Chapter 98 — Kade

As Madison and I followed the hostess to our table at the back of the restaurant, we turned heads. Or rather, Madison turned heads.

She was absolutely stunning.

I could barely take my eyes off her.

I held her chair as she sat and placed her handbag on the table next to her.

I sat next to her. Across the table was too far away.

Once we were seated, I took her hand and kissed it as the hostess handed us our menus.

Madison laid hers aside without opening it, so I did the same as I order a bottle of pinot noir.

“Kade,” she said. “This is so… perfect.”

“You deserve perfect,” I said. “Every day.”

She ran a finger along the stem of her wine glass.

“Madison,” I said. “I need to tell you something.”

I knew her well enough to know that she steeled herself.

“Please tell me it’s something good,” she said.

I smiled. “That’s depends on how you look at it.”

“Okay,” she said. “What’s on your mind?”

“I messed up. All those years ago. I should have stayed in touch with you.”

“Kade, I didn’t either—”

“No,” I held up a hand. “I’m the one who should have made the effort. But I was young. And dumb.”

She smiled. “We both were.”

“We missed so much time together.”

“But…” She squeezed my hand. “We have now. Right?”

Yes. We had now. But I wasn’t sure that right now was enough for me.

I felt like I needed to make up for lost time.

Like I needed to spend every minute, every second possible with her just to make up for all those years I’d wasted.

I’d always known there was no one else for me.

Even when I’d dated. When I’d had girlfriends. I knew that they were just place holders.

Keeping my heart warm while I waited for Madison.

The tragedy of it, though, was that I hadn’t understood it at the time.

I’d known something was missing. And I thought about Madison a lot.

But it was only now that I was putting it all together. And figuring out what it all meant.

“Yes,” I said. “We have now.”

He held up a glass. “To an endless supply of nows.”

We drank to my toast.

“So,” I said. “Do you already know what you want?”

“Pretty much,” she said. “You’ve been here before, right?”

“No,” I said.

And that’s when a waiter dressed in formal black attire placed shrimp cocktails in front of us.

“Here’s something to get you started,” he said.

I looked over at Madison.

She just shrugged. “It’s what they do.”