Deep in the Heart (25 page)

“
Hey, dude, I didn’t make the decision. She did, and believe me, I wasn’t going to go back up to your door and ask you to take me at that point.”

Keith thought back to that night, trying to remember if Greg had been that bad off. Surely he would’ve noticed if he was. Then the thought occurred to him that Greg was taking Maggie home at the time. If he was that bad and Keith let her get in that car…

Then another thought occurred to him. “Wait a minute. How’d she get home?”

“
We called her a cab. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“
But it had to have been… what? Midnight or better when she got home.”

“
That’s what I kept trying to tell her, but I’m telling you that lady’s got a will of steel.”

That much Keith knew.

“
I think I’m going to ask her to our company picnic,” Greg said.

“
Oh, when’s that?” Keith asked as if he was still breathing.

“
Saturday after next. The fifteenth. I hope she’ll come. We really had a good time together the other night.”

Keith thought asking the next question just might kill him. “So you haven’t asked her yet?”

“
No, we talked the other night until like midnight, but it was just general stuff. My work. Her work. College.”

This conversation was making Keith nauseous. “Listen, man. I’ve got to get back to work or Ike’s going to skin me alive when he gets back tomorrow.”

“
K, but don’t be a stranger.”

“
I couldn’t get any stranger, could I?”

“
Hey,” Greg laughed. “You said it not me.”

They signed off, but it took Keith a full minute to get his body to move again. Greg was going to ask her out again. That was bad news. They had talked until midnight. That was very bad news. Well, it was good news, but as good as it should have been, it hurt like everything. And then there was the whole issue of her taking Greg home. What did they do when they got to his place?

Keith knocked that thought away with a solid thwack. He didn’t want to hate Greg. Greg had been there through some of the toughest times of Keith’s life, but how do you watch the woman you are falling in love with walk off into the sunset with the man who has been your best friend for 15 years? They were questions with no answers. Finally, with no better option Keith pried himself from the wall. There was work to be done. That was the only thing that didn’t seem to be complicated any more.

Keith was sprawled out next to the jack on the spare trailer Tuesday afternoon, fixing another flat with a patched tire. At the rate they were going, they could outfit NASCAR with all the tires he’d changed in the last month. He needed to go in and get some new ones. He needed to get the track watered down. He needed to feed the horses. Truth was, he needed help because he was about to crack trying to do it on his own.

“
Well, it looks like the operation hasn’t completely fallen apart,” Ike said, putting his cowboy boot on the trailer’s running board as Keith fitted the repaired tire on and spun the lug nuts.

“
Not on my watch.” Keith yanked himself to his feet, rubbing the dirt from his hands with the rag. The dirt didn’t move much, and he replaced the rag in his back pocket. He grabbed the wrench. “We’ve got to budget for some new tires. These are about to kill me.”

“
Put in a request,” Ike said. “I’ll take it up with the manager.”

Keith stalked by him back to the tire. “I just did.”

“
Aren’t you going to ask how we did?”

“
Fifth,” Keith said. “I can read you know.”

“
Gee, you’re in a good mood.”

“
Huh. I wouldn’t know why. You leave me here with six thousand things to do and no help.”

“
Hey, Mr. Ayer, how’s it going?” Tanner asked, stepping up.

“
It would be better if I had some help with this tire.”

“
Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realize. Here. I’ll get these.” Tanner bent down and started twisting on the lug nuts.

“
See, that’s what I mean,” Keith said, indicating Tanner. “You should hire four more of him.”

“
Put in a request.”

Keith glared at him. “I just did.”

Maggie hadn’t heard a word from Keith since he’d dropped them off on Sunday. She knew that was for the best, but it didn’t feel like it was. Thursday night Inez knocked at her door after the kids were asleep. “Phone.”

Maggie knew who it was, but who it was wasn’t who she wanted it to be. She tramped down stairs to the phone. “Hello?”

“
Hey, Maggie. How’s it going?” Just as she thought. Greg.

She dropped onto the chair. “Good. How about you?”

“
Well, I’ll be even better when you say, ‘Yes.’”

Her head came up from her hand. “Yes about what?”

“
About going with me next Saturday.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Where?”

“
To my company picnic. They have it every year. We go to the park and eat cold chicken. It’s very romantic.”

“
Be still my beating heart.”

“
So you’ll go?”

Trepidation trounced through her. “I don’t know. I’ll have to find somebody to baby sit.”

“
How about their parents?”

She laughed. “Like I said, I’ll have to see.”

They were going to have to quit talking until all hours, Maggie decided Friday morning as she yawned at herself in the mirror. Six hours of sleep was doing nothing for her sanity. Still, it was nice to have a friend. It was nice of him to listen. The picnic sounded fun except for the part about leaving the kids and the part about what he might expect from her afterward.

This would be their second official date, and at some point the laws of dating had to kick in. She thought about asking Keith for his assessment of Greg’s intentions. It sounded like it should sound like a good idea. The problem was, it didn’t. She didn’t want to talk about Greg with Keith. Just like she didn’t want to talk about Keith with Greg. It was very complicated and getting more so by the second.

“
The cavalry has arrived,” Keith said, ducking into the playroom at four o’clock on Saturday. He’d had to tell Ike he was going into town for supplies. Town and supplies would have to wait. Right now, he had more important things to do.

“
Oh, hallelujah. I thought you forgot,” Maggie said, launching off the carpet.

“
Me? Forget? Never.” He arched his chin. “Come on. Let’s get out of here while the gettin’s good.”

Quickly Maggie gathered up the pillows and blankets, and the two little suitcases. Inez knew where she was going. She hadn’t really had the guts to tell anyone else.

