Chapter 15
Fifteen
After changing into pajamas, brushing her teeth and falling into bed, Maggie remembered the call she’d missed from Brayden.
He’d left a voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. I heard from Mitch about what happened today, and I wanted to check on you. I wish I was there to help. Call me when you can.”
It was so sweet of him to reach out when he was supposed to be on vacation. Maggie didn’t hesitate to return the call, because she knew he’d be anxious to hear from her.
“Hey, I’m so glad you called. Jesus, Maggie. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine—now. But it’s been one heck of a day.”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I’d totally understand.”
“I don’t mind.” She retold the story—again—beginning with Arnelle alerting her to Debbie’s absence at breakfast.
“Did the kids say if she was up with them?”
“Mandy said they tried to wake her, but figured she was sleeping in. They got themselves ready for school and came down for breakfast.”
“God, so she was probably already gone.”
“I think so.”
“Do you want me to come home?”
“Brayden! No, of course not. You’re on vacation.”
“I wish I was there to help you.”
She wanted to ask him why he wished that, but couldn’t find the courage to pose the question. “It’s really nice of you to call when you should be relaxing and having fun.”
“Hard to do that in light of what’s happening there. The other guys went out to the bars tonight, but I didn’t feel like it.”
“You’re very sweet.”
“Shut up. I am not.”
Maggie cracked up laughing. “You are, too.”
“Knock it off.”
She realized that for the first time since she and Arnelle found Debbie dead in her bed, she could breathe normally again. He had done that for her just by caring. Her sisters cared, too, but for some reason, he was the one who’d made her feel better. “This helps. Thanks.”
“Whatever I can do.”
“How many fish did you catch today?”
“Like thirty altogether. There’s a restaurant down here that we give them to. They cook them for us and their other customers. We do that every year.”
“That’s awesome. How many years have you guys been going there?”
“Since our freshman year of college, so like twelve, I think?”
“What a fun tradition.”
“They’re my very best friends.”
“I’m glad you have them.”
“Me, too. They came from everywhere to be with me when my mom died. They’re very curious about this woman in Nashville that I’ve been texting.”
“Oh. They are? Did you tell them it was just a work thing?”
After a long pause, he said, “Is that all it is, Maggie? Just a work thing?”
As his meaning registered with her, Maggie tried to formulate a response that would at least attempt to maintain a professional distance. But she found she couldn’t lie to him, especially when he’d been so sweet to check on her. “No, that’s not all it is.”
“Phew. That was an awfully long pause.”
“You know I’m conflicted.”
“I do, and I get why, but I promise I’m not going to cause you any trouble at work.”
“What if…”
“What if what?”
“Say that something happens between us and then it ends.” She couldn’t believe she was actually having this conversation with him. Chalk it up to the emotions of the day. Her defenses had been demolished. “We’d still have to live and work in the same place, and…”
“If that happens, I’ll leave.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Why not? You were there first. It’s your program.”
“I want you to feel at home here, not on the verge of being evicted and exiled.”
“Sweetheart, you’re already evicting me, and I haven’t even taken you on a proper date yet.”
It was a good thing she was reclined on the bed, because that sentence knocked the wind out of her, which he knew, judging by the low rumble of laughter that came from him.
Maggie turned onto her side, snuggling the torn, tattered remains of her beloved stuffed Froggie. They’d been through everything together.
“You still there?” Brayden asked.
“I’m here.”
“Are you going to let me take you on that proper date when I get back to town?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I think it’s a great idea, perhaps the greatest idea in the history of good ideas.”
Maggie smiled. “You might be overselling yourself, cowboy.”
“No, I’m not. I’ll make you so glad you said yes to me, you won’t know what hit you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You aren’t seriously afraid of me, are you?”
“Not you so much as all members of the male species.”
“Maggie, what happened to you was horrible, but I swear on the memory of my mother that you have nothing like that to fear from me. I’d treat you like a queen.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Really?”
“Yes, I do. You already have.”
He moaned. “This vacation is the worst-timed trip I’ve ever taken.”
Maggie laughed. “Maybe it’s the best-timed trip.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No.”
“Yes!”
His low rumble of laughter had her thinking of his handsome face and the way he looked when he smiled. “I should let you get some sleep. You’ve got to be exhausted.”
“Don’t go yet.”
“I’m here for as long as you want me.”
“Tell me a story.”
“What kind of story?”
“Something about you.”
“Hmmm… let me think about what I can tell you that won’t put you to sleep. Have I told you about how I rode a horse before I could walk?”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“My grandfather had me on his horse when I was three months old. He even had a special helmet made for me because my mom said I couldn’t go without one, and they don’t make riding helmets that small.”
