Free MADversary by Jade C. Jamison

just…”  Her voice trailed off.  She sounded stupid to her own ears.
    “Yeah…I hear you.”  He slid his index finger under her chin, coaxing her to look up.  “If we hadn’t known each other so well back then, it might be easy to just jump in the sack, right?”
    She felt a breath escape from between her lips, and relief washed over her.  He understood part of what she felt, even if he didn’t know all of it.  She nodded but didn’t say anything.  Instead, she took a sip of the drink.  She didn’t want to get back to the woozy, tipsy state she’d been in earlier.  That wouldn’t be good at all.  But she did want to keep the edge off as much as possible.   Finally, she said, “Yeah.  So, I guess I just don’t feel like I know you anymore.”
    His mouth screwed up on one side as he considered her words.  “Well, hell.  I would have sworn you know everything .”  He chuckled.  “It feels like nothing in my life has been secret the last three years.”
    Well, that might have been true, but he didn’t need to know that Megan had avoided as much personal information about Tyler as she could.  He didn’t know it would have broken her heart to know if he’d had a serious girlfriend…or a love child…or a wife.  She hadn’t wanted to know.  She wasn’t about to tell him any of that , or that she knew the answers anyway .  “Well, why don’t you tell me about the bands you’ve toured with?  Or maybe your favorite venues…or the recording process…or whatever .  Those are things I have no clue about.”
    He grinned.  “Okay.”  So he spent the next hour and a half talking about some of his adventures from the last ten years, not just since he’d formed Madvers ary with three friends but some of his earlier struggles.  He talked about Madversary’s rise to the top from his point of view.  Because Megan was a metal fan girl, she felt giddy hearing about Tyler’s encounters with some of her favorite bands.  Tyler didn’t just talk nonstop; Megan asked questions, keeping him going.  He said several times he was afraid of boring her, but he discovered she wasn’t anywhere close to it.   And he wasn’t repeating stories he’d told her earlier at the reunion.  He was telling her all new stuff, keeping things interesting.
    She was , however, growing tired, but she didn’t say anything.  She finished off the last of the drink when Tyler said, “So…tell me more about what you’ve done the last ten years, Megan.”
    She shrugged.  “Believe it or not, you know all there is to know.”
    He shook his head deliberately.  “I doubt it.”  Megan smiled and raised her eyebrows.  Tyler said, “Dig deep.  Tell me one thing…you’re really proud of that almost no one at the high school reunion knows about.”
    He was serious.  And she couldn’t think of anything.  She didn’t do a lot of volunteer work, even though she’d always meant to.  She’d already told him (and others) about her baby, the book club.  But…there was one thing.  “Well,” she said, placing her empty glass on the coffee table.  “Every once in a while, I write a book review for the local paper.”
    Tyler smiled.  “Seriously?”
    “Yeah.   I love to read the new releases, and if I feel pretty strongly about a book, good or bad, I like to write about it.  Anyway, a few years ago, one of my coworkers suggested I contact the newspaper editor.  She knew him and set up a meeting, and he said he’d love to do it.”
    “You get paid anything for it?”
    She giggled.  “Five dollars.”   She laughed a little more.  “But I don’t do it for the money.”
    “I didn’t figure… . ”
    She caught herself staring at the fire.  Megan knew she could easily drift off to sleep now if her head were resting on a soft pillow.  The warm fire, the alcohol, and the fact that she’d relaxed put her there.
    Tyler noticed.  He grabbed her left hand.  “Are you ready for that backrub