Bryce was grinning big as he waited for my confirmation.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh, how I wish I could see what your friend texted you.”
“Never happening.”
“I’m curious to know what put that adorable blush on your cheeks.”
My eyes widened. How did I not realize he was such a huge flirt? The man had to be a playboy. I looked him over more slowly. Yes, definitely. Used to getting the girls.
Though, I wouldn’t blame them. I was falling for his flirting too.
“She said she’ll be over to watch them for me tonight.”
“Excellent. Then I’m picking you up at eight.”
I nodded.
Bryce took a drink of his coffee before saying, “I can’t wait for our friendship date.”
“Me either.”
Driving back into Boston, giddiness filled me. When was the last time I’d gone out with a friend without the twins?
Chapter Eight
Bryce picked me up right at eight o’clock as he promised. Kenni wouldn’t stop smirking, and her expression turned dangerously mischievous when she finally met Bryce.
Knowing her, given the chance, she would have milked the moment for all it was worth. She’d ask the hard questions, give him a hard time, check him out, all of it. But she was good and only reassured me she’d keep the kids alive before shoving the two of us out the door.
“You look nice,” Bryce said once we settled into his car.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. I had changed into a sea foam green skirt that went down to my ankles, paired it with a black sweater and black heels. Most of my hair was down, but the pink strands were in small braids. It was fun getting ready for tonight.
Bryce drove us out to the North End, expertly finding a parking spot in an area where it should have been impossible.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
Please be Mike’s Pastry. Please be Mike’s Pastry.
“Come on.” Bryce grabbed my hand and led the way through the busy narrow sidewalks.
I loved the North End. It was Boston’s Little Italy with more restaurants and bakeries than I knew what to do with. There were always options for eating, and many of them were always so busy. If I wanted genuine food, I knew I could find it there.
Plus, the greatest Boston debate originated from one little strip of road. There was no way to avoid it, everywhere I looked, people carried the familiar packages for Mike’s Pastry, and if not from there, then from Modern Pastry. In some cases, from both locations. My mouth watered, wondering what delightful treats each box held. Were they cannolis? Cupcakes? Cookies? Cheesecake? Fudge? My body kept trying to make me go up to each person and give them a shake while asking ‘What’s in the boxes?’
Bryce ignored it all and led the way to our destination.
“Improv Asylum?” I stared at the signage on the door.
“Of course. If our friendship is to work, then I need to know that you know how to laugh.”
I chuckled as we went inside and got situated.
“I’ve never been to one of these before,” I admitted, leaning into Bryce as excitement bubbled out of me.
He faked a gasp. “Then I’m glad I’m bringing you here. You’ve lived here for how long?”
“Since college,” I said. “I was in New York before that.”
“They have a location there too. You have definitely been missing out.”
The seating area filled quickly before the lights dimmed and people came out on stage.
I was completely taken in with the show. They were amazing. Improv was something I could never do. Thinking on my feet that way, it was talent I was jealous of. They needed to take their silliness and give me some of it.
Sharing was caring after all.
By the end of the show, my cheeks hurt, my abs got their work out, and I was hungry.
I couldn’t settle down as Bryce led the way to our next destination. I was a lost cause. Just as I thought it was going to be okay, a memory would come up from the show, and then I was in another fit of laughter.
“That’s it,” Bryce said. “This friendship is forever. If you can laugh like that, I definitely want to be around to see it.” He leaned closer as I sobered. “You look gorgeous with that smile. And the way your eyes light up. I’d give you the world, the stars, the universe, if you keep smiling like that.”
“Oh my God, you are not fair,” I said to him, playfully slapping his shoulder.
He shrugged. “Life isn’t fair. Now come on, let me feed you. I’m sure you worked up an appetite after all that giggling.”
Him mentioning giggling only sent me into another peal of laughter as I remembered one of the skits of a woman trying to pick up a guy with her womanly ways. Too bad she hadn’t realized he was gay. But that only made it funnier when she tried batting her eyelashes and giggling in a way that was hilariously cringe-worthy.
We ended up at a pizza place that was kind of off the beaten path, which only made it all the more special. We were able to get seats after a short wait and quickly settled on a pepperoni pizza. At least Bryce wasn’t going to make me eat a salad with each slice. He also let me have all the bread that I wanted.
“This is nice,” Bryce said. “Thank you for hanging out with me tonight. I haven’t had a good friendship date in a while.”
“Have you ever had one?” I asked with a grin.
He shrugged. “Not in a long, long time. I think in college, I dragged Koen and Dayton out on one. They were not entertained with the name, but they went with it. It ended up being fun. We had to avoid the cops at one point.”
My eyes widened. “Do I want to ask?”
“Probably not.”
“How long have you known the others?”
“Since we were born. Our mothers were all best friends. Dayton and Koen stayed in Massachusetts. I grew up in Maine. But we saw each other a lot growing up, and only grew closer when we all ended up going to college together in Boston. Believe it or not, I’m the baby of the group.”
“Really? Let me guess, Koen is the oldest.”
