by Leddy Harper
“Puh-lease…” Mady rolled her eyes and continued to interject herself into my packing. “You act like you know me or something.”
The funniest part about her statement was that I hadn’t actually known her very long, yet she was right—I’d catch myself talking about her like I did. She was one of those people you felt like you’d known forever, when in actuality, it had only been weeks. Granted, most of the time, the things I said were true. She couldn’t deny that. Like with this…we both knew she wouldn’t watch the film unless I sat next to her to babysit her through it.
“What’s so great about this movie anyway?” she asked while unrolling my socks only to fold them again a different way. Why she felt one was better than the other was beyond me. Folded socks were folded socks, no matter how you put them together.
“You’ll just have to watch and see.”
After continually being pushed out of the way, I finally took a seat on the side of the bed while Mady went through the clothes I’d pulled out to pack. She tossed a few to the side with a shake of her head and refolded others, making various facial expressions along the way. At least I didn’t have to wonder what she thought about my wardrobe.
Finally, a few minutes later, she turned to me and crossed her arms, as if she’d just now realized I’d stopped packing. “Are you going to sit there and make me do all the work? That seems a little backwards, don’t you think? You know, considering you’re the assistant and all.”
“Well, I’d love to help, but it seems I keep getting in your way. So I figured, why waste time getting out clothes that you’ll just take out of the bag when I can sit here and let you handle it.” I said all of this with a grin on my face; her cheery disposition and sunshiny attitude were contagious, no matter how annoying she could be. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a control freak? With maybe a hint of OCD?”
“Surprisingly, no.” She giggled, continuing to sort through my belongings. “I’m usually the one taking orders, not giving them. I do much better when I’m given some sort of direction, or when I’m working with someone. Being in control has never been my thing.”
That truly did surprise me and left me practically scratching my head. “Well, you could’ve fooled me.”
She paused for a moment and glanced at my bag, then the pile of clothes she’d folded on the bed. It was like realization had struck, like, prior to that moment, she hadn’t really been aware of her actions. But instead of saying anything about it, she shook it off and continued packing for me.
I opened the camera app on my phone and watched her from the screen. Sure, that might’ve been a creepy thing to do, but it was the only way to study her without her knowing. Ever since her personal insight a few moments ago, she’d carried on in silence, and I worried that if she knew what I was doing, she’d completely shut down.
That was the last thing I wanted to happen.
However, while watching her through the lens of my camera, I happened to notice the amount of clothes she’d piled next to the duffle. It made me laugh, since we were only going to be gone for five days. “How many outfits does one man need at a dude ranch? Are you expecting me to get dirty or something?”
Mady stopped what she was doing and looked at me with a huff, her shoulders dropping as if folding my clothes was hard work. “Well, considering I’ve never been to one before, I can’t answer that. But like my mom always said, it’s best to be prepared for anything.”
“And that means I need to have enough clothes to get me through the apocalypse?”
“See? Now you’re catching on…talls.” The smirk she shot me was so damn natural and sexy that my finger automatically hit the shutter release on the screen, snapping a photo of her.
I dismissed her by rolling my eyes, but that was only so I could look at the picture she didn’t know I’d taken. But as I pulled it up, expecting to focus on her face, I found myself viewing the entire scene in a much different light. As if seeing the scene before me captured in a single image explained more than living it.
What caught my attention most, though, was that out of all the clothes she had piled on the bed, I’d only pulled out a few of them. She’d gone into my closet and drawers and picked things out herself. Granted, I hadn’t been oblivious to that fact, but I guess I hadn’t paid enough attention to fully realize it. And for some reason, the thought of her moving around in my room in such a familiar manner filled me with a comforting warmth I’d never experienced before.
She might’ve only packed my bag, but it was enough to make me feel taken care of for the first time in my life. It was something I imagined Marissa did for Kyle when they went away together, and it made me yearn to discover all the ways Mady and I could take care of each other.
That thought almost caused my heart to stop. Sure, I’d noticed how attractive she was, and over the last month, I’d learned enough about her to know she was a pretty amazing person on the inside as well. I liked her; I didn’t deny that. Yet this was the first time I’d thought of her in that way—beyond my boss and more than a friend.
I had to shake off that thought, because no matter what happened, there could never be anything between us. We were too different; it could never work, so there was no point in getting lost in thoughts of something that would never happen.
Regardless, it was a fantastic picture, the perfect shot. So rather than delete it, I pulled up Mady’s Instagram and posted it with the caption, “Packing is killing me, smalls.” Normally, I would’ve told her about it first, but not this time. This one would be my little secret…knowing she would more than likely never see it.
Ever since the incident with the screenshot a couple of weeks ago, Mady’s sister, Gia, had backed away from her involvement in Mady’s business, which had been a blessing in disguise. I hadn’t been privy to exactly how that had come about, whether there was a conversation of some kind, or if Gia had simply taken a step back. Either way, it hadn’t affected their relationship as far as I could tell. If anything, they seemed closer than ever, probably both relieved not to have business issues hanging over their heads, allowing them to just be sisters.
