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What? What are you do-doing? Red asked.
Lowering the heater by fifteen degrees. If you’re good tomorrow and leave the sheep alone, you’ll get your heat back.
Fine. Fine. No sheep.
Leave all the animals alone. Be nice.
Red nodded her head, and it sounded like the chicken growled. Maggie bobbed her head in return. “Thanks,” she said to Lucas, standing and sliding her arm around his.
“Yeah, I’m wondering if I injured more than my hand. What just happened?” He scratched the back of his head, looking lost. Maggie couldn’t tell him the truth, but she had to tell him something.
“Just something Nanna and I cooked up so I could get some alone time with you.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
“And you messed with the chicken coop heater? Why?”
“Errand for Grandad. Nanna always sets it too high.” She kissed him again, and he wrapped his arms around her.
“It’s cold out here, Maggie.”
“Then you better keep me warm.”
The screen door’s sharp slap broke the silence, and they looked toward the house as the big yard light blinded them. “Dessert’s in the kitchen, not in the yard,” Five said, before turning back into the house.
Lucas covered her mouth with his, smothering her retort. Who she kissed was none of her baby brother’s business, but she fully approved of Lucas’s method of silencing her and keeping the family peace.
Chapter 23
“How are you feeling?” Maggie asked, as she let herself into Penny’s apartment.
“Like I fell off a ladder and laid around all day.” Penny blew her nose. She sounded almost miserable as she looked.
“How’s the head?”
“Tender in the back and stitched up in front. It feels like there’s an ax stuck in my forehead. If this is what a headache feels like, I’m going to be more sympathetic.” Penny hissed when Maggie’s fingers touched the goose egg on the back of her head. She laid her hand on Penny’s forehead. It wasn’t hot like it had been at noon and Penny didn’t look as pale. Note to self: cold medicine and ladders are a dangerous combination.
“Swelling’s gone down, so that’s good, and the stitches don’t look so angry. They did I good job and I bet once it heals, no one will notice the scar since it’s near your hairline.” Maggie cleared away the empty tea mug and thermos she’d left with Penny earlier and set them in the kitchen with all the other dirty dishes—several days’ worth, from the looks of it. But Penny didn’t value a clean kitchen like Maggie did, and it had been Black Friday weekend. The kitchen would have been a mess even if Penny hadn’t fallen off a ladder last night.
“Is the hot honey lemonade helping?” Maggie asked, not waiting for Penny’s answer. She could use a mug for precautionary measures even if Penny didn’t want another one. They weren’t immune to colds—their abilities weren’t that strong—and Maggie’s defenses were down. They’d been at the hospital almost until daybreak. Once they’d returned to Marketplace, Maggie had settled Penny on her couch before taking a power nap, a quick shower, and reporting to work at eleven. She’d run up to the apartment during her break to help Penny to the bathroom and make her something to eat.
“Dad dropped off dinner,” Penny said.
“I know. He popped into Brewster’s before heading over to relieve Mom.” Nanna and Elspeth had put the store back to rights that morning and Alison had restocked merchandise between appointments. “The store looks so good no one would know it had looked like a crime scene twenty-four hours ago.” Penny’s head had bled like a stuck pig after she’d cut herself on the ladder’s sharp edge. “Let me go change into my jammies and grab my pillow and I’ll be right back.”
“Why?”
“So I can be here if you need me.”
“Maggie, no. You’ve got an early shift tomorrow. You need your rest. I don’t want you catching this cold.”
“Jack’s taking it,” Maggie said, patting herself on the back and feeling her strong and unyielding backbone.
“Jack? That’s sweet of him.”
Maggie snorted as she poured boiling water over the honey and freshly squeezed lemon juice at the bottom of each mug. “Not sweet. Cheap,” she said, sitting on the couch as far away from Penny as she could. “After the last barista quit when he heard we were closing, I told Jack he was keeping my benefits in place, but he was going to pay me as an hourly employee, not a salaried one. I wasn’t working overtime for free anymore.”
“Good job.” Penny leaned back and closed her eyes. “I would have loved to have seen the look on his face. He took advantage of you for too long.”
“He sputtered for a bit. I’m pretty proud of me, too.”
