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end she should think of him only as Mr. Dominus and not Micah.
    As Madison rounded the front of the Mercedes, she chanced a peek in his direction. He stood facing her, feet braced slightly apart, with one hand shoved in a pocket. Their eyes connected. A slight smile curved his sensuous mouth and he lifted his hand in a manly gesture of a wave. She pulled the door handle and executed a quick wave back. Before she slid into the passenger seat, he lifted his hand to his ear and mouthed, “Call me.”
    Silent, Momma tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, as Madison settled inside and latched her seatbelt. “Do you know him, Momma?”
    Her mother turned to look out her window. “Yes,” she said and cranked the vehicle. “Micah Dominus, he’s the new hotshot attorney in town. He’s set the city ablaze with his talent in the courtroom. From what I hear, he hasn’t lost a case yet. Why do you ask?”
    Madison shrugged. “No reason. He said he worked for the Moore family and that Jack’s dad was running for Mayor.”
    “Micah Dominus is too cute for his own good, isn’t he?” Momma stared at the man in question.
    How gross! Momma was old and married. She shouldn’t have an opinion about other men. “I guess.”
    Momma chuckled. “He’s got half the town sniffing after him, married and unmarried alike, and you just guess he’s cute?”
    “Momma, I’m fifteen, he’s old, like thirty probably.”
    “I hear he’s fresh out of college. That’s what makes him such a hot commodity. Young, successful, a real brainiac, finished school early. He’s somewhere just shy of mid-twenties.” Momma put the car in drive and waved to Mr. Dominus . “A much more manageable age than ancient thirty, don’t you think?”
    “It’s not like he wants to date me.” Madison rolled her eyes and resisted looking at Micah— Mr. Dominus !—over her shoulder. In his presence, she felt special. Out of his company and in Momma’s, she’d gone back to plain ole’ Madison Wescott.
    “You never know what a man’s thinking.”
    Madison wasn’t sure how to interpret that statement or why she would even want to know what a man was thinking. On second thought, it sure would help to know what Mr. Dominus thought about her.
    Silence descended as Momma navigated the vehicle. Why’d she feel so dang different in Micah Dominus’s presence? What about him was so special? Not that his specialness or her curiosity mattered. Her daddy would never allow her to date. Anyone. And especially not an older man, even if he wasn’t thirty yet. Only a man spewing scriptures, with a bible in his hand, would ever be allowed to date her.
    “Momma?”
    “Yes?” Celeste executed a right-hand turn.
    Madison cleared her throat and twisted her fingers together in her lap. “What would you say if I told you he gave me his business card and asked me to call him?”
    “What’s the harm in being his friend, Madison? He doesn’t have many. At least none that like him for him . Everyone wants his friendship because of what they think it’ll do to their status.” Momma made a face of disgust.
    On that, they were in agreement, Madison decided as she peered out the window. Welcome to her small hick, Alabama town, where the favorite pastime was poking one’s nose in someone else’s business. And if they thought your friendship could help their position in town, well, congratulations, you just became their new BFF…until they found someone new.
    Momma went on in her cultured tone, “I heard his parents died recently and the only family he has left is a brother, or brothers. I’m not sure which. But, a man like that is bound to be lonely.”
    Not the response Madison expected to receive, she yanked her head about to stare stunned at Momma. “What would Daddy say?”
    “Why does your daddy have to know?” Momma sent her a sly wink. “Our secret, baby girl, our secret.”

Life Lesson Eleven
     
    Madison never made the call to Micah. Mid- or