We still have business to discuss, I responded to her most recent message while I waited for Ginger to bring my breakfast order.
Maxine’s stubborn response didn’t surprise me, but it did bring a smile to my face. She’d sent an email updating me on everything she’d done to prepare for the upcoming Fall Ball. “Dammit!” My fist absently pounded the sturdy table in the back of Big Mama’s place. She was punishing me. I hadn’t done a damn thing wrong, but I’d been tried and convicted. It was completely unfair.
“Stop scowling at my burger or I’ll smash it against your face,” Scott growled in my direction, his deep voice pulled me from thoughts of Maxine. “What the hell is eating at you, anyway?”
I debated, for about half a second, on whether or not I should share my problem with Scott. He was my best friend and the only one I could trust with the news of mine and Maxine’s relationship. Maybe our former relationship. “Maxine,” I sighed, watching as his expression went from uninterested to totally intrigued. “She brought Callie in to get her arm checked out and she found Tricia Findley coming on to me. Now, she’s not talking to me. At all.”
Scott’s dark green eyes grew as round as dinner plates and he smacked the table, drawing the attention of a few late morning diners. “Holy shit, the matchmakers got another one!” His laugh came out in a loud, booming sound that had even Big Mama raising her eyebrows in concern.
“Keep it down, would you? The last thing I need is the whole town to find out about us. If we even are still an us.” The fact that she’d gone radio silent was a good clue that I’d be attending the ball on my own, at the mercy of all the bored housewives who loved to get dressed up and flirt with men who weren’t their husbands.
Scott’s expression changed from amusement to guilt. “Sorry. How in the hell did you both manage to keep this quiet?”
“Only Callie knows. Nina suspects, but Maxine’s catering the ball so it isn’t odd that we’d spend some time together. That time turned into something else.”
“I’ll say,” he grunted and bit into his burger just as Ginger returned with my stack of pancakes, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and over-easy eggs. “Sounds like there’s nothing to tell anymore. No offense,” he added at my outraged expression.
He was right. “You’re an asshole,” I told him, but he was still right. “I didn’t do anything,” I insisted, like I had to plead my case to my best friend.
Something in my tone or my expression must have clued him in on my feelings because Scott leaned forward, his expression now serious as he planted his elbows on the table, burger still gripped in both hands. “Okay. Tell me what happened. Exactly what happened.”
I did. I revealed everything, from her concerns that I was a playboy like her ex, to her finding Mrs. Findley’s lips glued to mine. “That’s it. She saw what she saw and instantly went cold. Now she’s refusing to talk to me other than about the ball.” It just didn’t make sense—Maxine wasn’t a woman prone to histrionics. She wasn’t irrational or overly emotional.
“You’re right,” Scott agreed and leaned back in the booth seat. “You didn’t do anything.”
“See?” I suddenly felt a little lighter with vindication on my side. “I knew I wasn’t being unreasonable.” I leaned back, mirroring his move, satisfied if not mollified. “Women,” I scoffed, even though there was just one woman I wanted, even if she was being stubborn and unfair.
Scott’s serious expression sat like lead in my gut, thought. “No, dude, you didn’t do a damn thing. Did you push this Findley woman away?”
I frowned. “No. She’s a harmless flirt and her husband is a big donor at the hospital, something you know a small town like this relies on to provide the best care possible.”
“So, you chose the hospital over Max’s feelings?”
What the hell? “Why are you angry with me? I didn’t do a damn thing!”
“That’s right, you didn’t. How long did the kiss last, Derek?”
I closed my eyes and tried to think. “It wasn’t a kiss, dammit.” But still I tried to remember how long. “It felt like a few seconds, I guess.”
Scott’s eyes went wide and round, and he let out a low whistle. “That is most definitely a kiss, my friend. And it, unfortunately, sounds like you showed Max exactly what she means to