“Well, yeah, obviously,” I replied. “I’m with Jake.”
He nodded, but there was a hint of hurt in his eyes. Uncertainty swirled through me as I tried to understand it. But a moment later he lifted his gaze back to meet mine and his expression turned neutral.
“No problem,” he said.
I let out a breath. “Okay, that’s great.”
“Yeah, great,” he replied. We were still standing close to one another, but it felt like a huge void had suddenly opened up between us.
“Anyway,” he continued. “I have homework I need to get started on…”
“Right, of course, me too.” I didn’t miss the hint. It was time for me to go. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you then, Matthews.”
As I walked back to my house, I kept glancing down at the paper heart in my hand. I was somehow still stuck in the competition, but I felt confident I could handle another week of it. I just wasn’t so sure that Jake could.
It wasn’t Jake that I was thinking about when I went to bed that night though. Cole’s message kept replaying in my mind. The words had been silly and playful, but their meaning was clear. Cole wanted me in the contest, and I was afraid to find out why.
10
Madison
When Jake came to pick me up from school the next morning, he did not look happy. He didn’t get out to greet me as I walked toward his car, and he didn’t glance in my direction as I opened the passenger side door and took a seat.
I could see the tension in his shoulders clearly, and his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had turned white. He’d watched the selection ceremony and he was upset.
“Hey, Jake,” I said, my voice hesitant.
He finally turned in my direction and the look in his eyes was enough to stop my beating heart. They were filled with so much anger and hurt that the breath was stolen from my lungs and I was left speechless.
“I can’t do this,” he said, the words as strained as the tension in the air between us.
My eyes automatically glistened with tears. “I know it can’t be easy for you,” I whispered.
“Not easy?” He thumped his hands against the wheel. “It’s torture. You think I like listening to people rave about the two of you together? That I want the whole school to see my girl flirting with that dick?”
“I haven’t been flirting with him—”
“Don’t lie to me,” Jake growled, cutting me off.
The anger in his voice made my blood run cold. “I would never lie to you.”
He scoffed in response but didn’t utter a word in reply.
“Look, I know I couldn’t get out of it last night because of the audience vote, but Cole promised I’ll be gone next week,” I said. “It’s just one more week, and then everything will be back to normal.” As the words came out of my mouth, my stomach dipped. I didn’t even know what normal was between us anymore.
Jake shrugged off my explanation like he didn’t care; like the damage had already been done.
I watched him closely, trying to understand what was going on in his head. He was overreacting about the whole contest, but in a moment of clarity, I could see that this was about so much more than some stupid competition. Things had been bad between us for a while. I guess I was finally beginning to feel the repercussions.
“Fine,” I said, my voice soft and filled with every ounce of my hurt. “You clearly don’t trust me, even though I’ve only ever been loyal to you, and I can’t be with someone who thinks that I would betray them.” I paused as I tried to hold back the sob I could feel rising up in my throat. I didn’t want to cry in front of him, but I was struggling to contain the pain that was clutching my chest.
“That’s not who I am,” I managed to continue, “and if you think I’m like that for even a second then you don’t know me at all and you don’t deserve me.”
Before he could respond, I jumped out of the car and slammed the door behind me. His car remained idling by the side of the road, but I didn’t turn as I walked back down my driveway.
Several moments later, I heard the screech of car wheels as Jake took off from the curb and sped away. It was only once I heard the car disappear around the corner that I let the emotion that was building in my chest burst out of me. Tears rushed down my cheeks and my whole body ached in agony.
I collapsed to my knees in the driveway and cradled my arms around my body tightly. I felt completely numb and empty inside. I knew that Jake and I had been on rocky ground for some time, but it hurt so badly to know that it had now come to an end for good. I couldn’t picture the future without him.
I knew I had to get off the ground and go to school, but I couldn’t seem to get my legs to comply. Mom and Dad had already left for work, and Lucas went straight to school from hockey practice. The only option left was to walk, but the thought of trudging all the way to school on my own made me even more miserable.
“Madi?” a voice called from the street.
Oh no, not him.
I could hear the pounding of footsteps coming toward me as Cole raced down my driveway.
“Not now, Cole.” I barely managed to blurt out the words between sobs. My whole body seemed to shake as I cried.
I felt Cole’s warm hand softly press against my back, and then he lightly took hold of my chin, lifting it so I could look him in the eyes. I’d never really noticed the color of his eyes before. They were greenish-gold around the center and changed to a shade of blue around the rim. There was so much concern in them as he looked at me, far more than I ever would have expected to see.
“You okay, buttercup?”
I gave a sad laugh at the nickname. “Have you been watching The Princess Bride?”
“That’s inconceivable,” he said, with a smile.
My laugh was a little more genuine this time. It didn’t stop the tears that were still welling in my eyes though.
“Shouldn’t you be at school?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t you?” he replied.
I let out a breath. Cole was still cupping my chin in his hand, and his face felt far too close to mine. As if he sensed my thought, Cole lowered his hand and settled onto the ground at my side. He was still watching me though, and I knew he was desperate to find out why I was crying, but he didn’t ask the question.