“Ha. Dayton is. By like three months. Dayton is a spring baby. Koen is a summer baby.”
“No way. I don’t believe you.” I leaned back and crossed my arms. “That can’t be true.”
“I’ll sneak you their driver’s licenses for you to see the next time we are all together.”
“And you?” I asked.
“December baby.”
“Ah, a winter baby. Your birthday is coming up then?”
“Yeah. I’ll be twenty-seven.”
“Goodness, you guys are making me feel like a baby now. I’m only twenty-five.”
“Only?” Bryce raised an eyebrow. “I’m impressed with you, Maddie. You’re at a young age, diligently taking care of twins, with more loss in your life than most people feel until they’re much older—if at all. All this while successfully working too. You deserve a lot of props.”
“I don’t feel like it half the time, but let’s not go there. Tonight is about laughing and that isn’t a topic that gets me laughing.”
Bryce chuckled. “I can do that.” He leaned forward, his expression growing serious. My stomach dropped at the intensity in his eyes.
His face said he had something serious to say. And it went against the promise he literally made a moment ago. Maybe I should have said it louder?
“I have one important question, and then the rest of the night will be all fun. I promise.”
I swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”
“Mike’s Pastry or Modern Pastry.”
My shoulders slumped when I realized his seriousness wasn’t really serious at all. He was only asking me the biggest debatable question in Boston.
“Mike’s,” I said.
Bryce smirked. “Yes, you are definitely perfect. Now, don’t tell Koen or Bryce that. They are loyal to Modern.”
“Heh,” I said. “Their loss.”
> “Agreed.”
The rest of dinner was nice as we chatted about nothing in particular and laughed more often than what was probably deemed appropriate in a restaurant. But no one cared, and that included us.
It was fun and we had a blast. I was sad it was ending when he pulled up to my apartment building. The gentleman even opened my door for me and helped me out. I never felt like a lady as much as I did in that moment.
“Careful,” I whispered. “Treat me like this and I’ll get used to it.”
“Good. I want you to be.”
He walked me to the front entrance, and we stopped there. If this were a date and not a friendship non-date, this was the moment he’d go in for a kiss. Or something.
I knew that wasn’t going to happen. We were only friends, dammit. But that didn’t stop my stomach from twisting with anticipation and my skin heating with need. I wanted to feel his lips against mine.
But I knew I wasn’t ready for it. So I dug out my keys.
“Thank you, Bryce. We need to do these friendship non-dates more often.”
He chuckled. “Is that what we are calling them now.”
“Yes.”
“Either way, I look forward to them.” He stepped forward, his gaze going to my lips. He leaned forward, and I froze. His lips were aimed at mine.
Not what he should have been doing. My instincts kicked into gear when he was close enough to feel his breath against my heated skin. My head turned and his lips grazed my cheek.
I shivered at the touch, almost disappointed that my body knew me better than I knew me. It knew I wasn’t ready for a kiss, even if my thoughts said I wanted it.
Bryce had a way of putting me into a trance, of making me forget where my morals lay. If he asked, I’d probably throw them out.
Bryce chuckled as he pulled away. “I know, Maddie. I couldn’t help myself. Forgive me?”
I nodded, the movement jerky. My thoughts were all blown to bits, and I was trying to super glue the pieces back together.
“Nothing to forgive,” I said.
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
I grunted, not knowing what to say.
He chuckled. “Have a good night.”
“Night.” I dove for the door and went inside.
Confusion wrapped around me as I waited for the elevator. Bryce’s kiss replayed over and over again. When I got on and waited for the doors to close, I kept remembering how his lips felt against my skin. Hot. Burning. Tingling.
And the entire ride up, guilt smashed into me because Bryce was best friends with Dayton and Dayton had kissed me.
I said no to Dayton for becoming anything more, and I thought Bryce understood where I stood too.
Yet, I wanted to kiss both of them and that was definitely not fair to anyone.
Chapter Nine
My life-saving lawyer called me first thing in the morning, requesting a short meeting. When he said jump, I had no choice but to do so if I wanted to keep out of jail. So I drove out to his office, wondering what new information he had.
My stomach was in knots. More like knots wrapped around a ticking time bomb. What if I needed to go back to the police station again to plead my innocence? What if I showed up and the police were there to pick me up? What if my ex-client was demanding I pay back the stolen money right now? Not knowing ate at me, and I contemplated how many antacids I could take before it began messing with my stomach.
Koen was in the waiting room when I got there. He was chatting with another man, so I left him to it, giving him a little finger wave before checking in with Denise, their baking-loving receptionist.
I wanted to gossip with her, mainly to find out if she made any cookies this time too. The phones needed answering though, so I sat down.
Mr. Hayes came out shortly after to bring me back into his office. Koen met my eyes and sent me a supportive smile before turning back to the man that looked as fancily dressed as he did. Men and their suits.
“How are you doing, Miss Daniels?”
“Please, Maddie,” I corrected, settling into a chair. It was a decent chair. Definitely didn’t invite visitors to stick around after a meeting. Probably smart on his end. His office was messier than Koen’s. They were about the same size, furnished similarly, but Mr. Hayes had no issues leaving papers out. There was even a stack of magazines on the floor by his desk.
