Page 7 of Real Forever
“I guess… I guess I can still sort of taste my toothpaste.”
“Great. Now, how do you feel?”
Lauren took another deep breath. “Better. Much better.” She touched her throat. “Thank you so much. How did you know how to help?”
“I used to get panic attacks too,” the man replied with a slight shrug.
“Well, thank you so much. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t here.”
“Yeah, seriously,” Madison agreed. “Thank you for getting us out of there and thank you for helping. That was so nice of you. You didn’t even get to order. What do you drink? Please, let us at least buy your coffee. It’s the least we could do.”
The man stood up and turned to face her, his eyes catching hers. Madison’s stomach dropped to her knees and then fluttered up into her throat. The sound of her own heartbeat hammered in her ears as she took in the man standing in front of her.
His thick head of light brown hair, styled in a neatly trimmed crew cut, framed a classically handsome face. He had a strong, square, clean shaven jawline, and full, bow-shaped lips. His tailored suit hung from his broad shoulders and lean body. Yeah, he definitely had the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on. Like Captain America plopped right down in the Middle of Nowhere, Canada, to say hello.
But it didn’t cause Madison’s face and neck to flood with heat. His eyes did. His bright, vivid blue eyes shone with kindness and crinkled at the corners when he smiled at her. In a split second, Madison felt an impossible mix of familiarity and excitement wash over her.
“Oh, no. Thank you, but there’s no need. I’m happy to help.” His smile was warm and genuine and disarming. He held her gaze for a little too long before clearing his throat. “Besides,” the man glanced at his watch, “I have an appointment to get to. You ladies will be okay from here?”
“Yes, thank you so much,” Lauren said.
The women watched as he walked across the street and unlocked the door displaying the Jake Murphy, Licensed Insolvency Trustee sign in the window.
“Mads,” Lauren said. “He’s the guy I’m going to meet with. This is so embarrassing.”
Madison pulled her attention back to reality and her sister. “It’s fine, Lauren. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Are you okay, though? That was scary.”
Lauren hunched into herself. “Yeah, I think I’m okay. I don’t know what happened. I saw Tammy in there and all the stress and worry and everything came flooding up all at once.”
The women sat side by side on the bench in silence. Madison had never seen her sister like this before. She was the one who had it all together. Madison was used to being the one wearing the hot mess crown in the family, and it was unsettling to see her sister going through this.
“We should get going, Laur.”
“Yeah.” Lauren clapped her hands on top of her thighs. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
Madison stood up first and reached for Lauren’s hand. “Hey. We got this, okay?” Madison said, giving her sister’s hand an encouraging squeeze.
Lauren flashed an unconvincing smile, and the women headed across the street together to meet Jake Murphy.
4
Jake
Jake grabbeda bottle of water from the office mini fridge and gulped it down. The woman he had just met, the beautiful, blonde woman who looked like she had stepped out of a sun-drenched field of wildflowers, rather than a snowy, gray road, had grabbed his brain and shaken it up like a cup of Yahtzee dice. He had the peculiar feeling he knew her, but that was impossible. After all, he’d only moved here a year ago, and he had an excellent memory for names and faces. Besides, he couldn’t forget her face if he tried.
He rubbed his temples, trying to collect himself as he heard his office door open, announcing his eight a.m. appointment’s arrival. Jake rounded the corner to find the women from the coffee shop standing in the waiting area.
“Surprise,” Lauren said sheepishly. “It looks like I’m the appointment you had to get to.”
Jake swiveled from Lauren to Madison, his heart racing.
“Hi. Hello again.” Jake stammered, tripping over his own tongue. “Welcome. Come on in.”
The three exchanged nervous smiles before Jake led them to his office. He gestured at the two armchairs facing his desk, upholstered in a tasteful light gray houndstooth.
“Please, sit down. It’s very nice to meet you both. I’m Jake Murphy.” Jake extended his arm to shake Lauren’s hand.
“Thanks for meeting with me, Jake. I’m Lauren Tremblay. This is my sister, Madison.”
