Chapter 10 The Plan
THE PLAN
ZEKE
My heart sank along with the elevator as I rode it down to the ground floor.
There was something off about Maggie’s sudden change of heart.
While I knew that drinking too much led to stomach issues, she hadn’t acted that intoxicated since I had my panic attack.
And I didn’t want to entertain the alternative, that she blew me off because she wasn’t interested in seeing me again.
I had to see her again. It was just that simple.
By the time I reached my car, a tentative idea took root.
There was a huge risk of it backfiring because it probably crossed a boundary of some kind, but since I hadn’t even gotten her phone number, I owed it to myself to try it anyway.
Just having a plan energized me enough that I headed to the battalion gym rather than the barracks.
I kept a spare change of workout clothes in a lockbox in the bed of my truck for the dumb soldiers who showed up in something that violated dress code, which I grabbed now to use for myself.
By now the clock on the dash read 0200, but I had the security clearance to enter the building at all hours. I changed quickly and jumped onto a treadmill, choosing a light run to wake up my dormant muscles.
For the next several hours, I worked myself to failure on the various machines.
As soon as the sun kissed the horizon, I finally called it a night and headed back to my room to shower and change.
Even the heavy workout did little to subdue the optimistic energy coursing through my system.
I discovered I was smiling as I looked in the mirror to shave. And I kind of liked it.
After a quick stop at Walmart, the only place available to shop that close to base, I returned to Maggie’s hotel room. According to my watch, it was half past seven, and I had already seen other patrons downstairs eating the continental breakfast.
I only hesitated when I got to the door. The room key was still in my wallet, having placed it there before I left, but I didn’t want to violate Maggie’s privacy. What if she slept naked?
But on the other hand, if she really had been sick last night, she might need the help now. I’d found my share of passed out soldiers in puddles of their own vomit and urine after a night of heavy partying. The animalistic need to care for her, possessively and intimately, roared inside me again.
I settled for knocking on the door. It took several minutes of pounding before I heard the latch on the door slide. The chain was still in place, and the small sliver beyond was pitch black. Cold air filtered through.
“Um, can I help you?!” Maggie screeched from behind the door.
Shit, abort mission! ABORT MISSION!
“Sorry. It’s—a...it’s just me, Zeke,” I supplied lamely. “I wanted to invite you to breakfast. My bad. I shouldn’t have come.” My face burned with embarrassment.
I heard Maggie groan. “As sweet as that offer is, I don’t really want to do a walk of shame in last night’s dress.”
Eagerly, I pushed the bags from Walmart into the gap in the door. “That’s what I figured!”
A light flipped on, but only Maggie’s hand came into view. We had to wedge them a bit, but we managed to get all three bags through. The plastic bags rustled for a minute before I heard Maggie’s sharp intake of breath.
“Did you buy me clothes and makeup?”
The way her voice caught at the end made me second guess my decision.
Since she had on makeup at the party last night, I assumed she was the kind of woman who liked it.
I bought her one of everything in the CoverGirl line because I remembered seeing their ads on one of the shuttles I took to pick up toiletries during basic training.
The clothing I wouldn’t exactly call a big deal.
Without knowing her size or preference, I simply grabbed a plain black t-shirt and blue shorts.
We weren’t talking designer couture or anything.
“I just didn’t want you to go home in the dress from last night if you didn’t want to. I’m not saying you need makeup! Not at all! I think you’re perfect!”
A very pregnant pause followed my confession. Right as I was about to start cursing myself, Maggie whispered, “Just give me a couple minutes.”
Victory!
When Maggie emerged, I couldn’t help swelling with pride at how well I guessed her size. The shirt looked roomy enough that she could be comfortable without swallowing her like a dress. Her tiny frame looked even smaller in the shorts, but that only brought out the fierce protector in me.
Although the makeup was far more subtle than what she wore last night, I liked this version of Maggie better. The timid smile she graced me with damn near made my heart forget to beat.
“Wow,” I breathed. My cheeks, one of my rarely used muscle groups, began to ache from smiling so much.
A delightful blush crept up her neck. “Thank you for doing this. And for the room. For everything, really. You didn’t have to.”
“But I wanted to.”
The next smile was even better. We headed down in comfortable silence, both of us grinning like idiots and sneaking looks at one another when we thought the other wasn’t looking. The way Maggie Eaton looked at me made me want to be a better man.
“Do you want to eat here at the hotel or go somewhere?”
Maggie paused for a moment, watching the hotel guests gather food at the buffet style set up before shaking her head. “I know the perfect place.”
