“Call me when he leaves,” I managed to say to my mom. She gave me a gentle nod and blew me a kiss. I could tell she was worried, too. I could see it all over her face. But she didn’t need to worry about me. I may have been pissed, but I still meant every single word I’d said to my father.
“Where do you want to go?” Madeline asked as we exited through our gated community. Her little fingers drummed on the steering wheel in a jittery manner, and she kept glancing at
me.
“Cabin.” I stretched my fingers out on my jean-clad leg, curling and uncurling. The adrenaline was still running me high, and my skin was burning, likely hot to the touch.
I glanced at Madeline’s now frozen fingers wrapped around the steering wheel tightly. “The cabin. Okay, yeah. I’ll take you there.”
Why was she so wound up?
“You okay?” I finally managed to ask, still staring at her tightened fingers.
Her blonde hair caught a shine with the interior lights as she briefly caught my eye. “Me? I’m fine. The question is…are you okay?”
I scoffed, relaxing back into the seat of her car. “I’m great. Never been better.”
“Eric,” she sighed. “You almost punched your dad in the face. You’re not great.”
The blinker switched on as Madeline climbed onto the highway. “He had it coming.”
“Can’t argue there. Your mom is literally the nicest person I have ever met. Your father is a complete idiot to let her go.”
I chuckled. “Why do you think he’s trying so hard to get her back?”
A sad laugh left her, filling the small space. “Do you think she’ll take him back?”
I clenched my jaw and cracked my neck, staring at the blurring lines out the window. “I fucking hope not. She deserves better.”
“I agree.”
Neither one of us said anything else as she continued to drive us to the cabin. Soft music played through the speakers, and it did nothing to calm either one of us. My hand was still aching to punch something, and Madeline was still wound tight. She kept sighing, her fingers flexing every few seconds on the steering wheel. “What’s wrong with you?” I finally asked.
“Huh?” She spun toward me for a moment before going back to the road. “Me? Nothing.”
“You’re nervous. Why are you nervous?”
“I am not nervous.”
A choppy laugh came from my throat. “Yes, you are. Why are you nervous? Are you afraid to be alone with me again? Afraid you won’t be able to keep up this little charade of yours?”
She gave me a dirty look, her round lips pursed. “No!”
I flicked an eyebrow, and her shoulders dropped as she turned onto the gravel road. “It’s just…what are people going to say when I show up with you all hot and bothered at the cabin?”
Holding back a laugh, I angled myself toward her. “You think I’m hot and bothered right now?”
I watched the widening of her eyes, her thick eyelashes that barely had any mascara left on them from her earlier tears blinking. “That’s not what I meant.”
I chuckled, righting myself in the seat and glancing out the window. “Yeah, okay.” I paused before saying, “You can stop worrying. No one is at the cabin.”
Once we pulled up, Madeline shifted her car into park and twisted the key. “It’s not me I’m worried about, Eric. It’s you. Do you really want people to see us together?”
“You know very well I don’t give a fuck what people think about me, Maddie.”
She sighed, opening her door and pulling her keys from the ignition. Something caught my eye at the last second, and it put a pause on all the fuckery going on in my head. My rage had simmered.
I swiped her keys quickly, and she flew back into her seat. “What are you doi—”