“This is far,” he said. “So no more walking this far alone.”
She snapped her teeth together, because anything that came out of her mouth right now would likely be a curse, and she was trying to stop those too.
“Just let it out. I can handle it.” He was still smiling.
“I don’t want to swear at you, because it’s beneath me.” She sniffed. “And now I need to get back and have coffee.”
“I have coffee already on. Want some?”
“I don’t think so, but—”
“You keep going with that and you’ll hurt my feelings.” Fin grabbed her arm and forced her to walk as he tugged her along with him. “I thought we were friends?”
“We are, and it’s not me that’s been in hibernation.”
“I wasn’t in hibernation, I was working. Now come and have a coffee with me.”
“I need to get back, Fin.”
“It’s 7:00 a.m., Maggs. What the hell are you getting back to?”
She didn’t know how to answer that.
“I have donuts. I got them last night.”
“The sugary ones?” Maggs said before she could stop herself.
“Yup.”
What would it hurt to have a quick cup of coffee with him? Nothing at all.It’s not like you haven’t done that before. She wouldn’t touch on anything personal, like his family, and then she’d leave after a donut.
It sounded easy. She had a bad feeling it wouldn’t be.
Chapter21
“Have you been hiking with Mallory?”Excellent, Maggs. You just told yourself not to touch on anything personal.
“Not yet, and before you ask, I haven’t spoken to my father either. Joe and the others are constantly calling or appearing on my doorstep to see if I’m all right, and then probing gently into what’s up with my family.”
“It’s only because he cares… they all do. You’re one of theirs and upset because your family are in town. It’s natural they worry. Their way of showing that worry is by constantly checking you’re ok.”
“I know,” Fin sighed. “It’s like being smothered by one of Jack’s knee rugs.”
“But we won’t discuss it if you don’t want to. It, being your family.”
He shot her a look. “I got that, and that’s very accommodating of you.”
She shrugged as they took the right fork that led to his cabin. “I don’t want you asking me personal stuff, so I won’t ask you any.”
“Thanks. And sorry, by the way.”
“For?”
“I was rude to you the night I saw my father at the lodge.”
“There seems to be a pattern forming there.”
He snorted but didn’t add anything. They reached his cabin. Long and low with a gabled roof, it was bigger up close than she’d realized.
