Charitable Hearts (12 page)

Maggie walked around in her closet,
tossing clothes and muttering to herself. Silently, she chewed herself out for not going out and getting a new dress. She wanted to look her best tonight.
Why? It’s not like you’re going to let the guy in. You’re just stringing him along.

She stopped, looked up and closed her eyes. Forcing the feeling down, she refocused on finding the right outfit.
It’s just a date. Stop freaking out.
There are plenty of reasons to go on a date. One of them could be that it’s just dinner, good conversation with a friend, and fun. “Yeah, fun. You remember what that’s like, don’t you?” she said to herself as she picked up another dress, holding it in front of herself while she checked it in the mirror.

The phone rang in the living room, and she ran to get it. “Hey,” Maggie answered.

“Hey,” Laura said. “So I have the final figures for the event. It was really good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, after cost, we’re looking at six figures.”

“Oh, wow! That’s incredible,” Maggie said, walking back to her closet.

“Does he know you’re matching it?”

“No, I’m seeing him tonight. I figured I’d tell him what the event generated and let him know it’s being matched.”

“Seeing him tonight?”

“Yeah, he asked me on a date.”

“Maggie, do you think that’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean? It’s just dinner with a friend.”

“We both know it’s not. At least, not for him it’s not.”

Maggie sat on the closet floor cross-legged. “He’s just a friend.”

“He is in love with you, Maggie. You can see it in the way he looks at you. He cares about you, deeply. He doesn’t just want to be friends with you.”

“I couldn’t say no.”

“You could, but you didn’t because you care about him too. You wouldn’t have stayed at his home, taking care of him when he was sick if you didn’t. You have fallen for him.”

“No, I haven’t.” Or I sure didn’t want to.

“All right, let’s say you haven’t fallen for him, but you know…you know, he’s fallen for you. He may not have said it yet, but he’s in love with you. You aren’t being honest with him or yourself.” Laura sounded frustrated.

“You’re the one who wanted me to go out more.”

“Right, but not with a guy you know is in love with you. A guy who thinks he might have a future with you. Levi has already been hurt by someone. Do you really want to be the girl who leads a guy on and hurts him? Because if you keep doing stuff like this, you are going to end up hurting him.”

Maggie chewed on her lip and remained silent.

“Look,” Laura said, sighing. “I think Levi is a great guy, but if you aren’t ready to be with someone you need to let him know and let him go. He deserves to be happy too.”

“It’s just one date, Laura. I’ll tell him how the event went, that I’m matching it, and then I’ll tell him I can’t see him anymore. I don’t want to hurt him and I’m not ready to talk about what happened. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready. Now that the event is over, I can go back to being my lovable hermit self, and finish my novel.”

“Okay, but make sure you tell him.”

“So were you just calling to tell me the figures?”

“No, a journalist called. He wants to interview you about the event.”

“Didn’t we do that already?”

“He’s wanting to interview you now that the event is over. A follow-up I guess. His name is Phil Greenbriar.”

Maggie let the dress she’d picked up fall to her lap. She looked down at the floor. “Phil? I think I’ve heard his name somewhere.”

“Did you interview with a Phil during the tour in the lead up to the event?”

Maggie nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s it. Send the information to my phone and sync it on my calendar.”

“Okay.”

“And, I promise I’m going to tell him. I won’t see him after tonight. Pinkies.”

“Don’t do that. I know how you feel about him even if you won’t admit it.”

“Laura,” Maggie said and paused. “I don’t think I could survive pain like that again. It was my fault, and…” Her voice cracked. “And, I do care for Levi. If something happened. If it was my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Maggie. It wasn’t.”

“I need to go. I have to get ready. He’s going to be here in a few hours.”

“Just tell him. Tell him about…you know and tell him how you feel about him.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Maggie, be sure about what you do. You may not get a rewind button or a do-over. If you break his heart and change your mind you may not have a second chance. Just be sure. Maybe just enjoy the date tonight and think about it. It’s not like you have the fate of the free world on your shoulders. You have plenty of time, so take it.”

“I’m hearing you, Laura. You’re like a dog with a bone.”

“Because I love you.”

“I love you too.”

When Levi parked his car in front of Maggie’s house,
he was surprised to see the front door shut. Maybe being in the real world woke Maggie up to the dangers of leaving your front door open all the time.

