10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
Grady
M y dogs wrestled in the middle of the train station, their leashes tangling and then releasing when I took a step in their direction. Joseph Goldtooth, the contractor I’d hired, was busy measuring the rooms. The station had been built up and torn down several times, depending on who bought it. Like many of the run-down buildings in Little Falls, I bought this for a song—or rather, the price of one, quite literally.
The old redbrick building was one of my favorite places in Little Falls. Every time I’d ridden my bike past or come here in any of its various incarnations, I’d longed to own it. Something about the history of the station made me feel solid, secure. Assuming Joseph Goldtooth was as good as Kelvin said, I was sure he could get this building to strike a balance that honored the past but projected toward the future. It was time I set down roots, whether I won this mayoral race or not.
Kelvin burst into the train station, cracking my thoughts. “Maggie’s GoFundMe for the town hit another milestone.”
“Maggie set up a GoFundMe?” My pulse jumped at her name crossing my lips. “Send me the link. How long has it been up?”
“A few hours ago. Clever what she did, though.” Kelvin typed into his phone, and my pocket vibrated with the incoming message.
“What’s that?” I asked, amused despite myself. No matter what else I believed about Maggie, she wasn’t a quitter. I’d run around town during the flood helping anyone who asked. I’d been exhausted afterward, but I’d become reacquainted with so many people I hadn’t seen in years, remembered names and events I’d thought long forgotten. Getting one over on Maggie had been good, but connecting with my community had been a pleasant reward.
“She took that photo of you in the Superman outfit and attached the GoFundMe to it somehow. Then she posted it all over your fan pages and sent it to major entertainment outlets. The fund has gone viral. Your famous friends are donating.”
Every muscle in my body tensed in a mixture of panic and anger. Many of those famous people I’d never met in person. Online meetups, Facetime videos, phone calls, email exchanges, yes, but face-to-face? Nope.
“They’ve done what?”
“Donated.” Kelvin pointed at his pocket. “Check your phone. I sent you the link. God, she’s brilliant.”
“She made it seem like I’d lost something in the flood?” Anger floated to the surface, overtaking my initial panic. Lies. Again. There were few things I was protective about, but my business reputation was one of them. I was never going back to doing odd jobs when I could do something I loved.
“Nah,” Kelvin said, shaking his head. “That’d be too simple. Her post is this moving message about how important the town and its people are to her.” Kelvin pointed to the corner of his eye. “I might have spawned a tear.”
My mind strayed to an image of Maggie, her clothes plastered to her, highlighting all those curves. The look in her eyes before I’d turned to help Sabrina haunted me, even though I couldn’t pinpoint what was there. I’d been stuck on the meaning behind her expression for days.
A text from my agent, Jack, appeared on my screen asking about this GoFundMe and flooding business for an official comment.
Running a hand through my hair, I swore under my breath. Fucking ridiculous. She was going to turn my life into a shitstorm and a PR nightmare. As distractions went, it was brilliant. Kelvin was right. The viral post probably made her look as inviting and nostalgic as her vanilla-scented perfume, but since the photo was of me and I was the one with all the famous friends, I’d be the one fielding all the calls for comment.
“I need to talk to her. Can you drop Zeus and Hite off at my place? I can’t leave them in the truck in this heat.”
“Uh.” Kelvin eyed them. “Will they bite me?”
“Doesn’t your new boyfriend have a dog?”
“Yeah, but it’s like a puffy little thing that barks a lot. It’s not”—he stared at the two dogs circling him—“these things.”
“Fine,” I said, impatience winning out. “I’ll do it myself before I head over to Maggie’s.”
“Maybe walk them home, give yourself time to cool off. We can work with this!” Kelvin called as I headed out the door, my dogs trailing behind.
The pharmacy windows had taunted me for weeks. Each time I walked past, it took everything in me not to peer in, to hope for a glimpse of auburn hair, a swish of a white lab coat. Now, I stood outside the scope of those windows, taking some deep breaths. If there were other people in the pharmacy, I couldn’t go in verbal guns blazing, or we’d end up with casualties and maybe another story in the paper. I didn’t need more press.
One way or another, Maggie Sullivan was the most likely candidate to ruin my life. But I didn’t want her to know that. I didn’t want her to know any of it. A few people called out a ‘hello’ as I stepped from the shadows of Maggie’s building to open the door. With a smile and a wave, I landed inside the pharmacy. When I glanced up, Maggie looked startled from behind the high counter at the back, her coal eyes wide.
We were the only people in the place.
“I see business is booming.” I smirked.
“Not all of us need a harem following us around from place to place validating our existence.”
“Is that what you think they do? You know what a harem is, right?” I wandered closer to where she stood, the two counters still separating us.
She flushed. “You’re right. Your house isn’t nearly big enough to keep them all.” Almost under her breath, she continued, “I hear you sleep on the floor.”
“Asking around about me, are you?”
“You’re running for mayor. People talk.” She raised her chin.
“People are talking. Mostly about a GoFundMe attached to my name.” The reminder sent another shot of annoyance zipping through.
A sly smile spread across Maggie’s face. “Hiran allowed me to use the original photo. I didn’t figure the town savior would mind saving the town.” Her lips turned down into a fake frown, and she tilted her head, a look of confusion clouding her face. “Unless—I’m sure I have this wrong—you don’t want to help the town?”
