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“I said no, Fletch. You’re going. All of you are going.”
He doesn’t wait for a reply.
He walks out the kitchen like the floor’s burning beneath him.
The screen door slams behind him a second later.
Benji curses and follows, his boots thudding like warning drums. “I’m not letting him do this alone.”
Carson’s right behind him. “We’re on his heels.”
And then I’m alone with Maggie.
The silence hits harder than anything else.
And all I can think is—
This is a man unraveling in real time, and no one can stop him.
The kitchen is quiet now.
Too quiet. I don’t know where Alex disappeared to, and Thorin, Benji and Carson haven’t come back yet.
The kind of silence that feels like a bruise—deep and spreading.
Benji and Carson went to walk it off. Alex is probably in the barn pretending not to panic-text the label. Thorin disappeared out the back door like he was about to combust and needed the cold air to stop him from going nuclear.
I’m still standing at the island, staring at the crack in the granite where Thorin’s fist landed.
“He’s not okay,” I mutter.
“I know,” comes the soft reply behind me.
I turn, and there she is.
Maggie.
Still in her house shoes, cardigan slung over her shoulders, hair pulled back into a low knot like it’s the only thing she can control right now. She looks tired. Like all of us. But beneath it—steel.
Maggie has always had that quiet strength that doesn’t shout to be noticed. She just… shows up. Anchors everyone else while the storm rages.
She crosses the room, her hands cradling a warm mug. “Sit, sweetheart. You’re vibrating like one of those damn baby bouncers.”
I obey. Mostly because she mom-voiced me. Partly because my knees actually feel a little weak from watching Thorin unravel.
She sets the mug in front of me—tea, of course. Not that I’ll drink it. But it’s the gesture.
“I’ll stay,” she says gently. “For as long as it takes. I’ll handle Eli. And the twins.”
I blink at her. “Maggie—”
“No arguments.” She gives me that look. The one that could stop a bull mid-charge. “Walker’s already on board. That man needs something to do besides pacing and fixing things that aren’t broken. He loves those babies. And Eli loves him. And he listens to me.”
I swallow hard. “It’s not just about logistics. It’s Thorin. He’s… I don’t think he knows how to leave her right now. I don’t think he knows how to be anything but furious.”
She nods. “That boy’s heart is cracked wide open. He’s holding all that grief in his fists because he doesn’t know where else to put it.”
I lean forward, elbows on the table, voice low. “Do you really think he’ll be ready to perform in two weeks? In New York? At Madison Square Garden, of all places?”
