The silence stretched, until Jared couldn"t stand it anymore. "Don"t be," he said quietly, feeling bad he"d used that against her. "It was a long time ago."
She fiddled with her hands. "I shouldn"t have said those things. Sometimes my mouth gets going and my brain hasn"t had time to put up a filter."
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Well, I"m filtering now, let me tell you, because this is not at all what I"d like to say." Her cheeks were pink and she looked like she could bite the head off a boar.
He laughed. He couldn"t help it. "You"re something else."
"Um, thanks?"
They fell into a silence, which was all right with him. He flipped on the radio to his favorite station, and Mozart filled the car. The rest of the drive home pa.s.sed quickly.
As they neared her apartment, Madison wiped her cheek, the movement catching Jared"s attention. Tears streamed down her face.
Instant guilt flooded him. Was she crying because of him? Sure, he"d been a bit rude to her earlier, but she had no reason to cry over it. "What"s the matter?"
"It"s just...I...I don"t know how I"m going to pay my half of the rent. It"s due this week and without a job..." Her voice trailed off and she sniffed.
Oh, sure. This was about the money. He pushed down his annoyance. "Look. I"m not paying you after what you pulled. All you had to do was to pretend to be my girlfriend and I would have given you a thousand dollars. You"re the one who screwed up."
She nodded. "I know. I can"t do anything right. I"m a failure. I can"t even get a job cleaning toilets." She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose, her sobs growing louder.
He searched for something consoling to say. "I"m sure you"re not a failure at everything. You just haven"t tried everything yet."
She wailed and covered her face with her hands.
This was going downhill and fast. If she didn"t stop soon, he"d be forced to pull over, and that was the last thing he wanted. He was only moments away from getting the nutcase out of his car. "Look. You did go all the way to my father"s house with me."
She quieted down a bit and lifted her head to peer at him.
"And you did eat my stepmother"s cooking." He suppressed a smile, remembering her face when she took that huge spoonful of Irene"s special potatoes.
Madison sniffed.
"I guess, for your time, I could pay you half..."
Another wail pierced the air and he succ.u.mbed. "All right, all right, I"ll pay you the full thousand dollars."
Big eyes stared at him from the pa.s.senger seat. "Really? You"d do that for me?"
Anything to get her to shut up. He kept that comment to himself. "Yes. I"ll write you a check when we arrive."
His heart tugged as she wiped her nose. She really did look relieved. Maybe it wasn"t such a bad thing to pay her. He did promise, after all.
He pulled up to her apartment complex and parked in a stall. After writing out the check, he handed it to her.
She beamed, all trace of sadness gone. "Hey, thanks!" She s.n.a.t.c.hed the check, opened the car door, and then chuckled. "And they said I couldn"t act."
Madison strutted up the sidewalk toward her apartment complex, feeling Jared"s stare burning on her back. She suppressed a grin. She"d gotten the best of him in the end. With the check clutched in one hand, and her satchel in the other, she sprinted up the steps. When she got to her door, she stole a glance at Jared. He still sat in his car, glowering.
The jerk. He deserved to know the sting of disappointment. He"d heaped enough of it onto her tonight. But guilt wormed its way into her chest. She had to admit she"d taken her revenge on him too far. It was going to be awkward for him to undo the engagement lie.
She pulled out her keys and let herself in. With a flick, she tossed her bag onto the couch, turned on the light, and shut the door with her foot. The smell of stale cigarette smoke permeated the apartment. She wrinkled her nose. How many times had she begged Carrie to make her boyfriend smoke outside? Yuck. At least they were out tonight, and she didn"t have to sit in the living room with them and pretend to care about motorcycles and football.
Her heels were making her feet hurt. She kicked off her shoes as soon as she got into her bedroom, and changed into her oversized t-shirt and sweat pants. Hopefully, her lie wouldn"t cause too much conflict in Jared"s family. She didn"t like the idea of his sick aunt being too upset over it.
