by Rachel Lee
Biting her lower lip, Maggie settled back into her seat. She was still tempted to bolt for the sanctuary of the store, but she knew what it was like to be a teenager embarrassed by an overprotective father. She’d had her mother to intercede and make sure her dad didn’t overreact. She certainly had no intention of acting as Payton’s surrogate mother—but maybe she could be a friend to the girl and defuse this particular situation, at least to an extent.
After that, Payton and Garrett were on their own.
* * *
Garrett tried to keep Maggie’s advice in mind as they approached the picnic table where Payton giggled and flirted with the three boys. When he saw how close the oldest boy had moved to Payton, it was all he could do not to snarl, yet he made a deliberate effort to keep his expression firm but not murderous. It wasn’t easy. This punk wasn’t much younger than some of the airmen he’d trained. What the hell was he doing making eyes at a thirteen-year-old girl?
Payton’s jaw dropped when she caught sight of them. She glanced frantically at her watch. “Dad? Maggie? Um, you’re back earlier than I expected.”
He nodded curtly.
Maggie spoke quickly, probably to head off anything embarrassing he might say. “We just got back. You were so right, Payton, I had a great time in the small plane. I can see why you love flying in them so much. Your dad told me you’re already quite good at handling the controls.”
The boys looked impressed, as Maggie had hoped. Maybe that would ease the sting when Garrett demanded that Payton accompany him home.
Maggie glanced at the Ferguson brothers. “I hope you boys are enjoying your stay with us this week. It’s always nice to have you and your family here with us. I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said to the older boy. “I’m Maggie Bell. Are you staying in our campgrounds?”
He nodded and muttered, “I’m Stu. My family’s camping here a couple days on our way from Baton Rouge to Arizona in an RV. My folks want to see the Grand Canyon. I think it’s lame, but you know.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Stu. Tell your parents to be sure to let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your stay better, will you?”
He shrugged. Garrett was not impressed with the lanky kid’s manners—or lack thereof. He doubted the boy was the brightest bulb on his family tree.
He started to speak, but once again Maggie overrode him, turning to Payton with a bright smile. “We were just headed to the cabin to visit with the rest of your family a bit when we saw you here. Why don’t we give you a ride back?”
Payton tossed back her hair with a sidelong look at the boys shuffling their feet nearby. “I’ll be there soon,” she promised with an artificial airiness to her voice. “I just want to talk to my new friends a little while longer.”
Garrett shook his head. He’d given Maggie her chance, but it was his turn to take over. “Now, Payton.”
His daughter knew better than to argue with that particular tone, especially in front of her friends, but the look in her eyes told him she would have plenty to say later. Fine with him. He had a few things to say himself.
“Wow,” Stu stage-whispered mockingly to the older Ferguson brother, making little effort to keep the adults from hearing. “Wonder if he lets her pee without permission.”
Payton flushed. Maggie made a low sound that might have been a groan.
Garrett drew himself into his straightest military-officer posture and eyed the kid through narrowed eyes. “Are you aware that my daughter is only thirteen?”
“Dad,” Payton hissed.
Stu cleared his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing a few times in his skinny neck. “Thought she was older,” he muttered.
Garrett had no doubt Payton had made no attempt to correct that misconception.
“And how old are you?” he inquired coolly.
A mix of defiance, pride and nerves was audible in the mumbled reply. “I’m, uh, seventeen.”
Garrett gave him a look that went all the way down past his oversize T-shirt and sagging shorts to his sandaled feet, then back up to his messy hair. “Thought you were younger,” he said.
The other boys snickered. Stu’s already splotchy face reddened. “I was just being nice to the kids here,” he said, shifting away from the younger boys. “I gotta go, got things to do tonight.”
“I thought you were going to make s’mores with us later,” the youngest boy protested.
“Nah. That’s for kids.” He turned and shuffled in the opposite direction, his shoulders hunched, movements jerky and irritated. Garrett got the impression that Stu was immature for his age and probably made a habit of hanging out with younger kids to raise his own self-esteem.
