One More Time

The insinuation seemed pretty clear, even

to me. Not that I was a shrink or anything, but I imagined, in her mind, Andi probably thought Madison was out with me out of some misplaced sense of hero-worship or gratitude. Or something equally as stupid as that.

“Actually,” I said. “Madison and I have known each other for a long time. High school, right?”

Color flared in Madison's cheeks and she nodded, a small smile touching her lips. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The insinuation I hoped to make to Andi with that remark was that our relationship was long-standing and had nothing to do with the fact that we'd pulled her out of a burning building. Andi's jaw set, though, and she looked determined to undermine Madison at every turn.

If she kept that up, this was going to be one long-ass night.

“So, anyway,” Andi said, “about this fire—”

“Let's skip the shop talk, huh?” Cassie said as she stepped back into the room.

Andi frowned, her mouth settling into a little pout. I gave Cassie a grateful look and she tipped me a wink. She set a beer down in front of me and a glass of wine down in front of Madison before taking her seat.

She held up her glass and smiled. “To new friends,” she said, giving Madison a warm smile.

“And old ones,” I replied.

We all clinked glasses – Andi, reluctantly so. But, the conversation after that was easy and free-flowing. Cassie had gotten the message that I wasn't interested in Andi and, of course, was shifting her attention to Madison, asking her a million different questions, trying to ferret out whatever information she could. Cassie was like a big sister, checking out a prospective new girl, and would only allow me to date her if she gave me her stamp of approval.

“Penn State, huh?” Cassie asked, clearly impressed.

Madison nodded. “Yeah, I double majored in Journalism and Criminal Justice.”

Andi looked thoroughly unimpressed. “I graduated from Boston College with a law degree.”

This game of one-upmanship – something Andi had embarked upon after Cassie shut her down about the fire – was going to get old real fast. Cassie had gotten the message; why couldn't Andi? Jimmy and I exchanged a look and a small shrug of the shoulders.

A timer went off in the kitchen and Cassie started to get up. I quickly jumped to my feet and motioned for her to stay put.

“We'll get it,” I said. “Jimmy and I. You relax.”

Cassie gave me a look and a small smile, but settled back into her seat and picked up her wine glass. Jimmy and I hurried out of the dining room and into the kitchen. Leaning against the counter, I let out a long breath.

“That woman is a shark,” I said. “Wow. How could you guys even think about setting me up with her?”

Jimmy laughed and held up his hand. “Hey, it wasn't me,” he said. “Talk to Cassie.”

“Yeah, I'll do that.”

“Madison though,” he said. “Nice call on that.”

“I figured I needed a buffer.”

“Buffer, huh?” he said, a grin on his face. “Looks like a little more than a buffer to me.”

“Got no idea what you're talking about.”

Jimmy laughed and got another couple of beers out of the refrigerator and handed me one. Madison and I had a bit of a history, that was for sure. Not that it was a good history. But, a history nonetheless. He took a long pull of his beer, his eyes fixed on mine.

“What?” I finally asked.

“I see the way you look at her, man,” he replied.

“Madison?”