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They finished the lemonade and she didn’t offer him more, hoping he’d leave without her having to make up something just to get rid of him. He was so sweet and so cute, but she just wasn’t in the mood.
After a few seconds of silence, he stood up.
“Thank you for stopping in,” she said, standing too, her most beatific smile in place. “I needed a break. And thank you for offering to help.”
“Seriously, Maggie, anytime. Send me a text and I’ll be here with my scraper. Although by the looks of it, you’re going to be done in no time.”
She took Brulee’s leash off a nail on the porch railing and hooked it to her halter. “We’ll walk you down. I haven’t been to the water today.”
“You’d better spray. The bugs are awful.”
She sprayed and then sprayed Steve too, and he covered Brulee’s eyes and they gave her a little spritz. “Safe for dogs,” Maggie had read.
They took their time on the way to the dock. The urgency to get rid of Steve had diminished now that he was on his way. She felt a little guilty, but when he started the boat and waved goodbye, the relief was tremendous.
***
On her way back to the porch, she heard a high-performance engine at the gate. “You’re kidding,” she mumbled. “Come on, Brulee, let me carry you.”
Her heart literally skipped a beat when she saw who it was. Russ. Flooded with a mix of emotions—dread, sadness, anger, regret—seeing him again would take a week from which to recover.
Debating whether or not to continue to the gate, she decided she’d talk to him, but he wasn’t setting a foot on the property.
As she got closer, she could see the despair on his face, and that just pissed her off more.
“Russ, go away. Don’t make me take out a restraining order.”
“I just wanted to say again how sorry I am. I didn’t mean for you to disappear into the boondocks.”
She was going to kill her mother—who else would have told him where she was?
“It’s none of your business. Leave, please. I have nothing to say to you.”
“I thought you’d give me a chance to make it up to you when you accepted my payout.”
“Russ, I never saw that money. It went from your lawyer’s hand to my bank account.”
“I didn’t have to give you anything.”
He’d married her without a prenup, then openly betrayed her with her best friend. Maggie hoped Claudia was worth it. But she wasn’t having the discussion. It was too late now.
Any rational conversation after that comment was impossible, so she turned around and walked back to the cottage, so happy she’d locked the gate and kept it locked.
He was grousing at her back, his voice getting louder and more agitated, and she was getting frightened, so she turned around again.
“Russ, there are police out here, too, believe it or not. Leave now before I call the sheriff.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just upset.”
“Well, good,” she muttered and kept walking. “Please leave. Leave me alone.”
Up on the porch, she closed the gate and put Brulee down. The binoculars were on a shelf in the living room, and she quickly got them and looked at the gate to make sure he wasn’t climbing over it in his expensive suit. But it looked like he’d gotten back in his car and was trying to turn it around in the narrow space.
A minute later, her phone beeped. “Honestly, I had more peace in the city,” she said out loud.
It was a text from an unfamiliar number.
This is Justin. I’m in the wood on Spooky but saw you had company. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it sounded like you might have an issue brewing.
