Genesis: A Harte's Peak Prequel (4 page)

Ryan stopped under the basket, and whistled. “Dude,
Maggie Bradshaw?
Well, now it all makes sense.”

“What does?” Jack asked.

“I see why you won't say no to her. But fair warning. Sure she's gorgeous, but she's the ice queen of Harte's County.” Ryan laughed. “She and her daughter came back about a year ago to live near her in-laws. She's a widow.”

A widow
. He felt worse for Maggie, and if it were possible, even a little sorry for Lexi. Losing a loved one wasn't easy on a kid, or a grown man, for that matter.

“Before you get any ideas, I asked her out a few months ago, and she turned me down flat. Know what she said? ‘I don't date.' Those were her exact words. So good luck with that,” Ryan said.

“Sure thing, buddy, but did it ever occur to you that she just doesn't want to date the town's Romeo?” Jack asked.

“Oh, you are dead!” Ryan fouled Jack, almost knocking him to the ground.

Jack gained his bearings quickly to make the next shot.
Just get over it.
Hadn't that been what he'd tried to do for the past year? And even though he'd finally quit the Marshals Service and moved three thousand miles away, he'd brought the nightmares with him.

 

****

 

Thank you, Lord.
For the first time in a year, Maggie woke up with the thought that the tide had turned in her favor. She had a law enforcement official who would talk some sense into her daughter. He'd agreed to do it, anyway. But the way they'd left things she still wasn't sure how they would make it work. She couldn't just bring Lexi over to him for a lecture. That might be a little too obvious.

Maybe now she would get some real help with Lexi, not the pseudo-support of a grandfather and grandmother who couldn't find fault with anything their only granddaughter did.

Richard and Paula Bradshaw did not seem to understand that giving Lexi material things would not fill the hole in her heart that her father's death had left.

She'd agreed to move back to Harte's Peak, the small town where she and Matt were both raised, because her in-laws promised to help them adjust after Matt's death. Instead, they'd plotted against her, and she still struggled to forgive them for the pain they'd caused. The Lord was helping her with that, but progress was slow.

The last thing she wanted them to know was that she was having trouble with Lexi, especially if their absence was a big part of the problem. They already believed that she could not adequately parent Matt's child.

If only Mom were still alive
. Maggie's mother had managed as a single mother, and so could she. Maggie hadn't been given any choice in the matter, but even so, she believed God had a plan for her future. She just had to hold on and trust in God, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Holding her mug of steaming coffee, Maggie gazed out the bay window of her kitchen. Up in the mountains, the air might be thinner, but for the first time in almost a year, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Small reminders of winter remained in the patches of snow not yet melted away, but spring began to debut in its own immortal way. Daffodil bulbs were already pushing through, little sprigs of green. A reminder that life goes on.

The landscape changed as a white pickup pulled into the neighbor's driveway and Jack emerged, carrying a basketball. Off duty, he dressed in basketball shorts and a white sports shirt that couldn't hide his athletic arms and well defined chest.
He plays basketball. Lexi and Matt used to play basketball.

“Mom!” Lexi screeched from the family room, and Maggie startled. So much for quietly enjoying the landscape of beautiful things. She sighed and turned away from the window.

“What is it?” She walked into the family room where Lexi sat at the desktop computer.

“It's doing it again. This computer is a dinosaur. That's what Grandpa says,” Lexi whined. She'd been begging for a new computer, but it wasn't in their budget, and the way things were going it might not be for some time.

“I don't care what Grandpa says. This computer is all I can afford.” She motioned for Lexi to move and sat down to figure out the problem. “You have homework on a Saturday?”

“It's a special project for my Photoshop class.”

“Did you try restarting it yet?”

“Yes, and it's still slow. And you don't have to buy me a new computer. Grandpa says he'll buy me a laptop, and I can take it everywhere I go. Even in my bedroom.”

“No. We've talked about this, and you can't have a computer in your bedroom.”

