Winter's Thaw (8 page)

As she settled on the couch, she thought back to that morning when she’d sat with Nick in almost the same position she was in now. A small part of her was a bit disappointed that he hadn’t called her today, though… She cocked her head as she wondered, did he even have her phone number? That was probably why he’d given her his numbers and said for her to call him. That, and leaving the decision to make contact ever again up to her.

She took a sip from her brimming mug before she spilled any then set it down on the coffee table. Glancing at the wall clock, she figured with the time change that Mom and Cass would be done with dessert and probably watching a movie. Good time to get the goodnight call done. Maggie settled back and dialed.

“Hi!”

The sound of her daughter’s voice was both a balm and heartbreaking at the same time. She inhaled sharply through her nose to try to control her sudden emotions. “Hi, baby. Is your grandma around?”

“Of course she is, where else would she be? Guess what we did today? We went shopping today and had lunch at that Chinese buffet place. Oh my God, I ate so much. I had, like, thirds and then you know how they have that dessert bar?”

“Mm-hmm…” Her daughter’s exuberant rambling lifted her spirits. Relaxing, she reached for her mug then tucked her legs up to side and leaned into the corner of the couch.

“So I had to have a dish of the twist ice cream, of course, but they also had éclairs and…”

Maggie sipped her drink and lost herself in the fairly one-sided conversation with Cass for a few minutes as she excitedly filled Maggie in on her day. Her coffee mug was about half empty when Cassie asked, “How’s Champ?”

“I haven’t seen him, honey. He’s still at Auntie Sam’s since I’ll be coming back there in a couple of days.”

“Oh good. I miss you. I mean, I’m having fun with Grandma, but it’s kinda weird without you here. Why did you have to go home anyway?”

Maggie’s breath caught. They hadn’t said anything to Cass about the accident, wanting to wait until they knew more before mentioning it. Then Wade had died…

She purposely kept her answer vague and brief. “To do something I had to be in Oregon for. Is Grandma handy? Sam’s coming over soon and I’d like to talk to her before she gets here.”

Thankfully, Cassie didn’t push. “Okay, yeah, she’s right here. Goodnight, Mom. Tell Sam to hug Champ for me.”

“Will do, baby. Goodnight.”

There was a pause and a murmur then her mom came on the line. “Hi, honey.”

“Hey, Mom.” That awful wave of emotion came back at the sound of her mother’s voice. “How are things going?”

“We’re just fine. No need to worry yourself. More importantly, how are things there?” Maggie heard the tell-tale squeak of the door into her mom’s garage opening and knew she’d walked out to give them some privacy. “Did you have to go to the hospital?”

“Just briefly to pick up his wallet and a few other things.” She’d asked them to get rid of his clothes. “I didn’t have to…see him, only sign the release for the funeral home to take possession of…him.” ‘The body’ was what she’d started to say. Such bizarre and distant language. “Then I went there to figure out my options. He wanted to be cremated, of course, so that’s simpler. And I want to wait on the service. It doesn’t have to be right away.”

“That’s true. You don’t want to put it off too long, though.”

Maggie nodded. She knew it would weigh on her to have it looming in the distance. And probably better for Cass too, to have it soon then move on. God knew, the grieving process was going to be long and hard for all of them, but especially poor Cass. Maggie gave up on trying to not cry and she sniffled a bit as the tears finally overflowed her brimming eyes and ran down both cheeks.

“Oh, Maggie. I’m so sorry, honey. I hate that you’re alone. I wish I could be there with you to help you.” Her mom sounded on the brink of tears herself.

“You are, Mom, just by being with Cass and letting me do some of the work before I have to break it to her. And I’m not completely alone. I have good friends here.” Nick popped into her mind. “Like Sam, who should be here any minute.”

“All right. I’ll let you go. You be careful, staying there by yourself, okay?”

“Yes, Mom.” Despite her sad mood, she smiled, thinking that Nick and her mom were alike in their protectiveness.

“When do you think you’ll be coming back?”

Maggie thought about what she had to do. “My ticket’s flexible, so whenever I can find an open flight. I’ve only got a few more small things to do in person here, and the rest can either be done over the phone or can wait until we come back. I can probably wrap things up tomorrow, so day after tomorrow maybe. I’ll let you know when I book it.”

