[chapter twenty-four]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please. ;-)
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~Jeff's POV~
In my khakis?
She left something in my pants?
Barely able to resist breaking into a dead run, I head for my coach and begin pawing through all the clothes I hadn't even bothered to unpack since arriving here from Vermont.
Okay, here they are. I dig into one pocket and find nothing. I dig into the other pocket and find…
A pair of black lacy panties.
And a note.
I close my eyes, conjuring the image of Maddy wearing these panties and with shaking hands, rip open the envelope. I smile at her letterhead, her careful handwriting. Please god, don't let this be a kiss-off letter.
Of course, the panties would counteract that.
Jeff-
I know you think I just left you, like you did to me in Martinsville, but I didn't. I really do have a plane to catch and I didn't want to wake you. You looked so cute all curled up like a little boy - and hogging the sheets, I might add.
I smile slightly at the thought before continuing to read.
I know we're always had our differences, and that we don't always get along, but I wanted you to know that no man has ever made me feel the way I feel when I'm with you. (dig that sentence construction!).
I laugh out loud. Ever the journalist, my Madelyn.
My Madelyn.
I sigh and continue.
I said I wasn't good at crisis situations, which is true, and it seems like when we're together, everything is a crisis situation. You knock me off balance, you twist my thoughts, and god knows, you torture me with some of the things you say. But I think…I think that we might have something here, and that scares the hell out of me. You scare me, Jeff.
That's good, because she scares the snot out of me. At least the feeling is mutual.
I've got a great plan for the article, but I've been doing some thinking - I was lying awake thinking while you were recovering from that workout I gave you last night *grin*.
God, did she ever. I close my eyes and remember for a few seconds before turning back to the letter.
I don't think it's very professional for me to continue to interview you and write about you if we're, uh, you know. Do you think we have a chance at this? Do you know what I'm saying? Give me a call at the office this week so we can talk, and so I can turn in my two weeks if I have to. I'd rather be with you than writing articles about you. I can't think of a single reason why exactly, but I do. Damn you.
Oh my god. Oh my god.
I think my heart's about to explode.
So, hope to hear from you this week. If I don't, I'll just assume everything is back to the way it was. You know, where we don't like each other and don't get along. No hard feelings, okay? Call me, and good luck getting out of the blizzard. The roads look like they are going to be a serious bitch.
Yours,
Maddy
Oh my god.
I gotta find her.
I'm not really liking this pattern of the two of us slipping out of each other's grasps. So I'm going to end that.
Right now.