"What the hell is this?" he asked.
"My Sephora gift card collection from over two years of birthdays and holidays," she told him. "They're worth around $600 total."
"You have over $600 of gift cards in your wallet? How stupid can you be?" Even Caleb knew not to store everything in one place. And hadn't she lost her wallet the other night? Jesus.
She glared. "Take it or leave it. I'm still not giving you my card details."
"And what the hell am I supposed to do with these?" he asked, glancing back at the cards. Wasn't Sephora a chick haven for make-up and shit?
Fuck me.
"Nothing," she told him, arching a brow. "They're insurance, remember? Something to ensure I'll be here tomorrow evening. And trust me, I won't be coming back for your winning personality. But $600 worth of Nars, Urban Decay, and Philosophy … well, I'd have to be as dumb as you think I am." She turned to Brian with a small smile. "Now, can I please get my keys?"
Once Brian gave her the keys and she drove off in her perfectly humming Volkswagen, Caleb still stood in the same place, holding onto $600 worth of Sephora gift cards. And he had a sneaking suspicion that, once again, Maddie had gotten the upper hand.
Brian passed him, whistling, on his way out to his own car. He seemed extremely pleased about something, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"What?" Caleb snapped.
"Man, oh man," he responded, letting out a chuff of laughter. "You're in trouble."
With a slap on Caleb's back, Brian too left the garage and drove away. Caleb could hear his damn whistling all the way to the end of the block.
And in the back of his mind, Caleb feared that Brian was right.
SEVEN
Maddie silently fumed on the way home in her perfectly running car.
The minute she pulled away from Montgomery Restoration & Repair she plugged her iPod into the stereo system her brother had wired for her and blared the latest pop hit she'd downloaded. If Caleb had been appalled by her keychains, she knew he'd definitely be over her music choices. So, she turned it up even louder in hopes that he'd hear it.
Had she really given him $600 worth of Sephora gift cards? If the look on his face hadn't been so priceless, she would've slapped herself. But little ol' Maddie seemed to have gotten a one-up on him, so all she felt was a delightful smugness that overshadowed her annoyance.
As she pulled onto the freeway towards Concord, his accusations about her financial status rung in her ears.
Princess, what's in your account couldn't even pay for one of my nights out, if you can't even afford your car repairs.
That one hit below the belt. What Maddie hated even more was that it was true. She had a debt pile the size of Mount Everest and she was barely scraping enough together for her crappy apartment each month. The idea of asking her mom or brother for help sent her spiraling into major mortification territory.
Maddie strongly suspected she'd gotten her pride from her father, which wasn't necessarily a good thing considering his pride may have killed him. Even though his death had been tragically sudden, the warning signs had been there and her mother had tried to make him go to the doctor's office on multiple occasions. Yet, he'd always brushed her concerns aside, saying in his booming voice that he felt as 'healthy as a horse' and that he would never go near a doctor unless he was already on the way out.
Like a prophecy, that was exactly what had happened. Except by then, it'd been too late.
Maddie had awoken to her mother's panicked yells. It had been the night before Maddie's homecoming dance. She'd been overly excited about the possibility of Caleb being there. Maybe he would see her in her pretty royal blue dress with the sparkly hem and fall madly in love, just like in the movies.
She'd never had the chance to go.
Maddie had spent her homecoming at home, sitting on the couch and staring at the wall, as her mother sobbed upstairs. Thomas had been missing all day. He'd never spoken a word once they returned from the hospital and he'd taken his car and left. Maddie hadn't been worried though. It was his way of coping. Deep down, however, Maddie had always resented him for it. She'd wanted to leave too-to get away from the house where her father had been laughing just the day before, to block out her mother's crying, to not feel so helpless-but she'd stayed.
In no time at all, Maddie pulled into her apartment complex. She had about fifty pages of reading to get through before she could head to bed and she needed to apply for a few internships while she was at it. A paid internship would be fantastic, but she knew the possibility of landing one was quite slim in the museum sector.