Chapter 2
“ H oly banshees, what is that woman’s problem?” Blue asked.
“They warned us she was…different,” Maggie said. She bathed Blue’s eyes with cool water as he hunched over the sink like some kind of macabre beauty salon.
“I didn’t do anything, I swear. I was reaching for the button to close the door, and she sprayed me. No warning, nothing. She’s psychotic.”
“I know,” Maggie said, patting his back soothingly.
Now he groaned for a whole different reason. It wasn’t ideal to have feelings for a woman who was married to another man. He was doing his best to get over her, but it went better when she wasn’t touching him, caring for him, cleaning pepper juice out of his eyes.
“Maybe you need to go to the hospital,” Maggie said, misinterpreting his groan of misery for continued eye pain. Eye pain was easy. He’d take it any day to heartache. He was so over feeling sad and lonely.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her.
“You don’t have to pretend to be okay all the time. I know something’s been bothering you for a while, but you keep telling me you’re fine,” she said.
“I’m a hacker, Maggie. It’s our nature to stuff things inside and only let them out in virtual reality. You should see my avatar. Guy never stops weeping.”
She laughed, and it was another dagger in his heart. He loved to hear her laugh, to make her laugh. It was warm and infectious, like a rain shower on a warm summer day. He groaned again. He was seriously pathetic.
“Blue, you’re worrying me,” Maggie said, again with the back patting.
He stood, easing himself out of her reach. She handed him a wad of paper towels, and he pressed them to his eyes. “It’s better, thanks.” When he removed the towels from his face, she was standing a few inches away, staring at him with big, worried eyes. She grasped his forearms.
“You could go home. Ridge would understand.”
“No he wouldn’t, and I’ll be fine, really.”
She squeezed his arms. “Don’t be macho.”
“It’s unavoidable. I’m a bubbling cauldron of testosterone.” She laughed, hard. “Thanks for finding the humor in that. Be right back, going to go add more weeping to my avatar.”
She let him go to clutch her stomach. “Stop it. I’m getting to that stage of laughter where I’m not going to be able to control it, and you know Ridge hates it when you make me giggle during meetings with outsiders.”
“Outsiders? What are we, a cult now?”
“Blue, please,” she gasped, doubling over.
Ridge pushed open the door. His eyes went first to his wife, doubled over with laughter, and landed next on Blue, standing rigidly away from her, his red eyes swollen to four times their normal size. They were giant orbs with slits for pupils. Ridge sputtered and pressed his lips together. “Everything, uh, okay in here?”
“You’re laughing at how I look, huh?” Blue asked.
Ridge sputtered a little laugh and cleared his throat. “Absolutely not. That would be unprofessional, Betty Boop.”
Maggie looked up at Blue. “Oh, the big eyes, Betty Boop. I’m dying.” She doubled over again and this time stumbled into the wall laughing.
“Great, she’s lost to us for the rest of the day, and this time it’s on you,” Blue said.
“I hear your words, but it’s really hard to take you seriously when you look like a Muppet,” Ridge said, and Maggie dropped to the floor, laughing so hard she lost the ability to support herself.
“Remember when you never talked to anyone and didn’t have a sense of humor? I miss those days,” Blue said to Ridge.
“Screw up this case, and you’ll see them again,” Ridge promised. “Are you actually okay? Do you need to go home? Because you can. That looks really painful.” He sputtered again but got himself back under control.
“I’m fine,” Blue said.
Maggie clutched at his calf. “Muppet. Like Sam the Eagle,” she gasped before dissolving into uncontrollable laughter again.
Blue shook her off. “I’m glad you guys find so much humor in my misery.”
“Please, please, please say ‘It’s the American way,’ for me,” Maggie pled, wheezing now.
“You broke her, you fix her,” Blue said to Ridge, shaking Maggie off again as he sidestepped her out of the room.
“Come on, baby girl, put the stopper back on the bottle.” Ridge stooped to pick Maggie up and Blue closed the door, not wanting to see what would undoubtedly be a charming resolution to their little scene. They really were adorable. If he didn’t hate them together so much, he would find them delightful. As it was, their unmitigated joy in each other’s presence only served to deepen his misery.