He was dressed in a suit he’d purchased earlier in the week. The girl who helped him pick it out had made googily eyes at him the entire time he was in the store. A few months ago, the old Levi would have played along, but now the only woman on his mind was Maggie. The suit he’d picked out was a dark gray pinstripe paired with a collared white shirt and dark blue tie. The shop clerk said it made his eyes stand out.
Whatever.
It made him feel confident and he needed all the confidence he could muster.

Maggie took one last look in the mirror before answering the knock at the door. She’d picked out an off the shoulder pale green dress with an empire waist that flowed down the arms. She chose it because it came right below her knees and made her legs look long in the heels she had picked out. Her hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders.
Here’s to hoping he likes it.

When Maggie opened the door, Levi’s mouth parted and he gasped. He looked incredible. The suit made him seem even taller, if it was possible, and he smelled like cedar and spices. It was like he was a present for Maggie: wrapped, delivered, and his smile was the neatly tied bow.

“You look…” They laughed as they spoke in unison.

“Me first,” Levi said. “You look beautiful. I didn’t think your eyes could be any greener.”

Maggie felt her pulse quicken. “And I didn’t think you could be any taller. You look amazing. Did you pick the color of the tie?”
My goodness, can he be any better looking?
Her plan for the night began to crumble…

Levi touched it. “Uh, sorta. I liked the color and the girl agreed.” He looked down at it. “I wasn’t sure if it was okay or not because I couldn’t tell if she actually agreed with me or she was just flirting.”

Maggie laughed. “Probably both.”

Levi smiled. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

He held out his arm and she hooked her arm in his. “Really, you look incredible,” he gushed.

“Thanks. It was the nicest dress I have. I thought about getting a new one, but I just can’t bring myself to spend money on clothes.”

“I think it’s great,” Levi said and opened the car door for her and then closed it.
I think you’re great.
He jogged around to his side and hopped over the door.

Maggie smiled. “You’re feeling much better.”

“Yeah, probably would have felt better sooner if my nurse had picked up her phone sooner.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Whatever.”

Levi stopped smiling, picked up her hand and kissed it. “I missed you. Don’t think for a second I didn’t.” Then he started the car and laced his fingers in hers. Maggie stared at his hand for a moment, holding hers, and looked out the window.
How am I supposed to say goodbye to this?

They spent the entire drive to LA talking about what Levi’s plans were now that the Geeks Experience was over. His agent had scheduled him for two auditions in LA and three later next month in New York.

“Are you excited about any of them?” Maggie asked.

“I’ve only had the chance to read one of the scripts. I checked out the synopsis for another one. Either has potential, but we’ll see. It’s hard when you’ve been on a successful show and the character you’ve played is so well loved. People tend to be loyal to the character.”

“I have a confession.”

“Yeah?”

“When I met you, I’d never seen the show, but afterward, I watched it.”

“What did you think?” He stole a glance.

“I loved it. You were so funny. You had great chemistry with Claudia Gains. Well, really the whole cast was great.”

“Thanks.”

“You hear that all the time, though.”

“Yeah, but I like hearing it from you.”

“You love your fans. I saw it at the event. You genuinely love them.”

Levi nodded. “Yeah, I do. If it weren’t for them the show would have been cancelled after three seasons. Because of them, it stayed on the air another three seasons.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Oh, yeah, it was on the bubble between the third and fourth season. If the fans hadn’t written in and rallied behind us, it would have been over.”

“Wow, that must have felt pretty good.”

“It was the one thing in my life I could count on at the time. If it had ended I’m not sure what I would have done. I was in a really dark place because Amelia kept getting sicker and when she died…” He wiped his eyes.

Maggie placed her other hand on top of his. There was nothing to say. All the words in the world wouldn’t fix what had happened and to say anything else would have just been more words.

“I’m sorry. I’m being all depressing.”

“No, you are open and willing to face things I don’t have the courage to even hear about.”

Levi glanced at her and smiled. They sat quietly, holding hands the rest of the drive. When they pulled up in front of the restaurant, a young woman in a uniform opened Levi’s door. He dropped the keys in her hand, and walked around the car to open the door for Maggie. She hooked her arm in his and they walked into the restaurant as the car attendant drove off in the car.

