Finding Me, Finding You (Finding #1)

by Shealy James

  He rubbed the tears from my face with his thumbs. “I love you Maggie Anne.”

  “I love you, too. I have for a long time.”

  He wrapped his arms tighter around me and buried his face in my neck. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that.” He leaned up and looked in my eyes. “Let’s make a new deal.”

  I nodded my agreement.

  “Forever.”

  I smiled and nodded again looking deep into his eyes. He looked back and forth between my eyes for a second before his lips met mine sweetly, tenderly. He gently opened his mouth and touched my lips with his tongue. I allowed him access, and when our tongues touched I heard them.

  Boom!

  Pop!

  Crackle!

  Fireworks. There were fireworks as Parker and I stood there kissing by the water in the dark at midnight on New Year’s after he told me he was in love with me, and I did the same. It was single handedly the most romantic moment of my life.

  “Happy New Year,” he said and smiled at me before kissing me gently again.

  “Happy New Year,” I whispered back.

  We didn’t go back inside to the party. We walked back to the house and changed into comfortable clothes because I wanted to show him one of my favorite places. We had on warm clothes because it was cold for a Savannah night. I grabbed a couple of blankets, and he took them from me when he took my hand. I couldn’t stop smiling, and he must have felt the same. It was like we had this big secret that only the two of us knew.

  We walked through my backyard through a small line of trees protecting our yard onto the golf course. We walked around a sand pit and up a small hill to the eighteenth green. “I used to come here a lot to think. There are no lights, so you can see all the stars.” We put a blanket down and lay on top of it cuddled together. He covered us with the other blanket and held me close.

  “This is awesome Maggie. You have had this in your backyard the whole time?”

  “Yeah. It is really different in the city, isn’t it? Even at our house, you can’t see stars like this. Believe me I have sat out there in the middle of the night looking.”

  He turned, “Really?”

  “Yeah. Not sleeping when something is bothering me is nothing new. I’m known for escaping where my parents and even Max can’t find me. Sometimes I need to be alone. Even Max never knew I came here in the middle of the night. We can’t stay past two though...sprinklers.” I pointed around indicating the sprinklers that were set on timers all around us. They don’t come on as often in the winter, but I never could nail down when they were set to come on. Better safe than sorry.

  Parker pulled me close and kissed the top of my hair before we both looked back up at the dark sky that was dotted with bursts of light. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

  We lay there for a while looking at the stars. He was stroking my hair lulling me to sleep.

  “Maggie?”

  I rolled over to look at his beautiful face. “Yeah?”

  “I love you.” I looked up at him about to respond. “I wanted to tell you again.”

  “I love you too, Parker.”

  He pulled me on top of him and started kissing me. His kisses were like sunlight, giving me energy that I felt through my whole body. They filled my heart and gave me butterflies in my stomach. His touch alone sent chills all over my body.

  When I shivered, he stopped and asked, “You cold?”

  “I’m not shivering because I’m cold, Parker.” I was shivering because I was turned on.

  “Oh,” he said with a sly grin on his face before he pulled me back down and then rolled me to my back. He stayed on his side looking at me for a second.

  “What?”

  “You’re so beautiful.”

  “It is amazing what my mother can pay someone to create.” I responded sarcastically.

  “You know that is not what I’m talking about.”

  “I know,” I whispered and pulled his head back to mine.

  He paused before his lips touched mine. “This is it. You’re mine, right Maggie?”

  “I have been for a while, Parker.” His lips came back to mine while his hand trailed down the side of my body before grabbing tightly on my waist.

  We kissed for a long time that night. We talked about what my dad had said to him, which I really need to thank him for. We talked about our futures and finishing our law school applications this week. We talked and kissed and held each other for the rest of that night. It was the most perfect night of my life.

