Page 22 of Real Forever
She watched outside the window until she saw Jake emerge from the lobby. He was wearing jeans and a navy blue parka. Her skin prickled.
“Hey,” he said, jumping in the truck. “How’s it going?”
“Hey. Good. How are you?” The cab of the truck filled with Jake’s scent—clean laundry mixed with eucalyptus and peppermint. It felt warm in her lungs.
“I’m good too, thanks. Glad it’s the weekend.”
“Yeah, me too. You ready?” Madison pulled out of the parking lot. “So, are you cool if we head to Tammy’s place again? I’m hoping she’ll head out to see this mystery man for a Friday night date.”
“Yeah, for sure. And,” Jake held up a small bag, “I brought snacks this time.”
“Oh my god,” Madison’s face brightened, “you’re the best.”
As they drove, they shared friendly chit chat about work and the weather over the soft background of a chill singer-songwriter playlist Madison had on the stereo. They’d only just turned down Tammy’s road when a familiar black car approached them in the oncoming lane.
“Hey, isn’t that Tammy right there?” Jake asked, tracking the vehicle with his eyes.
Madison stared as the car passed. “Yeah, it’s her.” She turned around in the next driveway and followed her through town until she pulled up to the Langford Inn, the most expensive hotel Silver Creek offered. Madison parked the truck on the street as Tammy pulled up to the hotel entrance. Carrying a small leather tote bag along with her purse, she handed her keys to the valet before heading for the doors. Inside, a man approached Tammy. Madison and Jake both strained and squinted to make out the man’s face as he and Tammy embraced.
“Are they talking or kissing?”
“I don’t know. It’s too hard to tell.”
But then the man’s hands lowered from Tammy’s back to her ass, squeezing firmly. She pulled her left knee up to graze the outer side of his thigh before they pulled apart and walked into the hotel, holding hands.
Madison grabbed Jake’s forearm. “Oh my god. Holy shit. Did you see that? Okay, she is definitely having an affair. This is no joke. Holy shit. Okay. Did you see? Did you see his face? I didn’t see his face.”
“No, I couldn’t tell,” he replied, shaking his head.
“We’ve gotta find out who it is. Maybe we can get pictures.”
Jake tilted his head, straining to see. “Well, they’ve already gone inside now.”
“Okay, so we wait.”
“We wait all night?”
“Well, I mean, if it’s an affair, she’s probably not going to spend the night, right? They’ll go in and do their thing and then they’ll come out when they’re done?”
Jake tilted his head from side to side. “Maybe.”
“So we wait.”
“We wait.”
Madison unbuckled her seatbelt and scooted to the back of her seat, pulling one knee up to her chest and resting her foot on the seat. Picking at her cuticles, she watched a tired young mother make her way through the parking lot toward the hotel, carrying her sleeping child on her hip and pulling a suitcase behind her. She fiddled with the buttons on the console, turning the heat on her seat down and wiping a fine layer of dust away from the screen with the back of her index finger. Jake shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. He unzipped his jacket pocket and retrieved his phone, swiping up and then across twice before returning it to his pocket. He drummed his hands on his lap.
Finally, Madison broke the tense silence, “Well, this is fucking awkward.”
Jake burst into laughter, “It really is, hey? What are we going to do while we wait?”
Madison gazed out the window, thinking. “Well, it’s kind of stupid, but there’s this game I used to play at summer camp.” She turned back to Jake. “We each take turns asking a question and the other person has to answer. It’s, like, an icebreaker. We used to do it on the first night at camp around the bonfire.”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “Okay, sure. But I get to go first.” Madison rolled her eyes before grinning and nodding in agreement. “What do you like most about living in Snowbrook?”
She frowned, a small furrow developing in her forehead. “Huh. I don’t know. I guess I’ve never thought about it. You know, I’ve lived here my whole life. Everyone I know is from here. It’s just, you know… it’s sort of like the whole town’s your big, extended family. I mean, who wouldn’t want twenty racist uncles, am I right?” She smirked. “Plus, I love being able to jump in the truck and go fishing or go for a hike or go skiing—just be outside, you know? I feel like being outside, I don’t know, like, centers me or something. I know it sounds cheesy, but it… calms me.”
Jake nodded along. “I totally get that. It’s exactly how I feel about mountain biking.”
