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Twenty-Two

Madison had spent a couple hours snooping around. She’d rummaged through all the kitchen cupboards and drawers, the pantry, the guest room, in every nightstand and dresser they had. She returned to the kitchen, hands on hips, certain she was missing something. She was also exhausted, and it was only about eight o’clock. She wouldn’t make it to stake out the club tonight if she didn’t start caffeinating now.

She went to the coffeemaker and set about making a pot. Used filter dumped, new filter in. Next, coffee grounds, which were in—the freezer! She hadn’t even thought to look there or in the fridge.

She moved around bags upon bags of frozen vegetables that Troy loved and two boxes of toaster waffles she loved.

No ring.

She closed the freezer door and looked in the fridge. Fresh vegetables and… She studied the packaging. Tofu. Ick! Definitely a Troy thing. She’d support his nutritional choices because it obviously did his body good, but she wouldn’t be consuming that crap anytime soon.

The fridge came up empty too.

She reopened the freezer, grabbed the coffee, and started the machine. The smell alone was intoxicating. She dropped into a kitchen chair and inhaled.

Her phone rang. Caller ID told her it was Cynthia.

Madison answered. “You get a hit?”

“Whoa, slow down.”

“Sorry,” Madison backpedaled. But if she had an identity, that would eliminate the need to track the mystery woman at the club tonight.

“I wasn’t calling about work, but no hits on the woman before I left.”

“But it’s still running?”

“Yes. So, what’s up, girl?”

Madison smiled. “Thought you called me.”

“I did, but you sound intense.”

Her friend sounded like she’d been drinking wine.

“So…what are you doing?” Cynthia asked.

Madison hesitated to admit the truth, but this was Cynthia, her best friend, who knew that Madison had expected a proposal and how it was eating away at her. “I’m tearing the house apart looking for the ring.”

“The— Oh.”

“Yeah. I know I shouldn’t be—”

“No, I totally understand. And Troy’s not home so… Hey, I’ll be right over, and we can look together.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ve looked every—”

“You find it, then?”

“No.”

“Then you haven’t looked everywhere. I’m quite sure he hid it around your place somewhere. On my way.”

“I thought you guys had Garrett over tonight, and do you really think you should be driv—”

Click.

All righty then. At least her friend hadn’t called it the lost proposal, as she’d dubbed it before. The term just came across so hopeless, as if the proposal would never happen. Madison preferred delayed to lost. At least it carried promise.

Madison could call Cynthia back, but if her friend answered, it would just be to say, “I’m on my way,” before hanging up again. Cynthia had a way of latching on to something when she set her mind to it, much like Madison did.

Madison poured herself a cup of coffee and drank it slowly. Her stomach seemed to be handling the drink fine, so she took a second cup to the living room and watched some TV while she waited for Cynthia.

Despite the coffee, she nodded off to Hershey’s snoring next to her on the couch with her hand on his neck, her fingers buried in his fur.

The doorbell rang, and it sounded like it was coming from the other side of the world. Madison opened her eyes. Characters in a sitcom were going on about quantum physics. She enjoyed the show when she could stay awake. More a statement about her than the show. She usually only dropped in front of the television when she was too tired for much else.

The time on the cable box told her it was nine thirty. She hadn’t been asleep for that long, but Cynthia had taken her sweet time getting there.

The doorbell rang again, followed by knocking.

“Just a minute.” She unlocked the dead bolt and swung the door open.

Cynthia was standing there in a coat over plaid pajama bottoms and holding a steaming pizza box and a bottle of red wine.

The food smelled delicious, but Madison would have to leave the wine alone if she was going to get to the club later.

“Thought you could use something to eat, and the men ate all the burgers and dogs.” Cynthia handed the box to Madison, and her stomach rumbled with hunger. Tony’s Pizzeria was stamped on the lid. They made the best pie in Stiles and surrounding area.

“See!” Cynthia jabbed a pointed finger to the logo. “Only the best, and it’s fresh from the oven. Pepperoni, mushrooms, double cheese.”

“Oh my god, you’re an angel!” Madison held the box in one hand and threw her other arm around Cynthia. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She took the pizza to the kitchen, leaving Cynthia at the entry to shuck her shoes and coat.

“I guess I was right to assume you wouldn’t be eating because you were home alone.” Cynthia joined her in the kitchen.

Madison bit into a slice. Heaven. She could be offended that yet again she was underestimated to fend for herself, but if that opinion made people feed her, well, there were worse things. “The best pizza ever!”

Cynthia laughed and proceeded to pour two glasses of wine.

“Oh, just a little for me,” Madison called out. “Speaking of… You’re looking…um, relaxed. You didn’t drive, did you?’ She spoke around the bursting organism of flavor going on in her mouth.

“Please give me more credit than that. I took a cab.”

“What’s going on at your place anyway? Why leave?”

Cynthia tossed her head back and smiled. “Why leave? Let me see… The air is so thick with testosterone, I’m choking.”

Madison chuckled and bit off more pizza. Sauce squeezed out the corner of her mouth, and she dabbed it with her fingertip.

Cynthia sat next to Madison, handed her a glass, and raised her own. “To being women.”

Madison lifted her glass. “To being—”

“Correction. To finding that damn ring,” Cynthia cut in just before their glasses met.

Madison could drink to that, so she did. Just a little. Then returned to devouring the pizza. By the end of the second slice, she finally seemed to surface and really take in her friend’s wardrobe. A cotton pajama set. “You spending the night?”