“Great, Mom. Why do you have to ruin everything for me?” Lexi stomped out of the room.

Apparently, it had never occurred to Richard that a teenager should not have unrestricted access to a computer.

Maggie sighed and restarted it again. When that didn't help, she restarted it a second time and resisted the urge to kick the thing. A blue screen appeared and informed her that she'd just completed a fatal error.
Wonderful.
Another item to add to the ever growing list of things she couldn't afford. Working at the café with Vera was a great job, but her salary wasn't anything to get excited about.

During her marriage, she'd never worked outside of the home. Never even started working on the college degree she'd always meant to obtain. Matt was a teacher, and though they didn't have much money, he supported Maggie's desire to stay home and raise their daughter. The plan was for her to return to school for her own degree once Lexi entered high school. But those plans, like so much else, were lost. Maybe forever.

She glanced at the clock. There was still time to drive Lexi over to the small county library to use the computer, but the last time the computer had frozen up this way they'd waited in line for two hours to use one of the three computers available.

On the other hand, her neighbor probably had a working computer. Didn't almost everyone else in the state except for her? Surely he'd be eager to help, and it would give him a chance to have a few encouraging words with Lexi.

Nothing like the Lord's perfect timing.

She knocked on Lexi's bedroom door and entered to find Lexi on her bed, a scowl on her face, ear buds in her ears. “We're going over to see our new neighbor.”

 

****

 

Jack had just gotten out of the shower and grabbed a pair of jeans when he heard the doorbell. Again. Two days in a row. It probably wasn't Ryan, and he hoped it wasn't Maggie again. He pulled on a t-shirt and went to the front door where he looked through the eyehole.

Maggie stood on the other side of his door, and the kid was with her. Presumably, with a few well-chosen words, he could magically straighten her out. Right. He hadn't even had time to think of what he would say since he'd been so busy trying to think of a way out.
Guess that will teach me.

He opened the door to a smiling Maggie and a pouting Lexi.

“Hi.” He hesitated asking them inside. Maggie was welcome, but the kid not so much. Lexi pierced him with hate filled eyes, clearing up the fact that the feeling was mutual.

“Lexi wanted to say something to you.” Maggie turned to her daughter.

Lexi sighed. “Sorry if I was rude. You were just doing your job.” The anger in her eyes showed him she believed no such thing.

“Apology accepted. Well, it's a warm day, and I'm sure you both have a lot to do.” He started to close the door.

Lexi took the hint and almost leapt back to her house. Maggie's gaze followed her for a moment, but she stayed planted in front of his door.

“Is there something else?”
Please say no
.

“I know it's asking a lot, but—” Maggie said.

“It's OK. I said I'd talk to her and I will.” He was about to add that he wanted more time when she interrupted him.

“It's not that, it's just that we have computer problems.”

“What kind of problems?” He was no computer expert, but maybe he could help. This was more of what he had in mind in the first place.

“The kind of problems you have when you own a dinosaur, according to my daughter.” She lifted a shoulder.

He had a perfectly good desktop computer he only used to check e-mail, since he had access to state of the art software at work. Maybe if he gave them the computer, all would be forgotten. He would have done his part. Surely, Maggie would see the sense in that.

“You can have mine.” He would check his e-mail at work from now on.

She blinked. “I'm sorry?”

“You can have my computer. I don't use it all that often. The little time I'm home I eat and sleep.” Or tried to sleep. More like lay awake and watched the neon green numbers on his alarm clock turn.

She laughed and tossed that wavy hair. “I couldn't do that. That's very generous of you.”

Generous or cowardly? “It's nothing.”

“Although, if you wouldn't mind, it would be great if Lexi could come here and borrow your computer for a little bit. She's got a project for her photography class, and I think our computer just died. I haven't told her yet, but I may have to break down and buy one soon. But for now, until I save up enough money, your offer is accepted.”