The responsible thing would have been to go to bed. However, Madison had never been the responsible type, so she padded into the kitchen and made herself a sandwich. She hadn"t eaten much of Irene"s dinner, and now her stomach growled.
As she sat at the small dinette munching on her ham and cheese, the image of Jared floated into her mind. Was she crazy to feel a little sad she wouldn"t be seeing him again? She giggled thinking of how he"d reacted when she announced their engagement. He sure had the "deer in the headlights" face down pat.
But he was egotistical and materialistic, not to mention a dirty rotten liar. She"d be insane to want to spend another minute with him. She balled up her napkin and tossed it into the trash on her way out. No, she"d be glad to never see the man again.
She checked her email and her Facebook page. What to put for an update? Staring at the blank box for a couple of minutes didn"t give her any ideas. Finally she typed: Snagged a small acting job. Not a big deal, but it paid well. There. That was true, and didn"t make her look bad.
After brushing her teeth, she crawled into bed. The sheets were freezing, and she pulled the blanket up over her shoulder. Her bedroom was the coldest room in the apartment. She"d even closed the vent, but no matter what, the air conditioning somehow pumped right onto her bed. But if she turned down the thermostat, the rest of the apartment boiled. Maybe she"d get an electric blanket. Seemed silly to use one in the summer, but she couldn"t stand the cold any longer.
As she tried to relax, the memory of Jared"s kiss floated to the surface. The way he held her close with his hand on the back of her head and his lips exploring hers had sent fire through her veins. Thinking about it warmed her. He could make millions running a kissing booth.
But the kiss didn"t mean anything. She knew that. Just a part to play for his family.
She rolled over and pounded her pillow. Best to forget him. No point in spending all night dwelling on the most fabulous kiss she"d ever had. It was over. Much better to go to sleep and forget all about Jared Jameson.
She rolled to her other side, the sweet taste of Jared still on her lips. Dang.
Maybe thinking about the kiss a little more wouldn"t hurt anything.
Chapter 6.
The shrill ring of the phone startled Jared out of a deep sleep. He blinked his eyes, trying to see the clock. Six-thirty. Who would be calling him early on a Sat.u.r.day? He fumbled on the nightstand, picked up the cordless and growled, "What is it?"
"Jared. It"s Patricia."
The emotion in his cousin"s voice alarmed him, and he sat up in bed. She wouldn"t be calling this early if it wasn"t important. "What happened?"
"It"s mom. She"s in the hospital."
Fully awake now, Jared hopped out of bed. "How bad is it?"
"She collapsed last night...after you left."
"What? Why didn"t you call me?" Panic gripped his chest. He s.n.a.t.c.hed a pair of pants from his closet and tugged them on over his boxer shorts.
"They had to run some tests. I didn"t want to worry you until we knew."
"Knew what? What do you know? Tell me."
Silence filled the telephone line, and then a small sob. "She"s not good, Jared."
His head swam and a lump formed in his throat. "But she was doing better. What are you saying?"
"They aren"t sure what happened. They think it"s her heart. They have nothing conclusive yet."
Jared swore under his breath.
"She wants you and Madison to come."
"Madison?" His stomach clenched. This could not be good. "Um, she can"t come. She"s...busy today."
Patricia"s voice hitched. "Please, she"s insistent. She wants to talk to you and your fiancee."
Dread closed in on him. This was not happening. He had to fix this, and fast. "Actually, we had a fight on the way home."
"Then apologize!" Her voice rose. "This is important, Jared!"
He felt like pond sc.u.m. No, lower than pond sc.u.m. The slimy pieces of filth that aspired to be pond sc.u.m. "Okay, okay. We"ll be there."
"Thank you. And please hurry. Mom"s kind of agitated."
The doorbell rang, and then came a knocking, and somewhere in Madison"s sleep-deprived mind, she realized she had to get up out of bed and answer it. She doubted Carrie would, after staying out all hours of the night.
Madison pulled on a robe and rushed to the living room. Obviously someone had a problem, with all the pounding going on. She yanked the door open.