“Maddie. I hope you’re doing better?”
I winced, not needing the reminder of that incident. I had done a good job of keeping it out of mind.
“I’ve calmed down.”
“That’s good. I do have good news, that’s why I wanted you to come in. We have a couple of options now in terms of how to handle the allegations against you and how we can combat them. You were obviously let go because of rumors rather than proof. I have to say the client obviously jumped the gun with this one. The police have already cleared you.”
I blinked. “Really?” That was fast. Super fast.
Mr. Hayes smiled. “Yes. They’re an efficient bunch and there’s enough proof that someone is putting you in a precarious position. Your finances are clean.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Yes. That means they can focus on where that money really disappeared. Most likely one of their own employees. That happens.” He shrugged like he didn’t have a care in the world. It had nothing to do with him, so he didn’t.
“What are the next steps?”
“It’s still a waiting game. The police are aware of your situation, so they can look into who’s been trying to ruin your career. I’m working on a case to prove the slander. There is also the theft of your clients’ information. Once they have a person caught, we’ll be able to claim retribution for loss of income. The individual who hacked into your computer and stole the information will be looking at jail time. We will fix this for you.”
My shoulders slumped. “But I most likely won’t get my clients back.”
“Unfortunately not. It’s still something, though. Koen told me he thinks it’s your stepmother setting you up. I’m in agreement. We’ve seen it before. But it isn’t always easy to prove it. Even if we find the man making the phone calls, we’d still need to find the connection between him and your stepmother that proves they were working together to hurt you.”
“Of course it’s her,” I muttered.
“Which we would need to prove before calling her out on it.” Mr. Hayes smiled. How far did his patience go? It felt endless to me.
The rest of the meeting only rehashed everything that was going on, along with where we stood with the custody case. There were so many balls being tossed in the air that I was afraid something was going to drop, and if any of them did, it didn’t bode well for me. Mr. Hayes gave me a list of questions to be prepared to answer if needed. We also made a list of everything I do right and Olivia does wrong. That was fun to do. Maybe I should use it in therapy.
There was a checklist of all the paperwork I should gather. I didn’t realize how many lists were involved in preparation for court. It only made the situation so much more real.
“It’s going to be fine,” Mr. Hayes said once we finished.
“That’s what everyone keeps saying.”
“Then everyone sounds like they have a lot of trust in you.”
That got him a small smile. He deserved it for working so closely with me on this.
Koen was still in the waiting room, but there wasn’t a client there. The moment he spotted me, he came over with a tentative smile, trying to read my mood. “All done?”
I glanced around. “Did you wait for me?”
“I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“I can see that.” He dug through his pocket and pulled out a folded paper, holding it out to me.
I eyed it, expecting it to perform some kind of magic trick.
Koen chuckled. “It’s not going to hurt you.”
“But it’s come from you. Who knows what it�
�ll do!”
“Take it, Maddie. It’s only meant as a kind gesture to help you.”
“Fine.” I huffed and snatched the paper. I opened it quickly before I chickened out. Frowning, I took in business names and phone numbers. “What is this?”
“A list of dentists and eye doctors around Boston. I already checked and they are accepting new patients. There are multiple options since I don’t know what insurance you have. All of them are known to do well with children too.”
“Oh… wow…” I stared at the list in shock. Not what I was expecting at all. “So Dayton ratted me out, huh?”
“Kind of. He asked where I go for my glasses.”
“And you being psychic knew it was more than an innocent question.”
“Dayton has never had trouble with his eyes before.”
“Hm, I’m going to have to give him a lesson in being discreet.” I looked down at the paper, my heart all warm and bubbly at his thoughtfulness. “Do you even sleep? When did you have time to do all the research for this? Even I hadn’t had a chance yet to call places. I had a list though. I swear.”
Koen chuckled. “I believe you, Maddie. Just take it and make use of it. I promise, I personally looked up each person on that list. My doctor is on there too, but I’m not telling you who.”
I glanced at the names. “I bet it’s Dr. Jakobe Reeves.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Dr. Reeves. That’s an awesome doctor name. Very professional. And Jakobe.” I sighed. “Say it with me. Jah-Koh-Bee. Absolutely beautiful.”
Koen laughed. Really laughed. The full belly laugh that would leave his body shaking and lungs aching. I gaped at him, taking in the sound, basking in it, pretending to swim around in the sound. A rare one indeed. I loved it.
“In fact, he is my doctor. He’s a good guy.” Koen shook his head as he got himself under control.
“Is he cute?”
Koen didn’t respond.
“Come on. It’s okay to admit if you have a bro-crush.”
“I am not answering that question,” he finally replied. “You know what, Dr. Jana Gibson is good too. She had a lot of good reviews, especially for children.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Not happening. If you don’t want me to use Dr. Jakobe”—I sighed at the sound of his name—“that means he’s handsome.”
Sizzling Hot Apple Cider Page 7
