On Thin Ice (14 page)

“He didn’t help out at all?”

“Are you kidding me? He had lectures to plan. Minds to mold. Students to send off to do bigger better things. I was just his wife.”

Maggie shook her head. “I never would have known. When I was there he seemed to dote on you.”

“Yep. When you would visit. When Dad would visit. When his mother was around, I was the passion of his life. Unfortunately, you all weren’t around that much. Then one day one of Alan’s grad students walked into the bakery.” She swallowed hard, feeling the pain of it all rising in her throat. “Dark eyes, chiseled chin, dark hair just a little too long.” As she described him to Maggie, the truth hit her. “He was a colligate hockey player before he went to grad school.”

Maggie smiled. “Hmm, it doesn’t sound familiar to me. This man made your heart pump finally?”

“Yeah,” she said on a sigh of guilt and regret. “He came in more often. We had a rush one day and he walked around the counter, put on an apron, and began to bus the tables. Alan had never done that. He would have sat and watched from his little table in the corner.”  Anger was replacing softer sentiments in her voice. “Alan didn’t care how things went as long as he was either out of the loop or the person in charge of it. Ya know?”

She took a long sip of her coffee to moisten her mouth. “When this sexy grad student walks in, offers to help, sticks around after closing just because he finds me interesting, it seemed to wipe out my judgment. Suddenly right and wrong didn’t exist. All I wanted to be was in the spotlight for someone, and I didn’t care who.”

She hadn’t thought about it since it ended. She hadn’t wanted to. But now, as she told Maggie about her affair, she missed it. What did that say about her?

“He was a business major, and he saw potential in the bakery. He offered me a partnership and I took it.” She rubbed her fingers over her forehead to ease the tension that was building there. “I thought it was a legitimate reason to have this man around. One thing led to another. Alan would be hours away or have a university commitment, and we’d go to dinner. Somewhere out of the way, secluded where no one would see the professor’s wife. It started with a hug, a kiss on the cheek, a shoulder to cry on when I needed it. Then it burst into flames. We couldn’t get enough of each other. Working together wasn’t enough. We were careless and didn’t care who saw us.” She shifted her eyes to Maggie. “It felt good. Does that make any sense?”

“More than you know. You always did walk the line a little too tightly, dear. A little rebellion and trouble would have done you a world of good.”

“That sounds funny coming from someone I think of as my mother.”

“Well, trust me. You never were a troublemaker. And I know trouble. Look who I gave birth to.” She chuckled and then gave Malory’s hand a pat. “Sooner or later it was going to catch up with you.”

“Yeah.” She shifted uncomfortably on her stool. “I guess it did.”

It not only caught up with her, it had knocked her on her ass. She lost her husband, her lover, her business, and now she was certain she’d lost Christopher. Had she just accepted his spontaneous proposal, she wouldn’t be contemplating all her wrongdoing.

Maggie reached up and touched her cheek, just as she would have had Malory been six. “Wil, we all make mistakes. Don’t let this one cost you even more than it already has.”

“I can’t give Chris what he needs. He has come back thinking things are okay between us. But no matter what I’ve done, I’m still a hurt seventeen-year-old and I just can’t seem to get all the way past that. Add that to what I’ve done and we aren’t any different. That doesn’t make for a real good relationship.”

“Do you believe in second chances?”

“I used to, but I just don’t know anymore.”

“Well, I do. I screwed up and had me a thing with a guy, and I got Chris.” She shrugged. “I figure there was purpose in that. I worked my ass off to see that he had a good life. He’s done okay, but I know that wasn’t just me. Your dad had a lot to do with it. I figure Chris would have been a messed-up kid had that man not wandered into his life.”

Maggie stood and refilled her coffee. “My daddy didn’t stick around either, so I know how hard it is to watch your mama work until she collapses. Thanks to Harvey Wilson, my son didn’t have to watch me do that. He was busy playing hockey.” She let out a sigh and sat back down. “Men came and went in my life, but Harvey always was there. He never gave up on me or my son. And he’s never given up on you.” She gave her a look with the rise of her eyebrows and Malory smiled. “I love your daddy. I think you know that. He’s not ready to talk about it with you, but I’m in love with him and he’s in love with me.”