  It was really late or early depending on how you look at it when we walked back to the house and snuck in through the basement. We climbed the back stairs like I had done so many times before. The staircase led right up to my side of the house, and it was meant for the housekeeper, but I used it more than Eliza ever has. I led Parker into my room, and we climbed into my bed to sleep. Everyone would be getting up late this morning, so my parents wouldn’t be surprised if I did as well. I locked the door just in case. I didn’t want Daddy knowing Parker was in my bed even if he told Parker he was okay with us.

  We slept for a few hours, and when we woke up, I wasn’t ready to go and face everyone yet. Our perfect night would be over if we let anyone else in on it. Unfortunately Parker’s stomach rumbled first, and mine followed shortly thereafter. One of the biggest issues with being an athlete is that you can’t go long without eating, so lying in bed all day is virtually impossible.

  We went downstairs after getting dressed. Parker looked like he had slept a full eight hours and purposely styled his hair in his jeans and black polo shirt. I looked tired and knew my mother would get on my case about my messy bun and my jeans and loose sweater. When we arrived in the kitchen, we found everyone including Max, Becca, and his parents over for brunch. My mother and sisters looked like they had been professionally styled, and I silently cursed knowing that I was about to get an earful for not putting on some make-up. At least I brushed my teeth.

  “Good morning!” My mother said cheerfully. I eyed her suspiciously.

  Daddy hugged me from his chair at the table. “Sleep well, kid?” I nodded. “Coffee?” I nodded again. Eliza already had a cup made for me and gave one to Parker as well. He thanked her politely.

  My mother led Parker to the table. “Sit, eat. This is our casual New Year’s brunch. Dinner tonight will be a feast, so eat up now then Maggie will drag you on her workout from her annual carb overload.” I rolled my eyes and Parker laughed.

  Max pulled out the chair next to him for Parker, and I sat on the other side of Parker next to Daddy. I passed Parker plates of food, and took French toast for myself.

  “Do you want any juice or anything?”

  “Nah. I’m good. This is more than enough. Who got up early to cook all of this?”

  “Eliza. She loves to cook. Where do you think I learned?”

  “I thought those were your mom’s recipes.”

  “No, my mother can’t cook. Eliza taught me everything.” I smiled at Eliza and she winked back at me. She was always more like a mother to me than my actually DNA-giving mother.

  “Maggie never had the patience for me to teach her anything. We would end up arguing and one of us would end up storming out. Eliza has the patience of a saint, so she taught Maggie how to cook. I think it worked out best for everyone,” Mother said.

  I could tell Parker was losing his patience. “It definitely did for me. Maggie has been cooking for my family every week since my knee injury. Even when I moved back into Maggie’s house, she kept taking food to my dad.”

  I turned crimson. I hated when people broadcasted things about me. I had never told anyone but Eliza that since I kept calling her for recipes. Mother sort of knew because I called so often to clarify some of the ingredients, but they certainly didn’t know how often I was feeding them.

  “Maggie! That is wonderful of you.” Faye, Max’s mom said.

  “That’s my girl,” Daddy said and kissed the top of my
head as he walked by to get more coffee and a muffin.

  I hung my head sheepishly, and Max and Parker both laughed at my embarrassment. I glared at them and Becca slapped Max’s arm. “Leave her alone.”

  Parker wrapped his arm around me and kissed my temple. “It’s sweet.”

  I expected everyone to be staring at us for his sweet gesture, but no one was. No one seemed surprised. Then I caught my mother’s grin. She turned trying to hide it, but it was there. They all knew. Daddy. Well at least no one was going to call me out on it.

  Tom, my sister’s fiancé, broke the awkward silence that apparently only I felt. “Guys, who is up for golf today? We have a tee time of 1:00.” Max agreed to go even though he didn’t love golf. Growing up on a course forced us to learn to play, and he was decent at it. Everyone in my family could play, but I was the only one who Daddy liked to take out since I was the only one that was actually competitive with him.

  Parker said, “I didn’t bring clubs this time.” He shrugged. I think he was hoping he would get out of playing with the boys, but Daddy wasn’t letting that happen.

