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For some reason, it makes me incredibly happy that over the last nearly decade and a half, she kept up the purple-glasses look. It suits her. So does her dark nail polish with a coating of glitter over the top, and the pen behind her ear. She always used to have a pen or pencil there, back when we were friends.
Back before we kissed.
Before I told her about me and Tracey.
I handled all that really, really poorly, and I regret how it all went down. But regret’s pretty worthless, in the big scheme of things. Regret plus eight dollars will get a guy a plate of nachos at The Buck, but that’s about it.
Speaking of…
The bartender places the plate down in front of me and Maddison, then he delivers my beer, too.
I draw in a sip of bitter hops and study Maddison, who’s watching Steve retreat. “Okay,” she whispers, “the suspenders… are they worn ironically, or with sincerity? Because out in LA the vintage thing is big, so people buy up all these old-timey items just to look cool. There’s noheartto it all, you know?”
“Steve’s the real deal. He’s one of those people who should’ve been born in a different decade. He owns a flip phone.”
“Really?” She raises both eyebrows. “Okay—I am totally rethinking my judgment of him. That’s hardcore. I thought he was maybe trying to be hipster and vying for extra tips.”
“He also rides a unicycle. He really does march to the beat of his own drum.”
Maddison nods. “Okay, okay, I like it. But I don’t like his advice on housing. He said I should get roommates.”
“Wait—housing? In Stillwell?”
That doesn’t make sense. I figured Maddison was only in town for a few days, like every other visit she’s made since moving across the country after our college graduation. I always hear about her visits after the fact, from Roxie, or her parents,or her grandparents. I’ve never once managed to catch her while she’s in town.
“Yeah,” she says, while tucking a dark lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s—it’s not exactly easy to admit this, but my life sort of fell apart in California. I’m going to hole up here for a while, get my ducks in a row, then go back to LA.”
“A while, like how long?”
“I don’t know… a couple weeks, a month, two months… something like that. However long it takes to get a legal issue sorted out. And line up housing there, too.” Her fingers skitter up the stem of her glass until she’s clutching it. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
Seeing as she was just in my office for stress-induced chest pain, I know better than to press the issue. “You got it.”
But even though I’m giving her permission to stop there, I want to know more.
For some reason, most of my curiosity is about the dude she’s been with for ages, Sylvester. Are they still an item? Why did she call him a jerk?
Is it any of my business?
She pins her inquisitive eyes on me. “Hey, wait. I’ve done all the talking and you haven’t caught me up aboutyou. So, really, what’s been going on with your life?”
“Well, you already know about my elderly bank nemesis-slash-admirer.”
“Nick…” She rolls her eyes and then pokes my upper arm, just like she used to do. “I’m not joking anymore.”
“Okay, all jokes aside. I went to med school in Philly, but you know that… then back here for the physician position at the clinic, but you know that, too.”
“Roxie tells me the basics. I want to know the stuff she hasn’t said. Like, you know, if you’re happy. That kind of thing.”
“Happy… huh. You’re coming right out of the gate with a loaded question.”
“Yeah, well, you know my stuff, so it’d be only fair for me to know yours. I almost had a heart attack, and you had to give me medical advice.”
“You were nowhere near having a heart attack.”
“That was embarrassing. I feel old. My own mortality is looming over me right now, as we speak, and I can barely enjoy this glass of wine because I’m worried about the health effects. That cheese? Forget about it. My weak heart probably wouldn’t be able to handle the cholesterol.”
“First of all, wine isn’t bad for you unless you overindulge, and getting stressed about drinking alcohol is about as bad as actually drinking it. I’m off the books now, okay, so don’t take me to court over this.”