Suspecting it was one thing. Hearing it was another. Malory’s eyes filled with tears that quickly spilled down her cheeks.

“I’m happy for you both. I thought there was something going on. But you’re right. He won’t say anything.”

“When the time is right he will.” Maggie stood and dumped out the full cup of coffee she’d poured. “You still mad at Chris?”

“Yes. But now I don’t know why. I can’t decide if I hate him for prom night, or if I hate him for stirring up things in me that I wasn’t ready to face, or if it was the look on his face when I confessed what I’d done to Alan.”

“Something tells me you’ll hate him tomorrow for something else.”

“You’re right.” Malory drank down the rest of her coffee, which had gone cold. “I need to focus on getting myself settled, getting the bakery moving in a forward direction, and then I can worry about Chris and what he wants.”

Maggie pulled her coat off the hook and slid her arms through the sleeves. “He’s gone, you know.”

Malory’s head popped up. “Gone?”

“Said he needed time to think and had stuff to do. He said we should see that you get to the Thanksgiving dance tonight.”

Malory shook her head. She wasn’t going alone or with her father.

Maggie gave a throaty laugh. “I didn’t figure you would want to go under the circumstances, but you can consider it an offer.”

“Where did he go?”

Maggie shrugged. “Didn’t say.”

That holiday spirit Malory wanted to catch eluded her, and a big hole in her was opening. Why was it you wanted something when you knew it wasn’t around, but when it was around you did your best to push it away?

Maggie pulled her scarf from the pocket of her coat and tied it around her neck. “You still looking for a place to live?”

“Yes.”

“C’mon. That duplex is empty. You can move in today if you want to. I’ll have a lease to you this afternoon.”

Malory laughed as she dumped out her coffee and grabbed her coat. Only Maggie Douglas would offer to give you all her money for a business, give you her son’s heart on a platter, tell you she loved your father, and still need a lease on a property so that she still had her rights over you.

They drove up toward the west point of the lake and along a dirt road that wound upward through the trees. Maggie fought the steering wheel as it shimmied in her hands and the car bounced over the ruts and rocks. “It’s a bitch when it’s so icy. But you and that old truck of yours will do fine.”

In a clearing that overlooked Aspen Creek Lake, Maggie pulled up in front of a small duplex. The driveway split and veered off to both sides; each side of the duplex had its front door on the opposite end of the house from the other. There was no other car parked outside, and the yard was tidy. No toys in the yard meant no children lived there. Only a grill and a few deck chairs looking out over the lake.

Malory stepped out of the car, walked toward the ledge of the opposing driveway, and looked down over the lake. There was the tree on the island swaying in the November breeze, covered in holiday decoration and holiday spirit. It was beautiful in the daylight. She couldn’t wait to see it at night all lit up.

The trees of the forest shadowed the house, and the wind blew cold through them, but this place warmed her. Already she loved it.

Maggie headed to the front door of the vacant side with her key in her hand. Malory followed as Maggie pushed open the door to a new beginning for her.

It was considered furnished, but there was only a couch, a chair, an end table, and a kitchen table. Malory couldn’t think of what more you’d need. She had her own bed, and her kitchen was packed and stored in her father’s garage.

“It’s nice.” 

“It’s a dump and I know it. But, I know you’ll take good care of it, and that’s why I’m going to work you out a deal.”

Malory shook her head as she walked in farther. Maggie always had a deal, but wasn’t that how she could afford the bakery without a loan from the bank? Thank goodness for Maggie Douglas.

The living room was small and overlooked the climb of the mountain on the west side. Malory could see the road rise up farther beyond them and hidden in the woods was another house, but not close enough to be neighborly. The kitchen with its dated linoleum floor was right off the living room. Dishes in the sink would need to always be cleaned immediately after eating or you’d see them from the front door. Then again, what would it matter? She was going to live all alone. No one would notice—or care—if there were dishes piled up. 

The bedroom was small and so was the bathroom. But it opened up to the generous deck outside, which was partitioned from her neighbor’s side of the deck. She wouldn’t see the lake from her side of the house.