“Okay. Get some rest. And don’t forget to eat.”

“I won’t. Sam’s bringing over something for dinner,” she mentioned, knowing that would help satisfy her mom’s worry.

“Good.”

Maggie had to smile at her mom’s predictability. “I’m going to let you go. Kiss Cass for me. And we’ll talk soon.”

“Night, honey.”

“Goodnight.” Maggie disconnected and set down her phone on the side table with a deep breath and exhale. She felt badly about prevaricating to Cass, but telling her something so huge over the phone was out of the question. It left her feeling out of sorts, though, and her mind was spinning.

God, I wish I could just…

Just what? She wasn’t sure. But the memory of Nick’s strong, comforting presence slipped into her head and went a long way toward soothing her. She looked at her phone. Of course, his number wasn’t in it. His card was on her nightstand upstairs where she’d left it that morning, so she couldn’t act on the urge to call him, to hear his deep, sympathetic voice, to ask him to come over…

A sound at the front door brought her back to the present and she turned just in time to see Sam letting herself in with her key.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Sam’s face was pale and tight with emotion, and Maggie rose to meet her friend in a lingering half-hug since one arm was full. Of course it would be difficult for her too. She’d been one of the first friends Maggie had made when she and Wade had moved to Oregon, so Sam had known him just as long as she’d known Maggie. Sam’s husband Chris was friends with Wade, though the families didn’t get together quite as often since the divorce. Maggie briefly wondered how Chris was handling things, then tried to tune the thought out. She barely had enough emotional energy to handle herself and her family right now without worrying about everyone else.

Maggie had tears in her eyes but her cheeks were dry when she pulled back from Sam. “Here, let me take that.” She took the brown paper takeout bag from Sam’s arm and led the way into the kitchen.

“I got Chinese. I figured that’s one kind of food you can eat even when you don’t have an appetite.” Sam set down a plastic sack with drinks in it, by the sounds of it. She sniffed then frowned. “Did you just make coffee?”

“Yes, you want one?”

“Nah. I’ll just have one of these Monsters.”

Maggie raised her eyebrows. “You’re gonna be up all night.”

“It’s early enough I don’t think I’ll have a problem. Besides, you’re one to talk, drinking coffee,” Sam pointed out with a smile then sobered. “Are you okay? I have to say, you look better than I thought you would.”

Maggie thought about it for the time it took to retrieve her drink from the living room. “I’m okay for now. I think I was able to work through a lot of the initial impact during the trip home and last night.” Her cheeks went hot as she recalled just what it was she had done upstairs the night before. She coughed once into her hand then continued, “The tough part’s going to be with Cass. And probably the memorial, and going through Wade’s things… I guess all sorts of stuff, but mostly Cass. It’s hard to know how she’ll deal with it down the road, but she’s going to be devastated when I tell her.”

Sam nodded sympathetically. “She loves her daddy.” She grimaced. “Sorry.”

“What for, hon?”

“I don’t know, actually. It’s just really hard.” Sam teared up and Maggie put an arm over her shoulders. It was somewhat ironic, but probably helpful in a way, that Maggie was in the role of comforter rather than the one being emotional for a change. “I mean, I know it’s a million times harder for you, of course, but I just keep thinking…” She paused and inhaled sharply through her nose.

“You keep thinking what if it happened to Chris,” Maggie guessed, correctly if Sam’s fresh tears were any indication.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make it about me.” Sam pulled away and dashed at her cheeks with the back of her hand. She went purposefully to the carryout bag and started pulling out white containers. “I got a few different things because I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for.”

Maggie recognized Sam’s need to distract herself with busywork, and far from being miffed that Sam was feeling fragile, she was a bit relieved that she wouldn’t be encouraged to recount the whole situation and her feelings over and over. She could use a break.

Once they had all the food opened up and had dished out platefuls, they moved to the kitchen table and began eating in relative silence. Sam attacked the food like she hadn’t eaten for days—not surprising, since she tended to be an emotional eater. Luckily she had a great metabolism for a woman their age. Maggie tended to lean in the other direction, losing her appetite when upset, so she was pleased to realize after the first couple of token bites that she was actually hungry. She finished off a helping of spicy shrimp with rice, then ate a couple of potstickers before setting her chopsticks down and sipping her coffee. Probably tea would have gone better, but she didn’t want to bother with it.

