8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
“I’ve just been a little confused.”
Aweek after the storm had passed and after Abe and Maggie had spent their two intimate nights together, Abe was still struggling to figure out how to act around her. When she walked by him, holding a case of beer, he set down the knife he was using and tried to take it from her. “Let me.”
“I got it.” She continued to the beer case, set the box down with a grunt, then started adding the beer to the back of the case.
Abe picked up the knife and resumed chopping lettuce. Each thud of his knife against the wooden cutting board seemed to coincide with the clink of a bottle being placed in the cooler. He set the knife down again, wiped his hands on his apron, then walked up behind Maggie.
“I told you to let Gentry or me do that.”
She was kneeling on the floor and glanced up at him. “I can carry a case of beer.”
“I know. You just don’t need to.”
She stood up and looked at him for a moment. “So, let the big, strong men do it?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I think it is.”
“Fine. Carry whatever you want. Do whatever you want.”
Gentry walked up to them and took Abe’s arm. “Thank you, Maggie. You do good work.”
She nodded at him, glared at Abe, then resumed filling the cooler.
Gentry kept hold of Abe’s arm and pulled him to the back of the kitchen.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I don’t want her to…” He sighed. “Dammit, I’ll go apologize to her.”
“You’ve been like this all week.”
“I’ve just been a little confused.”
“About what?”
“Nothing. I’ll go talk to Maggie.”
Gentry took his arm again. “Are you two dating?”
“What? No.” Gentry cocked his head, and Abe added. “Seriously, no.”
“Well, something is going on between you two.”
Abe scowled. “You think I’d act like this with someone I was dating?”
“You’re overcompensating. You get comfortable, then you turn around and attack, like you’re running scared. I can’t think of anything that would scare you more than being in a relationship with someone like Maggie.”
“Do you really think she’s dumb enough to go out with me?”
“Do you want her to go out with you?”
Abe sighed, then glanced toward Maggie, who had left the cooler to welcome some new customers across the room. “We…” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“Abe, just tell me, man. I’m going to find out sooner or later. I’ll talk to her if I have to.”
“No, don’t.” He glanced at her again. “During the storm, she stayed with me when she got evacuated.”
“Right.” Abe shrugged, and Gentry shook his head. “You didn’t.”
“We did. A few times, actually.” He stared at the white linoleum floor for a moment. “It was…”
Gentry held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. How’d you leave things?”
“We both agreed that it would go no further.”
“I commend you for that, at least. But it seems perhaps you're regretting that agreement?”
“No.”
“Maybe just a little bit?”
Abe took a moment. “She and I long term would never work. We want different things. On the other hand, I can’t stop thinking about what if.”
“You’re right about one thing: you two aren’t on the same page relationship-wise.”
Abe leaned against a stack of boxes. “So, what am I supposed to do?”
“Quit being an asshole for starters.”
“Right.”
“And talk to her.”
“What good will that do?”
Gentry put a hand on his shoulder. “Abe, trust me, talk to her. Clear the air. Tell her how you feel.”
“I don’t know how I feel.”
“Then tell her that.”
As usual, his older brother was the voice of reason. “I’ll talk to her after work.”
“In the meantime, go apologize.”
Abe waited until Maggie was free, then motioned for her to come into the kitchen.
She forced a smile. “What’s up?”
“Come out back with me for a minute.”
She nodded, and they went out the back door.
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry.”
“For…?”
“Being a jerk.”
“You’ve been doing a really good impression of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this past week.”
“I know. Will you have a beer with me after work so we can talk about this?”
“I’m not scheduled to be here until closing.”
“Will you come to my house later then? I actually have something I want to show you.”
She cocked her head. “We’re just talking?”
“Yes. Just talk.”
“Do you think you’ll be home by eight?”
“Probably. I can text you when I leave here.”
“Okay. But if you yell at me again today…”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Gentry opened the back door. “I’ve got pizzas ready to be taken out.”
Abe waved at him. “We’re coming.”
There were three pizzas ready to go out. Maggie took two of them, and Abe took the third. She motioned toward a table, and he delivered the pizza.
“Here you go, folks. Can I get you anything else?”
It was a couple with two kids, and the man held up his empty beer bottle. “I’ll take another one of these.”
“Coming right up.”
