Thunder - Willow Summers Page 0,2

face.

Madison slowed her attack on the steak when he picked up his fork.

She quirked her eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“What?”

“Are you planning to eat that?” She pointed at his dish with her knife. Her choice of cutlery should’ve been a hint.

“Well…I did say I was paying.”

“You came in here to break up with me at the worst possible time, after cheating on me for months and shoving me out of the shared apartment you wouldn’t have without me, and you’re under the impression I want to have a meal with you?” She rested her forearms on the table and leaned forward. The guy next to them shook his head while wiping food off his table. “Hard no. You need to leave.”

“But…my food…”

“Hard no.”

He frowned at her before looking around for the waitress. Being that Madison had seen people head to the cash register on the counter in the front to pay their bills, he wasn’t looking for the check. He planned to take his food to go.

“Nope. Off you go.” She motioned him away. Still with the knife. “Get out, or I’ll make a scene.”

A disbelieving smile crept up his narrow face. He wrinkled his sizable nose. “Madison, honey, come on now. Be rational.”

The man next to them stilled, probably thinking someone named Frank was about to get stabbed with a dull knife.

Madison raised her voice. “How dare you! You broke up with me, but you’re still trying to control my eating?” She let her face fall in misery. “Well, not any more! I’m going to eat for once. I’m not going to let you tell me I’m fat. Not this time. No, you just head off to your new lover. I’ll be fine.”

The proverbial needle scratched as it slipped off the record. A quarter of the patrons, all of them women, turned in their seats. Angry gazes swung Frank’s way.

In contrast, guys shook their heads and hunched over, knowing how dumb it was to break up with a girl in a public place—and how much stupider it was to also tell said girl she was fat. They probably expected all the women to join together, grab pitchforks, and start lopping off their prized parts. Soon there would be a riot of men running from the diner.

“Well, if you’re sure you’re okay…” Frank edged out of his seat, obviously torn between his untouched plate and the violent stares from the other women.

“I’m devastated,” she hollered. “Devastated! I suppose you’re going to try to get custody of Shamus, even though I was the one who raised that dog. And fed him. And walked him…” She huffed, an action mirrored by half the audience. “Just go.” She shook her head. “Just go.”

Frank’s confusion was back. Probably because they didn’t have a dog. “Okay. If that’s what you want,” he said.

“Sir.” She motioned at the waiter, then pointed at Frank. “He’ll need the check, please. He’s headed to the cash register.”

Madison turned back in her seat and took a shuddering breath. All for effect, of course. She couldn’t let the others know that she was hamming it up. They’d turn on her. She’d be chased out right behind Frank.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying,” muttered the busybody at the next table. He wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and scooped his check off his table. “But you can do better.” He tipped his hat and slid out of his chair.

That was a little bit of a backhanded compliment. She’d just gotten dumped by a guy who apparently wasn’t good enough for her.

People were odd.

She sawed into another bite of steak, her mind returning to her predicament. Panic dripped down her middle.

Three weeks.

She only had three weeks to find a date to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Three weeks to find someone who would impress the guy who had stolen her virginity, crashed her car, and broken her heart.

What the hell was she going to do?

An hour, a takeaway box of Frank’s untouched dinner, and a blank slate of ideas later, Madison let herself into her little apartment on the bad side of town. The smell of clean cotton air freshener greeted her. The keys clinked as they fell into the porcelain bowl by the door. She threw the lock and sighed. Home. Real home, not the space she’d shared with Frank. The one place in the world that was solely hers. Plenty of space for her clothes, a spot for her toothbrush that no one messed with, and a remote that was left