However, that meant I exclusively handled her social media.
That task seemed more daunting than anything else she’d had me do.
This gig as Mady’s assistant had definitely turned into more than I’d originally expected.
“All that’s left are your toiletries, which I can’t pack yet. As much as I’d like to have your bag completely ready for you, I’d like it even more if you brushed your teeth in the morning before picking me up.” Mady stood with her hand on the top of my zipped duffle, her smile lighting up my entire room.
I locked my phone and tossed it onto the mattress next to me. “I think I can manage that. You actually put practical clothes in there, right? I don’t need to spend the entire time uncomfortable.”
“Eh…” She shrugged playfully. “If you get too uncomfortable, just take your clothes off. We’ll be out in the middle of nowhere, so I doubt anyone will have a problem with it. And who knows, you just might meet someone to keep you company in your hotel room.”
I laughed. “Hotel room? Mady, it’s a ranch, not a resort.”
“What does that mean?”
“There won’t be a hotel.”
Her jaw dropped. “Then where the hell are we going to sleep? In tents?”
The strangest things came out of that girl’s mouth, and most of the time, they contradicted everything I’d already decided about her. She left my head perpetually spinning, unable to figure out the most complicated woman.
For fun, I said, “Yup. Tents. In the woods.”
By the time we made it to the ranch, I knew all about Mady’s three best friends.
She’d finished watching The Sandlot within three hours of being on the road. It took three hours to watch because she repeatedly hit the pause button to ask a question or two. Surprisingly, I hadn’t minded, even though I normally found that shit annoying. Her
questions were cute, and her comments kept me entertained. The rest of the drive, she told me everything I’d ever want to know about Nellie, Brooke, and Julie. Apparently, the movie had produced nostalgia and made her miss them. She’d also noticed the picture I’d posted last night, and we had a good laugh over that, while making lots of smalls and talls jokes. It was nice to have someone you could just be silly with.
Honestly, I wasn’t bothered by any of our conversations. In four hours, I’d learned about Brooke’s cheating ex, Nellie’s family drama, and Julie’s upcoming trip to some island for her cousin’s wedding. I’d heard her talk about them before, but never anything specific, so it was nice to get an inside glimpse into their dynamic. And from what I could tell, their friendship sounded a lot like mine and Kyle’s. The only difference was we were a twosome, and they were a foursome.
“Here we are,” I said as I pulled up in front of the cabin.
When I’d told her yesterday that we were staying in tents, she freaked out and threatened to call the whole thing off. So I finally had to tell her that we were sharing a cabin. It wasn’t a hotel room, but at least it wasn’t in a tent in the middle of the woods, which had calmed her considerably. She’d worked herself into a tizzy thinking she’d have to use leaves as toilet paper. As entertaining as it was, I couldn’t keep up the façade very long. However, I could tell that the idea of sharing a cabin, despite it having two beds, left her slightly uncomfortable—although she didn’t say anything about it.
She walked in front of me, carrying her bag while I carried mine, and then waited on the porch for me while I unlocked the front door. Then she followed me inside. For someone who couldn’t stop talking during the entire drive, including the movie, I was surprised at how quiet she was now. The only thing I could blame it on was the fact that we were sharing a cabin, and once we walked in, we both realized that “two beds” meant just that—not two bedrooms.
This should be interesting.
There were several large boxes stacked next to the door, and after a quick peek, I realized they were the clothes for the shoot. “Well, that saves me from having to track these down,” I said aloud, likely to myself considering Mady appeared to be lost in her head. “Looks like our evening is already planned out for us.”
Urban Wear had agreed to work with us, yet we were the primary organizers. They’d contracted a photographer and gave each “model” a promotional code to use on their social media pages and blogs, but other than that, Mady and I had to handle the rest. Which didn’t bother me; I quite enjoyed staying busy. And one thing was for sure…setting this whole thing up had kept me beyond busy over the last two weeks.
“Why don’t you sort through these boxes while I go get everything we’ll need for our guests?” I grabbed my keys, checked my pocket for my cell, and then waited by the door to make sure she’d heard me.
“What all do I have to do?”
I hesitated for a moment at the mixture of confusion and fear written all over her face. But rather than ask about it, I assumed it was caused by a combination of the sleeping arrangements and uncertainty over what I needed her to do—normally, I took care of everything, so asking her to help wasn’t something either of us was used to.
“Just go through the clothes and sort them by size. We’ll do the rest when I get back.”
She nodded, though she didn’t seem so sure about it. There was no way she didn’t understand those directions, so rather than repeat myself, I left her to it. I had errands to run, and after the long drive, we were running short on daylight hours. Considering everyone else would be arriving tomorrow, we had to accomplish this part tonight.
We’d managed to score a very generous donation from a local makeup company, but they wouldn’t deliver it to the ranch, which meant I had to drive to the store and pick it all up. Then I had to find a place that sold boxes; otherwise, we’d be handing everyone an armful of clothes and accessories as they arrived. Needless to say, I was racing against the clock. I was just thankful that I had Mady to stay back and help get the clothes organized. Without her, I’d probably be up all night, like I had been for over two weeks now.