  “Don’t worry between me, Pete, and Max, we could probably open a pro shop. One of us has a set that will work for you.”

  “Thanks.” He sounded disappointed. Daddy had welcomed him to the family, so now he had to golf with the boys. Sad. I would have rather spent the day with him.

  Chapter 21

  Parker

  While golfing with the guys, I saw Maggie running, graceful like a gazelle. I smiled remembering the first time we ran, and I saw her move like that. Her dad caught me staring. “Now Parker, I know my daughter is beautiful, but if you’re going to keep up your lead, you will have to focus on the game and not her.”

  “Sorry, Sir.”

  Max laughed at me. “So, I take it you and Maggie finally admitted that you’re together.”

  I looked down, “Yeah. I guess you could say that.”

  “Maxwell, didn’t you know? Parker is going to be my son-in-law one day. My little girl will only let her heart go once.”

  “Then I’m glad it is Parker. He takes good care of Maggie. He is very protective over her.”

  “All right. All right. Back to golf,” I said waving my hand in the air and turned before Maggie ran around a corner out of sight. I caught her dad smiling at me, and I shook my head at him. We played the rest of the holes talking about sports and the bowl game that was on in a couple of hours that they wanted to watch. We talked about soccer and what we were going to do now that it was over. Our law school applications came up, and Jim seemed impressed with my LSAT score. Maggie and I were pretty close, but I outscored her by a couple of points. We were both over one sixty-five, so we were competitive.

  When we got back to the house, Maggie was helping Max’s mom and Eliza make dinner. They had so many dishes out; it was unbelievable. It made me miss Pops and Preston, who were home alone without anyone to cook for them. We usually ate dinner at Pop’s favorite diner on New Year’s. I was always recovering from playing with the band, and neither of them could cook. The diner was our only option.

  I told Maggie that I would be right back and headed up to the blue room to call Pops. He couldn’t talk long because he was headed somewhere. I felt a little better knowing he was busy.

  I heard a knock on the door. “Come in.” I turned to find Maggie there.

  “You ok?”

  “Yeah. I was just calling Pops. I was thinking about him and Preston being alone, but they seem to be busy, so everything is fine.” I told her as I wrapped my arms around her and bent down and kissed her lips. She wrapped her arms around my waist into a comfortable embrace.

  “Hmm.” She hummed as our lips touched. “How was golf?”

  “Good. I saw you running.”

  “Oh yeah? Like my mother predicted, I had to run off my carbs. Wouldn’t want to get fat under her roof. Daddy said you won.”

  “Yeah. It was a fluke. I had a random good day. He challenged me to another game when we come back down in March for Catherine’s engagement party.”

  “Oh? We’re coming down?”

  “Apparently. I think he has planned our whole life for us. He told Max that I was his future son-in-law.”

  “Whoa Daddy. Don’t let him scare you away, please.”

  “It seems that your dad and I are on the same page about a few things.”

  “Is that right? Shouldn’t I be involved in this planning?”

  “Is there anything you don’t like so far?”

  “No, I can’t say that there is.”

  “Then no. Your dad and I’ll plan our whole life, and all you have to do is sit there and look pretty.” I kissed her nose.

  “That might be a problem. According to my mother, I need a facial. I wanted to tell her to stay up all night and see how pretty she looks, but I didn’t think that would help my case.”

  “She’s crazy. You look beautiful.”

  “You might be biased.”

  “Might be.”

  She laughed. I loved how comfortable this was already. I was worried that Maggie wouldn’t be herself with me once I spilled my guts, but it seemed that everything was getting better and better.

  “You want to go watch the game with the boys?”

  “I’d rather hang out here with you.”

  “I know, but Daddy will be suspicious if I don’t watch the game. I watch it with them every year.” We walked down to the basement to their theater. It had three rows of eight seats. It was huge.

  “Beer and snacks over there, and your dad and brother are up here,” Maggie said nonchalantly.

  I froze. “What?”

