Mollie flinched.
Madison put her elbows on the table, pressing her fingers to her pale cheeks. “I can’t…I can’t believe this. How did this…how could you, Mollie?”
Mollie swallowed. Madison’s reaction was no worse than she’d expected, but it was no better either.
“Maddie, you have to know—”
“Wait, I’m sorry. Do you actually think there’s something you can say that will make me okay with this?”
“No,” Mollie said. “I don’t expect you to be okay with it. I know it violates girl code and sister code, and I should have talked to you about my feelings before anything happened, but—”
Her sister wasn’t listening. She interrupted as though Mollie had never spoken. “And to think I pushed you to move in with him. Knowing about your stupid infatuation, knowing that he’d do anything to get back at me—”
“Wait, what?” Mollie asked, holding up her hand. “Whatever’s happening between Jackson and me isn’t about you, Maddie. If anything, you’re the reason that we—”
“Can you please drop the sweet-and-clueless routine for five minutes? I’m sure your reasons are all very pure and adoring, but I know Jackson, babe. Better than you ever will. And if he found his way into your bed, it’s because he was horny and figured he could get his rocks off and get back at me at the same time.”
Mollie shook her head. “You’re wrong. We care about each other. We’ve always—”
“Been best buddies, or whatever, I know, but you’re fooling yourself if you think he’s not messing around with you to get back at me.”
This was not the conversation she’d been practicing for. Mollie had been expecting to grovel, and instead she was on the defensive.
“Mollie.” Her sister’s tone was surprisingly kind. Suspiciously so. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I won’t,” Mollie said automatically, still trying to catch up with her sister’s rapid mood changes.
“Christ,” Madison said, taking a huge sip of her wine. “I hate myself for not seeing this coming. All the signs were right in front of me….” She set her glass down before looking up and meeting Mollie’s gaze directly. “This isn’t going to end well. You know that, right?”
“You have every right to be upset. I knew you’d be mad. You should be mad.”
“Of course I’m mad,” Madison said, picking up her wineglass and staring at the pale liquid. “I’m mad, and hurt, and shocked. And all I can think about is going home for a good cry.”
Mollie winced.
“But I guess I’m not that shocked,” Madison continued. “I’ve always known you liked him. It used to kill me, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I mean, if I talked to you, it would come across as condescending, but I hated that you suffered in private.”
Mollie forced herself to meet her sister’s eyes. “I never wanted to want him. You have to know that.”
Madison waved a hand. “I do. Of course I know that. You don’t have a mean bone in your body, but Jackson…he’s always been your weakness.”
Mollie swallowed. “You know me well.”
“I do,” Madison said slowly. She reached across the table, her expression tentative. “I know Jackson well too, Mollie. And I know how charming he can be. I know how good it must feel when he seems to want you, but you have to trust me on this, Molls…this will not end well. For any of us.”
Mollie swallowed. There was a sureness in Madison’s tone and a confidence in the steadiness of her gaze that had Mollie’s heart pounding.
“I don’t know where we go from here,” Mollie said carefully. “I don’t know what happens next.”
Madison forced a smile and finished the rest of her wine. “Well, I think lunch is a bust—I vote we ask them to pack up our food. And maybe we should give each other some space. As far as you and me, I need some time to think. My head knows I’ll forgive you someday, but my heart hurts right now. Still, mistakes happen, and—”
“Hold on,” Mollie said. “I said I’m sorry this hurts you, and I’m sorry that the man I…care about is the same one you care about. But what’s between me and Jackson isn’t a mistake.”
“So are you guys, like, dating now?” Madison scoffed.
“No. I don’t know. It’s just…it’s more than a one-time thing. We’re seeing where it goes, and I just want—”
“You want what? My blessing? Do you want me to be maid of honor at your wedding? Give me a break, Mollie. That’s not going to happen.”
“What’s not going to happen, your blessing or my and Jackson’s wedding?”
“Neither!” Madison said, her voice rising again. “Mollie, I know you don’t want to hear this, but Jackson Burke is not looking for forever with you. You are his way of lashing back at me for my fling with Tyler and the other guys. Yes, I had lovers, and don’t you dare judge me, because you don’t know what it was like.”
“Would you quit with the whole Mollie-is-clueless routine? I may never know what your relationship with Jackson was like, but you don’t know what mine is like with him, and it’s…”