Offer? He hadn't offered to bring the kid into his home. He'd given up his computer, a clear signal that he'd do almost anything to avoid having her in his house. Apparently, Maggie-Rose-Colored-Glasses wasn't getting his hints.

“But I was going to…” His mind sought an excuse but came up with nothing.

“This would give you a chance to just say a few encouraging words.” Maggie smiled and his resolve crumbled.

After all, he'd agreed to that. “Uh, sure.”

“We can come over anytime that's good for you. I hope it would only take her an hour or so to get her project done.”

“I'll be home most of the day.” He fastened onto the ‘we' in Maggie's words. No way would he allow a teenage girl in his home—especially one with Lexi's attitude—without a parent present. However, something about Maggie's presence and the soft lilt of her voice soothed his jangled nerves like nothing else.

“I'll ask Lexi, but we should be over just after lunch.”

At least he'd have some time to figure out what he could possibly say to a teenage girl that would make any sense.

He closed the door and immediately began straightening up his family room. The computer was in there, along with moving boxes, which lined the walls. The unpacked boxes reassured him that this was all temporary, and soon enough he'd be back in Virginia with the Marshals, this entire experience nothing but a memory.

Except that now the boxes, the bare walls and sparse furnishings sat in judgment. What would his neighbor think? He'd moved in a month ago and still hadn't settled in. Often the same kind of behavior he'd witnessed from the fugitives he pursued.

For the next hour, he worked like a fiend and lined up all the boxes in his bedroom instead, which he should have thought of sooner. Maybe the reassuring presence and reminder that soon he'd be back in Virginia would help him get a good-night's sleep tonight. Might as well try that, since he was starting to get desperate.

He went over a mini-lecture that he'd give to Lexi. Something he'd heard mentioned in the Marshals' youth programs. Stuff about responsibility, caring for others, selflessness, appreciation. Although how he'd fit it all in one brief talk was beyond him. His experience was speaking to prisoners in short, clipped sentences.
Don't move. Show me your hands. You're under arrest.

He should probably call Calhoun and ask for advice, but Maggie hadn't even given him any time to do that. Probably he should have thought of that first before going to Ryan, who, as usual, was of no help to Jack whatsoever. If he thought about it now, he was pretty sure Calhoun had mentioned something about a youth group. He made a mental note to ask him.

Now that he lived near a single mother and her troubled teen, he was supposed to be some kind of expert. Right. Everyone who knew him realized that his skills didn't go much beyond ordering kids around. Fortunately, most of them listened, unlike Lexi.

If there was a God, and Jack still doubted that, He had some kind of wicked sense of humor. Jack had traveled almost three thousand miles from Virginia only to wind up living close to a teenager. And if her mom had any idea how badly he'd messed up with the last teenager he'd tried to help, she might not be so anxious for his help.

True to her word, Maggie was back with Lexi within a short hour.

He'd barely had enough time to more the boxes and straighten up the place.

She carried a plastic-wrapped plate of something that looked like lasagna. “I brought you some lunch in case you haven't eaten yet.” Maggie placed the covered plate in his hands.

His stomach growled since he'd forgotten to eat again. “That wasn't necessary, but thanks.”

He showed Lexi to the computer in the family room and heard her foot stomps behind him. She wasn't any happier about this than he was. After he'd installed the software she handed him, he stood and allowed her to sit in the chair.

Maggie exchanged a few pleasantries with him before she said something that jerked him back to reality. “I think I forgot to turn off the oven. Be right back.”

“Hurry up, Mom. You're going to burn the house down one day,” Lexi quipped.

He followed Maggie out the door.

Once outside, she turned to him and smiled. “I'll just be right back. This will give you a few minutes to talk to her. Is that OK?”

“Of course, but what do you want me to tell her, exactly?” He should have thought of this sooner. Why not go to the source?

“Maybe something encouraging. Uplifting. I trust you can think of something.” She practically skipped next door, no doubt thinking about unicorns and rainbows.