“I love that. I can totally picture it.”
“I was hooked from the first time. From what I was told, I would have a complete meltdown every day around four o’clock until he got me on that horse. That was the only thing that calmed me. He took me every day until I was three, when he let me ride by myself for the first time.”
“That’s a great story.”
“Horses have always been my thing. I’d run home from the bus stop, drop all my crap outside the back door and head for the stables. My mom would yell at me to come back and hang up my backpack and then I could go to see the horses.”
“I bet you were so cute.”
“I was a huge pain in the ass. I had a one-track mind. Every picture I drew in school was of horses, every story I wrote was about horses. My second-grade teacher suggested to my mom that I might want to write about something else. She said, ‘Good luck with that.’”
Maggie laughed. “So the battle was already lost, and she knew it.”
“Correct.”
“You were lucky, though. How many people know exactly what they want to do with their lives from the time they’re three months old?”
“Not many. My mother absolutely insisted I go to college, which I absolutely did not want to do. But once I got there and started getting into the program, I came around to liking it.”
“She must’ve been very pleased.”
“She was smug and vindicated.”
“With good reason.”
“She was right, and I told her so. I’m glad to have both degrees and to have them to fall back on if need be. You want to hear a true confession?”
“Absolutely.”
“If this job with you hadn’t worked out, I was going to have to look into something different or move out of state, which I also didn’t want to do.”
“How is that possible when everyone I talked to about equine therapy recommended you?”
“I have a very good reputation, but there aren’t tons of jobs in the field. Or I should say not tons of jobs that pay enough for someone to actually live on their earnings. The fact that you provide housing and boarding for Sunday was a huge score.”
“I’m really glad it worked out for both of us.”
“So am I.”
“Are you trying to sleep over there?”
“Nope.”
“You should be. The kids will have you up early.”
“What about you? Don’t you need to rest up for another taxing day of fish, sun and beer?”
“It is quite taxing to fish and drink beer in the sun all day.”
“I am so not a day drinker. It puts me to sleep for twelve hours and gives me the most massive headache the next day.”
“I can teach you some work-arounds.”
“Thanks, but I’m good.”
He laughed. “How’s Poppy today?”
“I heard she was a little fussy earlier and her mama was feeling sore, but otherwise, all is well.”
“And Corey? How is she?”
Maggie couldn’t believe the way Corey’s story had been pushed off the front page by much bigger news. “She seems to be holding up. She wanted to see the baby before she left the hospital and asked me to go with her.”
“Damn. What was that like?”
“As you can imagine. Sad and a little bit frightening. The baby is so small and attached to so many tubes and wires. It was overwhelming for me. I can’t imagine how she must’ve felt. She told me her boyfriend pushed her down the stairs.”
“He needs to be strung up by his balls.”
Maggie sputtered with laughter. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I just did, and I mean it. Any guy who’d push a pregnant woman down the stairs deserves to be strung up.”
“I happen to agree with you. I think she’s going to be okay, though. She was with the other moms in the upstairs lounge when I went to check on them earlier.”
“It’s good that they have each other.”
“That’s one of the central goals of our program—to give the mothers a network they can rely on when they leave here.
One of them was saying how lucky Debbie’s kids are to have a grandmother to come running and how she didn’t have anyone like that.
Two of them said they’d take in her child if anything ever happened to her. ”
“That’s so awesome. I’m so impressed by what you’re doing there.”
“It takes a village, that’s for sure.”
“And you’re the boss of the village.”
“Sometimes I feel like the village idiot.”
“Stop,” he said, laughing. “You’re way too hard on yourself. You’re doing a great job. Every day you’re giving them things they haven’t had in a long time, if ever. Safety, security, a sense of place, a home, a community of support. To them, you’re a miracle worker.”
“My sister and brother-in-law are the miracle workers.”
“The three of you are.”
“If you say so.”
“I do and so do a lot of other people. The job is still somewhat new to you. It’ll take some time for you to feel truly confident.”
“If people are going to die here, that might never happen.”
“You’re going to find out that she either had some sort of medical condition, or she took something she shouldn’t have. Her death was not your fault. If anything, give thanks for the fact she was there when it happened so her children would be well supported.”
“You’re kind of a glass-half-full sorta guy, aren’t you?”
“I try to find the positive in any situation.”
“Thanks for the support and the encouragement. It helps a lot.”
“I wish there was more I could do.”
“This was just what I needed.”