Chapter 18 #2
“Your little girl will be fine,” Maggie assured Kate. “The two of them are crazy about her.”
“Yes, they are,” Kate said. “They stare at her for hours.”
“I expected that of Reid,” Jill said. “I mean, he’s her daddy. But Ashton is absolutely gone over her.”
“He waited almost thirty-six years for a sibling,” Maggie said.
“True.”
“Enough about us,” Jill said. “You wanted to talk. What’s going on?”
Maggie’s stomach hurt as she tried to find the words to tell her sisters about Ethan and what’d happened. “I have to tell you something that’s going to make you mad.”
“Is it about work?” Kate asked. “We think you’re doing such an amazing job.”
“That’s nice to hear, but no, you’re going to be mad because something happened in December that I should’ve told you about long before now.”
Jill leaned toward Maggie and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Whatever it is, we’re here for you always. You know that.”
Jill’s kind words reduced Maggie to tears. “I know, and I knew then I should’ve said something, but Kate was getting married, and you got engaged, and everyone was together for Christmas for the first time in years.”
“I knew something was up with you,” Kate said. “I told Mom you weren’t yourself, but with the wedding and a houseful of guests, I dropped the ball.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it then.
I still don’t, but I really need to.” She took a deep breath to calm her emotions before diving in.
“There was a guy at work, an attorney I saw all the time at the courthouse. Ethan.” Saying his name made her sick, but she forced herself through the retelling of the story, and when she was finished, her sisters were in tears.
“I’m not telling you this to upset you.”
“You should’ve called me,” Jill said softly. “I would’ve been on the first plane. We both would’ve been.”
“I know that, and I knew it then. I didn’t want to talk about it. It happened. I dealt with it.”
“Did you report it?” Jill asked.
Maggie shook her head. “I figured it would be my word against that of a seasoned defense attorney. I wanted to put it behind me, and I couldn’t do that if I reported it.” She glanced at Jill. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“I actually get it. You figured he’d squash you even more than he’d already tried to.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“I’m so, so sorry that happened to you,” Kate said, “and that you felt you couldn’t tell us in December. I know Jill would agree that nothing would’ve been more important to us than making sure you were okay. That’s always been important to us.”
“You guys were so happy. I just couldn’t bring that into it.”
“I’m really glad you’re telling us now,” Jill said. “But has something happened that made you feel the need to talk about it?”
“Brayden happened.”
“I knew it,” Kate said, smiling.
“I’m the worst boss in the history of bad bosses.”
“Why in the world would you say that?” Jill asked. “Everyone at the house loves you.”
“And PS,” Kate added, “your bosses are thrilled with the job you’re doing.”
Maggie sent Kate a grateful smile. “After you had the baby, Ethan texted me.”
Jill’s eyes bugged. “What? How could he do that?”
“I thought I’d blocked him, but I found out the hard way that I hadn’t. I was pretty upset to get that text, congratulating me on my new niece.”
“That son of a bitch,” Jill said. “He knew that would upset you and did it anyway. Fucker.”
“Brayden came into the office right after that happened, realized something was up and asked me if I wanted to ride. I did, so we went, and while we were out, I spilled the whole thing to him. He was the first person I’d told.”
“I’m so glad you told someone,” Kate said.
“My brand-new employee?” Maggie dropped her face into her hands, still mortified that she’d unloaded on him, of all people.
“There must’ve been something about him that made you feel comfortable telling him,” Kate said.
“That’s the problem. Everything about him makes me feel comfortable. Too comfortable. We work together. I keep telling myself to keep my distance, and then I end up inviting him here and talking to him for hours on FaceTime while he’s been away with his friends in Key West.”
Maggie caught her sisters exchanging glances and smug smiles. “What?”
“We had a bet,” Kate said sheepishly.
“What kind of bet?” Maggie asked, annoyed.
“The kind of bet where we take wagers on how long it’ll take you two to end up together,” Jill said. “By the way, I win. I said less than a month. Kate thought it would take at least two.”
“In case I forget to tell you later, you guys suck.”
They cracked up laughing.
“We’re very sorry,” Kate said.
“Shut up. You’re not sorry.”
“We’re not sorry you might’ve found someone special, Mags,” Jill said. “We really liked him, and we could tell you do, too.”
“I do like him. As an employee. And maybe a friend. But that’s all it can be.”
“Why?” Kate asked, her brows furrowed.
“Because! If I date him and it turns into a mess, he said he would leave, and I don’t want him to leave. He’s the best at what he does, and I was so lucky to get him.”
“Wait a minute,” Jill said. “Back it up. He said he would leave if it doesn’t work out? Does that mean you’ve talked about it being more than just coworkers?”
“Maybe,” Maggie said.
“Tell us everything,” Kate said. “What did he say? What did you say?”
Maggie rolled her eyes and sighed. Too late to turn back now. “He asked me to go out with him when he gets back.”
“What’d you say?” Jill asked.
“I haven’t given him an answer.”
“Why?” Kate asked. “You said you liked him. You’ve spent hours talking to him while he’s been away. And don’t say it’s because you work together. You’re both adults and professionals, and he already said he’d leave if things don’t work out. What’s the problem?”
“When Ashton did the background check, he discovered that Brayden has a sealed juvenile record.”
“What?” Jill’s mouth fell open in shock. “And he encouraged you to hire him and work with kids and—”
“Easy, Counselor.” Maggie held up a hand to stop her sister’s tirade. “We discussed it and agreed that the twelve years he’s been an adult mattered more than whatever happened when he was a kid. His reputation, credentials, education and references are all impeccable.”
Jill sat back, still seeming incredulous. “I want to know what he did. Does he know that you know about his record?”