The sight of Jared standing there, his dark hair slightly mussed up, his steel-grey eyes boring into her, made her catch her breath.
What"s he doing here?
"I"m not giving you the check back." She folded her arms across her chest.
"I"m not here about the money."
His voice sounded funny. Raspy.
She softened her tone. "What do you want, then?"
"Aunt Sh.e.l.ly"s in the hospital."
Her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, no. What happened?"
"She collapsed last night. They"re running more tests, but it doesn"t look good."
"I"m so sorry." She fiddled with the tie of her robe. "Please tell your family I send my condolences. I hope she gets better soon." She started to close the door, but he pushed it back open.
"You don"t understand. She wants to see you."
She"d have been less surprised if he had said he was training monkeys to do the Macarena. "Me! Why me? I barely know her."
He leaned against the door jamb, a scowl forming on his face. "I think it might have something to do with the fact you told her we were engaged."
Guilt flooded her, but she didn"t want Jared to see it, so she forced an exaggerated sigh and said, "You make one mistake and no one will let you forget it."
"Funny. Get dressed. We"re leaving now."
She made a face. "Fine. It"s not like I have a job or anything." She held the door open and motioned him inside. "Have a seat. I"ll just be a minute."
He seemed relieved she agreed to go with him. Like she was heartless or something and could deny a dying woman"s last wish.
She froze.
Oh, heavens, what if his aunt really is dying? What if she makes Madison promise to love, honor and obey Mr. CEO Pants? Can a person go to h.e.l.l for lying to a dying woman?
Pushing those thoughts away, she threw on some jeans and a blouse, spritzed a little perfume, and walked back into the living room. "Okay, I"m ready."
Jared tried not to stare at Madison, but it wasn"t easy. How she could look that good without any makeup was a mystery. Clad in a v-neck blouse and a pair of jeans that showed off her shapely legs, she could easily have come from a fashion magazine photo shoot. He motioned her outside.
When they got to the parking lot, he opened the pa.s.senger door for her. She raised her eyebrows at him but didn"t say anything as she slid into her seat. Yeah, he had been rude yesterday. He probably deserved her silent treatment.
As he pulled out onto the street, his stomach felt cold and heavy, like he"d swallowed a lead ball. Losing his aunt would be harder on him than he"d like to admit. She"d always been there for him. She"d been the one who consoled him as a child when his mother died, a constant in a world where he had to guard himself from feeling too much for each stepmother who came, showered him with love, then left, never to be heard from again.
Madison played with the small clutch purse on her lap. "You said your aunt was sick. Do you mind if I ask what"s wrong?"
His stomach rolled and he gritted his teeth. He didn"t want to talk about his aunt. That was none of her business. He liked to keep personal matters to himself. It was better that way. Safer. He hesitated, unsure of what to say.
"I"m sorry. I don"t mean to pry. It"s just-if we"re supposed to be engaged, I probably should know..." Her voice trailed off.
He sighed. She was right. There was no good reason he should keep her in the dark. "She has been fighting cancer in different forms for years. She"s been in and out of the hospital. The cancer is gone, thank goodness, but now they think something"s wrong with her heart."
Madison nodded, her face grave. "You"re obviously close. Tell me about her."
Even though his instinct was to tell her to shut up, he swallowed and resigned to answer her questions. He was forcing her to come with him...to put on this pretense. She had a right to ask about his aunt.
"I was only five when my mother died. Aunt Sh.e.l.ly lived close, so she came over a lot. Helped me through the hard times."
"Must have been difficult for your father, too."
Jared held back a sneer. "Yeah. So tough on him, he went out and found a new wife. Like replacing a light bulb. Here you are, Son. Here"s your new mom. Only she left after a year. Aunt Sh.e.l.ly was there to pick up those pieces too."
"She sounds like a lovely woman. Was she ever married?"
"Yes. Patricia"s father was an officer in the air force. He died overseas a year before my mother died."