We drove for nearly half an hour until we reached a small town with one flashing traffic light. A decorative wooden sign proclaimed it as River’s Run, Georgia.
“This is where I live,” Maggie said quietly as we passed the sign. “This has been home to me since my parents’ divorce.”
I nodded, tucking that information away for later. Parents would be a sensitive subject for me, too, and I wasn’t ready to dive into that just yet.
She pointed up the road to what she described as the best restaurant in all of Georgia. A quaint shop front lined with windows and cheerful blue paint sat across from a park that Maggie said served as the town square. The paint on the door labeled the place as The Comfy Cushion.
The place certainly had plenty of patrons when we walked in. To my surprise, Celeste stood behind the counter, slapping an order slip in the grill line window. “Order up!” she hollered.
Maggie bounded forward, drumming out a beat on the counter in front of her best friend. “Hey, girl, hey! I survived!”
Celeste laughed, though her smile widened when she saw me behind Maggie. “And I see you brought Hayes with you! Welcome to The Comfy Cushion!”
Maggie flashed a grin my way over her shoulder and slid into one of the counter barstools. “I told him this was the best place to have breakfast! I’ll take my usual! C’mon, Zeke. You’ll love it here!”
I took the seat next to her. “Then I’ll have whatever Maggie’s having.”
It almost looked like a hint of apprehension flashed in her eyes, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. My brain probably wanted to read far more into Maggie’s body language since I had become so obsessed with her in the past twelve hours.
Celeste, however, did look outright panic stricken. “Are you sure about that? Do you have any idea what Maggie’s usual is?”
“No. But I trust her.”
Her friend didn’t look convinced. “Our Maggie here is gonna put herself into a diabetic coma by the time she’s twenty-five.”
Maggie rolled her eyes, but laughed at the same time. “I like what I like!”
Only I barely heard her over that animalistic roar again that Celeste already labeled Maggie as mine. I was glad other people already noticed.
“That bad, huh?” I tried not to laugh at Maggie’s expense so that she didn’t think me rude. “I don’t care. I want the Maggie Special.”
Celeste smirked. “Okay, but just remember, you asked for it!”
Twenty minutes later I stared at the monstrosity before us in abject horror. “You actually put this in your body?!” I asked.
Maggie and Celeste laughed. Even the cook in the kitchen watched in amusement.
The Maggie Special apparently consisted of a stack of three chocolate chip pancakes with a layer of vanilla ice cream slathered in caramel.
A top layer of whipped cream with even more chocolate chips finished it off, complete with a maraschino cherry.
I actually wondered why Celeste assumed Maggie would reach a sugar coma by twenty-five when I was pretty certain she’d be in one by the end of the meal.
“I should probably exchange phone numbers with you now before we’re both rushed to the hospital after this.” Nobody ever found me as funny as Celeste and Maggie seemed to be, both of them throwing their heads back in laughter again.
“Speaking of, that reminds me!” Celeste disappeared through the swinging door to the kitchen and reappeared a moment later with a cell phone in hand. “I found this in my car last night! I’m so glad you showed up here or I would have had to go beat down Marla’s door after the breakfast rush.”
The adorable flush crept up Maggie’s neck again, and she refused to meet my eye. “I…um…didn’t stay at Marla’s last night.”
Her friend blinked at her in surprise, casting an incredulous glance my way. “Oh. Well, that’s…”
“Trust me, it’s nothing like that,” I assured her. “Maggie didn’t feel well and didn’t want to disturb Marla, so I got her a hotel room and left. I’ve been in the gym all night.”
“You went to the gym? Why didn’t you go back to your room on base?” Maggie asked.
I shrugged in nonchalance. “Just wasn’t tired. I don’t sleep much anyway. Occupational hazard.”
Somehow, I caught Maggie’s gaze at that moment and couldn’t look away.
I needed to figure out a way to ask her out again, or at least convince her to let this day continue, but the words died on the tip of my tongue.
She looked so wistful, her eyes in their wild mirage of colors, and my gaze inadvertently dropped to her lips.
I wondered if kissing her again would pack as much of a punch as it did last night.
As if she were thinking the same thing, Maggie licked her lips. This was communication in its most intrinsic form. Just being near her made me feel closer to her than I had with anyone else before. Even Leggett.
Celeste clapped her hand in between us, causing Maggie and me to jump in our seats.
“Good gravy, you two, get a room!” She shook her head incredulously before walking out to greet a newly arrived family at the door.
Maggie smirked at me as she leaned closer. “Pretty sure we already did that,” she whispered conspiratorially.
I laughed so hard that the partially melted whipped cream on the plate in front of me sprayed everywhere.