"Hello?" Linda stopped when she saw her. "Are you still up?"
"I… uh…” Maggie cleared her throat.
Michael stepped out of the living room just then.
“Oh, hi, big brother. You’re up too?” Linda greeted him with a big smile.
“Yes, we were waiting for you and watching a movie,” Michael explained. The words poured out his mouth at a high speed. “Then we fell asleep and woke up now when we heard the car pulling into the driveway.”
“Yes, we were watching some Karate movie,” Maggie’s words came out just as fast as she started to over-explain. “I think all the popcorn and mugs of cocoa made me doze off.”
“Okay!” Linda said, frowning as she looked from Michael to Maggie. “Are you okay?” Her frown deepened. “You both look a little flushed.”
“It’s from sleep,” Michael replied a little too quickly. “We’re sleep flust… flushed.”
Linda just looked at both of them nodding but Michael could tell his sister was not convinced by their explanation.
“How… uh,” Maggie started to ask, her voice a little hoarse still. She cleared her throat. “How was your date?”
Maggie moved the subject away from their flushed and flustered demeanors. There was the smallest pause. Linda's whole face went soft.
"It was lovely," Linda answered quietly. "I had a really great time."
“Well, I’m glad,” Michael said honestly. His sister needed to be taken out and dined by a decent man after that idiot Richard.
His eyes moved from his sister to Maggie wondering how these two wonderful women had ended up with the terrible husbands they had. Husbands that had not appreciated them at all. The thought sparked a spurt of anger that shot through him.
"I should get to bed," Michael said. "I have an early morning tomorrow.”
“I should get to bed too,” Maggie said. “I have an early fitting in the morning.”
“Me too,” Linda said and glanced at Maggie. “We can catch up tomorrow.”
“Good,” Maggie said.
“Good night little sister,” Michael said, stepping forward and kissing her cheek. “I’m glad you had a good time.”
“Good night Michael,” Linda hugged him back.
"Good night, Maggie," Michael said hesitating for a moment wondering if he should give her a kiss on the cheek then decided against it.
“Good night, Michael,” Maggie replied, her eyes meeting his and for a second they held. He gave her a small smile before turning to leave.
He climbed the stairs with a mind full of their soft kiss and as he climbed between the cool sheets closing his eyes Maggie’s face drifted into his dreams.
MAGGIE
Maggie sat at the drafting table in the back office of her boutique with a soft pencil in her hand and the faintest trace of a smile on her lips that had not, in all honesty, left her face since she’d woken up.
The sketch in front of her was a rough sketch for a bridesmaid gown the celebrity client wanted for her sister. Maggie had been working on it for an hour and had managed maybe two new lines. The rest of the time her pencil had been still on the page, and her mind had been miles away, on a sofa in Heart House in the early morning, with Michael. She touched her fingertips to her lips without thinking about it, then caught herself doing it and dropped her hand back to the pencil.
"Stop it, Maggie," Maggie muttered to her own sketchbook. "You are a grown woman, not a giggly school girl."
She sighed and turned the page, smiling as she looked at the sketch she’d been doing in between the dress. It was a picture of Michael. “Oh, good grief,” Maggie hissed, disgusted with herself. “It’s high school all over again with me having a huge crush on my best friend's older brother.” She breathed. “It’s likeone of those bad romance novels: Falling for My Best Friend’s Brother.” She started at the sketch of Michael. “I could write it with real-time experience.”
Her phone rang on the corner of the desk, distracting her from her thoughts, and she saw the name on the screen was her celebrity client, who was coming in this morning for a fitting. She sighed and shook her head.
“Seriously, if you cancel again, I can’t be held responsible if your dress isn’t done on time,” Maggie muttered to herself before answering the phone.
