Stephen watched her carefully. “Reggie?”
“Yes. I think he’s with me because he thinks I need him. But I don’t. I’m not needy.”
“No kidding.” Stephen tugged her to sit next to him on the wide wooden stairs leading to the second floor. “Let me tell you a story. A man meets a beautiful girl and falls in love. They marry. But she doesn’t seem to need him, and at times, not even like him much, and he can’t figure out how to impress her. He’s not very good at emotional cues, and she’s the type that needs to hear the words. They have a baby, whom he loves to distraction. But he doesn’t understand babies the way he understands work, so he takes comfort in doing what he does best—his job.
“The woman realizes their marriage isn’t helping either of them. So they split up. And the man understands he lost his heart, and he has to figure out a way to put it back together again.”
He watched her carefully, leaned close, and gave her a tender kiss on the lips. The kind from one friend to another, offering comfort.
Her breath hitched, and for a brief moment, she wished they had been able to make it work. “Did he figure out how to put it back?”
Stephen sighed. “He’s very smart, but feelings aren’t his specialty. And just when he thinks he’s getting closer to understanding how to undo all his mistakes, the woman falls in love with someone else. The man thinks that maybe she was right. He did try to cling to the past. And that for him and the lady to be happy, they need to find happily ever after with other people. For the woman, it’s someone who has the words of love and who shows her how he feels. Someone kind and generous and affectionate.”
“Reggie is all those things.”
“Is he, now?”
Maggie sighed. “Am I being too demanding?”
“Sweet Maggie Swanson, demanding?” He laughed. “I know you think Emily takes after me, and yes, in part she does. But that way of bulldozing through obstacles is all you. You’re just nicer about tearing through the tough stuff than Emily is.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “How’d you get to be such a good listener?”
He hugged her and kissed her on top of the head. “I had a good role model. And I’m not talking about Leon.”
“See? We are better as friends.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I still miss the sex though.”
“Stephen.”
He chuckled. “But I—”
Banging on the door interrupted them.
Stephen went to answer it and said loudly, “You must be Reggie. She’s on the stairs.” He paused. “Maggie, get your clothes on. You have a visitor.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Reggie held Stephen up by the collar of his shirt, no doubt prepared to pound him into tomorrow. “No way was Maggie in any state to have sex with anybody. She’s upset. What did you do to her, asshole?”
Maggie entered the large foyer and stopped.
Reggie’s gaze shot to her face. She could only imagine what she looked like. She’d been crying, so her eyes were red and puffy, her nose pink, and she held a crumpled handkerchief.
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes narrowed. “Put him down.”
He did, and Stephen took a healthy step back, his gaze dismissive as he looked Reggie over. “Thisis who you fall for? A huge cretin who acts first and thinks later?”
Reggie bared his teeth at the guy.
Stephen rolled his eyes, apparently too stupid to realize Reggie could destroy him. Easily.
“He’s a firefighter,” Emily piped up from behind Maggie. “Hi, Reggie.”
His entire demeanor changed, and he crouched as Emily ran to greet him.
Her gentle giant, Maggie thought with bemusement. She couldn’t change him. And honestly, should she want to? She’d wanted Stephen to be something he wasn’t, and they divorced. If she really loved Reggie, she had to accept that he would always want to look out for the little guy, to the point of maybe sometimes giving too much.
