Page 8 of The Marriage Deal (Sunset Falls #1)

TO BE DECIDED…

LILAH

“He asked you out?” Madelyn leans forward on the pillow she’s pulled onto her floor and the pooch with his head in her lap lets out a low grunt.

“He’s offering me a job.”

Tara’s eyes dance as she peeks over the rim of her glass at me. “He asked you to join him for dinner.” She takes a sip of her wine, her mischievous smile not dying even for a second. “You forget I saw the two of you going at it last week.”

“Going at it?” Madelyn’s eyes blink wide, mouth popping wider.

“Arguing,” I tell her, rolling my eyes to Tara. “Seriously, Tara?”

She ignores me. “They were so hot and bothered, I honestly thought he’d throw her up against the window of my shop and just rail her right then and there. You should’ve seen the way he looked at her.”

“Oh my God!” I drop my head into the hand not holding my wine glass. I groan. “He looked at me with rage.”

“You know what, I heard about that.” Madelyn reaches to the side to land a gentle swat on my arm. “Not from you, I’ll add.”

“Wait.” I lift my head. “Who is in the clinic talking about me?”

Tara doesn’t let Madelyn answer because she points out, “And there’s that wink he shot you at the town meeting.”

I huff. “You weren’t even there!”

“But I heard about it.” She smacks her lips into a smug smile.

“This is why I don’t like small towns.”

“We’re not concerned about whether you like small towns,” Tara begins, but Madelyn finishes, “Nope. All we care to hear is if you like him.”

At just one look at her bouncing brows, I groan as I drop my head into my hand a second time. “Stop doing that!”

“I can’t.” Madelyn giggles, giving the old dog she found a couple weeks back wandering, most likely dumped by a sorry excuse of a human, a scratch. “It happens when I get excited.”

“You’re not the only one.” I gesture to the dog, whose bushy dark brows on his otherwise sandy colored fur rise in pleasure at the head scratch. He’s gained weight since coming into Madelyn’s care, too. Poor guy.

Madelyn laughs again. “He’s a sweetie, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.” I reach over to give the old boy my own scratch. He looses a doggy grunt of pleasure the moment my fingertips touch the underside of his chin. I ache inside at the thought of what he might have gone through. “Are you keeping him?”

Madelyn sighs. “I wish. You know I would if I could.” Anger flares in her eyes, and for a moment they shine a brighter shade of green than usual. “Senior dumps always kill me. Like—someone loved him his whole life and then—what happened?”

“Someone probably died,” Tara says, always the one to roll out a hard dose of reality.

“Well, you’re just a bucket of sunshine, aren’t you?” I huff, giving Tara wide eyes as Madelyn’s heart practically breaks right there on her living room floor.

“What?” Tara shrugs. “It’s true. It was probably him and an owner just as old. Sadly, the owner went first and all that was left was a family who—” She shakes her head in disappointment. “Well, clearly they fucking suck.”

“I get it.” Madelyn flicks at an angry tear. “It’s hard taking in an animal you don’t want. But damn, to abandon him? Really? He’s a living soul. He feels everything we feel.” She bends forward to press a kiss to his head, overwhelmed by her too-big heart. “They’re innocent, like kids.”

“Girl, you’re in the wrong profession.” Tara stretches out on her cushion. “You aren’t capable of distancing yourself like you should.”

“I have love to give them, so I’m giving it until my heart can’t give it anymore.”

“That’s the day you’re gone,” Tara points out, again, bluntly.

Madelyn nods. “Yeah. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I fold my legs under me, swirling my white wine in my glass. “Is it worth it, Mad?”

Madelyn’s brows pinch together. She keeps at her absent petting of the old dog, who has yet to be named. “What?”

“Loving so much when it hurts so much?”

Her eyes meet mine and she smiles a soft, pained smile. “Yeah, girl. Love is always worth it in the end.”

We all know we’re not talking just about animals anymore, of which Madelyn has a lot. I ignore the weight of my friend’s eyes as they watch me stare into my wine, hot tears threatening to spill over. I catch my lip between my teeth to snag the tremble, inhaling big through my nose.

“Are you ever going to tell us what happened between you and Michael?”

One of those hot, stinging tears spills over. I wipe at it angrily, even a little frantically. I hate that I haven’t told them all of what happened. How he broke my heart, my trust, and my future in the span of six months.

“He broke my heart in the worst way.” It’s all I can say.

They think he cheated. I wish he had.

Wish it was all he’d done.

Tara leans closer, touching her hand to my calf and squeezing gently. “We’re here if you need us, you know that, right?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“And you know we’d totally bury the body—you know—if he hurt more than your heart, right?”

In a perfect world, I’d totally sic Tara on Michael. The sorry excuse of a man deserves it, that’s for sure.

“Thanks. I think.” I laugh lightly at Tara’s words, because she’s always been the real one. The one you’d call in a big old bind. Too bad my bind is really fucking expensive.

“Tara’s batshit crazy,” Madelyn adds. “But it’s true. Anything you need, we’re there for you, Lilah.” Because she’s Madelyn, she teases, “I could probably dig a mean hole, just saying.”

“Guys, stop. I don’t want to cry.” I also can’t tell them the truth. The whole truth. That I was a massive fool to think a man like Michael was real. That he loved me like he said he did. That we were going to have that big, bright future he talked about after he fucked me.

God, I’m so ashamed.

But I’m also not willing to wallow. The past is the past and all I can do is keep on walking forward. One step at a time. One day at a time. One paycheck at a time.

I’ll dig myself out of the hole Michael whatever-his-name-is—dug for me. Eventually.

“You’re home now.” Tara gives me another squeeze before she pushes back onto her own pillow. “That’s all that matters.”

“Well, that and a certain tall someone with green eyes and a killer-sexy grin.”

My mouth drops as my eyes pop wide. “Ummm—do you want to go to dinner with him?”

“Girl, nuh-uh he chose you and I’m not stepping on those toes. They’re too cute.” She shoots me another mischievous smile and I wiggle the pink painted toes in question. “Seriously, though. Briggs is hot and you’re going to dinner with him. I gotta know, babe. Do you like him?”

Madelyn narrows her eyes on the lips I twist to the side. Tara leans forward, and I swear she’s holding her breath. Slowly, I answer, “To be decided.”