He wouldn’t be getting an ego boost from thirteen-year-old Payton.
And speaking of Payton, the looks she was shooting at him now could have scorched the skin off his bones if she’d happened to possess laser abilities. “Let’s go,” he said, motioning toward his SUV.
“I’ll see you guys around,” she muttered to the Ferguson brothers, then swept past her father without looking at him again.
Giving a short nod to the wide-eyed brothers, Garrett followed her, thinking that this was a really sucky end to what had been a pretty great day. Some might call this a much-needed reality check, for both him and Maggie. He wouldn’t soon forget Maggie’s expression when she’d hastily asked him to drop her off at the main building. She’d been reluctant to get in the middle of the confrontation—and he couldn’t blame her for that. She probably now regretted her knee-jerk offer to intervene on Payton’s behalf.
“I’ll walk to the cabin,” Payton said.
He opened the back passenger door of the SUV. “Get in.”
With a sigh that could have blown out a cake’s worth of candles, she plopped into the passenger seat and crossed her arms mutinously over her chest. The gesture drew his attention downward and made him scowl. Looked like a shopping trip was in order. Her T-shirt was getting a little small, drawing a bit too much attention to her developing figure. Her grandmother usually took her shopping for clothes and underwear and such; he would arrange another outing next week.
“You know, I just remembered something I need to do back at the office,” Maggie said, stepping back. “I’m sure the two of you have things to discuss.”
He nodded somberly, both appreciative of her discretion and annoyed by the need for it. “We’ll see you later. Thanks again for dinner.”
Her smile looked just a bit strained, though she kept her tone light. “Thanks again for the plane ride. Good night, Garrett. Good night, Payton,” she added through the car window.
Payton mumbled a barely audible response. Garrett figured she was dreading what was to come—and rightly so.
He had never expected to be solely responsible for two budding teenage girls, he thought as he made the short, tensely silent drive to the cabin. This had not been in his long-term life plan, which had once included a till-death marriage, service in the military until retirement, coparenting his daughters to successful adulthood. He wasn’t sure he was at all qualified for doing this on his own, with only the help of his mom—but since he had no other choice, he would continue to do the best he knew how. Which did not include allowing Payton to run unsupervised with three teenage boys, one almost old enough to enlist.
“Hi, Daddy,” Kix called out from the sofa when he and Payton entered the cabin. She sat cross-legged with his laptop open in front of her while her grandmother fluttered around the room and her great-grandmother knitted agitatedly. “I’m reading all about taking care of cats. We should take the aloe vera plant out of the kitchen. Aloe vera can make kitties sick if they eat it. Did you have fun with Maggie? Is Payton in a lot of trouble for going off without asking Grammy’s permission?”
“Butt out, Kix,” Payton snarled.
“You’re the one who ruined everything,” Kix shot back to her sister.
Garrett wasn’t sure what Kix meant by that, but his mother interrupted then t
o read Payton the riot act about worrying her sick by running off without permission. He didn’t intercede until his mom began to list all the terrible things that could have happened—drowning, kidnapping, run down by a car, attacked by wild animals. As the options grew increasingly less reasonable, he finally stepped in to say, “Pull a stunt like that again, Payton, and the vacation is over.”
She looked as though she was tempted to stamp her foot, but she knew better. “I was just talking to some other kids,” she protested fiercely. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
“You know exactly what you did wrong,” he countered. “Grammy asked you not to leave without telling her, and you did it anyway. You frightened her and you upset Meemaw and that is unacceptable. When I leave you in Grammy’s care, I expect you to follow her instructions to the letter, is that clear?”
“Grammy never lets me do anything,” Payton wailed. “She treats me like a little kid. You all do. I’m thirteen!”
He hated seeing the look of hurt cross his mother’s face. But something in his daughter’s expression was just as disturbing for him. Did Payton really feel so stifled and misunderstood? As much as he disliked the very idea, she really hadn’t been doing anything all that bad by talking to a few boys in a very public place. But neither could he allow her the impression that it was acceptable for her to ignore her grandmother’s rules.
