Page 19 of Charm on the Rocks
After they got off the phone, Madison decided to shower and change into some comfortable clothing. When she finished washing her hair, she threw the dark locks up into a messy bun and headed out the door. She wanted to pick up some books at the nearby Barnes & Noble.
Madison skimmed through the Mystery section. She loved trying to solve the crime before the main character. She grabbed a couple of paperbacks from two of her favorite series and decided to browse through the magazines, hoping for the newest edition of Cosmo. Her father banned magazines that promoted sex, as he decided it did without actually cracking one open to actually check, but Madison would always sneak them back in South Haven. Now she could buy them without worrying about her father finding them. Hell, she might even buy a subscription.
“Well, hello there, Madison,” a familiar voice said from behind her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
Madison jumped, the magazine already in her arms along with her paperback mysteries, and she turned, surprised to see none other than Brady standing there with a couple of books himself.
His beige eyes immediately descended to Madison’s arms. “Cosmo, eh?” he asked in an amused voice.
“What?” God, why couldn’t she have put any effort into her appearance? “Oh, yeah. I read it. Religiously.”
Stop babbling, stop babbling, please, for the love of God, stop babbling.
He said nothing, but his lips quirked up. His mouth might have been closed, but it was obvious that his twinkling eyes were laughing at her.
“Interesting,” was all he said. “How’s work at Sea Side. I heard Brandon Thorpe was arrested yesterday.”
“Actually he was just brought in for questioning,” she snapped, harsher than she intended to. She swallowed. The mention of Brandon Thorpe and Sea Side brought up memories of Alec Schumacher and him walking her to her car – like she had any choice in the matter – and the story he told her. The story that he supposedly hadn’t told any other girl except her. The fact that he would fight for the people he cared about, no matter what.
“Sorry,” she continued, shaking her head.
“No, it’s fine,” he said. “So, forgive me if this is a little blunt but I was wondering if you had plans for the rest of the day.”
Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!
“No...” Yes, she managed to get the word out. But she sucked in her breath, waiting, hoping.
“Good.” He smiled. “I thought for a second you might have a lunch date with your boyfriend or something.”
Madison laughed – she hated to admit that it was her nervous, obnoxious laughter – and diligently shook her head so hard she was surprised her neck didn’t snap. “Oh no,” she told him. “No. No. I do not have a boyfriend.”
Brady’s smile only deepened. “This is good news,” he said in a low voice. “Well then, would you mind having lunch with me? We can talk more about this whole hockey murder or, if that’s not appropriate lunchtime material, we could talk about social psychology and how we can manipulate people to say yes.”
“Yes,” Madison said, with a nod. She chuckled at his little joke. “Yes, I would love to.”
She didn’t sound too desperate, did she? It didn’t matter. She was going on a lunch date – because it had to be a date, right? – with Brady. Brady. She couldn’t have been happier.