one text? Something like, “Hey, how are you?” What was the worst thing that could happen?
Hello! Didn’t we already cover this? See above: broken heart.
I had another bite of ice cream.
Maybe I had been too starved for male attention, and that was what had made the time I’d spent with Bob seem so special. But as I ran through the memories of the weekend, it struck me that even the uncomfortable parts had been sort of fun. Like when he’d puked his guts out on the plane. I didn’t know why that seemed so adorable to me. It must’ve been the fact that he’d tried to be a good sport about it, even though it had clearly been an ordeal. Or when he’d lost at tennis to my dad. He’d been so mad about the injustice of it all, but he’d thrown the match anyway. He’d done that for no other reason than I’d asked him to.
And before he’d left, he had beaten my dad. Maybe he’d done it because he was pissed about losing the first time, but really, I thought he’d done it for Frank because Frank deserved a win. Because it was wrong that my dad had never let his friend win in so many years. Bob had wanted to do the right thing.
Crap. Maybe Josie had been right.
She was my best friend, but I really hated it when she was right.
Chapter Twenty-One
BOB
“Hey, man, do you want to switch routes back?” Kevin, the guy I’d swapped trucks with at work, asked. “Some of the people in your neighborhoods are weird.”
“Yeah? Like who? The guy with the teddy bear collection?” I shrugged. “He’s harmless. He’s always ordering new video games and fish food.”
“Nah, not him. This lady on Acorn Street. She keeps crying every time I drop off her stuff, and she keeps getting deliveries every day.”
I stopped scanning packages and looked at him. “On Acorn Street?”
“Right. Pretty woman, tall with blond hair. I mean, she’d be pretty if her face wasn’t so red and puffy.”
“Huh. Yeah, I don’t know anybody like that. But we can trade back on Monday if you want.”
Kevin nodded. “I want. There’s some other crazy dude, too. The one at Dermody Industries.”
“Yeah.” I grimaced. “I know him.”
“I guess you do! He tried to jump me my first day, thinking it was you.” Kevin shook his head. “You got some winners, I’m telling you.”
“I’ll deal with it. Thanks for covering for me.”
“No problem.” Kevin hopped onto his truck, and I watched him go. The woman he’d talked about sounded like Maddy. But it couldn’t be. Why would she be crying?
This was crazy. If Maddy was anywhere, she was at her office, conquering the world of email cloud services. I hadn’t heard from her once since we’d gotten back. Of course, I’d thrown my cell phone in the ocean. But big sap that I was, I’d gone directly to the cell phone store after dropping her off. I’d gotten a replacement phone with the same number.
I’d received no calls or texts from Maddy. I had another fifty from Katie, but I hadn’t gotten back in touch with her.
I’d talked to Marta
