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“I don’t want to bother you with that. But it’s only fair you know why she did this. Lexi’s father passed away last year in an accident, and not to make any excuses, but Lexi took the cigar because she’s trying to replace her dad’s things. When we moved here, there were so many boxes. We brought everything, but now I can’t find the missing boxes with the things Lexi wants to remember him with, and one of them was a silly cigar. I’ve tried to tell her she can’t replace her dad with things, but she’s obviously working through it. I keep thinking it would help if we could only find the boxes. They have to be there somewhere.”
“Where do you have left to look?”
He spoke again without thinking. When would he remember that none of this was any of his concern any longer? He had Robert’s cigar back.
“In the garage. We stuffed it so full of boxes I can’t even park my car in there. The problem is, the movers stacked the boxes so high.” She rubbed her temples.
“I can help you with that.” Apparently he was no longer in control of his brain around Maggie when he’d just volunteered to spend time in a dusty garage searching through someone else’s boxes.
“I have no right to ask you.” Maggie’s lips formed a half smile despite her watery eyes.
“You didn’t ask me, and I don’t mind. How about this Friday?”
He had the day off and planned to spend it hiking since the weather had turned into spring overnight, but he couldn’t do that all day.
“You’re very kind. I was right about you. I honestly wouldn’t blame you if you wanted nothing to do with either one of us again.”
And if it were anyone else but Maggie, he might have to agree.
So he hadn’t pitiedher and told her how sorry he was, like everyone else did when they heard the horrible news about Matt. Maggie wondered about that. Then, again, he was a police officer and had probably heard much worse. And maybe he realized that offering sad platitudes about the injustice of the world did nothing to ease a person’s pain. In fact, if anything, it brought it all back up again, front and center.
At least today maybe the boxes would be found, and they’d move forward to the next chapter in their lives. But even though the items in the missing boxes were Lexi’s current fixation, Maggie couldn’t help but think that there would be another issue around the corner. Mementos would only be a temporary solution. Lexi needed to turn to God to heal the hurt, but Maggie couldn’t force her. She’d have to get there on her own.
Still, it had to get done even if Maggie hadn’t been able to face the garage in months. Fear of spiders kept her away, and regret. One of these boxes might just send her back into the darkness again, and she couldn’t afford another few months of fading away into the comfort of sleep.
On Friday, Jack arrived in the late morning wearing jeans and a faded U.S. Marshal t-shirt. Maggie tried not to notice how to shirt strained against the hard planes of his chest, and she briefly imagined what he might look like with his shirt off.Stop it.Why couldn’t her neighbor be homely?
He frowned as he surveyed the mess of boxes.
“Hey, you weren’t kidding.”
“I meant it when I said we brought everything.”
He got to work immediately, pulling the ladder near the row of boxes that were stacked seven-feet high and three-boxes deep.
“We need a plan. How do you want to do this?” he asked.
For the next few hours they worked together, Jack bringing down boxes that had been out of her reach for months. She’d look in them, make a judgment call, and he’d return them back to their original place.
The plastic boxes were easy to work with but when it came to the cardboard boxes Maggie held her breath. Spiders loved cardboard, and for that reason, she’d worn gloves in addition to a long sleeved cotton shirt.
Inside a cardboard box marked “Lexi,” Maggie found a treasure of early art work.
A drawing Lexi made in first grade of her dad fishing, her childish scrawl ‚Mah dadi luv to fsh' a reminder of the precious little girl who was still in there somewhere.
Maggie set the drawing aside. Lexi would want this, and it might bring some comfort. Stiffly, she brushed aside a cobweb with her gloved hand.
And there around the lid of the box, the maker of the webs crawled out. Maggie dropped the drawing and jumped back almost as fast as the spider did. It made no sense, but suddenly she could feel the spider, or maybe its twin, crawling around in her hair.
“Yeow.”
She danced around and swatted at her hair until she remembered she wasn’t alone in the garage, and probably looked like a lunatic. But still she couldn’t help it as she continued to whip her hair around in hopes the spider would release its hold on her.
“Is it in my hair? Because I feel like it’s in my hair.” Why hadn’t she thought to wear a hat as well?
In between jiggles and head whips, Jack climbed down the ladder and moved toward her. She forced herself to still as he approached. He searched through her hair, one hand touching it lightly and the other holding her chin still.
“Sorry. No spider.” He removed his hands, stood back, and stared in her eyes.