“I did offer you the opportunity to go up in the plane with Maggie and me,” he reminded her. “You chose to stay here, knowing who would be in charge.”
“And I didn’t forbid you and Kix to go down to the lakeside unsupervised when you asked,” his mother added in a wounded voice. “All I requested was that you stay near the cabin so I wouldn’t worry.”
“You always worry,” Payton muttered, looking at her grandmother through her eyelashes. “I love you a lot, Grammy, but even Maggie’s grandmother said you’re a worrywart.”
Garrett almost groaned at that. Predictably, Esther stiffened in her chair, her chin shooting upward. “Dixie Bell has no business criticizing our family to you, Payton. I’m tempted to go find her right now and give her a big slice of what for.”
Grimacing with the realization of what she’d ignited with her thoughtless comment, Payton said, “She wasn’t really criticizing, Meemaw. She was sort of joking. But it’s kind of true, anyway. Grammy does worry a lot. You’ve said so yourself.”
“I can say whatever I want about my own daughter,” her great-grandmother replied regally. “Dixie, on the other hand, has no call to go poking her big nose into our business.”
Garrett happened to glance toward Kix, who was biting her lower lip and looking anxiously from one angry family member to another. He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Okay, let’s drop it for now. Payton, apologize to your grandmother for worrying her and we’ll let it go with that. This time.”
“I’m sorry, Grammy,” she murmured, looking down at her feet.
Her grandmother nodded, though she didn’t look completely appeased. “We’ll drop it for now. Let’s bring out the milk and the cookies we made this afternoon and we’ll have dessert.”
“Could we play Settlers of Catan?” Kix asked hopefully, so obviously eager to put the unpleasantness behind them and start having fun again.
Though Garrett wasn’t really in the mood for a board game, he agreed for Kix’s sake. He might as well distract himself with the family interaction; it would keep him from mentally replaying those too-few kisses with Maggie. At least until he went to bed alone that night and had nothing to do but stare at the darkened ceiling and remember how it felt to hold pretty, unobtainable Maggie Bell in his arms. He’d bet now she was rethinking her suggestion that they should see a movie together on another pleasant, no-strings, all-adult outing.
* * *
Because she felt a little guilty about taking off early the afternoon before, even though she’d made sure her work was completed first, Maggie put a little extra effort into Thursday’s chores. She was on the run all day, as were the rest of the family and staff. Additional weekend guests had been pouring in since early that morning in campers and pickups and minivans. The swimming area was crowded, picnic tables full, the long-reserved pavilion jostling with a big family reunion that had been planned for more than a year. The whole resort was abuzz with excitement about the evening’s planned fireworks display that would be set off from a barge on the lake. They had sponsored fireworks in the past, but this would be the biggest display yet. Maggie looked forward to it herself.
She handled two minicrises during the morning. Her newest staff member, Darby Burns, passed out while cleaning. It turned out the too-conscientious novice worker had neglected to properly hydrate on this very warm July Fourth. Because Maggie had stressed self-pacing and regular hydration breaks, she was almost as exasperated as she was concerned by Darby’s neglect of herself. A cold cloth and a big glass of iced water combined with a fifteen-minute break did the trick. Maggie offered Darby the rest of the day off with regular pay, but Darby insisted she was able to get back to work. She seemed humiliated to have caused a scene, and was eager to turn the attention away from herself.
The second issue of the morning came when a guest called to report that she’d shattered a bottle of a particularly pungent perfume in her motel room. The scent was overpowering, the woman added without apology. Would the maids please take care of it while the woman and her husband went for a long bicycle ride? Because Maggie’s staff had dealt with much worse things to clean up, they were able to handle this spill efficiently, leaving the aired-out room smelling much fresher than they’d found it. Just par for the course in resort housekeeping.