“Nope. Just wanted to be comfortable.” She fished herself a slice out of the box, and when finished, she shot to her feet. “Let’s find that ring!”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m having a pang of conscience, but—”

“Nonsense. If you find the ring, it will put your mind at ease.”

“It will?” Madison found fault with her friend’s reasoning. She’d probably have more questions. Like was the proposal lost or simply delayed?

“Come on, let’s finish what you started.” She grinned at Madison, her hook baited.

“Fine.” She closed the lid on the box and got up. “What did you tell Lou when you left?”

“That he and Garrett were driving me nuts, and I needed girl time.” Cynthia’s face fell somber. “I need to ask you this, but what are you going to do if there isn’t a ring?”

Her friend certainly didn’t hold back when she was drinking, and Madison didn’t want to dwell on the possibility. Before she and Troy had gotten together, they had both been burned by love. He had a wife who had cheated on him with his best friend. She had her scum of a fiancé who she’d found in bed with another woman. She used to be fine with a level of commitment that kept them exclusive without the old-fashioned need to tie the knot. But these days, the tying of the knot was all she could think about. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Or what if you find out he was never going to propose? Are you going to ask him to mar—”

“What? No! I might be a modern woman, but he’s gotta be the one to pop the question.”

Cynthia held eye contact and eventually nodded. “I get that. I even respect that.”

“I’ve already searched the house everywhere I could think of.”

“You’re sure you checked everywhere?”

“I’m pretty sure.” Madison sighed and bit her bottom lip.

“Okay, he might not have hidden it in the house. You have a shed out back, right? Maybe it’s in there? Oh, or in the garage?”

Madison went to the kitchen and through the door to the garage, flicking the light switch on the way. Then she stopped.

They didn’t use the garage for their vehicles for a reason. They were also looking to up-size for a reason. Apparently, part of that reason was to have more space to house all Troy’s crap.

“I never would have pegged Troy as a hoarder.” Cynthia stood in the doorway, crossing her arms.

“The man isn’t perfect.” But Madison thought he was close to it, but if he broke her heart, she’d kill him. Possibly literally. No, she wouldn’t… Yes, maybe… No…

“I don’t think he would have hidden it out here. I mean—” Cynthia gestured around the clogged area “—how would he even get to it?”

“True that.” Madison met her friend’s gaze.

“Let’s check the shed.”

Madison grabbed the key, donned her coat and shoes, and Cynthia slipped into hers. Madison put the back light on, not that it reached the outbuilding, but it lit the patio. Hershey followed them outside, sniffed around, and did his thing.

Madison activated the flashlight on her phone and unlocked the shed. “It’s not powered, so you might want to—”

Cynthia took out her phone and turned on its light.

They went inside and rooted through the cabinets and drawers. At least there was walking space, unlike the garage. Maybe if Troy moved some crap from the garage to the shed, she might be able to squeeze her Mazda 3 into the garage.

They searched for what felt like a long time. Eventually, Cynthia made the call.

“It’s not here.” She sounded almost as dejected as Madison felt. Every time a spot turned up empty, she doubted herself more. Maybe she didn’t know him.

“Hey, wait.” Cynthia perked up, her eyes sparking in the limited light of their phones. “You looked everywhere in the house, but by everywhere, did that include places you don’t normally go? You tried the kitchen?”

“You’re killing me.”

Cynthia smiled. “The laundry room?”

Madison gripped Cynthia’s forearm. “I didn’t look there.”

Both of them hurried back into the house, intent on beelining it for the laundry room, but Hershey wanted inside, and Madison had to stop to wipe his feet. “You go on ahead.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah.” She cleaned Hershey off as quickly as she could make her hands work and caught up with Cynthia.

Cynthia was elbow deep in the cabinetry.

Madison didn’t ask if she’d had any luck, because if her friend had, she’d have told her. Asking and being told something to the effect of “nothing yet” would have just burrowed a deeper hole in her heart.

Cynthia withdrew a lidded chest the size of a shoebox from one of the cabinets. She held it up to Madison as if to ask what was in there.

“Wouldn’t have a clue. Open it.” Madison stepped closer to her friend.

Cynthia braced to flip the lid. “Oh, I can’t.” She shoved the chest at Madison.

She took it and looked inside. A small box sat among other bric-a-brac.

Time stood still. Madison’s breath froze. Her heart sped up.

She gave the chest back to Cynthia and took out the small box.

“Who’s killing who? Open it,” Cynthia urged.

Madison exhaled and cracked the lid, saw the contents, and snapped it shut again. She dropped the small box back into the chest. “Put it back. I never should have—”

Cynthia set the chest on the folding counter and opened the box. “Princess cut. Square shape. White gold.” Cynthia met her gaze, and her eyes were watered up. “This ring is beautiful, Maddy.”

But it isn’t on my finger… Tears burned her eyes. She didn’t know what she should be feeling or how to react. She was a mix of anger, happiness, shock, distrust, confusion. “Put it back,” she said.

Cynthia did as Madison had asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t have a clue.” Ironically, for all the emotions whirling through her, she felt numb, not knowing which one to latch on to, which one she felt more, which one she wanted to believe. Was her relationship with Troy over? The “lost proposal” the apt description?

“For what it’s worth,” Cynthia said gingerly, “he was going to ask you.”

“Yeah. Was.” Madison sniffled. “What made him change his mind?”

Cynthia pulled her into a hug, and Madison let herself cry. Just when she’d given herself over to believing she had the real deal with Troy, love slapped her in the face again.