The Letter(24)

“Long time.” Crystal’s voice slapped him again.

“Yes, it has been.” Not long enough, as far as he was concerned. Not long enough at all.

“You remember Bryan, don’t you?” Crystal sent Bryan one of those you’re-the-only-person-in-the-world smiles that he remembered so well. Only they used to be sent his direction.

“Hi, Bryan. Nice to see you again.” No it wasn’t. Not even a little bit.

He pulled himself together enough to drag out his manners.

“Madeline, this is Crystal and Bryan.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Madeline smiled at both of them. The traitor. Of course she had no clue.

All he could think of at this point was, of all the bars in the world… with flashes of Casablanca hammering through his mind.

“How have you been, Gilbert?”

“I’ve been great, just great,” Gil lied.

“What brings you to the city?”

“Just an outing.” No way was he explaining anything to Crystal.

Bryan waved to a group of people in the room off the side of the bar. “We better get going, darling. They’ve waited long enough for us.”

Darling. Who calls someone “darling?” But of course they’d kept people waiting. Crystal always kept people waiting, and when he first dated her he’d found that somehow a charming quality. Which just went to show how besotted he’d been.

“Yes, we must run. It was nice to see you.” Crystal actually leaned over and placed a kiss on his check. He resisted the urge to swipe his hand across his cheek to erase the kiss, to erase seeing her here, to erase her.

Bryan and Crystal crossed over to their friends with a great showy entrance and lots of cheek-kissing and hugging.

Gil tilted his beer bottle back, finished it in one long swig, and slammed it down on the bar. “You finished? I’m ready to leave.”

Madeline looked at him with confusion chasing across her face, but seemed to instinctively know not to ask anything. He threw some money on the bar to pay for their drinks, and guided Maddy away from the bar. Away from Crystal. Away from the memories. Almost. Bryan. Really? After all her protests that she was finished with him. The thought crossed his mind that maybe she’d started seeing Bryan again towards the end of her relationship with him. He knew Crystal had pulled away some. Until she laughed at his suggestion they settle down and live in Comfort Crossing and she’d dumped his sorry carcass in a hot minute.

~ * ~

What had that been all about? Madeline let Gil lead her from the bar and out into the bright lights of the lobby. Barely controlled anger covered his face, his eyes steely cold, and his tense grip on her elbow made her not want to question him.

“You okay to go up to your room alone? I’m going to take a walk.” Gil’s voice was laced with a brittle anger.

“I’ll walk with you.”

“No. No thanks. You just go on up.”

She watched him cross the lobby and stalk through the doors. No, she should go after him and see what was wrong. She hurried outside and looked up and down the street until she spotted him about half of a block away. He walked too darn fast. She practically ran to catch up with him and almost lost him when he turned a corner.

As she finally got close to him, she reached out a hand to touch his arm. He whirled around towards her, his hand curled in a fist.

“What the heck are you doing out here? Don’t you have more sense than to walk alone in New Orleans?” His icy voice cut through her.

“I’m not alone. I’m with you.”

“Well, you were alone catching up to me. Are you crazy?”

“I was worried about you. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Sure, you’re always rude and cold. Nothing is wrong. Sorry I asked.”

She spun around and headed back to the hotel. Gil quickly caught up with her. “You can’t walk alone. Seriously. It’s not safe. I’ll walk you back.”

Madeline didn’t even dignify him with an answer. He was obviously upset, but he didn’t need to take it out on her. She was only trying to help. Which, also obviously, she wasn’t doing.

She felt Gil’s hand on her arm as they walked through the Quarter. He led her down a side street back towards the hotel.

“Hey.” A man stepped out of the shadows.

Gil thrust her behind him and she clutched at him to keep from falling.

“How about you give me the lady’s purse?” A streetlamp’s light glistened off the point of a knife in the man’s hand.

“How about you move on?” Gil’s voice held a threat.

Was he nuts? The guy had a knife. Let him have her purse. She’d have her credit cards cancelled and phone disabled in minutes. She started to shrug the purse strap from her shoulder.