  Pops and Preston stood up grinning with Mr. Miller, Mr. Jones, and Max next to them. Maggie stood there smiling. “I knew you always spent the day with them, so I called them after breakfast, and they headed straight down here. It was actually Daddy’s idea.”

  “You…” I grabbed her and kissed her on the lips in front of everyone. She was amazing. I walked over to Pops and hugged him and then Preston. “When did you get here?” I thanked Mr. Miller for having them, and he said he was glad and to call him Jim again.

  “We just arrived. You called me as we were pulling into the neighborhood.” I hugged them again before Maggie came over and did the same.

  “I’m so glad you could make it on such short notice,” she told them.

  “This is way better than the diner,” Preston said with a beer in his hand and a cheeky smile. He wasn’t old enough to be drinking, but if Pop’s didn’t mind, I wasn’t going to say anything.

  “Do you guys have bags? I’ll take them to your rooms.” Maggie offered.

  “We can get those later, kid. We have a game to watch.” Jim said.

  We all settled in the front row to watch the last quarter of the bowl game. I couldn’t have been happier. I had all of my favorite people in one room, and Maggie had made it all happen.

  At the end of the game, we all went upstairs to dress for dinner. Maggie showed Pops and Preston to their rooms. They were on Maggie’s side of the house, but down the hall from her room and the blue room, which was good for us.

  We all dressed nicely for dinner. Maggie wore a navy blue dress, and I wore khakis and a navy blue and yellow plaid button-down. We ended up almost matching, which made me laugh at the time we had matched at school.

  Dinner was delicious and the company was great. We were all in their expansive dining room, and the meal was served family style. Eliza sat next to Pops, and they laughed throughout the meal. I was glad to see him so happy and to see that Eliza was a member of the family, not just a housekeeper.

  I twisted my fingers with Maggie’s under the table when we finished eating. I already hated going long periods of time without touching her. It would be hours before we were in bed since everyone was talking about staying up and playing pool and cards. Apparently there was a very heated darts competition between Maggie and her dad and Max and his dad. It was really fun to watc
h while Preston, Becca, Carolyn and I played pool. Carolyn loved Preston. If he hadn’t been five years younger than her, I think she would have devoured him. Pops talked to everyone like he had known them his whole life, and Mrs. Miller actually left Maggie alone for the whole evening. Everything about this night felt right, like family. I felt full, like the chasm that had been empty in my chest since Mom passed had filled up somehow, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

  Epilogue

  Max

  The Saturday morning of graduation was bittersweet. I woke up with my girlfriend’s head on my chest and her tiny body wrapped around my lanky one. I loved this moment when I first woke up and had her silky dark hair across my chest. I tried to stay still and bask in this for a few minutes longer. I knew that I would wake up Becca as soon as I moved. She was such a light sleeper.

  Today was the end of school. I came here with my best friend, who had always needed me to be her rock, and now I felt like we have a second family. It was sad that after graduation, we wouldn’t all be together anymore. Sarah had to go home right away and help her parents on the farm. Her dreams of graduate school had been delayed because her family needed her. Becca and I were moving out and getting our own place, so that left Parker and Maggie alone in the house while they attend law school.

  Maggie…Maggie was the girl I always loved but never fell in love with. She was my unwavering support, and I was hers. After today we would live miles away instead of feet. After today we would start our lives both with and without each other. It felt strange. I worried that she would need me, and I wouldn’t be there. It was the same feeling I had the day we moved into our dorms freshmen year, the day we met Parker and Sarah.

  I stayed in bed having an unusually mushy moment thinking about the end of our college experience. Becca looked so perfect and serene in her sleep. I knew I was lucky. I met her freshmen year, and she was my perfect match. One day we would get married and have kids, but for now we were perfect just being us. That didn’t mean I didn’t have a ring burning a hole in my messenger bag though. I was just waiting for the right time to ask Becca to marry me. I thought the right time would be when I knew Maggie would be okay without me around all the time.