You've Been Replaced, First Love novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: A Door That Locks

The loft was one long room above Maddox's shop, with a slanted ceiling and a window over South Second Street.

It smelled like cedar shavings and coffee.

There was a bed made up with a gray quilt, a kettle on a hot plate, and a table with two mismatched chairs.

"I'll take the cot downstairs," Maddox said from the doorway. "The lock is the deadbolt. The key's on the hook."

"You're not going to ask me what happened?"

"I was at the party."

"You didn't see the box."

He thought about it.

"What was in the box?"

"My coat, and a note that said thanks for the practice."

His jaw worked under the beard.

"That's a new one," he said finally. "I've heard of a lot of ways to end it, but I never heard of a man writing a thank-you."

I sat down on the edge of the bed because my legs had finished their opinion.

The gold curls in my pocket crackled.

"Okay, here's what I'm offering," Maddox said, and leaned his shoulder on the frame. "I'll say it plain, so you don't have to wonder."

"Go on."

"A door that locks. Eggs, because I can make eggs. A couch if you want company, and a quiet shop if you don't."

"And what aren't you offering?"

"I'm not offering to be a soft place to land, or practice, or the guy you try out feelings on until the real one calls." He said it without heat, as if he were reading a measurement. "I heard that toast, Ellory. I won't be that to anyone, and I won't make you be it to me."

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