“Cut the shit, Maggie. We’re the only people in here.”
“Fine. I wanted to help the people who lost out in the flood, so I did it the best way I knew how.”
“By plastering my photo and some sentimental bullshit all over social media?”
“Is it working?” She raised her eyebrows and circled around the taller workspace at the back to the front counter. “I haven’t checked in the last few minutes. You wouldn’t happen to know the latest total, would you?”
Clearly, she knew it. I had no idea.
Maggie took out her phone and glanced up. “Also, I had no idea you knew Ariana Grande. What’s she like?”
Anger and frustration swelled in my chest. Maggie leaned across the counter, phone clutched in one of her hands, with her teeth caught on her bottom lip. Desire tried to push out my anger, but I won’t let that emotional response win today.
“I don’t appreciate you messing with my career. She’s a professional contact.”
“To the tune of five thousand dollars. That’s probably peanuts for her, if it makes you feel any better.”
“Whether she can afford it isn’t the point,” I gritted out. “You should have asked me.”
“A professional contact?” Maggie raised her eyebrows, curiosity lighting her gaze.
A critical mistake. I’d come to tell Maggie to stop using me to further her own agenda because it was so lame and transparent. If only rewinding time were possible, I’d reel those words back into my mouth.
“What sort of professional contact have you two had?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why am I not surprised? I guess I’ve always known you were willing to stoop to any low to make yourself look good, to make sure you win.”
Maggie rose to her full height, which was far shorter than me, visibly bristling. “You don’t know me. You’ve never known me.”
“So, this GoFundMe didn’t have any ulterior motive? You posted my photo and that message just to get support for the town?”
Maggie crossed her arms. “We’re in a race for mayor.”
“You did it to get ahead.”
“I did it to help the people in town who had water damage.”
“And to win them to your side.”
She stared at me but didn’t say anything in return. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to turn this place upside down or toss her under my arm and carry her home. Being around her was so fucking confusing.
“Just like when you were seventeen, you’ll do anything to protect your own interests.”
“And just like when you were twenty-one, you’re talking out of your ass. Newsflash.” Maggie waved her hands around. “Your ass doesn’t know shit.”
We faced each other, and I wondered if there was literal steam coming out of my head. The bell above Maggie’s door rang, but neither of us turned.
“Maggie?”
I stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice behind me.
“I need your help.”
Without turning, I knew who I’d find. It had been six years since we’d seen each other face-to-face. Text messages. The occasional phone call. That’d been it. When I glanced over my shoulder, Trent was in the doorway, his focus trained on Maggie.
“Sorry.” Trent’s obvious affection for Maggie made me clench my fists. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Maggie’s attention ping-ponged between me and Trent until Trent tore his gaze from her to take me in. A deep frown replaced his open tenderness. His brown hair was close-cropped, and his tank top made it look like he’d been hitting the gym harder than normal. When we were younger, Trent had told people he didn’t work out. I knew better.
The tattoos littering Trent’s arms were new. For the first one, we’d used our uncle’s homemade tattoo gun one night in high school after a few too many beers. Matching tattoos—brothers first—in crooked cursive. At one time, we’d kept each other’s secrets. Now, we kept secrets from each other. Scanning his arms, I was sure Trent had covered over our high school folly. The crevice between us widened before me.
“Grady.” Trent tipped his chin.
“It’s been a while, brother. How ya been?” I rotated so I could see Trent and Maggie—one on either side of me. I was the monkey in the middle.
“I didn’t realize you’d be here.” Trent shoved his hands in his jean pockets, his brown gaze flicking to Maggie.
My chest tightened at the awkwardness between us. Somewhere along the line, I’d fucked up royally. I wished I didn’t know when it had happened or why. For the longest time, I would have given anything to turn the clock back, to have been sober that night, to have made better, more loyal choices.
“Mom said you bought the train station.”
At the slip in front of Maggie, I tensed. I didn’t need her knowing anything more than necessary. Her focus shifted from Trent to me.
“The train station?” she asked.
“Gotta put down roots sometime.” I shrugged as if the purchase wasn’t the most important thing I’d ever done.
“We weren’t enough to keep him here.” Trent’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “I doubt some old building will ground him any better.”
I felt like the outsider in the room, the one who didn’t belong. Maggie should be the one out of step, not me. That’s how it used to be.
“Were you leaving?” Trent asked. “I need to talk to Maggie about something.”
I hesitated for a beat before slipping past Trent toward the pharmacy door. “I’ll see you around, Trent.”
“Doubtful. I’m headed back to Utica after I talk to Maggie.”
The clipped tone of his voice grated as I opened the pharmacy door. When I looked over my shoulder, Maggie was stepping around the desk to embrace Trent.
“It’s good to see you, Mags,” Trent said.
Worse than how Trent spoke to me was the full history apparent between him and Maggie. A dull ache spread across my chest at the realization little had changed. From the minute Maggie had shown up at the first Sunday dinner, a crack had zigzagged between us brothers, and now we were two tectonic plates, broken apart, never to re-form one landmass.
My focus lingered on Trent’s back for another moment before I turned on my heel and walked away.