“No!” Charlie said with sudden, emphatic urgency. She tucked her hands under her arms. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
It must be rough for a teenage girl sometimes to grow up with just a dad, Maggie thought. She wondered if there were always things Charlie didn’t feel like she could talk to him about.
“Is it something I can help with?”
“No,” Charlie said, but more softly. She wiped her eyes again.
Maggie retrieved a box of tissues from the bathroom and offered it. Charlie grabbed a handful and sniffled a little. “Thanks,” she muttered.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I would be happy to listen, if this might be something you could use a friendly ear about.”
“Well—I—” Charlie wadded up the tissues into a ball. “It’s just—I think about Mom a lot around the holidays. That’s all. It’s not like I can talk to Dad about it.”
“Why not?” Maggie asked. Resigned to already being late, so it wasn’t like it mattered to be a few minutes later, she sat on the bed. After a moment, Charlie hesitantly sat next to her. “Your dad loves you a lot. I’m sure he’d understand.”
“Oh, he’d understand too well; that’s the problem. He’d get all sad, and then I’d get even sadder, and—no thanks. Anyway, I ...” Charlie hesitated, as if on the verge of saying something else, then shook her head. Her eyes welled up again, and she wiped at them with the ball of tissues.
“You lost your mom a long time ago, right?” Maggie didn’t think now was the time to admit that she and Sam had just had a conversation about it.
“Yeah. When I was little.” Charlie frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t miss her. In a way it’s worse, because I don’t actually remember her. Except just flashes, now and then. And I don’t know if those are real memories or me making things up because I want to remember her so bad.”
“I think they’re probably real,” Maggie said softly. “People we love imprint themselves on us. In our heart and soul, they’re with us forever.”
This produced a fresh round of tears, and Maggie hesitantly patted the girl’s shoulder. When that didn’t seem to go badly, she put an arm around her.
Charlie clasped her hands around the ball of tissues and stared down at it in her lap. “Are you going to be dating my dad?”
Oops, I’m due in the kitchen for my shift!—was her immediate urge, and would be exactly the wrong thing to say. It was a serious question that deserved a serious answer.
“I don’t know,” Maggie said. “Your dad and I haven’t talked about it yet. Whatever we do, we’ll take you into account. You’re the most important thing in the world to him.”
Charlie made a small sound that could have meant anything, but sounded vaguely skeptical.
“Whatever happens from here, Charlie, you’re going to be part of it. I promise.”
“Mmmm.”
Maggie gave her a little squeeze and let go. “I’d be happy to talk more if you want, but I really need to finish getting dressed and get down to the kitchen. You should probably find your dad and have dinner.” Her stomach growled, reminding her that it was going to be a while before she had a chance to eat. She should probably grab a granola bar or something. “He’s going to have lots to tell you about our adventures today.”
“I guess so.” Charlie raised her hand to touch her neck on top of the collar of her sweater, an odd, involuntary-seeming gesture. “I, um. I guess I’m going to go now.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Maggie paused on her way to the bathroom. “They found me a room, so you’ll get your dad back in your room tonight. No more roommates.”
Charlie brightened up immediately. “Oh, that’s great! Uh, nothing personal.”
“No problem,” Maggie said, trying very hard not to take it personally.
Charlie grabbed her phone and bounced out of the room, looking a lot happier. Maggie sighed and started putting up her hair for the hairnet.
The cold war between them might have started to exhibit cautious forays into international diplomacy, but there was still a long way to go.
She was late to the kitchen, as expected, but they were too busy to waste time complaining about it. Hester saw herand immediately put her to work loading the industrial-sized dishwasher.
After that she was run off her feet, working too hard to do more than take a five-minute break to snatch half a sandwich. She saw Sam and Charlie across the dining room, but she was unable to get anywhere near them as she ran back and forth, busing dishes to the kitchen.
The kitchen closed down at nine, but she stayed to help clean up and finally collapsed on a stool as the rest of the remaining staff trickled out.
Hester, looking just as bedraggled as Maggie felt, sank down beside her. Maggie was still amazed at how much Hester did in the course of a day. It was clear that the lodge owner liked to have a personal hand in running the place. “Do you ever take vacations?” Maggie asked her.