A couple of hours later, I pulled up to the cabin just as the sun met the horizon. I carried the bags of makeup and other random supplies we needed inside, planning to make a second trip for the flattened boxes. But as soon as I crossed the threshold, I dropped everything I had in my hands and stared at the mess sprawled out on the floor in front of the couches.
Taking a quick assessment of the room, I noticed that only half the boxes had been opened. As if that weren’t bad enough, even a hoarder wouldn’t have considered the piles of clothes on the floor to be organized. I glanced over the top of the sofa and found Mady on one of the beds, all but snoring.
I could deal with a lot, but this was downright disrespectful.
In the month since I’d started working for her, I hadn’t lost my cool. There were a few times I’d grown slightly impatient, though those moments never lasted long. And on the rare occasion, I’d found her mildly annoying—which was only because I was already in a mood. But this was the first time I’d been pissed at her.
After heading back out to the car for the boxes that I still needed to put together, I returned and made sure to slam the door behind me. As predicted, it woke up sleeping beauty. She rolled to her side and squinted in my direction, sheet imprints lining her cheek. For a split second, I’d almost forgotten that I was angry, but then she said, “Do you need any help?” and my mood came back. Tenfold.
“I’m sorry, princess…did I wake you?” I didn’t even bother trying to hide the bite in my tone. We both knew what a long week this would be and how much work we’d both have to put in if we wanted it to be as successful as we’d planned. So to catch her sleeping instead of finishing the one task I’d given her had damn near pushed me over the edge. I didn’t care if she knew how pissed I was.
“I must’ve been exhausted. I didn’t mean to pass out like that.”
As I sifted through the items of clothing on the floor, I grew even angrier. There was no order to any of it. She had size twos in with fives and sixes with nines, among other mix-ups with different numbers. To me, it looked like she’d just tossed them out of the box and then walked away, not wanting to finish the task.
“I’m sorry about that.” She pointed to the mess I currently sat in, trying to sort it out. “I meant to finish it. What can I do to help?”
Part of me wanted to tell her that I didn’t need her to do anything, but considering all we still had to do before morning, I decided to bite my tongue and let her give me a hand. “There’s a folder on my bed. Inside, there’s a list of everyone’s sizes. Get that and start pulling outfits for everyone.”
Mady continued to sit on the edge of the mattress for a few moments, chewing on her lower lip as if in deep concentration. But before I could say anything, she seemed to snap out of it, going to the list on my bed and reviewing the style sheets that Urban Wear had sent over.
However, instead of doing as I asked, she brought the papers to the couch and then, without a word, went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, I heard the shower come on, and as each second passed, I grew angrier and angrier.
I’d gone back and forth a few times on whether or not Mady was a high-maintenance diva, though it’d been a while since I last questioned it. And even then, I hadn’t seen this side of her. Now, I couldn’t find any reason to believe she wasn’t.
If I had to do everything myself while she did nothing but look pretty for the camera, this would prove to be a very long week.
9
Mady
My anxiety was through the roof, and it seemed to be getting worse by the hour. There was no way I’d make it through in one piece if something didn’t change.
I’d spent close to an hour in the bathroom, crying to myself in the shower. And when I got out—after the water had turned too cold to stay in—I’d waited almost another hour before emerging. The las
t thing I wanted was for him to see that I was upset and then try to get me to talk about it. There was no way I could explain how he’d made me feel.
So instead, I’d locked myself in the bathroom like the coward that I was.
Luckily, he’d already gone to bed by the time I came out, saving me from even more silent judgment. New boxes lined the wall, neatly labeled with names in black sharpie. The way he’d treated me and the tone he used was hard to handle, and if I didn’t get my shit together, I could guarantee that there would, in fact, be more of that coming my way. Much more.
Things were a bit uncomfortable the next morning, but thankfully, we had a lot that still needed to get done. And the best part was that the things we needed to get done didn’t have to be done together, which meant I wasn’t subjected to his mood.
Unfortunately, he’d given me yet another task that only increased the uneasiness flooding my system. I had to take the boxes—which he’d put together the night before while I hid from him—and deliver them to the cabins before everyone arrived.
In theory, it wasn’t a hard job. The office had given me a master key to use along with the printout of where each of our eight guests were staying. I simply had to drop the boxes off inside the door and lock up on my way out, then return the key to the manager at the front. Shouldn’t have taken me more than an hour to complete—although, it would’ve been even less had Finn let me use his SUV to drive from cabin to cabin rather than walk back and forth eight times. Except, thanks to my nervousness, I’d made the task harder than it needed to be, which meant it’d ended up taking twice as long.
“Mady…” Finn shook his head, and I couldn’t be sure, since his beard did a great job at hiding his jawline, but I was pretty sure he had his teeth clenched. I’d never seen him this angry, and it made me wonder just how different he was from the hotheads I was used to.
