“Oh. Maddy’s here?”
“Who else would it be?” he snapped. I wondered if she’d put two and two together and realized exactly why he was annoyed.
Carly snapped right back at him. “If it was anyone else, I’d kick your ass. You know I like her.”
I ventured out into the hall, pulling my hair up into a ponytail as I walked.
Colin sighed. “It’s Maddy, and you’re interrupting.”
“I couldn’t care less about your sex life. You can go back upstairs. I’ll go get unpacked in the guest room.”
“Unpacked?” Colin’s voice went up a little.
I started to walk downstairs.
“Hey, Maddy!” Carly ran over and gave me a hug. “I probably should have expected you’d be here.”
“It’s great to see you.” I caught Colin’s eye over her head and tried to send the message that he needed to cool it.
“I’m sorry to have woken you up so early, but I didn’t feel like waiting in the car.”
“Did you leave in the middle of the night?” I led her over to the couch. She may have been acting all bubbly, but I knew there was a not-so-great reason for her unannounced arrival.
“I thought I’d spend the first week of winter break with my favorite brother.”
Colin sat down across from us with his elbows leaning on his knees. “I’m your only brother, and I’ll be working all week.”
“So? I’m capable of entertaining myself.”
“You could also entertain yourself at home.”
“I’d rather do it here. At the beach.” She kicked the light pink duffel bag she’d dropped on the floor.
“What’s going on, Carly?” Colin asked nervously.
“Nothing.” She looked at me and then back at him.
I caught the drift that she wasn’t going to talk in front of me. “I’m going to take a shower.” With my excuse made, I smiled faintly at both of them, and took my leave. My curiosity was piqued, but I respected Carly’s need for privacy.
My hair didn’t need to be shampooed twice, but I needed to give them time. The acoustics in the house were awful, and the only way they’d really have privacy was if I left the water running. When the water started turning cold, I got out. Politeness or not, I wasn’t spending time in a cold shower.
I towel dried my hair and pulled on a slightly faded sweater and the same jeans. I had a drawer of clothes at Colin’s place, but I hadn’t refilled it in quite a while.
By the time I got downstairs, Colin and Carly were busy making pancakes.
“Save any water for me?” Colin handed me my mug of chai tea. It had taken him about a month to realize that I didn’t drink coffee in the morning. I only drank it at night. I know how weird that is, but I liked it better that way.
I accepted the mug and took a seat at the island. “I thought you could use a cold shower.”
Carly laughed. “I promise to give you guys some space.”
I inhaled the warm steam from my tea. “Don’t worry about it. I plan on spending today with my roommates anyway.”
Colin refilled his cup with black coffee. “You do? Funny. I thought we were going shopping for a tree today.”
Carly grinned. “A tree? Oh my God. You guys are getting a Christmas tree together? That’s really cute.”
“Colin wants to throw a holiday party. How do you throw one if you don’t have a tree?” I asked.
“You can’t. Everyone knows that.” She smiled even bigger. “So if this isn’t a quasi-romantic outing, I’m in.”
“Why don’t you two go together? I don’t mind some downtime at home.” I got the sense that they needed time alone.
Carly shook her head. “No way. If you don’t go, I don’t go.”
Either I was wrong, or she was worried about offending me.
Colin sipped his coffee. “You’re coming, Maddy. This was your idea.”
“When’s the party?” Carly poured the last of the batter in the pan. “Will I still be here?”
“Friday night.” I picked up the now empty bowl and placed it in the sink. “That is if Colin gets home in time.” He’d even been late for the Thanksgiving I’d hosted with Macon. Brody was the only one who went home for the holiday.
“I will.”
“Good. These are your friends. I’m not hosting them without you.”
“If it helps, I’ll be here.” Carly flipped a pancake. “I’m pretty good at hosting these things.”
“Awesome! That does help.”
Colin gulped down coffee. I’d never seen anyone who could drink hot coffee so fast. “Maybe Carly and I will come and keep you company at work tonight.”
“I shouldn’t need it. Max said there’s a couple of big parties coming in. That usually keeps me busy.”
“Well, we’ll still come in to see you.”
“If you insist.”
***
“Don’t look now, but your boy toy just walked in.” Mary kept me company at the bar.
I turned, ready to greet Colin with a smile. We’d never made it tree shopping. Colin got called into work. Carly suggested we go without him, but that felt wrong. He’d have to have free time eventually, right?
It wasn’t Colin.
“What’s he doing here?” I watched as Lyle set up his guitar the way he always did on Thursday nights. It was a Saturday.
“That family reunion group requested music. Max called him in, I guess.”
“I have a feeling he’s not what they had in mind.”
“Yeah, but it’s what you have in mind.” She winked. Even though I was dating Colin, she knew I hadn’t gotten over Lyle. Feelings aren’t like that. You can’t just shut them off with a switch. Besides, it wasn’t a purely physical thing. Could you blame me for connecting with his lyrics? It made him that much more intriguing.
“I don’t have a drink.”
“What do you mean?” She eyed the rows of bottles behind me.
“I mean, I didn’t pick out a drink for him yet. I usually do that on Wednesday nights.”
“It’s not a drink that’s going to get his attention.” She leaned back, accentuating her ample cle**age. I wondered if that was her suggested way to get Lyle to look. If so, it wasn’t going to work for me.
“I know, but I need to figure it out. I feel like if I can get that right, I’ll figure him out. I don’t want to date him anyway. I’m with Colin.”