Letters From Al by Pieper, Kathleen (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

"Underneath all that stubbornness and muscles is a nice man, too. I recognize that." Maddy answered, keeping her eyes on the dancers. "Maybe we should dance now."

"I'd like that even more."

He walked her out to the dance floor and she moved into his arms as if they were two pieces that fit together perfectly.

"Yes, Becky's nice. We'd only dated a couple times. She's still carrying a torch for her ex, anyway."

"I knew you'd have fun." He said and twirled her once more around the floor. A few minutes later, she excused herself to go to the ladies room.

"Oh man, that could be a recipe for disaster. But you already danced with Becky, was she okay about Maddy?" Bubba rolled his eyes in anticipation of what could happen in there.

Several girls were leaving as Maddy entered. Becky came in as Maddy applied fresh lipstick and brushed through her hair. Turning, Maddy leaned against the vanity, arms crossed casually, returning the stare.

"I'm sorry if my being here makes things uncomfortable for you." Maddy's tone was firm but sincere.

"Why should I be uncomfortable?" She finally looked away.

"Alec told me when we came in you two had been dating." Their eyes met in the mirror.

"So? We dated. It's a fact. But nothing serious came of it, at least not for him." She blotted her lipstick and shrugged, looking at Maddy in the mirror. “He’s still looking. At least he was.”

"Even so, I found myself in the same position a while back, and I know how it feels. I just wanted you to know I may not be here much longer."

"It doesn't matter if you're here or not. My ex-husband and I are going to try again for the kids' sake if nothing else. So please don't worry."

"Well, then, okay."

"It was nice of you to say that. Boy, it's kind of hard not to like you." Becky smiled and brushed her long, golden hair. "Really, don't worry about it, we had some fun but that's all."

"You're not just saying that?"

"No. Not that I wouldn't have wanted it to be more, but it just wasn't there for us, not like when he looks at you. That hasn't changed since high school, I can tell that already. It's like turning back the clock with you and him at the Homecoming Dance. Remember?" Becky chuckled and Maddy slowly smiled.

Maddy blushed as Becky tucked the brush in her purse and nodded knowingly at her.

"About his divorce..." Maddy hesitated to ask but couldn't help herself.

"He'll tell you when he's ready."

"Yes, I guess he will." Maddy said as she and Becky parted company. Suddenly the details of his divorce just didn't seem very important anymore.

Alec was watching for her. His eyes automatically went from one to the other. Becky just smiled and gave him a nod and disappeared in the crowd. Maddy looked at him calmly.

"So, I told you Becky was cool with things. Not to be nosy, but you were in there an awful long time."

"Oh, I was? I didn't notice." Maddy started back to the table with Alec following close behind.

"How did Becky act? I mean, she acted like everything was cool. Is that what she told you?"

"Yes, she did." Maddy acted distracted.

"So, what did you talk about?"

"Oh, just girl talk, marriages, divorces, relationships."

"You talked about all that, just now?" Alec shook his head in disbelief and frowned.

"Oh, that and more. Why?"

"Well, you know, I mean, you thought Becky was upset. I was pretty sure she wasn't. But, guys miss the point sometimes. You told me that an apparently I have missed it tonight."

"She's really a very nice person. And I do remember her from junior high now, and we had some of the same memories after all."

"Were they good ones, I hope." He held out her chair for her as she sat down.

Maddy thought for a moment, a slow smile spreading on her lips. Nodding, she looked at him with a new sense of clarity, "Yes, they were," she said, and she meant it.

Chapter 8

The phone was madly ringing when Maddy and Alec came in. Alec went to the kitchen and got the ice cream out while Maddy went to the phone in the hallway. Sitting on the stiff, wooden chair telephone stand she watched as Alec made his way around the kitchen getting spoons and bowls for their ice cream as she answered the call.

"Yes. Hello, Marie. How are you? How's everything at the apartment? Yes, what's not to be fine with two philodendrons and an answering machine?"

"Skippy and Buffy are really going to do it, they're really getting married? Isn't that wonderful! When? Where? Oh, you'll have to tell me all the details later."

"I really don't know, Marie, there's a lot to do yet. Besides, I still have vacation time left and I'm going to take it all since I didn't get the promotion." Maddy hated to hedge with her dear friend, but she could only look at Alec standing in the doorway and realize there was no comparison. He was right; it was just stuff in her life. She held the phone away from her ear, Alec could hear every word.

"Can't you just put the place up for sale and leave it in the hands of the realtor? You don't have to be there, do you, Maddy? You at least have it up for sale don't you?" Marie's voice was getting shrill.

"Well, no, not yet. I still have to go through my aunt's things. There's this darling little neighbor lady who insists everyone call her Aunt Polly, who's helping me."

"Aunt Polly? What did you do, fall into a Tom Sawyer time warp or something, Maddy?" The ridicule at Aunt Polly's expense wasn't funny and Maddy felt uncomfortable and terribly torn between her new friend and her old one. She continued the conversation half-heartedly.

"I guess things sound a unless you're here. But, she's very nice." She stood, unused to being tethered to a landline