48

Cory was feeling restless, he missed Madison. She’d wrapped up finals and was off now for the summer break and he knew she’d use the time to create a lot of pottery pieces to sell. He made a spur of the moment decision to ride into town and surprise her.

Taking one of the bikes from the garage, he headed into town. As he sat at a red light, he noticed a flower shop up ahead, with huge baskets of flowers sitting outside. As the light turned green, he pulled into the shop. He selected a beautiful bouquet of yellow daisies, with some small purple flowers he’d never heard of. The girl behind the counter wrapped the long stems in green tissue paper, and tied a wide purple satin ribbon around the stems. He tucked them carefully inside the side bags of the bike, making sure not to crush or damage them. His dad was always giving Kate flowers, and he hoped Madison would love these.

Pulling up to her house, he parked a few spaces down, so she wouldn’t hear the roar of the engine. He wanted to surprise her. Taking off his helmet, he hung it over the handlebars and retrieved his bouquet. Ringing the bell, he waited but Madison didn’t come to the door immediately, so he knocked loudly, hoping she was home.

Madison was working at the potter’s wheel, her hands wet with the clay when she thought she heard the doorbell. She stopped the wheel and grabbed a rag to wipe her hands when she heard the knocking. "All right already. I'm coming!"

She headed for the door and peeked out the window to see Cory at her doorstep. Opening the door to him, she expressed her surprise. "Cory! I wasn't expecting you. Come in."

Cory was all smiles. Walking inside, he realized he must have interrupted her work. "Oh. Did I interrupt you? I’m sorry, Madison, but I was thinking of you, and thought I’d stop by. Um, these are for you." Holding out the bouquet to her, he kissed her softly on the cheek.

She was glad to see him. She hadn't spoken to him since the sighting on the mall, and she’d been plagued with questions. She accepted the flowers and returned his kiss. "Daisies! I love them. I'll put them in water."

She turned to walk to her kitchen and found an old Mason jar under the sink, filling it with water. She removed the purple ribbon from the flowers and tied it around the mouth of the jar. Placing the flowers on her small dining table, she turned to him. "Can I get you something to drink? I have green tea."

"Sure. Need any help?"

"Nope. I got it." She removed two bottles of green tea from her fridge and handed him one. "Let's sit on the sofa. It's more comfortable in there."

She led him to her small living room and took a seat on the secondhand sofa she’d purchased on Craigslist, and then updated with an off-white canvas slip-cover. The sofa was strewn with a collection of small throw pillows in bright colors, an assortment of designs and styles she’d collected over time from several thrift shops. She curled up in the corner of the sofa and placed her drink on the hand-painted coffee table, as Cory sat next to her. "I saw you in town a few days ago."

Cory was sipping his tea and snuggling into the pillows. "Oh yeah? I didn’t see you. Where was I?"

She took a sip of her tea. "I was walking up Water Street, on my way to the mall and I saw your truck. I was about a block away, so I started in your direction and I saw you walk up to the truck with your friend....the guy that was at the frat party with you the night we met? I don't know his name."

Cory shifted uncomfortably on the couch, wondering how much she’d seen. "Oh, yeah, that was Marcello. He works for my dad. What were you doing down there?"

"Marcello." Madison repeated his name, and tried to erase the image in her head. "I was taking some new pottery pieces to the shops. I have a lot of time to create new stuff now school is out, and the summer draws a lot of tourists here, so I can sell a lot, and save up for the winter when I don't sell as much." How did she tell him what she’d seen? How did she approach this, when she wasn’t sure herself what she’d seen?

Cory steered the conversation away from Marcello. "Sure, sounds like a great idea, saving up some cash. Hey, do you want to do something, go grab something to eat?" He was trying to think of anything to distract her from this conversation.

"Yeah, sure. I'm starving. Let me get my sandals." She stood up to head for the bedroom. "So, this Marcello, when he was at your truck. I mean, I saw the two of you talking, and then you got in the truck and he just sort of...you know. I mean, one minute I saw him talking to you, and then, like, he was gone or something. It sounds weird, right?"

She kept her back to him as she searched the floor for her sandals, finding them by her bed and slipping her feet into them.

Cory stood up, feeling panicked. She saw it, she saw Marcello! He was grateful she had her back to him because he knew his surprise was written all over his face. He felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Yeah that sounds weird, must have been a play of light or something."

She spun around and stared at him and he kept his face neutral. At least, he hoped he did. "Marcello just walks fast, sometimes." He shrugged his shoulders, as if to imply it was nothing, but his voice sounded a bit squeaky even to him.

Madison studied him as he responded. "Yeah sure, that makes sense. I mean, I knew there had to be a logical explanation." She laughed. "But I have to admit, it kinda freaked me out at the time. So, when are you inviting me back to Bel Rosso? I still haven't met your dad."

Cory took a deep breath and tried to relax, sliding his hand through his hair, pushing it behind his ear. He smiled at her, stalling for time to think of answers. "You can come back anytime you want. But as for my dad, well I’ll have to check with him on his schedule, he’s so busy." Shrugging, he walked to her and laid his hands on her shoulders and began to play with her long hair. "So, what are you hungry for?" Leaning in, he nibbled softly on her neck and inhaled her gentle scent. "You smell like clay."

She laughed out loud, throwing her head back. "Well, let's hope you find the smell of clay erotic. I'm afraid I smell of clay quite frequently. Come on. Let's go for some Italian. Oh...unless you get that at home all the time. We can do Chinese if you want."

"Well, I happen to like the smell of clay, and on you, it does smell erotic." He slid his hands to her face and kissed her. It was no ordinary kiss, but one that held promise of what was to come, and communicated the urgency he felt to be inside her. Ending the kiss, he looked deep into her big eyes.

They both stood silent, taken aback by the unexpected kiss, and the desire it had created in both of them. Struggling to find normalcy, Cory returned to the topic of dinner. "I say Italian, to be honest, we don’t eat a lot of it at home, so fresh pasta would be awesome."

Taking her hand, he led her out to his bike, glad the questions were over... for now.