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“Tell me! How’d you get rid of him?”

Calista explained he needed to get home because he was traveling all week.

“How did you stand staying with him after he said that to the kids? You must have been furious.”

She admitted how frightened she had been, having to stay in the RV with him that night.

“It’s really a contradiction. He’s so passive-aggressive. He told the kids something he had no business saying. When I asked him how he could be so insensitive, his excuse was that he thought they should know the truth.

“But then be so generous to them. For instance, he bought all six kids iPads.”

“No way!”

“Yes, Alphé’s kids left them at the RV. But he made me take them. I have them here. Friday evening, he spent a hour lying on a blanket outside, showing them the stars. That’s just his MO. But then he’ll butt in like he did, wreaking havoc.”

“He’s a know-it-all control freak.”

Calista thought,If you only knew how right you are,thinking of his accusation that Alphé might not have tried to save Rodney from drowning.

“Austin is the most available guy, the only one who has looked my way in years, and look what that got me.”

“The thing is, if you remove what happened with Alphé’s children, Austin is perfect for you. It’s him thinking he knows what’s best for another guy’s kids. Alphé knew he needed to tell them as soon as possible. But he practically just found out himself. He’d do it in his own time.

“Oh well, it’s done with, and all is well. Maybe you’ll be able to get past it.”

“It really depends on my brother-in-law. If he can forgive me, then I can forgive Austin, maybe.”

“There’s nothing to forgive you for, Calista, okay? Get that out of your mind right now.”

***

Sunday at Bayou Cottage, Justin and his brother, Dave, and a few more friends planned on digging footings for the new barn for Spooky and Dale. But before anyone arrived, Maggie and Justin took a long trail ride around her property.

“This is so nice,” she said. “It’s exactly what I hoped for when I moved here, exactly what I imagined I’d do. Not on horseback, of course; that’s all because of you. But hiking around here, doing projects on the cottage, it’s everything I hoped it would be.”

“We’ll be doing a real barn raising here, too.”

“Yeah, that’s not exactly what I had in mind, though, Justin. Too many people.”

Feeling like she was losing control of her life scared her, and there was no turning back now.

“Sorry about that, Maggie. They asked, and I couldn’t turn down the help.”

They rode along at a nice pace, not a trot but a fast walk. But she wanted to slap Dale’s butt and take off like a banshee.

Bordering on the irrational, Maggie knew it was best to keep her mouth shut. If Dave was coming to help dig the footings, that meant that Amber was probably not far behind. Amber didn’t need to know she was pregnant, either, and if she already knew, that meant Justin had to have told her. It would be an issue she’d deal with another time. It took every ounce of her will not to ask him anything about Amber working with him. He might have been trying to tell her Friday night, but she’d put the kibosh on it, and he never brought it up again.

“I’m helping, you know,” she said. “I’ll be right there alongside you with a shovel.”

He knew better than to cross her. She’d painted the entire cottage alone; if she wanted to dig trenches, that was entirely up to her.

“Good, I’m glad. I should have planned on serving food.”

“I’ll have water and coffee, and there’s that disgusting box of stale pastries my mother insisted I bring home.”

“From last Sunday? Ha! I finished those things off days ago.”

“I thought you gave up sugar for Lent?” Maggie asked, smirking.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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