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He leans his arms on my door frame. “I’ll move my car in a minute. I just wanted to warn you that Kel will probably be pretty scarce. You seem like a nice enough girl. I’m sure you’ll understand that he’s going to be extremely busy helping me clean up the mess around here.” Nate gives me a smarmy smile before pushing away from my car.
I lean back against my seat, annoyance bubbling up inside me. “Yes, I realize he’s going to have his hands full. I don’t need you to tell me how to care about him. As for the mess here, maybe if you’d bothered to check in once in a while, you’d know he’s been working his ass off to keep this place going without you.” I reach for the button to roll up my window. “And try to keep your natural dickish tendencies under control—you only make a first impression once.”
I roll the window up in Nate’s red face. He glares at me before turning on his heel and marching back to his car. Should I have pissed off my boyfriend’s supposed best friend? Maybe not. But he’s been asking for it from the minute he called me a slut and I don’t regret it.
What I do regret is the fact that Kel still hasn’t come out of the house by the time I’ve backed out of the space. Is this really a family I want to be part of? Have I already unwittingly signed myself up for a lifetime of this family’s drama?
And most importantly, have I accidentally created a lifelong tie with a man who has very obvious tiers when it comes to the people in his life? Who may always run hot and cold, leaving me in a constant state of confusion about how he feels.
With Nate looking on, I only pause for a moment, before accepting that I haven’t infiltrated Kel’s hierarchy of importance as much as I thought I had.
Kel
I wish Maggie was here. The thought echoes through my mind as the day wears on. While Nate endures Jackie’s tearful greeting, rolling his eyes over her head as she embraces him. While my old coworkers rib me for not knowing where the new coffee machine is located. Even when my sister drops by to bring us all a decent lunch, I wish Maggie was here to meet her.
But especially when June and Olive stop by the hospital to visit Greg. Seeing the family I almost had has my chest aching in a way that is unfamiliar and unwelcome. The happily ever after I thought I was getting with June floats temptingly in the back of my mind—only with Maggie’s brown eyes looking adoringly up at me. But every time I pull my phone out to text her, I don’t know what to say. I was so focused on not punching Nate in the face that I let Maggie leave without saying a proper goodbye. And now I don’t have Maggie’s magic touch to start a new conversation.
My only consolation is that Olive is coming home with me for the next two weeks—partly to make up for the three weeks she stayed with June during harvest, and because June and Shelby have some swanky party to attend over Thanksgiving weekend.
“Mommy said I can be Miraculous Ladybug for Halloween next year.” Olive is babbling as I stand outside June’s car.
“Olive, keep looking, please. It’s cold and I’m sure your Daddy wants to get home.” June’s voice carries from somewhere in the depths of her third row seats. “Are you positive you put it in the car?”
“I did, Mommy. I know I did. I promised Lexi I would wear my sparkle unicorn hat to school tomorrow so we can be twinnies.” Olive pokes her head up from between the rows. “If I don’t have it Lexi will call me a stupidhead and I’m not a stupidhead, I’m not.”
There’s a dangerous quiver in Olive’s voice, unsurprising after the hospital visit. We better find this damn hat and quick. “Did you put it in your backpack?” I ask, hefting it up for her to see.
“Noooo,” Olive whines, melting to the floor beside June.
June and I share a look, and I unzip the backpack to join the search. We’re about thirty seconds away from a meltdown. There’s a couple of folders, a box of crayons, and Olive’s pencil bag in here, but I don’t see a hat. But there is something in the front pocket, so I unzip that to investigate. Pepto-Bismol pink fabric explodes out of the pocket as I unzip it.
“Is this it?” I hold it up for Olive to see.
“You found it! See, I told you I had it, Mommy.” Olive gives her mom a sassy look.
“What did you say to your mother?” I growl, my patience wearing thin.
Olive gulps and turns contrite. “Sorry, Mommy. Thank you, Daddy,” she adds, with a guilty look my way. June mouths “thank you” over her head as Olive clambers out of the car to stand beside me.
“Say goodbye to your mom, Olive. We gotta get in the car before the rain comes.”
It takes longer than I want for Olive to say goodbye and finally get buckled in the car, but eventually we’re on the road home. “Daddy?” Olive’s voice from the back seat pulls me out of yet another internal debate on how to open up the conversation with Maggie.
“Yes, Pickle?”
“Is Maggie going to come over?”
The car swerves. “Why?” I glance in the rearview mirror, not sure if I’m going to see an innocent or calculated expression on my daughter’s face.
Olive shrugs her shoulders and looks out the window, tapping her fingers against the armrest of her booster seat. “She promised she would watch Encanto with me. And she’s so pretty. And nice. I like her.”
That makes two of us. Not to mention she always seems to smell so good, like citrus and some kind of perfume I can’t name. And the way her curves fit in my hands, and her soft skin and bright smile. It’s been eight hours since I last saw her and I already ache to hold her in my arms again.
I turn my attention back to the road, navigating us onto the highway. “She is all those things, Pickle. How about we invite her over for dinner? But first let’s get Grandpa Greg home and sorted out, okay?”
“Okie dokie, artichokie.” Olive giggles from the back seat. “Can you put some music on?”
Shaking my head at my silly girl, I put on her favorite playlist. Olive sings along to Taylor Swift in the back while I let myself dream about Maggie the whole way home.
