“I fucking do and don’t you forget it. Now get your ass in the car.”
We head to the car and Maddox joins us a few minutes later.
As we drive, I avoid the questions I want to ask him, because I don’t think he’ll open up to me with Winter in the car. Instead, I say, “Is Eloise home at the moment?”
“No, I haven’t seen her in days.” It concerns me that he’s fending for himself while he’s got no money. I know he’s been doing it for years, but that doesn’t make it right.
Winter eyes him in the rear-view mirror. “You got everything you need at home while she’s not there?” I love that he’s thinking the same thing as me.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Maddox says.
After we arrive at the mini golf centre, pay, and get set up, Winter says to Maddox, “You ready for Birdie to whoop your ass?”
Amusement crosses Maddox’s face. “She’s never played me.”
“Oh,” I say, loving this turn in conversation, “really? You think you’re good, do you?”
He grins. “I fucking know it, queen.”
Winter lifts his chin at the course. “Show us what you’ve got.”
We spend the next forty-five minutes watching Maddox show us his mini golf skills. He didn’t lie; he is good. The other thing that happens in these forty-five minutes is that Winter and Maddox loosen up with each other. By the end of the course, they’ve started ganging up on me.
I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.
“Maddox,” Winter says as we make our way to the car after the game, “you got plans for lunch?”
I slip my hand into his. I love this man so damn much.
“Nah,” Maddox says.
“You do now,” Winter says. “And after lunch, if you’re free, I could do with a hand cleaning out my gutters.”
Maddox nods. “Sure.”
As we drive home, Winter and Maddox carry on a conversation about football. They discover they both support the same team and seem to have a lot to discuss about something their team did last year. I love football, but I don’t jump into this conversation; I want them to have something they talk about just between themselves.
I kinda zone out, thinking about Eloise and her shitty parenting, until I hear Winter say, “You should take your girlfriend to the football.” He eyes me as he adds, “Some girls love it.”
“We’re not together anymore,” Maddox says.
That’s why he’s down.
I should have known it was because of a girl.
“Why?” I ask, unable to stop myself.
“She decided she wanted to get back with her ex.”
Oh, God. I feel for him. So much.
“I’m sorry, Maddox,” I say.
“Yeah, whatever. I’m better off without her if she’s gonna be like that.”
I know it’s his hurt talking. I know he doesn’t really mean “whatever”.
Winter looks at him in the rear-view mirror. “Mate, it’s okay to feel like shit when a girl does something like that.”