Page 36 of Maggie’s Match

Grant was trying to dig up more information about him, like if he’d attacked any other women in his past, but so far, he hadn’t found anything.

It surprised her and the rest of the family that Royce hadn’t even been booked for what he did to her that night. When Grant called the station to find out why he hadn’t been charged, the sheriff informed him that there was no proof that Royce was the one who had drugged her.

Since Maggie and Rick had admitted to leaving their drinks unattended, anyone could have slipped the Rohypnol that had been found in her system into the beer. She was lucky that she hadn’t drunk the entire thing. Royce had probably wanted to act sooner than planned to utilize Rick’s absence when he’d taken the phone call.

She didn’t remember much about leaving the bar, but she was sure that Royce pounced on her the moment that she started feeling the effects of the drug.

It was scary how quickly the drug had taken over her system and how long its effects lasted, even after her stomach had been pumped and she had vomited up whatever was left. Maggie remembered almost none of it. Not until she’d woken up with the police taking Rick away.

Becca had filled her in on how Rick had stayed with her the entire time she’d been in the ambulance and had refused to leave her side in the hospital, even to see to his own cuts and bruises. Until he’d been dragged away from her, at any rate.

Since that night, Rick hadn’t left her side for longer than bathroom breaks.

Everywhere she had gone, he had casually tagged along. With anyone else, it would have been annoying, but Rick didn’t hover. While she and Becca measured and planned the remodel of the inside of the building, Rick was outside checking the flooring beams or the roof. He even covered all the windows so the glass wouldn’t break during transit.

They met with one of Rick’s college friends, Lous, an engineer who checked out the building and confirmed that it was solid enough to move. He gave them a few tips to ensure its safe travel.

Lous also helped them plan out what would have to be done to the lot to get it ready for the move. Since Bryson and Bent had moved the building once before a few years back and it was still basically sitting up on blocks, they figured they would be able to move it themselves again.

However, when they checked with the county, they ran into a minor hiccup. The estimated weight of the building was right around eighty thousand pounds. Whoever drove the truck had to have a class B license.

When they informed Bryson of this, he laughed and confirmed that his class B was up to date.

The last thing they were waiting on, besides closing on the lot, was Rick’s uncle Grant submitting the permits for utility connections on the land, which would happen after closing. She’d tried to tell him that she could do that herself, but he figured if it came from him, an official law firm, it would be less likely to be rejected due to bias.

She worked with her bank on getting everything ready for the closing. As a cash sale, the process was surprisingly easy.

Her mother and Rick had done most of the hard work getting all the legal documents ready, and the closing was scheduled in less than a week. Which meant they could move the building onto the lot before the end of the month.

They met with the same electrician that they’d hired to do updates in the rental place, and he agreed to wire up everything they needed in the new building. The plumber, however, backed out of the work completely. He told her he didn’t want to handle a job for a business like theirs.

Translation, he worked in town and the Tillersons had gotten to him.

Thankfully, the electrician was from the city, which is where she found a new plumber that agreed to handle the job.

Since she and Rick had cleaned up her uncle’s office, most days she and Becca worked in there. They made all their phone calls from there and used her laptop to create their menus and order their ingredients and everything else they would need.

But the most fun they had was creating the design for the inside of the building. It would take a lot of work to turn the empty space into something they could use. The first thing they had to do was build a kitchen, a storeroom, and at least one bathroom. The rest of the space would be left open for the dining area.

To save money, they decided to do most of the work themselves with Rick’s, Bentley’s, and Bryson’s help. All three men had plenty of knowledge about putting up walls, or so they all said.

Rick suggested building a deck off the front of the building for outdoor seating during warmer months, an idea both she and Becca loved.

The more she and Becca planned, the more jealous she was of her cousin being able to work there each day. Not that she didn’t love her little building in Fairplay. Actually, she did love it very much. Still, starting something new excited her.

Keeping busy helped her cope with what had happened the week before. More importantly, it helped dissipate her anger that Royce hadn’t even gotten his hands slapped while she’d had to fight so hard to free Rick that night.

It was almost a full week before she went back into the main part of town. She needed a few office supplies at the local store, and she and Becca decided to swing in to get the items and to have some lunch.

Since Rick was working on another sick calf that had been discovered wobbling early that morning, he stayed behind.

Before they left the house, she found him in the barn and could tell that he’d probably be unable to save the little guy.

“We’re heading into town.” She wished she could hug him, but he was covered in fluids, and she was wearing a clean summer dress in soft green.

“Yeah,” he said, glancing up. Then he turned to Becca. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Will do, boss.” Becca saluted Rick and then added, “We’ll both be on guard.”