thirty-four
Maddy had no idea why she’d thought she could handle all this by herself.
Granted, she’d been in a pretty sad place. But sad and delusional were two completely different things.
She’d woken up that morning feeling much better. She still felt the after-effects of her bout of illness but she’d slept like the dead for the first time in many, many days and it had made a difference. She’d been calmer, and whatever restlessness had plagued her had eased exponentially.
And it had nothing to do with Nate and his chicken soup.
No, that was definitely not the case.
Sure.
So now that she’d moved on from the sad place, she was slowly coming face to face with the delusional part of her realization.
What on Earth had she been thinking?
She’d spent the better part of her Saturday sorting through the utter mess that was her living room. Thankfully, her bedroom was in a slightly more decent condition.
Maddy had been sitting on the floor for quite some time, staring at nothing while she contemplated her decisions.
Painting the walls, she could probably do.
Hanging a couple of flower art pieces in her bedroom, sure.
But setting up bookcases? And nailing shelves on the walls?
In what universe?
She had trouble drawing a straight line while using a ruler and she wanted to put permanent things on her wall and make sure they were somehow not lopsided or uneven?
She sighed heavily.
Maddy heard her phone ping with a message from somewhere in the room, and the way her heartbeat slightly picked up should have been ridiculous.
She still hunted down the device though.
Nate’s name was waiting for her when she swiped at her screen.
Nate: What do I need to bring?
It was impossible to stop the small grin that made its way to her lips.
They’d already made plans to meet, shamelessly using her need for help with her apartment and taking advantage of his offer to help.
Was she willingly jumping with both feet into a fantasyland where she believed that everything would be fine and that they could just pick up from where they left off?
Yes.
Was she also scared shitless that it would blow up in her face and leave her in a much, much worse state than before.
Also yes.
Would she still reply to his message and tell him in her own way that all she wanted was to see him again?
Absolutely.
Maddy: Just yourself.