Maggie nodded. “I asked him about it before I hired him. He won’t talk about it. He said he never talks about it.”
“That’s a deal breaker for me,” Jill said, looking to Kate for agreement.
Kate appeared to be wavering.
“Kate! Come on. She can’t take up with a guy with a record!”
“His adult criminal record is clean?” Kate asked.
“Completely, or I wouldn’t have hired him.
The testimonials on his website from grateful parents are incredible.
They say he changed their children’s lives with his skill, passion and dedication.
I called all his references, and they said the same, that he was magic with the kids.
I’ve seen that for myself in just a few days.
He was only available because his previous employer lost funding for their program, and he was holding out for something around here so he could move back home to the Nashville area. He has friends here.”
Jill and Kate were quiet as they absorbed the info.
“I say it’s not a deal breaker,” Kate said.
“Kate! Be serious! It is a deal breaker, especially because he won’t tell her what he did.”
“We all made mistakes when we were kids. I made them, you made them, Maggie made them. No one is perfect.”
“None of us ended up in juvie!”
“What was it that Gram used to say? ‘There but for the grace of God go I’? We got lucky. We never got caught.”
“I never did anything that could’ve landed me in juvie,” Jill said.
“I did,” Kate said.
Maggie raised her hand. “Me, too.”
Jill eyed them skeptically. “What did you guys do?”
“I’m gonna take the Fifth on that, Counselor,” Kate said.
Maggie gave her a high five. “With you there, sister. The statute of limitations hasn’t fully expired.”
“Joke all you want,” Jill said. “I don’t like it, and I cannot believe Ashton didn’t tell me this.”
“I’m his client, not you,” Maggie said. “He was under no obligation to tell you.”
“You’re my baby sister.”
Maggie scowled at her. “I’m not a baby anymore, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
Jill scoffed. “You’ll always be my baby sister. He should’ve told me you had a criminal living in your midst over there.”
Maggie bristled at that, feeling oddly defensive of him. “He’s not a criminal, Jill. Don’t say that.”
“What do you think Dad would say if he knew about this?”
Maggie gave her a pointed look. “He’s not going to know about it, do you hear me?”
“He won’t hear it from me, but I can’t promise he won’t hear it from someone else.”
“How would he hear it? No one else he knows is aware of it.”
“Ashton is.”
“And he’s got a bit of a reputation for tattling,” Kate said.
Jill turned on Kate. “Are you seriously holding that against him? Of course he was going to tell Dad that you were dating his father! Dad asked him to keep an eye on you.”
“I’m not holding it against him,” Kate said. “I’m merely pointing out that he has a track record.”
“He would tell you he learned a lot from that incident and would never interfere in someone’s relationship like that again. Be fair, Kate. That was more than ten years ago.”
“This trip down memory lane is great fun,” Maggie said sarcastically, “but it does nothing to help with my dilemma.”
“I say you don’t go out with him until he tells you what he did,” Jill said. “That’d be a hard stop for me.”
Maggie looked to Kate. “What do you think?”
“I think it matters that he’s not willing to tell you what happened, but I don’t think you have anything to fear from him. If you felt concerned about that, you never would’ve hired him to work with the kids.”
“Right.”
“So go out with him and put him on notice that if it seems like this thing between you is going to be something significant, he’s going to have to tell you everything.”
“I, um, I think it might already be something significant, and I’m just not sure I’m ready for that.
” She wrapped her arms around her legs, curling into the corner of Kate’s comfy sofa.
“We’ve had these incredible conversations while he was away.
We talk for hours about so many things. I told him about our family, what happened after Mom’s accident and all that. ”
“Wow, you don’t like to talk about that stuff,” Kate said.
“I know. It was weird. I just found myself telling him like it’s no big deal when I’ve hardly told anyone about it.”
“You feel a connection to him,” Kate said.
“I do. I have from the beginning, from even before I met him, if I’m being completely honest.”
“How do you mean?” Jill asked.
“I felt it the first time I talked to him on the phone, this odd sense of familiarity with someone I’d never even met.”
“Go out with him, spend time with him, get to know him,” Kate said. “Follow your gut.”
“My gut let me down big-time with Ethan,” Maggie reminded her.
“There was a reason why you hadn’t invited him into your apartment,” Kate said. “That was your gut telling you not to. You were following your gut. What he did has nothing at all to do with that.”
“You really think so?”
Kate nodded. “I do, Maggie. You’re a savvy, street-smart woman after living in New York City for six years. You can’t let what one guy did undermine your self-confidence. Look at the way you fought him off and left him in a heap on the floor.”
“I agree with that,” Jill said. “You shouldn’t let what happened with that asshole ruin your self-esteem. You survived that, and he was the one who got injured.”
“It scared me to realize how quickly it happened.”
“Of course it did.” Kate reached for Maggie and embraced her. “It had to be completely terrifying. But instead of focusing on how it happened, think about how it ended.”
“I did put a wicked hurt on him.”
Kate laughed. “Yes, you did.”
Maggie continued to lean against Kate. “You really think I ought to say yes to Brayden?”
“I do,” Kate said.
“Jill?”
“I want to know what he did—and I want to know sooner rather than later. I think you need to make that nonnegotiable.”
“I hear you, and I agree that he’s going to have to tell me at some point.”
“Do you feel any better, Mags?” Kate asked.
“I do. Thanks for listening, you guys.”
“We’re always here for you, no matter what,” Jill said. “Don’t ever feel like we’re too busy for you. The three of us have been a team for a long time. No matter what else changes, that never will.”
Kate kissed the top of Maggie’s head. “Love you.”
Maggie smiled. “Love you, too.”