“He’s been doing it since we were…well, born,” Maggie says quietly. “We’re not special. He talks to Ben, Bobby and my dad like that too. It’s really hard not to hate that man.”
“So hate him,” I reply.
She looks at me with pain swimming in her hazel eyes. “He’s the only grandfather that I’ve got. Mom’s dad died when we were little and my dad’s mom…she took off when my dad was still in diapers.”
“If Clyde was like that to her, I don’t blame her.”
“She left her babies behind,” Maggie says angrily. “That doesn’t make her a saint by any means.”
“You have no idea where she is? You don’t want to hear her side?” I can’t help but ask and walk over and stuff my hands in my pockets because I’m fighting the urge to pull her into a hug.
“Why did you get all tense when I brought up Hank?” Maggie asks, changing the subject so abruptly I blink.
“We’re talking about you.”
“You’retalking about my personal business and I’ve decided I’d rather talk about yours,” Maggie replies. “Didn’t you and Hank used to be close? I remember before you went away for high school you hung out with him more than Jace.”
“So you used to stalk me is what you’re saying.” I make a joke because I don’t want to talk about the guilt I feel regarding Hank with anyone. “Firecracker, at some point if Clyde keeps disrespecting you, you should stand up for yourself. You and Daisy are working your tails off for that farm and it’s clear you know what you’re doing. He shouldn’t get to berate you all the time.”
Maggie looks confused by my kind words. Right. I’m supposed to hate her. I forgot. So I try and backtrack a little. “I mean, I’m going above and beyond for my family farm. Working in my free time instead of enjoying the perks of a full-ride and hockey stardom. If any of my family talked to me like that, repeatedly, I would walk away.”
Maggie pulls herself off the wall and stares at me with a look of brutal honesty on her determined features. “Easy to do when you’ve got a solid shot at something else—a pro hockey career. Daisy and I have nothing but this farm. It’s different.”
She grabs her bag and phone off the floor and walks past me back toward her bedroom. I follow. “I do have that. But the farm has always been my end game. It’s where I want to retire, and for a hockey player, even the best hockey player, that usually happens before forty.”
She drops her bag on her desk chair and puts her phone down on the desk before turning to face me. “But you could sell your current farm and buy another one when you’re ready to retire from hockey. And support your entire family in the meantime. You get drafted and the world is your oyster. Daisy and I only have this little chunk of land. We have to get Clyde to sell it to us or leave it to us. There’s no backup plan.”
“I’m not saying it’s not a hard situation to be in, but he shouldn’t treat you like that, Maggie,” I say softly. “You’re a good granddaughter and a great farmer.”
“Shut up,” she says softly. “Please don’t start being nice.”
“Also, as you know from your uncle’s experience, getting drafted doesn’t mean I’m instantly on easy street,” I remind her because her uncle was drafted and never set a skate on NHL ice. The most he probably made a year was fifty grand which is good for a farm team player but not exactly set-for-life money.
Maggie isn’t letting this NHL thing go. “Are you going to enter the draft this summer?”
I nod.
“Then you’ll leave school and have real money by next year.” She pauses and looks stressed about something. “But if you end up drafted by a team on the other side of the country, you may end up wanting to settle there. Why bother holding on to a farm here? And does your family even want to keep farming? Does Jace?”
“I don’t think farming is Jace’s first choice but it’s not his last either,” I say about my brother. “And for the record, even if I’m drafted, I’m not leaving school. I want a degree. It’s important to me. My family wants me to drop out early, but I’m not going to…if I can help it.”
She just stares at me. Her mind is spinning, I can see it in her eyes, but I don’t know why what I’ve said has got her so concerned. I think of what she said earlier. “So Hank is hanging out with Daisy?”
“They talk when she runs into him. They’ve always been friendly.” Maggie shrugs but then sees the concern on my face and elaborates. “He didn’t gossip about anything we didn’t already know, about your family and farm, I mean. The whole town knows you had issues with your new trees last year and then the barn thing.”
“Yeah.” I grab my shirt off the floor. “I should get going. Can you print those notes?”
My shirt goes over my head, blocking my face but I can hear her move and then I feel her hands on the sides of my torso as the shirt slips down and she’s right in front of me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I can’t help but flash her a wry smile and repeat her own words from a few minutes ago. “Shut up. Please don’t start being nice.”
She lets out a soft laugh and blushes yet again and it makes me grab her waist and kiss her. Slow and gentle like we’re new lovers…which we aren’t. We can’t be. So I let her go and try to look like it’s no big deal. “Can you print those notes?”
“I’ll email them to you,” Maggie replies with a smile.
I raise an eyebrow. “Was this all just a ruse to get me into your house so you could take advantage of me?”
“Honestly, no,” Maggie replies with a shy smile. “But I’ve never had two orgasms back-to-back so I feel like you deserve a reward.”
