It was in no way enough evidence to prove that this was the Madison Pierce he was looking for but judging by the way his heart sped up his body had no qualms believing it.
She didn’t have any pictures of herself, or at least any that were public, but her profile was riddled with book quotes and artsy drawings. Moving to her personal information, he sent a prayer to whoever was listening that there was some clue about her there.
She worked in a publishing house.
In a small publishing house that was listed in an area very close to him.
“It’s her,” he whispered.
“Are you sure?” Coop asked, his voice betraying an excitement that Nate didn’t dare display yet.
“It has to be. I mean, everything seems to match.” He sank into the couch, his body sagging under tentative relief. “If it’s not her, then this is a horrible coincidence.”
Nate felt a hand slap him across his upper arm. Quite hard.
“What the hell, man?!”
“Don’t what the hell me,” Cooper said, pointing a finger in his face. “I will not sit here and listen to you be all pessimistic and the woe is me, got it? If you believe this is her, then believe this is her.”
They looked at each other before they both started chuckling. Cooper’s voice sounded quite shrill when he got worked up.
“So, what happens now?”
Nate hadn’t thought that far ahead, but to say that he was determined to figure it out was the understatement of the century.
“Now I go to her.”
He knew it probably wasn’t as simple as he made it sound. Clearly, he couldn’t just barge into her place of work demanding that she appear from somewhere. Even though that was exactly what his instincts were telling him to do. To not let one more minute go to waste. To rectify immediately the situation he had put both of them in. To see with his own eyes that everything that had started building between them was still there and salvageable.
The alternative was not an option.
So why not just go there? What was the worst thing that could happen?
Nate winced internally. Many things actually.
But he had no other way to contact her so an office visit would have to do.
“Uh, Nate? You’re spacing out hard, buddy, and you’re starting to freak me out a little bit,” Cooper’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts.
“Sorry about that, man. I was just thinking about the chances of screwing everything up even more if I go there with no warning after all these weeks.”
Cooper seemed to mull his words over.
“I mean, how could it be worse than what you’re already going through? Both of you probably.”
And that was exactly the crux of Nate’s worry and unease.
He’d seen how Madison had looked at him. He’d seen the deep-seated hurt in her eyes as she’d taken in his blank expression. He couldn’t even imagine the pain of being forgotten by someone that had been holding you and kissing you only moments before. Because New Year’s Eve would have felt just moments before for her. One minute there, and the next gone. Faster than blinking.
Maybe she’d want him to stay away now. Maybe the damage would be irreparable. Maybe he had lost her.
But he had to try. He wouldn’t let her slip away without a fight, not when she could be so much. When she could be everything. He wouldn’t let this go.
He’d promised himself that he’d do this right.
And that’s what he was going to do.
“Okay that look on your face tells me that someone has made their decision.” Cooper threw a conspiratorial look at him that promised nothing good.
