Page 8 of Spring Forward (Sweet Treat Novellas #3)

M adison had spent so much time during her first day back at work talking about APRs and refinances and small-business loans that she was tired of the sound of her own voice.

Foot traffic slowed down in the branch midafternoon.

Madison leaned back in her chair as Beth stepped inside her cubicle and dropped into the seat across her desk.

“Cancún was amazing.” Beth sighed long and dramatic. “You should have come.”

“I’m sure it was great. But it was nice being back home too.”

“So how was your mom’s boyfriend? Total loser again?”

Madison realized with a jolt that she hadn’t thought about Grant McGee much since leaving Folsom Lake. Apparently she really wasn’t worried about him. Or she was too distracted. “He seems like a really nice guy, actually. And I haven’t seen Mom so happy in a really long time. Maybe ever.”

You were happy with Derek. Mom’s voice spoke in her thoughts, all the things she’d said about liking Grant because he was so much like his nephew.

Beth was talking about pristine beaches and snorkeling in crystal-blue water. Exactly the things that originally pulled Madison to the idea of Cancún. She should have been writhing with jealousy, or at least hanging on every descriptive word.

Instead, her thoughts were full of hair touched by hints of gold, hazel eyes full of laughter, Chang’s spring rolls. She tried to shake it off and focus. Derek did that to her so easily. He was such a deeply entrenched part of her that she never could completely get him out of her system.

“The second night we were there,” Beth continued, “we met these guys. They were hot. I don’t mean hot like they knew it, kind of hot. They were nice-guy hot. Nice guys. And hot. At the same time. I mean, when does that happen?”

A hot, nice guy. If she’d gone to Mexico with her friends, she would have met these mystery men. But they would have turned out like every other guy she’d met in the last two years. She’d be intrigued at first, then vaguely disappointed.

No one I went out with was ever what I wanted. Derek had said that, but she could have said it herself and meant it completely.

No one was ever you . He’d said that too.

“We were all saying that we should go again next year. Or at least go somewhere next year.” Beth shifted forward, leaning a little against the edge of Madison’s desk. “But you have to come. You can’t miss out again.”

“I didn’t really miss out.” She was surprised to find she meant it. “I had a good time in Folsom Lake. I really did.”

Spying in a movie. Junior Mints and popcorn. Sitting in Derek’s car. She did have fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so content, so easily happy.

“Wait.” Beth looked more than a little suspicious. “ He was there, wasn’t he? Not just there—you saw him.”

Madison let herself smile a little. “We spent a lot of time together. It was... nice.”

“You got back with the old boyfriend? Madison. How could you go all day without telling me this?”

She had Beth’s complete attention now. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Beth held her hands out, like the enormity of this was obvious. “You’ve been talking about Derek McGee for a year. And you always look all heartbroken and lonely. What happened? Did things get going between you two again?”

“No.” She shrugged at that. “Maybe a little, but not really.”

“Madison.” Beth sounded like Mom always had when she was in trouble.

“It didn’t work in the end, okay? It never does.”

Beth slouched again. “You gave it an entire week. That’ll tell you a lot.”

“I gave it years the first time, Beth. He is the same person. I’m the same person. It’ll just turn out the same way it did before.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. “Is he seeing someone?”

Madison reluctantly shook her head.

“Has he been serious with anyone since you dumped him two years ago?”

Dumped wasn’t the word she would have used. “He hasn’t.”

Beth didn’t let up on the interrogation. “Did he seem interested again? Interested still?”

She thought back on that farewell kiss, on all the times in the last week he’d held her hand or put his arm around her. He’d even said he still loved her. “Yeah, he is definitely still interested.”

Beth’s eyes widened far beyond normal. “Then why are you here? You have a hunky guy who is still so into you that he hasn’t dated anyone for years, even though you dumped him. And don’t tell me you don’t still have feelings for him. I’m not stupid.”

Madison propped her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her upturned hands. “I can’t do it again, Beth. What happens when it falls apart? I’ll be right back where I was before. I don’t want that.”

Beth came around her desk and gave her a friendly hug. “Your mom’s taking a chance, and she’s had far more relationship failures than you have. She found a good guy, but so have you. Go take the chance.”

“I don’t know.”

“Missing Cancún is one kind of regret,” Beth said. “But missing a chance to be with the person you have always loved who feels exactly the same way? That’s a completely different thing. That’s a regret most people couldn’t live with.”