I giggle and Tatum laughs. “No, neither. I don’t want you making pies for any of them.”
“You be careful, baby. I know you think you don’t care and you shut all your feelings out, but one of these days, it could bite you in the ass.”
“What?” I snort, leaning back in my seat. “Like I might start caring too much?”
Sam shakes her head. “No, baby girl, more like you might not be able to ever switch it back on. You’re too young. Live, feel, have sex—don’t tell your father I said that—but don’t ever not feel. That’s what makes you Madison.”
“I feel, Sam,” I whisper, looking out the window. I can see Tatum staring at me out the corner of my eye, no doubt brewing her hundred and one questions she’s going to slam me with. “I just try to choose where I direct my energy and who deserves it.” Sam knows about my past and what happened there. She’s the only person walking this earth who knows, and that’s how I like to keep it. The only reason she knows is because I came home drunk from a party one time and spilled everything to her.
“Hey.” Tatum nudges me. “What’s up with you spending so much time in the library anyway?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always loved books.”
“Nuh-uh,” Tatum says. “There’s something else.”
Sam looks at me with a smile. “Madi has always liked books. We used to read her everything when she was a little girl, and she was reading chapter books when she turned six. Smart girl, in some aspects.”
We pull up to the house and I slide out. “Thanks, Sam. Can you tell Jimmy that me, Tatum, and Tillie will be home for dinner tonight?”
“What about Nate?” Sam asks, just as I’m getting out of the car.
“Fuck Nate.”
“Madison Maree Montgomery!”
“Oh, you did not just triple-M me, Sammy!” I spin back around to face her with a grin on my face as I walk backward toward the house. “You take that back!” Triple-M is my initials. I despise the fact that my name starts with an M all three times. I think it was my mom’s way of punishing me just a little bit more. I used to joke about that when she was still alive, but now that she’s dead, the thought just makes me feel guilty.
“Don’t swear at me, little lady!” Sammy doesn’t like swearing, and her hackles go up anytime someone cusses around her. That’s probably why she and Jimmy never worked, because the Italian has a foul mouth. Which is one of the many reasons why I’ve always loved him. He sometimes swears in Italian, and for a long time when I was younger, we would both swear in Italian around Sam so she didn’t know. “Scopare questa merda!” Sammy wouldn’t know what the hell we were talking about. It was funny.
I walk inside with Tatum on my tail, and head into the kitchen, opening the side cupboard to get out the car keys. I take the GMC keys, and we both walk out to the garage.
“You know…,” Tatum starts, as we both slip into our seats. “How was Bishop in bed?”
I laugh, firing the car up. “I don’t kiss and tell, Tate.”
“Ohh, sure you do.”
I shake my head and laugh, pulling out of the long driveway. “I really don’t.
Pulling up to the curb of Hampton Beach High, Tatum whispers, “I haven’t been here in a while.”
“It’s not that bad. I expected a little more on the rough side.”
Tatum shakes her head. “The people are a lot on the rough side, though.”
Tillie comes walking out of the front gate, clutching her backpack, with another guy walking beside her.
“Hotness at four o’clock,” Tatum announces, eyeing up Tillie’s friend.
I shove her. “Don’t be a gawker.” But then I run my eyes up and down his body. “Totally hot though.” He has a shaved head, tattoos mapping out all over his neck and arms. His dark eyes and olive skin have me thinking that he’s a little Spanish? Maybe? But then again, he has fair features. Sharp nose, a jaw that could match Bishop’s.
“You just told me not to gawk, and then you go and drool all over the center console?” Tatum shoves me.
Tillie opens the back door and cranks down her window. “Girls, this is my friend Ridge, who is annoying, by the way,” she announces, evil eyeing him.
Ridge grins, and damn all hot bad boys from the wrong side of the tracks. He flashes his deep dimples and pearly white teeth at Tatum. “Naw, I’m not annoying.” He looks up to Tatum and me. “She just needs to be extra careful.”
Tillie rolls her eyes. “I’m always careful. You’re just overbearing.”
“I’m Tatum.” She waves from the front.
He looks at her and nudges his head. “Sup.”
I smile. “I’m Madison.”