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She even attempted to sit on his lap, but he stiffened up like she was contagious.
“Justin?”
He stood up, squeezing past her. “I’m pissed! Do you have any idea how dangerous that could have been?”
“But it wasn’t. As you see, I’m fine.”
He quickly went down the stairs, and she followed him, trying to reassure him.
“Maggie, when we talked about you getting on a ladder alone before, I made it clear how I felt, how worried I’d be.”
“Which is precisely why I didn’t tell you. Justin, I’m a responsible adult. I had my phone with me. I used the roof harness hooks and had myself strapped to the roof. Go look at the hooks that someone put up here a hundred years ago. I tied a rope around my waist and looped it through the hook.”
Breathing heavily and clenching and unclenching his fists, Maggie guessed this was Justin angry. She’d seen him steaming before but never at her.
“I’d better leave,” he said, resolute, banging out the storm door back onto the porch.
“Justin, no way.”
“Yes way. I’m ready to fight, and the best thing for me to do is just walk away.”
“Well, walk away, but don’t leave me. We were going to decorate the cottage today. I have everything ready.”
“Go ahead, decorate,” he said. “I’m not in the mood now.”
“Justin—”
He left without kissing her, a big no-no, got into his truck, not looking at her or waving, and when he drove through the gate, he left it open, something he’d never done before.
Confused and numb, she walked down the driveway and locked it after he was out of sight.
“Wow, what a baby,” she shaking her head as she stared at the dust his truck had stirred up.
Was this his method of conflict resolution? She looked back at the cottage with the sun shining on her beautiful paint job, and realized he’d shamed her. He made her feel awful because she disappointed him over something that was technically none of his business, then knowing how she felt about trust issues, got in his truck and drove away.
He had so much power over her, everything she’d planned for that weekend came screeching to a halt. The work for the rescue, preparing for Christmas, which was his damn idea, even taking the dog for a walk held no interest for her at all. Brulee stood on the porch, locked in by the gate, and she walked back to the cottage to let her out to pee.
“I’m sorry, girl, no walk this morning.”
They went back inside, locking up and throwing the dead bolt and chain in case he came back. She went upstairs and, with the towel still wrapped around her head, got into bed for the rest of the morning.
At one she woke up, sorry she’d wasted the day. Her hair was still damp from being mashed in the towel, so she shook it out and stuck it in a ponytail.
“Come on, Brulee, I’m so sorry,” she said, kissing the top of her head.
Brulee followed Maggie down the stairs and waited at the door for her walk. Maggie got her leash and a bone, and they set out to do the long walk around the perimeter of the one-hundred-acre property. That afternoon, they saw the new band of horses close by, and the original band right in the woods next to her open yard. They hiked the trail, smelling winter in the air, the dry, cooler weather that was perfect for festivals and festivities. But she wasn’t feeling festive at all. They made the loop in just under an hour, and she went to the gate and changed the combination on the lock. It felt a little juvenile, but then she decided it wasn’t. He was acting like a child, and until he came around and apologized, she wasn’t giving him access.
Everyone was in love; Ted and Kelly had moved into his spacious home with Danny. They were playing house, with Kelly finishing up the last work on the old rescue and going home to make dinner for Ted, who was contrite and apologetic to his employee Amber, especially when he found out Sheriff Chastain had moved in with her.
Annie and Steve were in heaven after Kelly told them they could move into her house, which was owned by their parents, as soon as she was confident about Ted. She wanted to have a place to go if it didn’t work out with him, and decided a week was long enough.
Even Gus and Grace had gone to the justice of the peace and got married that Monday that she started her paint job.
Yes, everyone was moving forward, but she was moving backward.
“Come on, Brulee, you must be starving.”
They went back into the cottage, and after Maggie fed Brulee her late breakfast, she looked at her phone, and there were calls from Justin with no voicemail. No messages on the landline machine, either. Oh well, he’d talk when he was ready.
