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“You’re so funny. That was totally out of character,” Katrina said. “Annie Markley, stripping on the dock? Not on your life.”
“Oh shit, here come the men,” Annie interrupted, pointing to the opening trail in the trees.
Three men on horseback came through, all of their eyes riveted on Annie standing on the dock in her bra.
Maggie grabbed a bottle of wine out of the fridge, three paper cups, and a corkscrew, and ran from the cottage before Justin saw her. All she wanted to do was sit with her friends and pretend that she didn’t have a care in the world.
“The guys are back,” she said, walking down the dock. “Probably curiouser from hell wondering what’s up with you, Annie.”
“We saw them. I suppose we should go help them with the food.”
“No way. They can handle it,” Maggie said. “You know me. If it was up to me, we’d do potluck on paper plates, but Justin wants to grill so I say let ’em at it.”
“Are you going to let him tear up your kitchen?” Katrina asked. “The talk is the next project here is a new kitchen for Maggie.”
“No. I really don’t want that. He’s chomping at the bit to have a new kitchen and I like my old one. I say if he wants a new kitchen, he should add one on. I don’t want to tear out the cabinets my great grandfather built out of cypress cut right here on our land. This place is his handiwork. We can use it as a butler’s pantry if we must, but it stays.”
“I guess I hit a nerve,” Katrina said. “The only reason I mentioned it was because he’s been saying for a year that Maggie wants a new kitchen.”
“He’s nuts,” she replied, popping the cork. “To get back to our conversation, you’re not pregnant yet, are you? I mean, I know it’s only been a day since we last talked about it…”
“I could be,” she said, winking. “We had sex and didn’t use anything.”
“You’d better pass then,” Maggie said, handing a full glass to Annie.
“Forget it. The sperm hasn’t even met the egg yet.” She reached for the wine. “So, what are we going to do about Epiphany?”
“It’s this Tuesday,” Annie said. “Do you want to get together? Obviously, a party is out this year.”
“My wedding was our party,” Maggie said. “Let’s the three of us do something.”
“Lunch and church,” Katrina said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“You know I promised to start going to church with Justin, but he didn’t say anything this morning and I didn’t press. We haven’t been since the wedding.”
“You went on Christmas, Maggie,” Katrina said. “That counts.”
“When you need to go, you’ll go,” Annie said. “It’s between you and God.”
“You know how I feel about it,” Katrina said softly, who went every morning. “I’m just lucky that Dave is the same way. It’s the way we start our day. We don’t even discuss it. I go early, before the baby is even awake, and he goes on his way into the station.”
“I could do that,” Maggie said. “But it’s easier said than done. Going into town every morning would take over an hour out of my day.”
“You can commune with God right here at Bayou Cottage on the back of Dale,” Annie said. “You don’t have to go to church. Being at church is important to Katrina because she needs the liturgy. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“I do need it. The order of worship, each thing that goes into it, I can’t live without it.”
Annie heard what she was saying, but it didn’t apply to her. It wasn’t the absence of faith that had bothered her; it was the exodus of it when Steve betrayed her. She’d never felt so alone. Abandoned.
“Speaking of Epiphany, I think I just had another one.”
They looked at her, concerned. “What is it?” Maggie asked softly.
“I’ve blamed God for Steve doing what he did to me. I’m letting it influence decisions I need to make about Chris.”
“Honey, that’s human nature. We all allow our past to try to screw up our present. Look what I did with Justin. I let the way Russ betrayed me influence how I trusted Justin. It almost destroyed us.”
Russ was Maggie’s ex, who had an affair with her bridesmaid, even bringing her on the honeymoon.
