CHAPTER ELEVEN
Maddox
I drove to my apartment feeling like the worst person to walk the face of Earth. What a loser. Macy couldn’t wait to be out of there.
It was because of Claudia, I knew that. I had tried to explain to her that she was just a client. But I could see from the look on Macy’s face that she hadn’t believed me.
“How could I be so stupid?”
I sighed as I walked up the stairs to the third floor where my apartment was. I realized now how stupid I had been from the beginning. I should have been transparent. I should have told her about my recent past. About Cherri, my ex. About everything that had happened that had caused me to distance myself from her all those years before. But I hadn’t. I had just walked into her life and hoped we’d pick up where we left off. I had been dumb.
I marched into the apartment, tripped over the bags of stuff I’d left there to take to the charity collection, and lay on the floor, feeling like I wished the floor would open and consume me.
“Okay,” I groaned to myself as I rolled over, moving the things out of the way as I did so. “So now I’ve messed things up with Macy. How to fix them?”
That was the trouble. I had no idea.
I had to do something. I remembered how I had felt when she’d walked out of the cafe like that, as if I was a bad smell or something. I had been more upset, watching her retreat, than I had been about anything I could remember lately.
The first thing I thought of was to call her. I reached for my phone and dialed her number. She didn’t answer. I sighed and hung up. Put the phone on the table and went through to the kitchen.
“What might work?” I asked myself as I took my uniform off my makeshift washing line in the kitchen and put it on the ironing board.
The possibilities chased themselves around my mind and after I’d finished ironing my suit, I gave up.
I sat on the couch and called Stella. My cousin.
“Hi?”
“Maddy!” Stella said cheerfully. “Hey! How’s life?”
I chuckled. Stella had a voice that could probably be used to break industrial-strength glass: high and loud and bubbly. But it was comforting to hear her now. “Okay, Stel. How are you?”
“I’m great, thanks,” she said. “Actually at work right now, but it’s my job to answer telephones. So what’s happening with you?”
I smiled. Stella worked as a receptionist at Interflora. She probably didn’t have time to answer my call, but she was such good company that I found it hard to say no. “I have to ask you something,” I said carefully.
“Fire away.”
“Okay,” I said, pausing to gather my thoughts. “Well, I’ve just upset a girl big time.”
“Oh.”
“You see,” I paused. “We have history and now…basically she thinks I’m cheating on her with a client. I’m not. What can I do about it?”
“Oh,” Stella paused. “Well, you could try call her. Tell her you’re not cheating. Pretty straightforward, yeah?”
I sighed. “Bad idea. She’ll hate me for calling her at work. And besides, if she didn’t believe me to her face, what’s there to make her believe it now? She’ll just say that I’m telling her lies.”
Stella let out a long sigh. “True. Okay. So, what else could you do? You know her, not me.”
“Come on, Stel. You’re a girl. I’m a guy. How am I supposed to know what would work?” I protested.
She made a small huffing noise. “What’s that supposed to mean. Girls aren’t that different to guys, you know. What would make you feel better?”
“If she said sorry?” I ventured, frowning. “Or if she gave me an explanation. One I could actually believe in.”
“Okay,” Stella said slowly. “So. Give her an explanation. And say sorry. Maybe take her out, make her feel like you care. She’s hurt, you know. It looks like she’s cross, but she’s hurt.”
I let out a long breath. “Okay. So how about I invite her for dinner tomorrow. That make sense?”
“Sure,” Stella said warmly. “Now. What are you going to say when you invite her?”
I sighed. “Stel…”
“Tell me,” she said sternly. “It’ll make the difference. Trust me.”
“Okay.” I blew out my cheeks in a long exhale. “How about this. I’m sorry, Macy, for hurting you. Let’s meet for dinner.”
A pause. “She told you she was hurt? As in, you actually argued? Yeah?”
“No,” I said.
“Okay. Then not that. How about this? I saw this nice restaurant and thought of you. Let’s have dinner. That way, you can avoid her thinking you feel bad about something…it’ll make her suspicious.”
“Oh!” I felt as if a light had turned on in my brain somewhere. “You think she’d think that?”
She snorted. “Well, yeah! Imagine if you were dating someone and they suddenly got all weird and secretive and then started being apologetic. What’d you think, eh?”
I sighed. I saw her point. “Yes, you’re right. Dammit, Stel. I’m useless at this.”
“No, you’re not,” she said firmly. “You called me, didn’t you?”
I laughed. “You’re not confident or anything, right?”
“I have a well-developed sense of my own abilities,” she said frostily. Then she giggled. “Yes, and I’m arrogant as hell sometimes. But you like me anyway.”
I roared with laughter. She had made me feel much better already. “Yes,” I agreed. “I do.”
“Mm. All that and good taste,” she said with a chuckle. “Now, best of luck, Maddy. Tell me what happens, hey?”
I sighed. “If it works, trust me; you’ll be the first to find out.”
“Yay,” she said. I laughed.
I had to admit that Stella’s idea was a good one. Which meant that I needed to find a fancy restaurant. I reached for my phone and made a search.
A place caught my eye called Foulard’s. It happened to be near the mall where I worked. I decided that was the place. A glance at the elegant tables and the food that looked like MasterChef met the top flower-arranging team convinced me that it was the sort of place she’d like. I checked the clock—it was twelve-twenty. Time I got going and headed to my shift.
On the way to the mall, I passed the flower shop where I’d bought flowers the previous evening. That gave me an idea. Instead of messaging to make the invitation, what if I just turned up at Macy’s door tomorrow, with flowers and ready to take her out. What would she say?
Nerves assailed me the moment I thought of that. It would probably be easier to just message her. But then, I’d already called her and received no reply. So who was going to say that she would even respond to a message from me.
“No, you’re going to have to take your courage in your hands,” I decided wryly.
The thought filled me with apprehension and I laughed at myself. It wasn’t like I was tackling some massive guy sprinting for the touchdown. Compared with actually arriving at Macy’s door with a bunch of flowers, though, I would rather be facing Jerry Rice or Jim Brown on the field.
At least those guys could only bruise me physically.
But if I wanted to make this right, I was going to have to do things properly. And I did know Macy well enough to know she would appreciate an effort.
It felt like a good idea.
“Right,” I said unsteadily. It was settled. I would buy the flowers on the way back from work, head back home to change and go to her apartment to take her out. I was on afternoon shift tomorrow. If I got things right I could make it to her door by seven o’ clock.
“Hey, Jake,” I called to the guard who was just leaving when I arrived.
“Maddox,” he nodded. “Hell. You look tense. You been in a fight or something?”
“No,” I said lightly. I had no idea my tension was showing that badly. I shrugged and acted nonchalant. “Just got a lot on my mind.”
“Oh.” He shrugged. “Well, good luck. Have fun,” he added ironically. I grinned blandly back.
“I’ll do my best.”
I took myself off to my position and tried, with varying degrees of success, to focus on the task at hand. My thoughts were all elsewhere. To be precise, my thoughts were all with Macy.
I had high hopes for tomorrow.