Chapter Twelve #3
Maggie had never seen two older women actually come to blows, and she preferred to keep it that way.
Apparently, Sarah did, too, because she gave the woman a pointed look, then did the same to a huffing-with-indignation Rosie.
“Ladies, how is it that the two of you ended up in here when you’ve been avoiding being alone together since you were teenagers? ”
“It was her. Old Blue is the one who came in here looking for trouble.” Janie B lifted her chin. “She found it too. Just like she’s going to find trouble with her friends when she’s why the Butterflies lose the Grandma Games.”
Rosie stammered. “The Butterflies are not going to lose.”
“Well, they aren’t going to win and you’re going to be exposed as the weak link that you are.”
“We’ll see about that,” Rosie promised, her chin going several notches higher.
“Come on, Rosie. We all know that you’re not a weak link.” Sarah took her friend’s hand. “Let’s find Lou. Last I saw him he was checking to see how much of his chili was left. Bodie was so excited Lou had made a pot to bring tonight.”
Rosie gave one last narrow-eyed look toward Janie B who gave a narrow-eyed glare right back.
Sarah gave Maggie a pleading look to stay with Janie B to see if she could defuse the situation on that end.
Maggie suspected that the only defusing needed was Rosie’s removal.
Once Sarah led Rosie from the playroom where Janie B was watching the children, the older woman sighed. “Sorry about that.”
“Are you okay?” Maggie and Walker asked simultaneously.
“I’m fine.” Janie B wiped her palms over her shirt tail. “Nothing different. That woman has been getting under my skin for more years than I care to recall.”
“Sarah said you used to be a Butterfly.”
“I was, but that changed after I met Floyd. I was going with Max when I met Floyd one Sunday morning while walking to church. He swept in and stole my heart.” Janie B’s demeanor changed to where she gave a whimsical smile.
“I was only fourteen to his eighteen, but I never had any regrets. We married a few months after meeting.”
At fourteen? Maggie couldn’t imagine.
“Not long after Floyd and I married, Max started dating Rosie. She always was vivacious and full of life. He fell in love with her, but she never got past that I was his first love. It destroyed our friendship. It was a blessing when Floyd took a job in Tennessee, and we moved away. I wasn’t expecting welcoming arms from the Butterflies when I moved back following his death, but I didn’t expect Rosie to still be holding a grudge, either.
” Janie B sat down in a rocking chair. “I should have known that blue haired vixen wouldn’t let the past stay in the past.”
“All because you dated Max first?”
“Well, there might have been more than just that.”
Of course there was.
“Janie B?” Walker prompted.
“I was upset with Rosie, at how she’d turned the Butterflies against me.
And well, I asked Max to meet me so we could talk.
To be fair to him, he didn’t want to, but I convinced him.
We agreed to meet in secret, but I made sure Rosie got wind.
When she showed up to confront us, I … well, I was young and impetuous.
” Janie B’s cheeks pinkened. “I made it look as if there was more going on than was. Poor Max. It took him weeks to convince Rosie nothing had happened. Floyd wasn’t too happy about it, either.
” Janie B sighed. “Why am I telling you all this? None of this matters. She shouldn’t have come in here looking to stir up trouble. ”
“Perhaps it matters because all these years later and you’re both still sore,” Maggie suggested. “Have you tried telling Rosie that you’re sorry?”
Janie B’s chin lifted. “I never said I was sorry. She made my life miserable.”
Pride was a terrible thing. “Sounds as if you didn’t make hers easy, either.”
“Perhaps not.” Seeming to consider what Maggie and Walker were saying, Janie B bent to hand Jeannie a toy. “Maybe I should talk to her. Not that I’d expect her to actually listen. All that hair dye has messed with her hearing.” Janie B blushed. “Sorry, Maggie. No offense meant.”
“None taken.” Maggie had gotten so used to the tiny hearing aid device so quickly that she often forgot she was even wearing it. “As far as Rosie, you’ll never know if you don’t try. Surely things would be better if you both put the past behind you.”
