“Are you threatening me?” Melvin demanded.
Cash held his gaze, the sugar in his eyes turning to lightning. “It’s calledcoming to an understanding.”
Melvin put his hammer back.
“You will see behind that cabinet, but you will not destroy anything else. We’ll dismantle it properly when I get back.” Cash put an arm around Maggie and walked her into the living room. “You should wait outside. This might get ugly.”
“He already is,” she hissed over her shoulder.
Cash chuckled. “Heaven help the man who stands in your path.”
“Why is he doing this?”
Cash shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll try to find out. Will you tell James to grab Timmy and come in here? We’re going to need some muscle to lift that countertop.”
She nodded and made her way out front. The idea of her dream kitchen being reduced to rubble was gut-wrenching. After relaying the message to James, Maggie made her way out to the guys.
Cal hopped off the tailgate and motioned for her to take his seat. “You doing okay, Miss Maggie?” he asked.
Maggie sighed. “No. I’m ticked off.”
The guys took a step away.
She laughed. “Not at you all.”
Their backs relaxed, but they didn’t come closer.
She sniffed as tears stung the back of her eyes and her nose. Then she sneezed and the waterworks started. “Y’all did such beautiful work, and that weasel is in there tearing it up.” She looked at their passive faces. “Why aren’t you more upset?”
Cal shrugged. “I guess cuz we can fix it?” He kicked his toe in the dirt. “I think we’re more upset this means no doughnuts for a while.”
Maggie laughed through her tears. “You men are all about your stomachs.” She laughed again. “I guess that’s why we get along.”
They smiled, all of them happy that she was happy. She chuckled, feeling like Wendy with a group of Lost Boys waiting for a story. Only instead ofonce upon a times,she served up sausage stew and vanilla cake.
“Your book is going to be really good,” said Harry. Those were the first words she’d heart out of his mouth besidethanks,which was only ever given if she’d handed him something warm and savory. The scarcity of his words made them all that more precious. She’d overheard him talking on the phone once to a child. Perhaps his son or daughter?
“You guys are too nice. Thank you.” She scrubbed her cheeks, then let her eyes wander over the exterior of the building. “You got the shutters on?” She flapped her hands. “Oh my gosh! They’re perfect.”
That earned her a round ofaw shucksandjust doin’ our jobs. She looked at each of their faces. They all had some level of facial growth, with Ted’s beard touching his chest. Two of them wore sleeveless shirts; all of them had stains that wouldn’t wash out. There were tattoos and even piercings—yet they were the people she’d call if she were stranded on the side of the road. In. A. Heartbeat.
“So.” She rubbed her palms together. “I’m thinking of letting the air out of the weasel’s tires—who’s with me?”
Timmy gave her a disbelieving look. “Don’t think it, lady. That’s a short trip down a road of sin.”
She guffawed. “Come on. We’ve gotta do something to get back at him.”
A round of head shakes was her answer.
“Besides,” added Harry, “that’d only make him stay longer.”
She twisted her lips. “True.”
Thirty minutes later, after she’d sucked down a lemonade from the cooler in the back of Timmy’s truck, Mr. Melvin walked out of the house. He stopped to attach a paper to the front door. It was bright green, the color of a softball, though she had a feeling it was more of a curveball than anything.
Maggie waited until he was almost in his car before she took off. Cash met her at the door, sad lines etched around his mouth.
UNINHABITABLE. The word jumped off the page at her.
