I pause halfway outside. “And?”
Maggie scrunches up her face as she eyes the trash bag. “I’m going to have nightmares about that thing, so I’m officially less jealous.” She follows me to the Dumpster. Jeff watches us go but says nothing. Maggie gives him a wave and after a moment’s hesitation, he returns it. Even with me standing right next to her.
Maggie was pretty much trained after the first week, even with Bertha, but she’s somehow convinced Jeff that she still needs to shadow me everywhere in order to meet the “unimpeachably high standards he sets for himself and his employees.” I’m actually learning a lot more from her than she is from me, especially how to couch even the most nonsensical request to Jeff in compliments so he can’t say no.
“I swear I can hear it breathing in there,” Maggie says, after the lid closes on the Dumpster.
“Then it can probably hear you.” I tug her arm. “Come on.” We round the corner back to the entrance and I stop.
Heath is standing in the parking lot by his truck.
Maggie does nothing more than glance in his direction, stopping only when she realizes that I’m standing still. Despite Maggie’s presence, I can’t tamp down the warmth that rushes through me when I see Heath. I take a single step toward him.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hey.” Heath takes a step of his own and a shy smile lifts the corners of my mouth.
“What are you doing here? Did you...come to skate?”
He breaks eye contact to look at the Polar Ice Rink sign then at Maggie. It takes all of three seconds for his gaze to return to me, and that’s twice as long as I need for a chill to take up residence inside me. He can’t be here with me, not with Jeff and my coworkers inside, and especially not with Maggie standing right there volleying her gaze back and forth between us. This interaction is nothing like the one she witnessed between Mark and me.
“Um, hi,” Maggie says, her slightly recriminating but mostly excited eyes wide on me, before turning them toward Heath. “I feel like I’m supposed to know who you are, and yet I don’t.” Her words are reproachful, but she’s doing a poor job of trying not to smile. I thaw infinitesimally, knowing she doesn’t recognize Heath as the scowling boy we passed when she was teaching me how to drive stick. Then again, I might not have recognized him either. When Heath’s features aren’t twisted in animosity, he has the kind of face that would be easy to get caught staring at.
“I’m Maggie.”
Heath eyes me quickly before replying with his name. I’m sure he’s used to people around here knowing him on sight, especially once they hear his name, but with Maggie, there isn’t even a hint of recognition. A knowing smile inches its way onto her face, but it’s a normal my-friend-has-been-hiding-a-boy-from-me-and-I-can’t-wait-to-torment-her-about-it smile and nothing more. Heath’s gaze touches me again and I can practically see the question running through his mind:She doesn’t know?I give him the tiniest of head shakes. He frowns for a split second, no doubt wondering how that’s possible, but thankfully, Maggie doesn’t see it and Heath doesn’t say anything out loud.
“So how do you guys know each other?” Maggie asks.
Worried that Heath might say the wrong thing—namely the truth—I answer much too quickly. “Just from around.”
“No kidding?” Maggie cocks her head at me. “’Cause, we’re usually around together. How come I don’t know Heath?”
I can feel the blood drain from my face. I can’t think of a single explanation. Already I feel sweaty and tongue-tied and my brain is cotton, and every second I don’t answer, Maggie’s teasing smile shifts more into a confused frown.
“That’s probably my fault,” Heath says, drawing Maggie’s increasingly penetrating stare to himself. “We haven’t seen much of each other in, what is it, Brooke, a year?”
I nod, afraid of what might come out of my mouth if I try to speak.
“We ran into each other again last month and I thought I’d stop by and say hi again.” He looks at me like we’re completely alone. “Hi.”
This time I do answer audibly; I can’t not. “Hi.”
Watching us, Maggie all but jumps up and down and claps her hands. I know her well enough to see past the semi-calm facade she’s hanging on to for Heath’s benefit—inwardly, she’s definitely clapping. I can’t blame her. In my wildest dreams, I could never be as disarming and charming as Heath is. He has me half believing that he’s been waiting outside my work like some smitten boy, instead of the hurting one he feels he can only fully be with me.
“Well,” Maggie says, “Brooke gets off work in a couple hours. We were supposed to hang out and hopefully start working on this ice-skating audition thing, but I suddenly feel way too tired for that.” Her eyes are as bright and alert as a kid visiting Disneyland for the first time. “Maybe you guys can say more than hi to each other instead. Who knows, there might even be fireworks.”
My face heats at her comment but because I can’t presume on Maggie’s prowess for keeping Jeff at bay for too long, I quickly nod when Heath glances at me for confirmation. “Yeah, I’ll meet you when I leave.” I don’t say where, but Heath knows. That’s more info than I want Maggie to have. I’m going to have to do plenty of damage control as it is, and I’ve already let her find out much more than I ever intended. One word about Heath to the wrong person—which is essentially everyone—and it’s over. Everything.
We say bye to Heath, then I all but drag Maggie back inside.
“You are insomuch trouble,” she whispers in my ear, forcing a laugh I don’t remotely feel from me with a well-aimed elbow into my ribs. “I want to hear everything!”
CHAPTER 22
Maggie practically drags me into the girls’ bathroom when we get inside, stopping only long enough to snag the cleaning cart along with us for Jeff’s benefit. As soon as the door shuts behind us, she crouches and checks to make sure all the stalls are empty before rounding on me.
“When were you going to tell me about him?” she asks, her voice echoing around the tiled bathroom.
