Madison inspected her fingernails in case her eyes might reveal the truth. Who would have thought that she could be such a bad liar? “Yeah. Sherry is awesome.”

“You lost me,” Phil mumbled. “You’ve got a girlfriend but hang out with us? Why didn’t you bring her or…I don’t know, help her with the moving?”

Okay, these were all good questions. Think! “She’s with her son right now. He’s in the hospital.”

Phil had just taken a sip of his cocktail. At the word son, he sprayed Liam on the other side of the table.

Liam glared at him. “Thanks, man.” Shaking his head, he wiped his shirt. “And who did the moving when she’s in—?”

“Who gives a shit?” Phil wiped his mouth with a napkin. “She’s got a son?”

“How old?” Liam asked.

“Who?” Madison blinked. “Sherry?”

“No, the boy.” Phil answered as if he could read Liam’s thoughts. He leaned closer. “But now that you brought that up, how old is your girl?”

“Um…” She should know the answer to both questions. “The boy’s six.” Or seven? And what about Sherry? She’d seemed pretty young when she’d smiled at her boy or when she’d thanked Madison in the parking lot for helping her. Yes, when she smiled her whole face lit up and she—

“Mad?”

“Well…” When Sherry didn’t smile—which was most of the time—she looked older, maybe in her late-twenties.

“Still with us?” Phil asked.

Madison leaned back and tried to appear casual. “Since when do you care about every detail of my love life?”

Phil raised both of his hands in defense. “Well, for once you usually don’t have a love life.” He finished his cocktail. “Wanna tell us at least what’s up with the kid? Why is he at the hospital?”

“He’s just had his tonsils out. Can we talk about something else now?”

“Jeez, can somebody get Mad a drink and fast? She really needs to calm down.”

Madison couldn’t agree more.

As if reading their minds, the waitress finally showed up and put everyone’s drinks on the table.

Phil took Madison’s drink and held it up to her. “Down it. You need it.” To the waitress, he said, “Honey, please get me another Giddy Gal and her”—he pointed to Madison—“another one of those.”

Madison downed the glass in one swallow. The familiar burning in her throat and belly calmed her down.

“How did you meet?” Phil put his arm around her casually. “And even more important, when will we meet her?”

“Soon.” What else could she answer?

Liam shook his head. “I still can’t believe it.”

“Let’s have a party next weekend,” Phil said. “So that we can meet your love.”