Keith swung Isabella to his hip and took Peter’s hand. “Ready?”

“
Let’s do it.”

Out the door, down the back stairs, through the kitchen that was filled with catering staff, Keith led the way looking like a Mission Impossible operative. Maggie wasn’t arguing. If they got caught, there was no telling what might happen.

His pickup was parked just outside the tree line on the road. She carried the contraband and threw it into the pickup. Keith wasted no time getting the two kids in, and within two minutes they were gone.

“
Whew,” Maggie said, sighing in real relief. “That’s a little too much intrigue for my taste.”

He grinned. “What? You’re not planning to join the CIA?”

“
Unless that stands for the Children In America fund, no.” Before she was even settled, they pulled up at the guesthouse.

He guided the pickup around to the back and parked it in the garage. Then he looked at her. “And now the fun begins.” It was a good thing it was a two-car garage because the pickup wouldn’t have fit in a single car garage. The garage though functional was spotless—auto equipment on one side; lawn care on the other.

Maggie got out of the pickup and pulled Isabella out as well. She stood the little girl on the concrete. Then she collected the overnight things from the front. Keith was already standing at the door to the house.

He scooped Isabella up. “Come here, you.”

She squealed as he put two well-placed fingers into her side and tickled her. Then he flipped her over his shoulder, catching her feet.

“I brought the potatoes,” he said over his shoulder at Maggie. “I hope you brought everything else.”

Happiness danced through Maggie. He looked so carefree and peaceful, just as he had leaning against the tree at the waterfall. In the kitchen he swung Isabella to the floor and flipped his hat to the counter. Underneath was the familiar navy bandana.

“
There’s some blocks in the living room I got out, and for our viewing pleasure.” He held up a
Nemo
DVD. “Oh, here.” He reached for the stuff Maggie still had in her arms. “I’ll put this down here.”

She followed him down the hall, admiring how well kept the house was. She hadn’t really had much chance to look around on either of her first two trips here. Now she took her time, glancing into rooms as they walked.

“
My office,” he said as he passed the first room. “The bathroom. Your room.” He smiled at her. “For tonight.” At the end of the hall, he turned into the last room. “And the kids’ room.”

It wasn’t huge, but it was a nice size. Bigger certainly than anything she’d ever slept in until she’d made it to the mansion. “Nice.” She walked to the large window overlooking the trees in the direction of the mansion.

“
It’s not the mansion,” he said as if he was apologizing for that.

She turned to him. “It doesn’t have to be.”

His gaze fell from her to the things in his hands. “What do we do with these?”

“
Here.” She took them from him and laid them out across the floor next to the window. Peter’s stuff and then Isabella’s stuff. She’d packed clothes for church too in case he happened to suggest it. “Here’s Peter’s blanket. Put that on the bed.” She handed over the blue and yellow flannel blanket. “And here’s Izzy’s.” The pink blanket was twined through Isabella’s suitcase handle, and it took Maggie an extra tug to get it free. Without really looking at him, she handed it over too. Then she planted her hands on her hips to survey the layout. “I think that’s it.”

He laid the pink blanket out on the carpet. “Cool. What time do you want dinner?”

Maggie almost started laughing. “You mean we don’t have to be washed and ready fifteen minutes early? We won’t be inspected? Oh, my. I don’t know whatever we shall do. We might not know how to act.”

“
They keep you on a pretty tight leash up there, huh?”

“
That’s one way to say it.” She stepped past him out the door. “Those two will never know how to make a decision for themselves. Everything is planned down to the second. It’s crazy.”

At the living room end of the hallway, she stepped to the side to let him lead. Although she’d expected him to go to the kitchen, he walked to the living room where Peter and Isabella were playing quietly.

“
Let’s see who can build the biggest tower!” Keith said excitedly joining in the fun on the floor. “Pete, you and me against Maggie and Izzy. Ready?”

Maggie barely made it onto the carpet without crashing. “Hey, now. You’ve got to give us a chance.”

“
Oh, yeah?” Keith’s gaze danced at her. “Go.”

Maggie laughed as she grabbed blocks from the center of the floor. He was the most alive person she’d ever been around, and life with him present was filled with it.

Two hours later they stood in the kitchen together. Taco meat sizzled in the skillet as he moved around the kitchen that couldn’t be called small except his presence made it feel that way. It was strange because he wasn’t tall, and he wasn’t even all that big, but he was solid. Solid shoulders. Solid thighs. Solid arms. Solid in body and heart. And his presence had a way of filling every room he entered.

“
Tacos and carrots,” Maggie said as she stood at the stove, stirring the food in the pans. “What a combination.”

“
I didn’t think Iz could eat the shells,” he said as if once again he was apologizing.

“
Hey,” Maggie said over her shoulder. “I was teasing. You did good.”

He seemed to soak the compliment in. “I got some extra spicy and some mild for the tacos. I didn’t know what you liked.”

“
Mild. You put extra spicy in that stuff, and I’ll have smoke coming out of my ears.”

His smile lit his face. “That could be interesting.”

“
Says you.” She pulled her wrist up. It was almost six-thirty. “We’re going to have to hurry. Those two are going to really get thrown off-schedule.”

He split the meat into two pans and put the contents of the two packages in, stirring each as he did so. “Oh, that would be such a tragedy.”

She laughed. “It’s okay. I’ll just blame you.”

Stirring slowly, he shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

At first she thought he was slamming himself, but when she looked at him, his wink made her remember when he really had been blamed for something she did. The timer on the stove went off.

“
Here. Back up. The shells are ready.” He put an oven mitt on his hand to get the cookie sheet out.