She gave a little chuckle. Who in the world builds a duplex in the mountains like this, she wondered. Wasn’t that for city life? Get as many people into one place as you could?

Malory walked through the small house again and with more thought she remembered being there when she was little. It hadn’t always been a duplex. She looked around. No, it had been a full house once.

“Why did they divide this house up?” She asked as Maggie looked through all the cupboards, shaking her head.

“They really tore this up.” She turned to Malory and placed her hands on the counter. “Don’t you remember Pete and Angus Cross? They had one of those really dirty divorces back in the eighties. Neither of them would budge on anything. So they took the house and put a wall up.” Maggie laughed, crossing her arms over her chest. “She got the east side with the view and garage. He got the west side with the road. On a bad day he wouldn’t let her use the driveway to get to the road so she built a wall so he couldn’t see the lake.”

“What happened to them?”

“Got drunk. Got naked. Got pregnant and moved away.”

“What happened to him?”

“Oh, it was with him.” Maggie laughed. “Weirdest people I’d ever met. But they sold me this place cheap, and I got it fixed up enough to rent it out. Been making money on it ever since.”

“So what’s the deal you want to offer me?” Malory smiled as she leaned across the tiled counter.

“Fix it up. You have a year. You have to pay your utilities, but no rent. You put it all into the property.”

“Really?”

“Yep. What do you think?”

Malory gave it a moment’s thought and then smiled. She could use the time to think things through, that was for sure. Running her own business, alone, and fixing up her house, alone, would certainly give her time for that.

“I think I’ll take it.”

“Thought so.” She handed her a set of keys. “You sure about this?”

“Very sure.” Her smile widened.

“Good. The guy on the other side is a moody ass, but I think you can handle him.” Maggie gave her a wink as Malory’s smile disappeared.

Malory spent the rest of Friday and Saturday moving her belongings from her father’s house into her new one. He was spending all his time at the rink, and with Christopher gone and the pageant just around the corner, he couldn’t even offer to help.

She was fine doing it alone. She needed to learn to be fine doing everything alone. By Friday night she’d wrangled the mattress off the top of the Jeep, pushed it through the house on its side, and set up her bed. She unpacked her clothes and organized them into the closet. The rest came together easily on Saturday morning.

The sun was bright and the temperature had warmed enough to melt some of the snow that had built up on the front step. North-facing front doors, especially in the mountains, weren’t the best architectural designing. She’d started herself a list of things to pick up in town. Added to the top of the list was a snow shovel.

As she unpacked boxes, she turned up Tim McGraw and danced around her new space. Each time she heard a vehicle on the road she rushed to the window to see if maybe her neighbor had returned. Perhaps she could catch his “moody ass” on one of his good moods. Then she would be on the right side of his moods. Or she hoped anyway.

There was the slight fear too, that he was some lunatic living in the mountains and now she lived right next to him. He’d know her comings and goings, her sleep patterns, and her favorite food wrappers would be in the trash.

She shook her head. That kind of thinking would just turn into hysteria. She could easily lock herself in her house and never look outside if she let her mind wander too far.

But again, a car passed going up the mountain and she looked out again. Still no neighbor.

She cooked herself some dinner and ate at the kitchen table. It was looking like home. There were no television channels, and she didn’t care. She had a box full of DVDs she hadn’t seen in years. It might be fun to watch them, or have them on for noise for a while. There had been a box of pictures she’d found among her things, and she’d hung them up.

A separate box held discarded pictures of Alan. They were memories she’d keep, hidden in the dark recesses of the closet, but she’d keep them nonetheless. However, there was no use in hanging pictures of your ex-husband on your walls when you were starting all over.

Midnight rolled in, and when she laid her head on the pillow she immediately thought of Chris. It had been two days since she’d seen him, and even though the anger was easing the resentment was there. Emptiness loomed in her and she wrapped her arms around her stomach to comfort herself.

He had no right to act the way he had. He should have understood how she felt and left it at that. Hadn’t he felt the same way when he’d left her standing there in her prom dress?