Look at her telling someone to put the past behind her when she was the one who’d never been able to do that. When her past ate at her and always would until she had resolution over what had happened with the crash and the days that followed when her life had gone up in the aftermath.
Janie B’s eyes widened. “You mean now?”
“Maggie and I can stay with the kids,” Walker offered, causing Maggie’s gaze to cut to him.
There were only three children in the room, one of which was Walker’s and another being Jeannie, so it would probably be okay, but the thought still made her stomach quicken.
With mixed emotions, Maggie held her breath while Janie B considered, then shook her head. “No, some things can’t be undone. This is one of them.”
Maggie felt sadness at the woman’s decision. But she understood. Some things couldn’t be undone. It was the story of Maggie’s life.
Walker didn’t, though, and attempted to change her mind.
Janie B patted his hand. “You’re a good egg, but this isn’t your concern. Zoie is asleep. Go. Have more fun in the snow.”
*
“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to go check on Zo.”
“I’d say not.” Maggie glanced over at where Walker was holding a cup of cocoa.
They’d taken their chocolate to the café where Maggie worked and sat in the empty dining area.
The fireplace still had glowing embers where Mr. Harvey had built up the fire earlier that evening.
The room smelled of a mix of smoky pine and the remnants of the goodies that had been served there that day.
Why had they gone there rather than back outside to where they wouldn’t be alone with only the occasional popping of the burning wood breaking the silence of the room?
Maggie cupped her mostly gone cocoa, letting the warmth seep into her fingers. She wasn’t cold, couldn’t be with their having chosen to sit in a couple of the wooden rocking chairs close to the fireplace. “Do you want to join the others sledding?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
His answer didn’t surprise her. She knew what he wanted, why they’d avoided staying where the others were congregated in the event barn.
“Because we’re going to talk?” she guessed.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind about explaining why you feel the way you do.”
She’d regretted agreeing to it the moment she had. Her face warm, Maggie stared at the glowing orange log. “I agree with Janie B in that some things can’t be undone. Talking about them changes nothing.”
From where he sat in the rocking chair next to hers, Walker arched a brow.
“You are who told me that Amy should be allowed to decide for herself if a relationship with Ben was worth the risk of having her heart broken. Don’t you think I should be given the chance to decide that for myself, as well? ”
That she held the power to possibly hurt him, to break his kind heart, boggled her mind. It also made her that much more determined, not to do so. “There is no decision to be made, Walker. Not where I’m concerned. I’m not staying in Pine Hill.”
“So, you keep saying.”
“Because it’s true.”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Why is leaving so important, Maggie? I want to understand why you keep pushing me away.”
“I want my old life back.” She didn’t bother denying that she pushed him away.
Not that she was doing a great job. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be sitting cozily in front of the fireplace.
“Leaving Pine Hill is the only way for that to happen?” he pressed.
“My old life isn’t here.”
“Have you considered that maybe something better is?”
Yeah, she had considered that but always made herself dismiss that crazy notion. She wanted her name cleared, wanted to fly, not to play house with Walker.
Only … Maggie closed her eyes. “I was engaged once.”
Why had she blurted that out? That wasn’t the part of her old life she wanted back.
He took what she said in stride, rocking the chair back and forth slowly before asking, “What happened?”
She’d started this.
Maybe if she told Walker the truth then he would understand why she felt the way she did. “Being with me was bad for William’s military career, so he broke off our relationship.”
Walker’s brows furrowed together. “I’m not up on military protocol, so forgive me when I say that I don’t understand how being with you could hurt his career.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “That I’m no longer in the army isn’t because I don’t want to be.” Oh, how saying that hurt. “It’s because I was dishonorably discharged when I was found negligent in a helicopter crash that killed the three passengers on board.”
His rocking chair stilled.
Even in the low light from the fireplace, the shock on his face was evident. “Were you negligent?”