Thunder - Willow Summers Page 0,4

it. But I want him to think I’m awesome. That’s all.”

Janie expertly poured the drink, experienced from one of her many low-paying jobs. She handed it over. “You want visible revenge, yes. I get it. I’m just yanking your chain.” Janie poured her own drink. “Too bad you’re not a guy, because going single would have been a power move.”

“How do you mean?” Madison grimaced from the tang of the first sip.

Janie leaned against her elbow, contorting her body in ways only an experienced yoga person would consider comfortable. “You have a great bod, a good face, a great income, and you’re powerful. If you’d gone alone as a dude, it would’ve been a statement that you’re fulfilled just as you are.” She rolled her eyes. “But you got the girl card, m’dear. You can repopulate the world, but you’re not allowed to be alone and happy. That simply isn’t right. Too bad for you.”

Madison laughed into her martini. She held it up. “Thank God for these, then, huh? Alcohol doesn’t judge.”

“Friends don’t judge, either.” Janie smiled. After they each took another sip, her face dropped a little again. “So you’re not sad about Frank? It was a long time.”

Madison briefly thought over the five years they’d been together, then the two years they’d been friends before that. All that time, and now it was over. Just like that.

Well, to be fair, their relationship had dwindled long before either of them had acknowledged the growing distance. It was like a seedling had found all the cracks in the relationship and taken root. By the time they’d acknowledged its existence, the damn thing was twenty feet tall. After that, it hadn’t taken long for the wall to give way and Frank to find someone new.

Madison really should have called it a day, for both their sakes, last year. But that invitation had arrived and taken over her thoughts. What better way to show she could keep a man than one she’d been with for years?

Except then he’d dumped her. Poetic justice. She had to own that she half deserved this.

Maybe less than half. At least she hadn’t cheated. Or lied. The ass.

Madison flicked her hair, needing movement to distract herself from the emptiness she suddenly felt. Maybe their love had been over, but they had been companions. That spot in her life was now empty. It would be an adjustment. She said as much.

Janie nodded gravely, watching her closely. Ready to run interference if the situation should come to tears, no doubt. Janie was a true and great friend. She would rush to support Madison in any situation.

“I think Frank was waiting for me to end it.” Madison traced the bottom of her martini glass. “He usually let me take the lead in the relationship—”

“Forced you to take the lead, more like.”

“—so he was waiting for me to end it. I didn’t because of James’s save-the-date. In the end, I guess Frank just got tired of waiting.”

“Or his new girlfriend did.”

“Or that, yeah. She’s probably been pining after that apartment for a while. I wonder what she does that she can afford it.”

“They probably can’t. Frank’s about to get a rude awakening now that he can’t mooch off Mommy Warbucks anymore.”

“In other words, kiss him paying me back goodbye.”

“Like he would have ever paid you back. Give me a break. Tell me you knew better.” Janie stared her down. “Tell me.”

“Oh shut up.”

“That counts. Deflection counts.” Janie laughed and flicked a crumb from the counter onto the floor. That was cleaning up, in her opinion. “Relationships always seem completely one-sided and rotten after the fact, but at least you loved each other at one point. Can you pinpoint when it fizzled out?”

Madison shrugged. “Hard to say. The spark between us never really turned into the bonfire of passion I’d hoped for. But it just simmered and then went out. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, and if he hadn’t stood me up for this wedding, I would have been willing to stay friends.”

“No way would his new girl allow that. No. Way.” Janie took a sip. “And just so we’re on the same page, you know that no one liked him, right?”

“People liked Frank!”

“No. Literally no one liked him. He was never, even on his best days, good enough for you. Besides that, he hated that you made more money than he did. He resented you for having a better job.”

“No he didn’t. He was happy for me.”

Janie shook her head. “Agree to