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Two weeks apart.
And, yeah, it might be ridiculous, but I’m pretty sure I’m in love with the woman. “Wait!” she snaps, pushing me away.
I openly pout.
“Youghostedme, Jamie.”
“I’m sorry!” I whine. “I just thought it would be easier if—”
I’m in her arms again before I can even finish, and it feels… it feels likehome.
“Miss Jamie!” Big H calls, walking toward us with his arms outstretched. He wraps both his girlfriend and me in his arms, and I find myself giggling. “Thank God you’re back. You almost wrecked my Maggie Mags.”
We pull apart at the same time Maggie asks, “How long can you stay for?”
“You think I’m crazy enough to let her go again?” Holden says from behind me. I turn, noticing him watching us with emotion in his eyes I can’t decipher. He stops beside me, says, “I have something I’ve got to do. Are you good here?”
I frown. “You want me to come with you?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head. “You stay. Spend some time with Mags.”
Maggie makes a sound that I can only describe aseekand claps. “I’ll take good care of her,” she says, marking a cross over her heart. “I promise.”
Ten minutes later, Maggie’s holding my arm as I rollerblade through the greenhouse. “You’rereallybad at this,” she says through a giggle.
“I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong,” I laugh out. “I’ve spent hours watching videos, and it looks so easy.”
“You’ll get it!” Big H encourages, pushing a flatbed dolly with large ceramic pots. He’s been working while I’ve stolen Maggie and Holden is doing God knows what.
“Should you be working?” I whisper. “I feel bad for distracting you.”
“Pshh.” She waves a hand in the air, dismissing the thought. “Honestly, I don’t even know what I do all day. I just like to be around my fuckinghunk of man-meat.”
“Maggie!” I laugh out, almost losing my balance. I take baby steps—rolls?—toward the bench overlooking the water fountain and sit my ass down.
Maggie sits down beside me and nudges my side. “I’m glad you’re back, Jamie. I missed you, And Holden—God, he was a mess when you left.”
“Did he tell you what happened?” I ask, loosening the straps of the rollerblades.
“About you going to him the morning you left and unloading your feelings and that Britney girl was there?”
My head snaps up, eyes on hers. “You meanBrianna?”
“Whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes. “She wasn’t the one for him, so her name is irrelevant.”
“You thinkI’mthe one for him?”
She shrugs. “I mean, I think you’re the one forme, so it doesn’t matter what he feels.” She stares ahead, saying, “You’re staying, right? At least for a little while?”
I nod, even though she can’t see it. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. Because I wasn’t kidding about Holden. He really was a mess. I’d never seen him like that. Even during the summer after you left the first time.” Her eyes meet mine. “Have you told him yet?”
I shake my head. “He says it won’t change anything, so…”
She watches me a moment, working her bottom lip, and I know what she’s thinking because I’m thinking it too. Eventually, it has to come out, and when it does…
“Maggie,” I start, slipping the rollerblades off. I bring my knees up, hug them to my chest. “Do you know about how Holden’s grandma used to take him to this spot in the garden and watch the sunrise?”