“I thought you smelled a little more flowery than usual,” Shelby teased when she and Maggie shared sandwiches and sodas for a late lunch that afternoon. The diner had been packed with holiday guests and neither Shelby nor Maggie wanted to take time to go back to their houses, so they’d grabbed sandwiches from downstairs and hidden out in Shelby’s upstairs office to eat them.
Having just told her cousin about the eventful morning, Maggie chuckled and washed down a bite of turkey and provolone on whole wheat with a sip of diet soda. “You can’t imagine how bad that room smelled when we first walked in. Nearly knocked us backward. That is some powerful perfume, even when it’s not a whole bottle’s worth.”
“Yuck. I hate perfume, anyway. Never wear the stuff.”
Maggie chuckled. “I know. I rarely do, either. Got out of the habit when I was dating Nathan. Remember how his eyes would swell shut whenever he was around something that triggered his allergies?”
“Poor guy, so many things did. I liked him. Haven’t heard you mention him in a while. Do you ever hear from him?”
“He calls occasionally just to chat,” Maggie replied offhandedly. “He’s seeing someone fairly seriously now. An immunologist.”
Shelby giggled. “Sounds reasonable.”
Maggie and Nathan had dated for several months a couple of years earlier, until they had mutually acknowledged that while they liked each other very much, the sparks just weren’t there for anything long-term. They hadn’t broken up so much as they’d just drifted apart, no drama or tears involved. Her few relationships all seemed to end that way: pleasant, amiable, maybe a little disappointing, but not heartbreaking.
She wanted to believe the same would be true if she spent a little time with Garrett prior to her planned trip to Jamaica. They could occasionally have fun, flirt, enjoy each other’s company, savor the escapes from work and family and still part on friendly terms when the time came, since neither of them expected anything more. Right?
Shelby had always been far too intuitive. Maybe that was why she commented just then, “So, I heard you went flying with Garrett McHale yesterday.”
Maggie nodded around a bite of sandwich. After swallowing, she said lightly, “Yes, he took me up in a two-seater plane after I told him I’d never been in one. It was fun. We flew over the resort and I loved s
eeing the place from the air. He even let me take the controls, which was so cool.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“It really was.”
“He always seems so serious on Sunday mornings. Pleasant, but very reserved.”
“Ex-military,” Maggie said with a shrug. “He planned to retire from there until he became fully responsible for his daughters. But underneath that air-force-major exterior, he’s really quite funny and nice.”
Shelby lifted an eyebrow. “Is he?”
“Yes, he is.”
Her cousin propped her elbow on her desk, cradled her chin in her palm and studied her with curiosity. “Some interest there?”
“Do I find him sexy as all get-out? Yes. Am I expecting anything serious to develop? No.”
“How come?”
“You know me, Shel. I don’t do serious.”
“Well, I know you haven’t to this point, but I thought maybe someday...?”
Maggie shrugged and crumpled the empty sandwich wrapper into a ball. “Who knows? But not now. And definitely not with a single dad of two adolescent daughters.”
“You seem fond of the girls.”
“They’re great. Bright, enthusiastic, funny. But Payton is just getting into the teen-rebellion stage and Kix isn’t far away from it herself, and that scares the living daylights out of me.”
“Probably scares Garrett, too,” Shelby remarked ironically.
Maggie gave a short laugh. “Yeah. I think it does.”
“Has to be tough for him, but at least he has help from his mother and grandmother.”
Maggie nodded. “I’m sure he’s grateful for them.”
She couldn’t help thinking, though, that his mother was a little overwhelmed, considering her age and the fact that she’d raised only one quiet and well-behaved son. Suddenly dealing with a pair of hormonal teenage girls had to be a shock for her. As for Garrett’s acerbic grandmother...well, suffice it to say she wasn’t much help.
Shelby gave a little sigh and began to clean up the mess from their office picnic. “I guess all the weddings in the family lately—including mine—have got weddings on my mind. I know Mimi’s already been throwing pretty pointed hints your way, so I won’t pile on.”