Sam finally slowed down and popped up to start clearing the food away.

“Just leave it—I’ll get to it later. Come in and sit with me.”

Sam began to protest, but Maggie walked out of the kitchen into the living room. There were the sounds of a flurry of activity in the kitchen including the fridge door opening and closing a couple of times, and within a few minutes Sam had joined Maggie in the living room.

She plopped down next to Maggie on the couch and ran her hand through her very short blonde hair. “I don’t know how you’re not a complete mess,” she stated bluntly.

“I’m not sure either. But I was yesterday. Crying all over—” Maggie cut herself off abruptly. She’d been about to mention Nick, but she really didn’t want to go there right then. Not that she was worried her friend would think less of her…though who knew how Sam would react, especially since she was so grief-stricken over the loss of Wade?

Sam didn’t seem to notice her little stumble. “I’m sure. You had to have been going crazy on the flight home. I’m sorry I didn’t pick up when you called—I think I was working out.”

Maggie shrugged, trying to look casual. “It was hard, but kind of peaceful too.” Sam looked at her expectantly. More seemed to be needed, so she continued, “In a way, it was good to have the time to start to process it before I got back and had to dive right in. And I had a really nice seatmate who was very understanding.” That was an understatement.

“Oh no. Not one of those. Did they ever leave you alone? I hate the ones who just keep talking and talking to you.”

“I know what you mean, but it wasn’t like that at all. He was a really great guy.” She knew she probably sounded defensive but couldn’t help but stick up for Nick.

“He was, was he?” Sam gave her a probing look. “And where exactly did Mr Wonderful fall on the rating scale?” Maggie shrugged but Sam seized onto the topic like a dog with a bone. “Oh my God, are you blushing?”

Waving a hand at her persistent friend, Maggie willed her cheeks to cool. “He was…” Ready to assign him to a somewhat plausible ranking like Total Stud, she found she just couldn’t lie. “Off the charts,” she admitted.

“Did you get a picture?”

“Sam!”

“Well?”

Maggie shook her head. “No…” She cringed, knowing instantly that giving her intuitive friend anything but a decisive ‘no’ was a big mistake.

As she’d predicted, Sam pounced on the open-ended answer. “You didn’t get a picture, but it sounds like you got something, Margaret Jean.”

Maggie felt like her face was about to explode. She was really going to have to work on her evasiveness skills. Silence was her only ally now.

Her cell phone ringing broke their standoff and she half rose then stopped indecisively. What if it was Nick? She didn’t want to take his call in front of her friend.

Sam showed no such compunctions and headed rapidly for the kitchen.

She wouldn’t
…

Eyes widening, Maggie pulled herself together and hurried after her.

“Hello? Maggie’s phone.”

She would. That witch
.

“May I tell her who is calling?”

Maggie burst into the kitchen and her gaze collided with Sam’s.

Her friend held out her cell phone. “It’s…Nick.” Her eyebrows went up so high they were practically in her hairline.

Maggie yanked the phone out of Sam’s hand and took a deep breath. “Hello?”

“Hi there.”

Nick’s deep voice did crazy things to her insides, curling down from her chest to her still somewhat tender pussy, though she tried her best to hide her reaction from Sam.

“Hi,” she managed, wondering how the hell she was supposed to be able to have a conversation with Sam there. Luckily, Nick was as in tune with her as ever.

“I understand that you have company right now, so it’s probably not a good time to talk. I just wanted to check in with you and see if you needed me to come by this evening.”

“Um…”
What to do
? “Yes,” she heard herself replying then wondered what the hell she was thinking.

“Okay. I have to make a couple of stops first, so it’ll be at least an hour. Have you eaten dinner?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll see you in a little while. Bye, Maggie.”

“Bye.” She heard the call disconnect and set her phone down on the counter, then fiddled around plugging it into the charger to buy herself a little bit more time.

“Nick, huh? Was that Mr Off-the-Charts?”

Maggie shook her head slightly, not in denial of the question but just because she didn’t want to get into it right now—not when things were so complicated and about a minute old. “Yes,” she admitted. “He was just checking to see if I was doing okay.” She wondered if Sam had been able to hear Nick’s end of the conversation. Not much she could do about it if she had. It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong, per se. Just…out of character.