Chapter 6
Sean pulling her to the laundry room because she hadn’t finished ironing his work shirts. Sean burning her with the iron to teach her a lesson. Damn, that always hurt. Putting makeup on the fingerprints and bruises when she had to go to the store.
“I’m worried you’re going into shock.”
Shock? Not hardly. Just a trip down memory lane that she didn’t want to share with anyone.
Maggie clawed back at the panic trying to take over. Her mind kept wanting to go hazy, but she kept repeating three things to herself: She was in the diner. Sean wasn’t here. She was safe. But her body wasn’t getting the memo.
Luke’s hand was on her shoulder but his voice sounded so far away, like the ocean coming through a seashell. “Can you lean forward for me so I can rinse your arm?”
She nodded, closing her eyes again so she didn’t have to see the pity in his expression. Could he see the scars? Did he know what they were from? Could he feel when he held her wrist, how she’d broken it and it hadn’t healed properly?
Maggie’s stomach rolled. She had to get him out of there so she could fall apart in peace.
“Here, sit down and I’ll wrap your arm.”
“I can do it,” she reminded him. But when the room started spinning, she decided sitting was a good idea. He patted her arm dry with a paper towel, so gently she barely felt it.
She was in the diner. Sean wasn’t here. She was safe.
This was it. Her fresh start had gone belly up in less than two weeks. Now they’d see how broken she was, and Deb would fire her. And she’d have to find somewhere else to go. Why had she thought a small town was a good move? She’d never be able to show her face again.
Luke said something about burn cream. Why hadn’t he let go of her arm yet? She tried to control the shivers as her shirt glued itself to her back with sweat.
“There, all done.” Luke laid her hand back in her lap. “Maggie? Are you with me?”
Hands touched her face, and she jumped. “Maggie, open your eyes.”
Brown eyes…not Sean’s icy blue ones. Apron. Yellow walls. The sink. Shorty in the doorway.
“Good. Now give me four things you can hear.”
“Water running. Customers talking. The timer beeping. The bell.”
Maggie blinked, her breathing slowing. She registered Luke kneeling in front of her, concern in his warm brown eyes as he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. Dear God, were those tears? Had she started crying?
“Are you back with us?”
She nodded, pulling away from those big, gentle hands as her face, her neck, even her ears grew impossibly hot. Covering her face, Maggie wished the toilet would open up and flush her down.
“Hey, you don’t have any reason to be embarrassed. This wasn’t your fault.” Shorty’s deep, fatherly voice made her breathing slow even more. Her heart rate came down back to normal, and though she drew her hands away, she couldn’t look either Luke or Shorty in the eye.
As much as she needed the money, she needed to be alone more.
“I-I’d like to go for the day.”
“Of course. That’s fine. Katya can handle the rest of your tables.”
Ugh, she wouldn’t get her tips. But she couldn’t handle going back out there. So be it.
“I don’t think you should drive, Maggie.” Shorty turned to Luke. “I can handle things if you want to take her home.”
“Thanks, Shorty.”
“But my car—”
“I can walk back.”
As shaky as she still felt, Maggie decided not to argue. “Okay.” Shorty disappeared then reappeared with her coat and purse. He handed Luke a brown leather jacket, who slipped it on. Of course he had a leather jacket. Why couldn’t he have something that made him look less attractive?
She slipped into the hallway and slid her arms into the sleeves, zipping it up. Hopefully it would warm her up. Maybe she’d take a hot bath back in her room. That sounded like a great idea.
“Let’s go out the back.” Luke led her through the back door to her car, where she passed her keys over to him.
“Where do you live, Maggie?”
“I’m staying at the Haven.”
Luke’s eyebrows jumped. “Oh, you’re really new to town.”
Her chin dropped to her chest as she looked away. “Yep.” Opening the passenger door, she slid inside and fastened her seat belt.
Luke didn’t say anything else in the five minutes it took him to drive her to the Hawthorn Haven. She hardly noticed the Queen Anne come into view. He put her car in park in the guest parking and held her keys out.
“We’re here.”
“Thank you.” She accepted the keys, but didn’t move to get out of her car. Instead of a bath, should she just pack back up and move on now?
Her door opened while she was pondering, and she lifted her face in surprise. Luke was holding her door for her.
“Maggie, I’m so, so sorry. I feel terrible.”
She shrugged. “Accidents happen. I know you didn’t mean to splash me.”
Luke huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s more than that, I feel… like I upset you.”
Maggie shook her head. “That’s not on you.”
“I’d like to make it up to you. We could get dinner sometime?”
Immediately she backed away towards the B if he knew she was still married he wouldn’t touch her again.
But still… she raised her hand to her cheek once more. Those hands could feature in her dreams, if she let them.
With regular applications of the burn cream someone must have slipped into her purse, Maggie’s arm looked no worse for wear in a couple of days.
She stretched as the sunlight broke through a gap in the curtains, waking her before her alarm.
Sleepy mornings were the perks of a later shift.
Still, she didn’t like to ask her hostess to make her breakfast outside of the posted hours.
So, she hurried to get ready for her day.
Virginia had told her to make herself at home in the kitchen. Maggie was still her only guest due to the slow season. Tourists looking to fish, hike, or boat on the river wouldn’t arrive until late Spring or Summer. Certainly by then, she’d have found a place to rent.
