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“Mr. Good Housekeeping doesn’t even have a sofa I can crash on, and I won’t let him take the floor. I’m only staying one night. I hope it’s not too much to ask, but can I stay with you? Or I can always rent a room at the motel in town.”
“You’re not doing that.” Jack scowled.
“Why waste money? You can sleep in my bedroom, and I’ll take the hideaway bed in my couch,” Maggie said.
“This is ridiculous. I can sleep on the floor,” Jack said.
“Absolutely not.” Kimberly shook her head.
“Maggie, the only way I’ll do this is if I take the hideaway bed.”
She didn’t look like the kind of woman a person argued with, and Maggie nodded. “Would you like to come in?”
She took in the knowledge that Kimberly and Jack were obviously only friends and let it settle around her heart.
“I’d love to. Jack has told me so much about this town. We went hiking today, and I got to see your spectacular lake. You’re so fortunate to live in such beautiful surroundings.”
Maggie gazed at Jack, who looked as if he wanted to run again, panic written all over his face. Was it something about Maggie that made him want to run? A woman could get a complex.
He sat at her kitchen table, not participating much in the conversation except for the occasional nod, glancing down at his cellphone as though he prayed it would ring.
Kimberly talked about her daughters, and Virginia, and how much they all missed Jack. But when Lexi walked in the room and said hello, Kimberly stared and then smiled.
“Jack didn’t tell me you have a teenage daughter.”
Maggie didn’t wonder since what he had to say would not be exactly good advertising copy for Lexi. He’d obviously been kind.
“Didn’t I?” Jack glanced at his phone again. “I forgot something. Be right back.”
He strode out the front door with purpose, a man on a mission it seemed.
“What did he forget?” Maggie asked.
“His manners?” Kimberly laughed.
Maggie laughed, too, but she got the distinct impression that Jack was as uncomfortable today as he’d been the first time she’d met him.
“Lexi, how’s school? I bet you enjoy winters here, especially if you like skiing. On the other hand, it wouldn’t matter much if you didn’t. Take me. I’m a first class lounger when we go to the snow. If anyone is lucky enough to get me on a pair of skis, they better steer clear of me.” Kimberly apparently loved to talk, and she kept going.
Lexi alternatively smiled at their guest, and soon politely excused herself.
“She’s lovely,” Kimberly said.
“Thank you. I don’t hear that often enough. I hate to admit it, but Lexi hasn’t been on her best behavior for the past few months. In fact, she tried to break into our house because I wouldn’t give her a key so she could come home right after school. That’s kind of how we met Jack.”
“You’re kidding.” Kimberly stared again.
Maggie passed a hand over her cheek, wondering if she had something on her face. “He thought Lexi was breaking in and he tried to stop her. That only made my daughter mad.”
Funny how she could laugh about it now.
“I’m picturing it now,” Kimberly said. “Jack hasn’t been around kids that much, only our daughters. But Robert used to run a program for teenagers, and that was the first time Jack got involved with some mentoring. It was part of the Marshals’ outreach to the community.”
Maggie stuck on the wordmarshal.“Did you say marshal? As in U.S. Marshal?”
“Well, I’m not surprised he hasn’t told you. He’s not one to talk about himself. Actually, Jack is a pretty big deal in our corner of the world. Before he left, he was up for a big promotion. He and my late husband, Robert, were partners.”
Well, that explained the t-shirt. In fact, it was beginning to explain a lot—from the lack of furniture to the stern authority he’d shown with Richard.
