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She didn’t show any nerves at all until we got back to the room.
It was fascinating to see the burden of everything Joey did lift from her strong shoulders. She was lighter. Quicker to smile.
Relieved.
And I was right there with her. I’ve never been so relieved for someone to have intel. Because I already knew most of what she found, and I couldn’t tell her. Now, she understands what I do. There are no more secrets. No more accounts to find or secrets lurking that could spring up and hurt her.
She has all of the information.
And I can breathe a sigh of relief and be with the woman I’m completely in love with. We can build a relationship without Joey The Lemon hanging over our heads.
Maggie stirs next to me as we begin our descent into Seattle. She looks over at me and grins.
“We’re almost home,” I say and take her hand in mine.
“We still have a ferry ride,” she replies with a yawn. “But that’s okay. Did you sleep?”
“No.” I kiss her hand. “But I’m glad you did. Did you know that you snore?”
Her green eyes widen in horror. “I do not.”
“I would have taken a video, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
“Cameron Cox, I do not snore.”
She glances around to make sure that no one is laughing at her, and I can’t help but chuckle.
“You’re not funny.”
“I’m sort of funny.” I kiss her hand again. “You didn’t snore. Much.”
“Since when are you so mean?”
“Mean? Me?”
She simply glares at me and then snorts and gets her area ready for landing.
“You’ll be staying the night at my place,” I inform her.
“I will?”
“Yes. You don’t have hot water at your house, and I’m sure you’ll want a hot shower.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, I definitely want that. I’ll call the repair guy in the morning. Hopefully, he can fit me in right away. I also need to buy a car.”
“We can go into the city on your day off and find one,” I offer.
“Can’t I just buy one online? I don’t care what vehicle I get as long as it runs.”
“Well, you can, but I would think you’d want to test-drive something before you pay thousands of dollars for it.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She scrunches her nose. “Okay, we’ll go later this week.”
“You really have no interest in your choice of car? No vehicle that you’re dying to have?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, baby, we’ll have to work on that.”
“I should be tired,” Maggie says two hours later after we walk into my house, and I set our bags inside. “And I am, but I’m not quite sleepy. Do you have any food here? I can make us grilled cheese sandwiches or something.”
She opens the fridge to check out the contents.
“I totally can. You have all of the ingredients. What do you think?”
“You make it, I’ll eat it.”
Her face lights up in a big smile. “Fun. Middle-of-the-night grilled cheese. Do you have wine?”
“I do. Red or white?”
“Since I’ve never paired a wine with grilled cheese before, let’s go with white.”
She sets a pan on the gas stove, and armed with butter and bread, gets to work while I uncork a bottle of white wine and pour two glasses.
“People pair wine with cheese all the time,” I remind her. “This is a fancy meal.”
“Right.” She winks and piles cheese on a sandwich. “When I was a kid, I remember getting up in the middle of the night and finding my da in the kitchen making one of these. He said he’d never heard of it until he came to the States, and it’s a delight that every person should eat at least once a month.”
“That sounds like him.”
She smiles softly. I know she’s very close to her father.
“Were you surprised that they showed up the other day?”
“I was shocked. When I found them at the pub the day that you and Kane pissed me off, I just started to cry.”
“Maggie, I’m sorry—”
“No, it’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but I’m fine now. It was just a lot of emotion, and I fell apart for a minute. It’s not a big deal. I love that they’re here until after Maeve has the baby. It means they’ll be here for months, and there’s nothing better than that.”
She slides a finished sandwich onto a plate, cuts it in half, diagonally, and passes it over to me, then gets to work making another.
I crunch into the crispy, hot grilled cheese and moan.
“Good?” she asks.
“Holy shit. I had the ingredients for this?”
Maggie laughs and nods. “I could have added some of that turkey you have in the deli drawer, but I wasn’t sure how long it’s been in there.”
“Probably best you left it off,” I say and take another bite. “We should make this a regular thing.”
“If you like this, you should try it with my homemade tomato soup.”
