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“It was at the computer desk when she came over.”
“Are you sure? Couldn’t you have misplaced it somewhere?” Maggie’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m sure.” He’d looked at that cigar almost every night. It was all he had left of his former partner.
“I hoped you were different.” Maggie’s green eyes filled with fire—a forest fire.
“Different? What do you mean?” Was this where she told him that she’d expected him to perform a miracle on her troubled teen?
“That you wouldn’t assume every kid is out to make trouble. Lexi’s been through a tough time, but she wouldn’t steal from you. Not when you invited her into your home.”
Well, he hadn’t invited her as much as her mother had, but that was beside the point. He’d allowed her to use his computer, and this was how he’d been repaid. No point other than to chalk this one up to experience.
Another reason to mistrust kids, as if he needed another one. “This is a matter of logic. We don’t need a full-blown investigation.”
“Of course not. Why should you be inconvenienced?” Maggie folded her arms across her chest.
“All I know is the cigar is missing, Lexi was there, and I want it back.” Tension hovered between them, thick as early-morning fog.
The color drained from Maggie’s face. She pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down with a slump. “A cigar?”
“I know it’s weird that she took it, but maybe it was just a childish prank. Anyway, the cigar belonged to my partner back in Virginia. I don’t smoke and it has sentimental value.”
And what would a kid want with a cigar? Obviously, the whole thing had been a challenge. She’d taken it from him, perhaps as a way to repay him for mistaking her for a burglar. For staring at her mother too long. God only knew why.
“If she took it, will you press charges?” Now Maggie’s lower lip quivered, and it hit him worse than a kick in the gut.
Something had changed, and now she believed him. He wished he had any idea of why. Just the thought he’d pressed charges on something like this…what must she think of him?
“I won’t. I just want the cigar back.”
“I’ll talk to her when she gets home, and, if she took it, she will not only return it, but I’ll make sure she’s punished for this.”
“I appreciate it. And, Maggie, kids do things for reasons you and I can’t even begin to imagine.” He’d learned that tough lesson, and had the scars to show for it.
“There’s no excuse for this if she did it. I don’t know what’s happening with my daughter anymore. But I will get to the bottom of it. I promise you.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, but it was better for her to know the truth now since it would get worse from here on out.
He’d seen it before.
Soon Maggie would realize that she no longer had any control over her daughter.
After Jack walkedout the front door, Maggie worked up the nerve to glance at herself in the mirror. Her hair stuck up on one side, lying flat on the other, and one eye had a black smudge from the mascara she’d failed to completely remove last night. Jack had seen her. Like this. Vera would kill her for even leaving the house in this condition.
But her looks were the least of her problems. A nagging suspicion told her that against all reason, Lexi had taken that cigar because when Jack mentioned the missing item the truth had slammed into Maggie. Still, she didn’t want to believe it. There wouldn’t be any point in explaining it to Jack. He wouldn’t understand. No one could. She had a difficult time understanding it herself.
When they’d moved back to California, she’d been a zombie, packing boxes without any focus. It hadn’t been possible or the right time to throw anything away, and so Matt’s clothes hadbeen packed along with his books, tools, and every memento he’d ever owned from the time of their marriage.
The Teacher of the Year Award he’d been awarded in his seventh year of teaching, the Best Coach Award for the athletic association in which Lexi had played, the prized Cuban cigar given to him by Richard on the day of Lexi’s birth.
Every one of Matt’s items, other than his clothes, had been misplaced in the move, and since then Lexi had tried to replace as many as possible.
Maggie played along, purchasing a Father of the Year mug similar to the one he’d drank coffee out of every morning, a flannel shirt similar to his favorite one, while she continued to search for the boxes with no luck.
And now Lexi had stepped it all up a notch, humiliating them both by stealing from their neighbor. A police officer. Maggie considered that her daughter could be that manipulative. She’d probably noticed Maggie’s awkward attempts to find her a mentor and put a plug in it. Jack Butler would want to have nothing to do with either one of them again, and she couldn’t very well blame him.
She’d always given Lexi a modicum of privacy in her own bedroom, but perhaps that had been a mistake. Now she marched into Lexi’s room because she needed answers. Answers Lexi was not going to volunteer.
