Two Bar Mitzvahs (No Weddings #3)(10)
“What?”
“You’re there.”
I let out a slow breath. “Ditto, Maestro.”
She settled back onto her seat. “What about the phone call and the order cancellation? You thought it was her, didn’t you? Did she admit to it?”
“No. Madison hadn’t outright denied it. She’d only questioned why she’d do it. But I’m still not convinced it isn’t her.” And the woman who’d been sitting at the coffeehouse wasn’t the Madison I remembered, so she was tough to gauge. “I was a terrible read of her before—sure as hell fooled me. It’s hard to tell if she’s doing it again.”
Hannah stretched her arms back, clutching her headrest with her hands. “Could it be anyone else? Does anyone else have it out for you? Or Kristen? Someone who would want to hurt your reputations?”
I hadn’t a clue. Kristen didn’t have any enemies that I was aware of. Then I remembered something. “There might be a woman or two who got upset with me over my casual-sex attitude before you.”
“What? I thought you said you were only with women who were on the same page as you—no strings attached.”
“Yeah, I did. But right before we became involved, one of those women, Carmen, had a change of heart. Turned out seeing her name on the list of nine didn’t go over very well.” Looking back, it wasn’t the smartest move keeping my f*ck buddies’ names and numbers on a yellow sticky note, but after Madison had dumped me, my need for detachment had overruled logic.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Wasn’t pretty. But in the end, she knew the score. They all had.” And they’d all existed to help me deal with my unexpected breakup with Madison. No matter how cold she’d been when we’d ended it, I’d been invested. My heart had shattered.
But now I had Hannah. The woman who’d healed my heart.
She pulled her travel mug out of the cup holder and took a sip of her coffee. “So are you going to be friends with her?”
I gripped the steering wheel, then relaxed my hands, rolling my shoulders back. “I don’t know. She was reaching out to me, saying she didn’t have many friends because of how many people she had hurt—that I believe. But, if she’s being honest, and I was in her shoes, I’d want a second chance. Maybe she really is trying to be a better person. I’d feel like a total dick if I didn’t at least try to give her the benefit of the doubt.” I swallowed hard, then glanced at Hannah. “What do you think?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know her at all, so it’s hard for me to give you advice about it.”
“For the last hour, since I left the coffeehouse, I’ve been doing my best to see the good in her. She made the difficult attempt at contacting me and putting herself out there. I figure I could at least acknowledge that maybe she’s changed, or is at least trying to be better.”
Hannah blew out a hard breath, setting her mug back in the cup holder. “You’re a bigger person than I am. If my ex approached me, giving me excuses for why he betrayed me that made me question my ability to trust in myself and others, I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive him.”
I gave out a dry laugh. “I’m not sure I’m able to forgive her. Sure as f*ck won’t forget what she did.”
Silence stretched between us for the next mile. I glanced at her. “You okay?”
She gave me a nod, then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if I like the idea of you and her being around each other. You were intimate with her. Wanted to marry her.”
That was the struggle inside my head too. When Madison had dumped me, I couldn’t sort out how a woman I thought I was in love with could be so cruel. Then after two years of being emotionally numb, I met Hannah, and none of it mattered. But the Madison I’d meet for coffee sent my emotions and mind back into a tailspin, and I didn’t know what to think about her.
I clasped my hand with Hannah’s, then brought our hands to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Don’t worry. I haven’t decided if I want any contact with her. Giving her the benefit of the doubt doesn’t mean we have to be friends, or that I want that even if we could.”
She squeezed my hand. “Okay, good. Just…please be careful. Women can be manipulative. What if she decides she wants you back? I’ve just gotten you. I’d like to keep you.”
Madison had said she wanted things “better” between us. Then she’d said, “maybe even great” with a hopeful tone. In retrospect, hidden meaning had likely been layered beneath her innocent words. But I wasn’t about to tell Hannah that and worry her. And none of it mattered, anyway. “Not gonna happen, Maestro. You have me. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
“Now no more talk about exes. Or the real world. We’re camping. The only topics allowed are wilderness and all things related to roughin’ it.”
5
Roughin’ It
I pounded the last stake into the ground with the end of the folding shovel, satisfied that if gale-force winds decided to wipe Mase’s flimsy tent off the face of the earth, Hannah and I would have a fighting chance. Gray clouds hung in the sky to the west, but enormous pines ringing the campsite stretched toward a clear darkening sky above us. I stared up, hoping the stars would be as brilliant out here as I’d heard.