The hostess greeted them with a wide grin. “Hi, welcome to Le Canard Doux.”

“Levi Martin.”

The young woman looked down at the reservation book on the podium. “Oh, yes, sir, right this way.”

Maggie slid into the booth. Instead of sitting across from her, Levi slid in next to her. They were barely seated before their waiter appeared, a young man maybe in his twenties. He took their drink orders, disappeared, and then reappeared quickly holding their glasses of wine.

“I’m not sure how you’ll feel about this, but the chef is preparing something special. I set this up days ago so we won’t be ordering. It’s the chef’s specialty. I have no idea if it’s good or not, but it sounded fun.”

Maggie wrinkled her nose. “I hope it’s not sweet duck.”

Levi wrinkled his nose and laughed. “Me too.”

“It’s so quiet and cozy. I really like it.”

“Good. I was hoping you would.” He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “Look, I need to tell you something and then the rest of the night we can just have fun, but if I don’t get this off my chest I think I might explode.”

“Levi…”

“No, please. Let me just say this and I’ll be done with the serious stuff the rest of the night.”

Maggie nodded. “Okay.”

“I’m not expecting anything back. I’m not pushing you or anything. I promise.”

She sat quietly.

“I love you. I love you and I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I do. For the longest time, I boxed up all my feelings. I blamed Rachel for everything that happened, but it wasn’t her. I was angry at Amelia and my parents because I felt so alone. Rachel may have cheated on me, but I checked out mentally before we even started dating. I was closed off and mad at the world.”

“I…”

“Wait. I’m not finished,” he said and paused. “Then I met you. You didn’t pretend to know me. You didn’t try to piece me together or expect me to be anything more than what I was and before I knew it I was falling for you. You stayed at my house and took care of me when anyone else other than Gary would have hit the door running.” Levi tipped her chin to look her in the eyes. “You didn’t try to be anything other than yourself with me and I fell in love with you.”

He was being completely open with her and Maggie was pretty certain he was going to kiss her. Part of her hoped he would and the other part wanted to run so far away she’d never be found.

Levi smiled. “I’m not going to kiss you, Maggie. I’ll never kiss you again until you ask me to. I was serious when I said I’m not going to push you. I just needed you to know where I stood and how I feel about you. I’m yours and as soon as you’re ready, I hope you’ll be mine.”

How do I keep seeing you and not kiss you?
“You are not what I expected. You make me laugh. You are kind…” Maggie looked down. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be…”

“Hey,” he said. “Let’s cross that road later. For now, we enjoy our meal and each other’s company. Okay?”

She looked him in the eyes. He was so genuine. “Okay.”

“Okay. So,” he said and leaned back in the seat, “we haven’t discussed movies. Have you ever seen Spaceballs?”

Maggie relaxed with the change of subjects. “No,” she said and laughed.

“What? Okay, next game night will be a movie night. We watch Spaceballs.” Levi kept his arm around her until their food came.

They both enjoyed the entree the chef prepared, but the dessert was the best Maggie had ever tasted. It was some pastry, filled with pureed raspberries, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate served with homemade raspberry custard.

“I may have to come back just to eat this desert.”

Levi laughed. “I know right? Like how crazy good was the custard?”

“Game night snacks are ruined.”

“I don’t know. Those pastries from North Carolina were pretty good too.”

“I’m glad you liked them.”

“Are you kidding? Gary wouldn’t stop talking about them.” Levi wiped his mouth and put his napkin on the table. “So, you ready to go do something else?”

“Sure.”

Levi took her hand, holding it as she slipped out of the booth and put his arm around her waist as they walked out of the restaurant. When they got outside, a horse and carriage were waiting for them. “I thought you might like a ride around the city.”

Maggie’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “I love it,” she said and grabbed him around the neck. When she pulled back he was smiling.
Just kiss him, stupid.
Maggie took a deep breath.
No, I’m not going to be that girl. If or when I kiss him again, I’m going to be all in.

Levi helped her into the carriage and sat down next to her. He gathered her in his arms and they enjoyed the carriage ride snuggled together late into the night. Maggie completely forgot about the Geeks event, the funds raised or even the part where she was going to match them. For a brief moment, she was happy and it was a feeling she missed.