Patience

Chapter One

Eight Years Later

"Maddie, are you ready to go?"

She sighed before yelling back to her roommate, Casey. "Yes. Just one more minute."

Madison stood staring at her reflection in the full-length mirror. Her thick, dark hair fell in long waves down her back. She had spent an hour trying to style it, then gave up and decided to wash it again because of all the wasted hair spray. She was second-guessing the tank and skinny jeans when Casey stuck her head in the door.

"Come on, girl, we are gonna be late."

Trying to breathe through the knot in her stomach, Madison turned to face her friend. "How do I look?"

Casey shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Amazing as always. You make it seem so simple—tall, gorgeous, effortless."

Madison snorted. "I wish. I spent a friggin' hour on a hairdo that looked like crap."

"Well, it looks great now. You shouldn't have wasted your time. Now, let's go. Do you want to miss the show?"

Madison wanted to say yes, but answered no while gathering her purse and slipping on her heels. Cale was coming back to Texas for a concert and had sent her two tickets with backstage passes. She was nervous as hell; it had been almost two years since she had last seen him. Sure, they still sent one another text messages and occasionally facetimed, but the last time she saw him had been at a family Christmas party.

They had found themselves beneath the mistletoe, which had led to an awkward kiss. Not at all in the way she had expected; it most certainly did not feel like a friendly kiss, and that was what had been so disturbing.

There had been many times over the years when Madison had thought about what it would be like to kiss her best friend, but she always assumed it would end with them both laughing at how silly they were. Instead, she was left breathless and him with lust-filled eyes. She had been struggling ever since to forget that moment.

Cale was now the lead guitarist and sometimes vocalist for Ransom. It was insane for her to think of him as anything more than a friend, especially since she had been in a relationship with Justin for the last seven months.

She had been anxious ever since the package with the tickets had arrived the month before. How would it be to see him again? He'd acted the same during their occasional calls; perhaps she was the only one really affected by the kiss. Madison could only guess at how many women he hooked up with on a regular basis.

"Earth to Madison," came the singsong voice next to her.

She turned to look at Casey, who was swerving in and out of traffic.

"What?"

Casey chuckled. "I have apparently been talking to myself for like the last five minutes. Are you okay?"

Madison really was excited and didn't want to dampen the mood for Casey, so she smiled brightly. "Absolutely! We are on the way to see Ransom—how could I not be okay?"

Casey looked skeptical. "You just seem off. Are you worried that Justin will be mad?"

Madison knew he would be if he found out she was going to see Cale. He hated the fact that she remained in contact with him. Luck was on her side though because he was out of town on a weekend golf trip with his buddies.

"No." Madison shrugged as she peered out her window to take in the cityscape of Austin. "Look, I'm just a tad nervous to see Cale—it's been a long time."

"He's one of your best friends. Second to me, of course."

Madison laughed. "Of course." She hesitated a moment, then added, "He used to be one of my best friends. I mean, yeah, we've kept in touch, but he left when he was eighteen. How much can we really have in common anymore?"

Casey glanced in her side mirror before changing lanes again. "Well, you do sell vintage records, so technically y'all are both in the music business."

Madison snorted. "Yeah, we definitely run in the same circles."

For the rest of the ride, Madison listened to Casey chatter about how effing sexy Ransom Meads was, her hope that she was dressed slutty enough, blah, blah, blah. Madison offered the appropriate head nods and "absolutely" when necessary, but her mind kept drifting to days gone by.