Happily Letter After(56)

“At least I can write a good article about it. This was actually fun. The other time I did speed dating, it was so awkward. But having your friend there keeps things so much more relaxed.”

“It wasn’t having me here that made it relaxed. You had no intention of going out with anyone before you even stepped foot in the place. So there was no pressure for you.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“You know I was Team Sebastian from the very first day.”

“I know. What happened? You went from encouraging me to go after him to wanting me to go out and date.”

She squeezed my arm. “I don’t want a heart that isn’t available to love you to keep you from finding one that is.”

I frowned. “I won’t let that happen. I promise.”

While I meant the words when I said them, the problem was, falling in love wasn’t something I actually had any control over.



“Can I try one more time?” Birdie jumped up and down.

I looked at Magdalene, who had been a good sport all night, and she nodded. Birdie clicked the clicker twice then yelled, “Speak! Marmaduke. Gib laut!”

The overgrown puppy began to bark nonstop. Tonight we’d started to train him to bark on command. Since the doorbell was something that always made him yap anyway, we incorporated it into the training. Magdalene would go outside, and on the count of ten, she’d ring the bell and I’d click the clicker and tell him to speak. When he barked, I’d scratch behind his ears while telling him he was a good boy and rewarding him with a treat. After doing that five times, I could just click the clicker and yell for him to speak, and Marmaduke would start barking, even without the doorbell. The only problem was, sometimes we couldn’t get him to stop. He’d take the biscuit, practically swallow it whole, and then go right back to barking again.

Which was exactly what had happened again this time. While the loud bark didn’t bother Birdie at all, it was starting to drive me nuts, and poor Magdalene sat at the dining room table rubbing her temples again. Desperate to stop the piercing sound, I opened the end-table drawer, where we’d hidden the stuffed toys he had taken a shine to, and tossed a stuffed unicorn at him. He stopped barking but only because he was now too busy humping. I sighed. Note to self: This week watch YouTube videos on how to stop barking once you get it started.

Magdalene’s phone started to ring, and she laughed answering it.

“Oh, hi, Mr. Maxwell.”

My ears perked up more than Marmaduke’s did when he saw the shell of a tortoise.

“Yes, sure. She’s still here.” She paused and then: “Hold on a second.” I tried to look busy when Magdalene called to me. “Sadie, Mr. Maxwell would like to speak to you.”

“Oh. Okay.” My heart started to flutter as she walked over the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

His voice sounded tense. “Is everything okay?”

“I was trying to reach you, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

“Oh. It was . . . in my bag, I guess. I probably didn’t hear it because of the barking.”

“Barking?”

“We were teaching Marmaduke how to speak.”

I heard Sebastian blow out a deep breath through the phone. “Listen. I was trying to get out of here by eight thirty so I could make it home before you leave. But that’s obviously not happening. I could probably get out in an hour or two. Do you think you could . . . hang around until I get home? We need to talk.”

My pulse quickened. “Sure. Of course. Why don’t I tell Magdalene she can go?”

“If you don’t mind. She’s been staying pretty late all week. So that would be great.”

“Of course.”

“Let me run. We’re down a few people.”

“Okay. See you later.”

I ended the call and handed the phone back to Magdalene. “Sebastian asked me to stay so we could . . . uhhh . . . talk about Marmaduke’s training. Why don’t you go home? He said you could use a night of getting out early.”

She smiled and looked over my shoulder at Birdie, then leaned in to whisper. “Mr. Maxwell has been cranky this week.”

“Has he?”

She nodded and winked. “Hopefully your talk about Marmaduke’s training will have him feeling better.”

“Oh . . . it’s . . . not what you think.”

She raised both her eyebrows.

I sighed. “Okay . . . so maybe it is what you think. But it’s . . . it’s . . . I don’t know what it is, Magdalene.”

She smiled. “He’s a good man. Have patience with him.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so instead I just nodded.

After Magdalene left, Birdie took a shower. She came out to the living room and asked if I could braid her hair. About nine thirty, she yawned, and I tucked her into bed. Then I sat in the living room waiting for Sebastian. I kept replaying what he’d said to me on the phone over and over. “We need to talk.” No good news came after an opening line like that. A horrible feeling of dread loomed over me as I waited. I felt hurt, and he hadn’t even ended things yet. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what exactly he would be ending. It wasn’t like we’d defined anything. All I knew was that we had started something, and to me that something was special.