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You’re the one who screwed up.”
    She nodded. “I know. I can’t do anything right. I’m a failure. I can’t even get a job cleaning toilets.” She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose, her sobs growing louder.
    He searched for something consoling to say. “I’m sure you’re not a failure at everything. You just haven’t tried everything yet.”
    She wailed and covered her face with her hands.
    This was going downhill and fast. If she didn’t stop soon, he’d be forced to pull over, and that was the last thing he wanted. He was only moments away from getting the nutcase out of his car. “Look. You did go all the way to my father’s house with me.”
    She quieted down a bit and lifted her head to peer at him.
    “And you did eat my stepmother’s cooking.” He suppressed a smile, remembering her face when she took that huge spoonful of Irene’s special potatoes.
    Madison sniffed.
    “I guess, for your time, I could pay you half…”
    Another wail pierced the air and he succumbed. “All right, all right, I’ll pay you the full thousand dollars.”
    Big eyes stared at him from the passenger seat. “Really? You’d do that for me?”
    Anything to get her to shut up. He kept that comment to himself. “Yes. I’ll write you a check when we arrive.”
    His heart tugged as she wiped her nose. She really did look relieved. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to pay her. He did promise, after all.
    He pulled up to her apartment complex and parked in a stall. After writing out the check, he handed it to her.
    She beamed, all trace of sadness gone. “Hey, thanks!” She snatched the check, opened the car door, and then chuckled. “And they said I couldn’t act.”

    Madison strutted up the sidewalk toward her apartment complex, feeling Jared’s stare burning on her back. She suppressed a grin. She’d gotten the best of him in the end. With the check clutched in one hand, and her satchel in the other, she sprinted up the steps. When she got to her door, she stole a glance at Jared. He still sat in his car, glowering.
    The jerk. He deserved to know the sting of disappointment. He’d heaped enough of it onto her tonight. But guilt wormed its way into her chest. She had to admit she’d taken her revenge on him too far. It was going to be awkward for him to undo the engagement lie.
    She pulled out her keys and let herself in. With a flick, she tossed her bag onto the couch, turned on the light, and shut the door with her foot. The smell of stale cigarette smoke permeated the apartment. She wrinkled her nose. How many times had she begged Carrie to make her boyfriend smoke outside? Yuck. At least they were out tonight, and she didn’t have to sit in the living room with them and pretend to care about motorcycles and football.
    Her heels were making her feet hurt. She kicked off her shoes as soon as she got into her bedroom, and changed into her oversized t-shirt and sweat pants. Hopefully, her lie wouldn’t cause too much conflict in Jared’s family. She didn’t like the idea of his sick aunt being too upset over it.
    The responsible thing would have been to go to bed. However, Madison had never been the responsible type, so she padded into the kitchen and made herself a sandwich. She hadn’t eaten much of Irene’s dinner, and now her stomach growled.
    As she sat at the small dinette munching on her ham and cheese, the image of Jared floated into her mind. Was she crazy to feel a little sad she wouldn’t be seeing him again? She giggled thinking of how he’d reacted when she announced their engagement. He sure had the ‘deer in the headlights’ face down pat.
    But he was egotistical and materialistic, not to mention a dirty rotten liar. She’d be insane to want to spend another minute with him. She balled up her napkin and tossed it into the trash on her way out. No, she’d be glad to never see the man again.
    She checked her email and her Facebook page. What to put for an update? Staring at the blank