Chapter Twenty-Five

Madison

“ W hat’s she like? ” Cal’s voice drifted out in response.

“Yes, bro. Did you think you would get away with not being grilled at one point or another for showing up with a woman without telling any of us?”

Cal hadn’t told them I was coming? I paused my chewing. Why not? Unless he’d expected me to say no.

Which was what I should’ve done. I’d told myself that incessantly but never managed to scrounge up the spare courage necessary to actually tell Cal I wasn’t going. So, in the end, I’d come with him.

For a family that hadn’t been expecting me, though, there hadn’t been nearly as much of a commotion as—

As what? You would have expected from your family?

“I guess not, ” Cal said, laughing in response, bringing my attention back. “Truthfully, I thought she was going to say no. I dunno.”

“What do you mean?”

“I guess, like, I wanted her to say no?”

“Why, she seems nice. What’s wrong with her?”

Cal laughed. “Nothing’s wrong with her, not really. She’s not a dragon, which is definitely not normal, but that hasn’t ever seemed to matter. Our family was never human-hating bigots, though I doubt anyone expected one of us to end up with one.”

“So, you and her are together?” Baz pressed.

There was a long pause.

“I don’t know, bro. Not like Noa and me, I guess. She and I were great. It was easy, and everything just worked. Maddie is different.”

“In a good way or a bad?”

“Different,” Cal said emphatically. “It’s just hard to pinpoint, but she’s not Noa, but she’s also fun and attractive—”

“I’ll say,” Baz teased.

There was the sound of laughter and flesh-on-flesh contact, most likely from Cal smacking his brother.

“I’m serious,” Cal said.

“Me, too—hey, whoa! I’m just kidding, ” Baz cried through laughter. “I’m just making sure my big bro is happy.”

“Appreciate it. I’m more confused than anything,” Cal said. “I feel like I should be more into her. But she’s not Noa either.”

Silence followed.

“What? ” Cal asked snippily.

Baz must have been giving him a look.

“Of course, she’s not Noa. Noa died. You’ve got to move on, Cal. It’s been two years.”

“How am I supposed to move on if I’m always comparing everything Maddie’s doing to how Noa would’ve done it?”

“Maybe stop?”

“Stop comparing?” Cal asked.

“Stop everything. Noa is in your past. You have to start leaving her there.”

I wanted to leave. Not just from my window perch, but from the house, the party, everything. I should have.

I didn’t. I stayed. I listened.

“It’s hard when Maddie reminds me so much of her. They’re very alike in a lot of ways. Strong-willed. Smart. Driven. It’s nice having someone like that around.”

Cal didn’t have to say the “again” at the end. I was certain he was thinking it. Baz didn’t say anything, though. Maybe I was imagining it? Creating scenarios that didn’t matter? After all, everything Cal had said about me was positive.

That was why I was not good at relationships. They were confusing. It was impossible to tell what was what or who was thinking anything.

And it was way too easy to overthink things. Especially a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear.

Finally gathering myself up, I left the window before I could listen in on any more.

Cal wasn’t the only one with hesitations, now, was he? So, how could I judge him when I was still trying to figure out what the heck was going on between us and why I couldn’t seem to say no to him?

I would have to come up with some answers soon, though. Otherwise, things would get very complicated indeed.