Chapter 15. Maggie
MAGGIE
“It’s not exactly an emergency ,” Maggie said to her mother. “It’s more like a situation.”
They stood in the foyer, and she tried to keep her voice low so no one in the living room heard her fumble through an excuse for why Isabel was leaving early.
Her mother frowned. “But what happened?”
Maggie caught herself in the mirror at the foot of the stairs.
She hadn’t had time to wash the conditioner out in the shower, and her hair was now plastered to her head.
When she and Isabel had returned to her room, she’d quickly thrown on her clothes from yesterday, but she’d mismatched the buttons on her shirt and her right collar stood up unevenly by her ear.
She looked unhinged, but that was the least of her worries.
As she adjusted the buttons and turned back to her mother, Alice and Cait walked into the room.
She motioned them away—the whole thing was miserable enough without an audience—but they ignored her.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
“Isabel needs to leave,” Maggie mumbled.
They all turned at once toward the stairs as Isabel made her way down, her coat already on. At the sight of her, Maggie’s eyes welled. The look on Isabel’s face was grim—as though there really was an emergency.
“Is everything okay?” Nora asked when Isabel reached the bottom stair. “I still don’t understand what happened.”
Isabel started to answer, but Maggie interrupted her. “I told them you’re leaving because there was a situation—you know, with your cousin.”
Isabel adjusted the bag on her shoulder. “That’s not what happened,” she said.
Maggie stared at Isabel with a pleading look she hoped said, Please don’t make this worse than it needs to be , but Isabel faced straight ahead.
“Maggie and I got into an argument,” she said, “and I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay.”
Everyone turned to Maggie, willing her to explain.
All was quiet aside from the music and murmurs of the guests in the other room.
Maggie wanted to assure them all was fine— It wasn’t an argument!
A minor disagreement! Nothing to see here!
—but what was the use? Everything was falling apart.
She’d only look like more of a fool if she pretended otherwise.
“I’m taking her to the train station,” she said miserably.
Alice walked to the window. “Kyle can take her. It’s pretty bad out there.”
“I’m used to driving in this weather,” Maggie said.
She opened the front door. Even more than not wanting Isabel to leave, she did not want to stand there for a second longer as her mother and sisters witnessed her relationship implode.
Or for anyone else at the party to find them—especially Father Kelly.
“Are you sure you can’t stay the night?” Cait said to Isabel.
“We can make you a plate of food,” Alice added, “and you can stay in the cottage if you want.”
Maggie felt pathetic. Like a little kid who needed her big sisters to save her.
“That’s really nice of you,” Isabel said, her back to Maggie. “But I think it’s better if I go. Thank you for everything. I’m sorry to be leaving like this.” Then she turned and walked out the door.
Maggie waved halfheartedly to her mother and sisters and hurried after Isabel to the car.
She cleaned the windows with a snow brush and didn’t wait for the engine to warm before pulling out of the driveway.
She had hoped to use the ride to persuade Isabel not to get on the train, but now she was annoyed with Isabel’s whole performance in the foyer.
“You didn’t have to say that to them,” she said after a moment.
Isabel looked at her, baffled. “You mean apologize?”
“No, you didn’t have to tell them we got into a fight! As if this doesn’t suck enough already.”
Isabel guffawed. “It’s called being honest,” she said. “You should try it sometime. You might find it makes things easier rather than harder.”
It didn’t feel that way, but Maggie knew she shouldn’t say that, so she said nothing. She steered the Jeep onto the road, grateful it had been plowed.