Work had only been mildly awkward the day after the incident, and Maggie had decided to stay in Hawthorn Hills. She was enjoying the slower pace, the fresh air, and the fact no one knew about her past here.
Maggie would have been sorely tempted as a child to slide down the gorgeous mahogany banister of the old Victorian, but she wouldn’t have dared.
But it was fun to imagine the kind of carefree childhood she never got as she jogged down the stairs.
She rounded the newel post, briefly noting the flowers on the reception desk.
Virginia must have an admirer. Or perhaps it was her birthday?
She found her hostess in the kitchen, her salt and pepper hair pulled back in a chignon. The kitchen’s stainless steel commercial appliances felt out of place with the rest of the house, but she was used to it now. “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Maggie! Would you like some breakfast?”
“I can just make myself a bagel, Virginia.”
“Nonsense, Raven is bringing me an egg delivery this morning, I’ll make you something fresh.”
“I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble! Sit yourself down.”
Maggie did as she was told, Virginia already pulling out her skillet. Since it was just her and Virginia in the B&B, they used the small kitchen table instead of the huge dining room. It had allowed her to strike up a sort of friendship with the old woman, and Virginia seemed to enjoy her company.
A honk sounded outside that reminded Maggie of a dying truck. “Is that her?”
“It is!” Virginia set her knife down on the cutting board where she’d been chopping ham into cubes and made her way to the back door. “Good morning, Raven!”
Honk!
That’s when a huge white bird came flapping into the kitchen, heading straight for Maggie. She jumped out of her seat and pulled the chair in front of herself. “Virginia! There’s a bird in here!”
Dear God, it had teeth! And its head came up to the table’s height.
“Duck! Get back here!”
HONK!
Maggie gripped the back of her chair so tight her knuckles turned white. “Tha-that’s not a duck…”
“Oh no, that’s just his name.” Virginia carried in a tray of eggs. “Duck, go see your mother!”
Duck hissed, which was a sound she didn’t even know birds could make and waddled back out the door. His owner stood there with her hands on her hips, a wide-brimmed hat on her head.
“Silly goose.” She waved at Maggie through the doorway. “Hi, there! I’m Raven. Welcome to Hawthorn Hills.”
Maggie raised her hand and hesitantly waved back, but she didn’t get out from behind her chair.
Raven shook her head. “I’m sorry about him. I’ll take him back to the coop. See you later, Ginny!”
“Have a good day, my friend!” Having set the eggs on the counter, Virginia waved at Raven and shut the back door. She smothered a smile behind her hand and Maggie’s ears grew hot. “Are you alright?”
Her heart rate slowly returning to normal, Maggie sat back down in her chair. “I’ve never… seen a goose before. Are they all like that?”
“Well, no. Normally geese stay outside. But Duck is special. His mother abandoned him as a gosling and Raven raised him. He can’t fly but he likes to flap as if he were.”
“He has teeth…”
“Yes, geese have serrated beaks. But at least Raven’s chickens are very safe.” Virginia chuckled as she cracked eggs into a bowl. “Let’s get some protein into you, dear. Have you ever had eggs straight from the farm before?”
“No. Is that why your eggs taste so good?”
“Of course. Nothing like it.” Virginia whisked the eggs with some milk and poured them into the skillet. The sizzle nearly drowned her next words. “There’s orange juice in the fridge, if you want any.”
She’d get it in a minute. Maggie wanted to catch her breath first.
Virginia plated two omelets and brought them over to the table. Maggie took her cue to get them each a glass of juice while her hostess pulled out silverware. She sighed in happiness over her breakfast.
“Oh, I meant to tell you, you had a delivery this morning.”
“A delivery?” She hadn’t ordered anything. What could it be?
“Yes, the flowers were addressed to you.”
“Flowers?”
The old woman looked over her glasses at Maggie and wagged her eyebrows. “Two dozen red roses, addressed to ‘Maggie’ arrived this morning,” she tittered. “I think someone has an admirer.”
Red roses? Maggie wrinkled her nose. They were so overdone. And with her bright red hair, she shied away from anything red. Maybe it was her mother’s obsession with not clashing.
“Who are they from?”
Virginia shrugged. “I didn’t open the card. Why don’t you go look?”
Her curiosity got the better of her appetite and Maggie walked back out to the reception desk. Virginia followed. Sure enough, the bouquet she’d passed earlier had a card with her name on it. She pulled it out of the plastic fork holding it up and turned it over. “No name. That’s strange.”
Virginia bounced up and down, acting like a girl a tenth of her age. “Ooh, a secret admirer! How exciting!”
“I doubt it. Well…” Could it be Luke, trying to apologize for the accident?
It seemed like an awful lot of money and a strange thing to send for someone whose arm you accidentally burned.
“I might have an idea but I think somehow the florist got their wires crossed. Let me ask when I go to work today.”
Virginia tilted her head. “Work? Someone at the diner?”
Maggie nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and hurried back to the kitchen while her breakfast was still warm.
“There was an accident the other day, and I got injured. I wasn’t feeling well, so I came home early.
” Luke hadn’t been at work during her shift the following day, so maybe he hadn’t known she was back?
Either way, this was overkill and she was going to inform him as such.