“Jake and I broke up,” I eventually whispered. It hurt so badly to say the words out loud, and a new wave of tears threatened to cascade down my cheeks.
Cole frowned, and a flicker of guilt entered his eyes. “Is it because of the show?”
I shrugged. “That’s part of it, but we’ve been having problems for a while. I guess seeing the episode last night was the final straw for him.”
“I’m sorry if it was my fault in any way,” he said. From the genuine look in his eyes, I could tell he meant it. “Jake’s an idiot for letting you go.”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure if I agreed.
“Come on,” he said, suddenly jumping to his feet. He held out one hand to help me up. As I looked up at his outstretched hand, I had a weird sense of déjà vu. It reminded me of how he’d offered out his hand to help me out of the pool the other night, and a flicker of guilt rushed through me. I’d been so immature to pull him in when he’d only been trying to help me.
I took his hand though, this time not yanking him down with it. His grip was warm, and our hands seemed to fit perfectly together.
“I can’t go to school,” I said, once I was standing. I wiped my eyes and felt thankful that I’d decided not to put makeup on this morning. It probably didn’t stop me from looking like a mess though.
“Who said we were going to school?” Cole replied, giving me his signature smirk. It seemed that even during sad or stressful moments it was never far from his face.
“You want to ditch?”
His grin grew wider. “You scared of getting in trouble?”
“Is that even a question? My mom would kill
me.” I folded my arms over my chest and tried to look disapproving. I doubt I was very convincing considering the misery I knew was etched onto my face.
“You and your boyfriend just broke up. I think she’ll understand.”
His words caused another stab of pain to run through my chest. It was hard to hear my new reality spoken aloud, but I knew I couldn’t dwell on it.
I chewed on my lower lip as I considered my options. Cole was probably right. I doubted Mom would force me to go to school when I was this miserable.
“If it helps, I think our moms have been planning our wedding since the moment you moved onto the street,” he said. “You being single and us ditching school to spend the day together is pretty much both of their dreams come true.”
“If I get in trouble you know I’m leaving you at the altar,” I said, with a small smile.
A grin stretched across his whole face, and I felt slightly stunned as I looked at it. I was so used to seeing Cole’s overconfident smirk, that when he genuinely smiled at me, it felt like I was getting a glimpse of an entirely different person. It was hard not to be mesmerized.
“I’ll take that to mean you’re in.”
“Yeah, I’m in,” I said, trying to pull my eyes away from his lips. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” he said. “Come on.”
11
Cole
Madi seemed a little more like herself as we drove. It had nearly broken my heart to see her crying, and I wanted to do anything I could to stop her tears. The fact that Jake had been the cause of those tears was enough to make me want to punch him in the face. He was an idiot for breaking up with Madi, and I knew it wouldn’t take him long to realize. It would be less than a week before he came crawling back to her, begging her to take him back.
I stopped myself as I felt a smile begin to spread across my face at the thought.
“What are we doing at Peggy’s?” Madi asked as we pulled up outside my favorite diner.
“Only getting the world’s best pancake stack,” I replied. “Come on.”
I jumped out of the truck and walked around to open her door before she could argue. She stepped out of the cab and looked uncertain as she followed me. “I haven’t been here in years,” she murmured. “Not since…” Her voice drifted off and she gave me a sad glance.
She didn’t need to speak the words aloud, I knew Madi was going to say she hadn't been to Peggy's since she and Jake started dating. When we had all been friends, we'd often come together. But Jake ruined that the moment he had decided to make Madi his own and refused to let me talk to her. I wasn't bothered by his threats anymore though.
“You’ve been missing out,” was all I said in response.
We took a seat at one of the booths toward the back of the room. Madi immediately busied herself by scanning the menu. I reached over and snatched it from her hand before she could take a proper look though. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what you want,” I said.
She tried to grab the menu back from me, but I held it out of reach.
“Give me the menu, Cole.”
“What, it's not like you're going to order anything other than the BFP?”
“Maybe I don’t feel like the big fluffy pancakes.”
“You know that’s not what the ‘f’ stands for,” I replied.
She glared at me, and it made my heart swell. Her tears were nowhere to be seen.
Madi was saved from responding as Peggy came over. She was wearing the same retro blue dress she always wore, and while she had a few more grey hairs now, she still looked just the same as she had when Madi used to come here with me.
Peggy had been using a stick to help her get around after a bad fall last winter, but I sometimes wondered if she really needed it anymore. She rarely leaned on it and I saw her using the stick to nudge her husband when she wanted something far more frequently.
“Shouldn’t you kids be in school?” she asked. That was the other thing about Peggy; she rarely kept her opinions to herself, and I could hear the clear disapproval in her tone.
“Nah, it’s a special day,” I said.
Peggy lifted an eyebrow, like she didn’t believe me, but I gave her my broadest smile, and she merely shook her head. “What will it be?”
