“You’re right.” Maggie moved past the woman toward the hallway, conscious of her following close behind. “You could be in serious trouble. But you’re not a little girl. You can make your own decisions and live with them.” Maggie grabbed a bunch of girlie things from the spare room and found a suitcase to throw it all in. At this point, she didn’t care who it belonged to. Once she’d gone through the spare room, she did a cursory inspection of Reggie’s and removed a picture of the two of them, tucked among several photos of friends and family, from a table in the hallway. Fuck it. It had to go.
She found toiletries in both bathrooms that she added to the suitcase, dimly aware of Reggie and Mack arguing and Amy crying big buckets of tears as the woman trailed Maggie like a fading shadow.
Returning to the living room, Maggie shoved the suitcase at Amy, who grabbed it reflexively. Then Maggie pushed her toward the front door.
“Wait,” Amy wailed. “Stop it. Reggie! Help me.”
Mack hurried around them and opened the door. “Here you go.”
“Mack, you never liked me.”
Heck, even Maggie had to admit she was starting to feel sorry for the woman. So she forced herself to say, “Idon’t like you. So add me to the list.” She hauled the fragile beauty down the steps, opened the door to the woman’s car, and tossed in the suitcase. “Get out of here. If you come back, I will seriously punch you in the face.” Maggie was angry enough to do it too. Compassion or no compassion. “With this.” She held up her cast.
“Fine. I’m leaving. I don’t belong here.” She looked back at Reggie, who stood on the porch next to Mack, watching. Waiting for him to stop her?
“No shit,” Maggie agreed. She waited for the woman to leave. Once Amy left, Maggie stormed back to her car.
Reggie rushed up to her. “Maggie, that was amazing. I—”
“Get out of the way. I’m done with her, and you know, I might just be done with you too.” She poked him in the chest, so hurt and angry, she couldn’t contain it. “I’m worth ten of her. I love you for you. Butthat’swhat makes you happy? Getting your rocks off playing Mr. Fix-It?”
Reggie scowled but didn’t argue.
“I understand your need to help everyone. But what happens when the next sob story asks to borrow money? To move in? To help pay the child support the kid’s crappy father won’t pay? Will you let them live with you and empty your bank account?”
“No. Of course not.” He looked both angry and disgusted, with himself, she hoped.
“And what about me?”
“What about you?”
“Do you love me at all? Or are you still trying to fix a poor woman down on her luck? Because if that’s all we really had, then I don’t need you. No sex is that spectacular that I should settle for a man who thinks I can’t handle my own problems.” She got in the car and slammed the door shut. After turning the key, she rolled down the window. “Let me know what you decide to do with your life, and feel free to text me your answer. Now if you need me, I’ll be at Stephen’s with Emily.”
She pulled away, letting the tears fall once out of sight. All in all, she’d been confrontational, but the fight that hadn’t happened with Amy had been anticlimactic. Amy’s cards collapsed the moment someone told her no.
How hard would that have been a week ago? How tough to ferret the truth without having to betoldto figure things out? Was Reggie that pathetic, he couldn’t see the manipulation for what it was? Or worse, had he known but done nothing about it? Because at heart, hedidneed to be needed?
How silly to fall in love without knowing the person you fell in love with.
She cried all the way to Stephen’s.
When she parked, she dried her eyes and tried to pretend she hadn’t been upset.
But when Stephen opened the door, he took one look at her and pulled her aside. Over his shoulder, he said loudly, “Keep playing, Emily. We’ll be out soon.”
She waved from the swings in the backyard, visible through the wide-open back doors. “Okay, Dad. Tell Mommy I said hi.”
Stephen walked to Maggie’s side and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Oh, Maggie. What’s wrong?”
She cried into his chest, comforted when his arms settled around her.
When she’d cried out all her tears, she pulled back and accepted the hankie he offered.
“Thanks.” She blew her nose. “I needed that. I’ll wash this and get it back to you.”
“Don’t worry about it. What happened?”
“It’s messy.”
