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Oh, well. Maybe one day, Magaskawee would be the one traveling across the country. She’d pull into a small town and would run into him in a coffee shop. They would have a cup of some outrageously expensive blend whose name she couldn’t pronounce. Then, she and Jack would sit close together in cushy leather chairs and talk about worldly things …
It was nice to dream.
And although she knew that he had probably moved on hours ago, every time Magaskawee heard the rumble of a motorcycle coming down the road, her heart skipped a beat and her eyes searched for the man with the sea-blue eyes, the boyish grin, and the heart of a warrior.
As the next few hours had passed by, Magaskawee was sad to see nothing of Jack Winston, and by mid-afternoon she’d become resigned to the fact that she would never see him again. Magaskawee felt such a keen sense of disappointment that it wrapped around her heart and squeezed tight until she wanted to cry from the pain of it. When she looked down the long stretch of lonely highway, it seemed to mock her with an empty promise. She yearned to get away and erase Jack from her mind. However, quitting early for the day was not an option she could afford to take. She could not let her emotions dictate her earnings. If she wanted to have a future, she needed every cent. So when the roar of a single motorcycle came sounding down the road, Magaskawee didn’t even bother to glance up.
“Hey Maggie!” a deep voice shouted above the roar of an idling engine.
Magaskawee turned around so quickly that she almost toppled over the display case.
Jack Winston was off his bike in a flash, helping her put it right again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Magaskawee stood frozen to the spot. The sound of his voice sent a chill down her spine, and she had trouble catching her breath. The best she could do was stare at him.
“Damn.” He brushed his hand through his hair. “You don’t remember me? Last night, in the bar? Saved your brother from getting the shit beat out of him? That was me.” He bobbed and weaved in a boxing move in front of her. Then, he laughed, and those dimples popped out in his cheeks.
How was it possible that Jack was even better looking in the light of day? She noticed small things now that she had missed the night before: the fullness of his lips, the fine laugh lines around his mouth, the small scar on his jaw. He was more handsome than she had even thought. Best of all, he looked at her with the kind of warmth and light that made Magaskawee want to bask in forever.
Because … those eyes.
“Of course, I remember you,” she said shyly. “But my name isn’t Maggie.”
Jack’s grin deepened. “Yeah, I know. It’s Maga … what?”
“Magaskawee.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. But I try never to use words with more than two syllables.” He winked at her. “I hope that Maggie is okay with you. Otherwise, we’re gonna have to keep doing this embarrassing thing where I keep getting it wrong and you keep correcting me, and after a while I just wind up yelling out … ‘hey, you’ whenever I want to get your attention. We both know that ain’t gonna go over too well.”
Magaskawee laughed and shook her head. “Maggie, it is, then.”
Jack nodded, satisfied. “How’s your brother doing? He okay?”
“I left before he woke up, but I saw him come in last night, and yes, he was all right. Thank you for helping him out. I’m not sure if he would have made it out of that alley alive this time.” She sighed.
“This time?” Jack scowled at her. “Jesus. There have been other times?”
“I’m afraid so. But just one other time … he spent a week in the hospital with broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a broken nose, bruised kidneys … You get the picture.” Magaskawee grimaced.
“What the hell?” Jack scrubbed a hand down his face. “Have to tell you, honey, that your brother is an idiot. Not only is he an idiot, he’s an idiot with a major gambling problem. If a beating like that didn’t stop him the first time? Then nothing and no one’s gonna ever stop him, but himself. You get that, right?”
“Oh, I get it. Trust me, I get it,” she said with resignation.
“Good. Because make no mistake here, those dickheads in that alleyway? They are not playing around. He’s dealing with some real hardcore bastards.” Then Jack laser focused on Magaskawee with those intense blue eyes that seemed to look right through to her soul. “And you? You going in and trying to stop that, alone, with nothing but a wooden bat? Exactly how much power do you think you’d be able to put behind that at your full weight? My boys and I pack two-twenty, two-thirty at least, and with combat training to back that, it took us a while to put those fuckers down. You’re too smart a girl to do a dumb thing like that. You can’t help your brother until he wants to get help, and by the looks of it, he ain’t there yet. Sad to say, he might never get there. You understand?”
“I u-understand,” she stammered. Magaskawee knew Jack was right and everything he said was true, but she also knew that if the situation arose again, she wouldn’t hesitate to try and help Taki again. It was a lose-lose situation, and one that Magaskawee honestly saw no escape from, but she was not going to tell Jack that.
“Glad to hear it.” Jack broke into a sudden smile and her heart skipped a beat. Then he looked at the earrings on the table. “These are beautiful, Maggie. Did you make them?”
“Yes.” Magaskawee turned to the display, grateful to move beyond the matter of Taki and his poor life choices.
“Seriously incredible. Like little works of art.” He picked up a dainty earring off the rack and ran a careful finger over the colorful beadwork. “I can’t even imagine working with something as tiny as these beads and then forming them into these intricate patterns. Very cool.”
She blushed with pleasure. “Thanks. I’m glad you like them.”
“Like them?” Jack held them up to the sunlight. “They’re amazing. Yeah, I like ‘em, but Irene would fuckin’ love ’em.”
Magaskawee felt her insides twist with an unpleasant and irrational search of jealousy.
