Saving You Read Free Page B

she used
to be, it was Jamison’s fault. He brought out the naughty in her as
much as a triple shot of whiskey.
    Speaking of whiskey…
    Maddie leaned over to where Naomi was
buckling herself into the van’s passenger’s seat. “Are you still
good to drive everyone back here and take me home?” She started the
van. “If you’re not, that’s fine, I just want to know before I tell
the bartender to make me a double Jack and Coke to soothe my
frazzled nerves.”
    “ I’m fine to drive,” Naomi
said as Maddie carefully pulled down the alley, rain coating the
windshield in sheets. “I won’t be having more than one drink.
Jake’s at the station tonight and I’m on solo Noelle duty. She’s
been starting to sleep through the night, but it’s not a sure thing
and I don’t want to be buzzed getting up to make a bottle at three
a.m. Babies and hangovers don’t go well together.”
    “ Doesn’t sound like a good
mix,” Maddie said. “That’s why I’m getting all my partying out of
my system before November.”
    “ You and Jamison still
going to start trying around Thanksgiving?” Naomi asked.
    Maddie nodded, but kept her squinted gaze
firmly on the road as she guided the van through the parking lot
and out onto Main Street, where water rushed in twin rivers down
either side of the street. “Assuming Jamison still wants to have
babies together after the past few days. He’s been such a turd
about the bachelorette party. He would barely speak to me tonight
when I was getting dressed, and usually he can’t resist this tube
top.”
    Naomi chuckled. “He’s just protective of
Faith. He still considers her a kid, and thinks strippers are going
to scar her for life.”
    “ She won’t be scarred for
life,” Maddie said with a frustrated sigh. “He’s being totally
ridiculous. And if her fiancé doesn’t have a problem with
strippers, I don’t see that Jamison has any right to put his oar
in.”
    “ When has that ever stopped
him before?” Naomi asked, laughter in her tone.
    But Maddie didn’t feel like laughing. Until
now, Jamison had always been a vehement supporter of her wild side.
He said he loved that Maddie was a sweet, hard-working, hard-loving
woman, who wasn’t afraid to let her hair down and get a little
crazy now and then. He’d gone skinny dipping with her in the creek
behind their house last week, for goodness sake—who was he to get
prudish about men bumping and grinding in a speedo?
    “ I bet he’s jealous, too,”
Naomi added as Maddie did a U-turn at the end of Main and pulled
into a parking spot in front of The Horse and Rider. “I’m guessing
he doesn’t like the thought of you looking at other
guys.”
    Maddie rolled her eyes as she shut off the
van and reached for her umbrella. “That’s ridiculous. Jake isn’t
jealous.”
    “ No, but Jake has the
confidence of at least four men,” Naomi said, affection for her
husband obvious in her voice. “He’s positive I’m not going to see
anything better than what I’ve got waiting at home. And we’re an
old married couple now, too. That helps. I bet Jamison will be more
laid back after the wedding.”
    Maddie frowned, but before she could tell
Naomi she didn’t want to wait until after the wedding for Jamison
to lighten up, Faith stuck her head between the van seats.
    “ Speaking of weddings,”
Faith said. “I have a surprise for you, too, Maddie. So don’t run
off without telling me.”
    “ You didn’t have to get me
anything,” Maddie said, grinning. “I was happy to do this for you.
Every girl should have a big send off with friends.”
    “ I know, but you’re getting
married a week after me and Mick,” Faith said. “I think you deserve
some bachelorette fun, too.”
    Maddie waved her hand as she unlocked her
seat belt. “I had my bachelorette party before my first marriage.
I’m all about marriage do-overs, but one bachelorette party was
enough for me. I’m too old to wear goofy hats.”
    Faith shot her a