Maggie met Abe at the beer cooler. “I hate the fact that he’ll probably get in his car and drive his family home. This is his third beer.”
“Do you think I should cut him off?”
“How would you feel if you heard he crashed on the way home?”
“Dammit. Do you want to tell him?”
She patted his arm. “You’re the boss.”
“Right.”
A voice behind them said, “Excuse me?”
Abe turned to the man’s wife. “Yes, ma’am?”
“No more beer for my husband.”
Abe smiled. “We were a bit concerned.”
“He had a rough day at work.” She glanced back at the table. “But I know that’s not an excuse, and I told him we wouldn’t get in the car with him if he had another beer.”
“Can we bring him anything else?”
“No, it’s fine. The pizza is great, by the way.”
“Thank you.”
She left, and Maggie looked at Abe. “That’s a relief.”
“And we didn’t have to be the ones to tell him. Bring the kids a couple of cookies for dessert. On the house.”
“Aw, look at you.”
“Go check on our customers.” He smiled. “Please.”
Abe texted Maggie when he was heading home. He had been there for fifteen minutes before she arrived. He opened the front door as she approached it.
“Come on in.”
Maggie went inside and followed him to the living room.
He sat in the chair, leaving the couch for her. “How’s Donovan?”
Maggie shook her head. “That’s what you want to talk about? My dog, that you don’t even like?”
“I like him. Now that I’ve gotten to know him.” He leaned back in the chair. “I might like him a little more if he’d stop growling at me.”
“Why am I here, Abe?”
“I’ve been all over the place this week, and I wanted to apologize.”
“You already did.”
“Apologize and try to explain.”
“That I’d like to hear.”
He tapped the arm of the chair with his fingers. “I’m having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to be around you.”
“You’re uncomfortable around me now, right? I was afraid of that. We ruined our work relationship.”
Abe laughed. “Yeah, bummer. It was such a good one.”
“It worked. At least you were consistently testy. Please don’t fire me.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going to fire you. If anything, I should fire myself.”
“Why are you uncomfortable, aside from the obvious?”
“I um…” He sighed. “I don’t know. I have some mixed feelings about…everything.”
“What kind of mixed feelings?”
He wiped his damp palms on his pants. “I think I might like you, Maggie.”
“Oh. Like as in…”
“Yeah. Weird, right? Of course, I’ve always liked you in a normal boss and employee sort of way. I just didn’t always show it. But now… I had a really good time with you, and I’m having trouble talking myself out of doing something stupid.”
Maggie ran a hand through her hair. “Such as?”
“Such as thinking that we could somehow make this work. That’s assuming you’d even want to. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.”
“Oh. Hmm.”
He got to his feet. “Dumb, I know. And presumptuous. You must think I’m crazy and way out of line.” He walked to the window and looked out at the night sky.
She didn’t answer right away, then said, “I don’t think it’s dumb.”
“Crazy?”
“A little, yeah.”
He turned to face her. “Is it something…?”
“Maybe. I can’t say that I haven’t thought about it a little bit.”
He grinned. “Just a little bit?”
“Don’t get cocky.”
He went to the couch and sat down, leaving some space between them. “I know that I’m still not the guy you want to end up with.”
“I think you’re more that guy than you think you are.”
“Would you be willing to…go out on a date with me?”
Maggie smiled. “A date?”
“Yeah. Some kind of date. Whatever you wanted to do.” He cocked his head. “Too weird?”
“Too sweet.”
“Hmm. That’s not really a word people use when describing me.”
“I’d love to go on a date with you, Abe.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But you need to decide what we do. I want to be surprised.”
“I can do that. I think.”
She turned to him. “And we start at the beginning and work our way up to spending the night together. We can’t let sex define our relationship, no matter how good it is.”
“It was pretty good.”
“So, you agree?”
“I agree.”
“Tomorrow night? That will give you all day to prepare yourself since it’s your day off.”
He smiled. “It’s a date.” He reached for her hand. “Just promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“If it’s not working for you, let me know. Don’t keep going just so you don’t hurt my feelings or something.”
“I promise. The same goes for you, too.”
“So we’re doing this?”
“We’re doing this.”
She squeezed his hand. “You said you had something to show me.”
He grinned. “I do, and I think you’re going to love it.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “It’s out in the garage.”