Melting Hearts (Loving the Soun - Kat Obie Page 0,58

and he didn't remember her new number. Although, the girls might have her number. He thought about which of his two options were going to be best.

While Lager was closer, he would take the piss out of him for getting locked out. Plus, he would be less likely to have either Maddy's or Jenna's phone number. Leah probably wasn't home yet from work. He walked the short distance to Scotty's place.

Scotty was out in the yard with his two dogs. Almost immediately, the large dog, Backup, came straight to him looking for some love. Petey scratched the dog’s ears, if only to settle the dog down some.

Scotty smiled. "What's going on? I thought you had that dinner date with Maddy tonight."

"I do." He rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately, I got myself locked out. Any chance you could give me an assist and call Maddy or Jenna to see if they are on their way home?"

"Of course." He led Petey into his house and handed over his phone.

Thankfully, Scotty didn't give him any shit about getting locked out as he waited for Maddy's return. Instead, the two of them just played with Scotty's little girl and watched some hockey on TV.

Maddy

Getting the call from Petey, Maddy felt awful. She was about half an hour away, and there was a long line at Crate and Barrel. Petey had said he could wait for her, which took the pressure off while she checked out with some of the organizers she wanted for their closets and the pantry.

She was glad he was okay hanging out at Scotty's place while they finished up their shopping trip in Beachwood.

It took forty-five minutes to get back to their gated community. She picked up Petey from Scotty's place. He was only in his socks, and somehow that made it all the more real that he’d got himself locked out.

As he hopped into the SUV, he said, "I hate to say this, but I think dinner is going to be beyond salvaging tonight."

"We can always order in. At least you tried." It was so rare that Petey offered to cook, and she was waiting to see if he could do anything halfway decent besides grilled cheese.

As she unlocked the door, they were overwhelmed by a fog of black smoke. Petey went straight into action and silenced the smoke alarm. Then he took things off the stove and turned off the oven. She opened up the windows. Both of them were hacking up a storm.

While she’d anticipated some charcoal-colored food, she’d never anticipated this much smoke or to be coughing up a storm. There was no salvaging the meal whatsoever.

After things were taken care of, the two of them took sanctuary on the patio outside so they could breathe some fresh air again. Once she was outside, she just cracked up. It was that or start crying. There were bad cooks and there was dismal failure. Petey definitely fell into the latter category.

He immediately pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry that tonight was such a fuck up. Getting locked out wasn't my idea."

"I know, babe." She leaned up and gave him a kiss. His large frame was so comforting. "But that might be the last time I leave you alone to cook dinner."

"Yeah. I can't blame you for that." He chuckled. "But I promise things were all in hand. I really did learn from Scotty. If I hadn't gotten locked out, I would have impressed you."

He might have. When he talked about the meal, it sounded wonderful and would have impressed her if he’d carried it off. Sadly, they couldn't even spend time in their house, at least, not until some of the smoke cleared out.

"What are you thinking for dinner?"

"Anything quick?"

"Do you want to just hit the club?"

The two of them seldom went to the club at the end of the drive. But it would fit the bill. Plus, they could have a similar style meal with salmon and vegetables.

As they started to walk out the garage door, she suggested, “How about we keep this door unlocked? That way you don’t get locked out again. No one can get in if the garage door is down.”

Petey agreed and they headed to dinner.

26

Maddy

Maddy loved being with Petey all the time. The two of them had been settling into a nice little life together.

He gave her a huge law library. She had no excuse not to study hard for the exam. She had her nose stuck in a