“We’ll have two BFPs,” I said. “Both with extra maple, extra crushed Oreos and one with bacon.”
I handed Peggy our menus and smiled when I caught the look on Madi’s face. “You remembered my order,” she said.
“Duh, it’s practically the same as mine except you ruin yours it with bacon.”
“It’s not ruined,” she replied.
“Sweet and savory should never be mixed. It’s sacrilege.” I sounded so adamant that it drew a small laugh from her lips.
“I forgot how weird you were about mixing certain foods.”
“I forgot you were a barbarian who would mix together just about anything.”
She suddenly smiled, and my lungs felt like they could breathe again. I hated seeing Madi upset. Her expression only grew brighter when her pancakes arrived. I started salivating too as I looked down at my plate. Four huge pancakes were stacked on top of one another. Between each layer, I could see a thick drizzling of maple syrup oozing out of the folds and sprinkled over the top were large chunks of Oreos. Even the crispy bacon that was draped on top of Madi’s stack was doused in maple syrup and cookie chunks. It looked incredible.
Neither of us hesitated before we started to dig in. My first mouthful was pure bliss, and I closed my eyes as I savored each sweet bite. It was a struggle not to ditch my knife and fork and devour the stack with my hands.
Madi was making it difficult to fully focus on my pancakes though. She kept making little moans of pleasure as she ate, which made my stomach tense every time. To distract myself, I asked her the first thing that popped into my head.
“So, did you watch the show on Sunday night?” I asked.
Madi shook her head and kept her gaze focused on her food. “What’s to watch? I already experienced it.”
“True,” I replied. I didn’t want to talk about the fact that I had watched it. I’d spent most of the time studying my conversations with Madi and trying to analyze her reactions. The girl always appeared irritated with me on the surface, but sometimes I dared to hope that maybe she felt something different underneath.
“I just wish I’d been able to get out of it last night.”
The food in my mouth turned bland at her words, and I struggled to swallow it down. “You still want out?”
She frowned as she looked at me. “We talked about this last night...”
“I know. I just thought that things might have changed after today.”
Her frown grew more pronounced, and her eyes grew wet with the promise of tears. Damn it. I was meant to be fixing the problem, not making it worse.
“Okay, I know you’re not a huge fan of being in the contest.”
“That’s an understatement,” she grumbled.
“But the main reason you wanted to leave so early was because of Jake, and he’s not an issue anymore.” I said it as gently as I could, but that didn’t stop the hurt from flashing across Madi’s eyes.
“Maybe you could just view the contest as a fun distraction?” I asked.
She pursed her lips as she considered my suggestion. “It’s just so embarrassing,” she said. “You should have seen my parents the other night…”
“You should have seen mine,” I responded. “My mom spent an hour lecturing me on the wrongs of pushing pretty girls in pools.”
Madi laughed and my heart warmed at her reaction. I wished I could make her laugh like that more often.
“So, will you stick it out with me?”
“I’ll think about it,” she finally agreed. “But you’ll probably give me the boot come Monday anyways.”
“Nah,” I replied. “I think you’re safe.”
We stayed at Peggy’s the whole morning talking. It wa
s fun and easy in a way I couldn’t have dreamed up. This was the Madison I’d missed the last two years, and now that I had her back I couldn’t stand the thought of letting her go again. I’d been stupid enough to allow it to happen once; I refused to have it happen again. I just wasn’t sure if she felt the same way.
When we finally decided to leave Peggy’s, I didn’t take Madi home. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet. Not when we were finally starting to get along again.
When I drove past the turnoff to our street, she gave me a questioning look.
“I have another pit stop for us,” I said.
“Where?” she asked. “If it involves more food, you can count me out. I’m still full from breakfast.”
“It’s not food,” I replied. “But that’s the only hint you’re getting.”
Her face grew more confused as I drove beyond the edge of the suburbs and entered the forest that bordered our town. It was a sunny day, and beneath the trees dappled light played across the dash of my truck. I always felt like I could breathe more easily when I was in nature, and a part of me was hoping that Madi would feel the same.
I pulled over by the start of one of the walking trails, and Madi’s confusion turned to horror. “We better not be hiking, Kingston. I’m wearing wedges!” she exclaimed as I opened her door for her.
I chuckled. “Nah, we’re not going far. There’s just a place I want to show you.”
“You promise?” she asked.
“Yes, I promise,” I replied. “Now, get those cute wedges down here so we can get going.”
“Alright, alright,” she said as she eased herself down from my truck. Even with wedges on Madi was short, and she barely came up to my chin in height. I bet she’d fit perfectly under my arm, though I wasn’t game enough to try.
“This way,” I said, leading her down the dirt track and away from the road. The path was narrow and edged by low-lying foliage on either side. It was mostly flat though and not too difficult to walk. Even so, I kept glancing back to Madi to check she was okay. Instead of focusing on where she was walking, she was looking around at the beauty of the forest that surrounded her, tilting her head to stare up at the enormous trees that towered over us.
The Wrong Bachelor Page 10
