Yes, for a moment I felt bad for her, but then it quickly passed. Instead I began to feel empowered. Adam loved me. My own subtle beauty had somehow captured his heart. I stood up a little straighter and declared, “Sorry, Lindsey, but Adam isn’t going to be calling you, getting back in touch, whatever.” I waved my hand dismissively. “After all, he’s going to be too busy keeping up with me,” I added with a wink.
That seemed to be the final straw for Lindsey. She dispensed with the snarky comments, said good-bye to Trina and Helena, nodded curtly to me, and scurried for the door.
“Way to go, Maddy,” Helena said proudly as the door swung shut.
Trina laughed. “You definitely got the best of her, that’s for sure.”
Though I felt victorious, part of me was less than thrilled to have run into one of Adam’s past hookups. It seemed like every part of his past was always catching up to us.
What next?
An hour later, after we’d returned to Trina’s place, Adam arrived to pick me up. Trina pulled her brother inside and started whispering to him. Adam leaned against the closed door, listening intently, and I knew, without a doubt, Trina was filling him in on the details of our run-in with Lindsey.
Helena caught me watching them and, in an effort surely designed to prevent me from eavesdropping, began to help me gather my many shopping parcels. She paused as she pressed the bag handle of one of my purchases into my hand. “Maddy, Adam loves you. He never had feelings like that for Lindsey. You remember that.”
I nodded, appreciating Helena’s vote of confidence.
Helena made so much noise with the bags (surely purposely) that I couldn’t hear, but my eyes were still drawn to Adam as he listened attentively to his sister. He was as striking as ever in his dark gray suit, leaning casually against the door, loosening his tie. He must have sensed my eyes on him, because he looked over and met my gaze, smiling one of those amazing smiles that I loved so very much.
In that moment it was like we were the only two people in the world. Only Helena’s nudge to my arm brought me back to reality. “See,” she said softly, leaning close. “Now there is a man clearly in love.”
Yeah, and I love him. Hell with Lindsey, I thought.
After Trina and Adam wrapped up their conversation, they rejoined us in the living room. Before we left, Helena, Trina, and I gushed about how much fun we’d had throughout the day—the run-in with Lindsey excluded—and how we’d have to do it again soon. Once Adam finally extracted me from the love fest, we made our way down to the waiting limo parked at the curb. As soon as the driver saw all the bags, he rushed out to load them into the trunk.
Slipping into the backseat, Adam draped his arm around my shoulders and asked cautiously, “Everything go OK today?”
“Everything was fine,” I replied, meeting his deep blue eyes, filled with concern as he searched my face. “Why do you ask?”
“Trina told me you ran into Lindsey.” He sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. “Maddy, I don’t want my past upsetting you.” He pulled me close, kissing the top of my head, and whispered, “You’re the only one for me. You know that, right?”
I tilted my head and leaned my cheek to his. “I know, Adam. And I’m fine.” And in that moment, I was fine. In fact, everything was fine.
If only it could have lasted.
Chapter 20
When we reached the small regional airport we’d flown into that morning, Adam went out to the tarmac to where the Gulfstream was waiting. While he checked on things for our flight back, I was left to my own devices in the hangar. Remembering that my cell was still on vibrate, since I’d not wanted my day with the girls to be interrupted, I fished the phone out of my bag and began scrolling through the texts.
There was a new one from Helena—sent just minutes ago—reiterating how glad she was that I had joined her and Trina for the shopping trip. Smiling, I shot a quick text back, assuring her that I’d had a great time as well.
With a smile still lingering in recollection of what a fun day we’d all had, I checked voicemail. There was a short message from my dad, just asking me to call him when I had some free time. Nothing urgent. So far, so good.
But then I began to listen to a voicemail from Jimmy.
With a shaky voice, he began with, “Maddy, hey it’s me, Jimmy. From the bar.” Nervous laughter. “I ain’t found that picture yet, but I’m still lookin’. But I got some other info I think ’ya might wanna know. Call me, ’kay?”
He’d left the message at 11:20 this morning, probably during the start of his shift at Billy’s.
I touched the screen to replay the message, but then I heard Adam approaching. I hastily threw the cell back into my bag and spun to face him. He eyed my bag and hesitated, a flicker of suspicion crossing his face. “Everything all right?”
Feigning innocence I replied, “Mm-hmm, I was checking messages. You just kind of startled me.”
“Sorry,” he said, but he didn’t sound sorry in the least. His blue eyes were intense, trained on me. “Have any?” he asked curtly.
“Any what?”
“Messages, Maddy.” Impatience colored his tone.
“Oh,” I answered, hoping to appear nonchalant. “Yeah, actually, um, Helena texted, and my dad left a voicemail.”
Adam looked as if he didn’t entirely believe me, but just as he was opening his mouth to say something more, his own cell phone buzzed. Thank God. He raised the phone to his ear and began to talk.
I shifted and blew out a breath of air. Adam glanced
