by M. Allen
“I’ve been home for only four days, and I’m starting to feel better. Almost like Eric had his claws so deep into me that I couldn’t think with him around me. I needed this time to get away.” She brushed her hair from her face.
“What have you decided?” Calla sat stone still, waiting, her face a mask of calm, though Magnolia could see the concern in her eyes.
“I haven’t decided anything. I called a lawyer this morning, though.” She hadn’t even told her father she’d made that call. There was no way she could afford a big time city lawyer, but Mr. Williams[LW1], the lawyer her family used for years, had been more than helpful.
Calla’s mouth fell into a shocked O. “What’d they say?”
“He said to call him in six months because most couples start off mad as cats and dogs, but then after a while they calm down. He’d rather I be sure I wanted a divorce than spend money I didn’t have on something I wouldn’t want.”
What kind of lawyer wasn’t ready to go for the kill in court and burn through money? The honest kind, though they were few and far between. But Magnolia understood his point.
“Seems like sound advice.” Calla nodded as if she were holding back what she was really thinking.
“What?”
“Nothin’.”
“Calla. You’ve got that look about you.” Magnolia grabbed another cookie and took a bite.
“What look? I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” She turned away and ran her fingers though her shoulder length waves.
“Just spit it out.” Magnolia poked her in the elbow.
“I don’t have to. A few more days home, and you’ll be the Magnolia I know. I already see her lurking beneath the surface. You’ll make the right decision when it’s time.” She then plucked one of her own cookies and took a bite. “No one can force Magnolia Reed to do something she doesn’t want to do.”
It was Maggie’s turn to smile. “Is that so?”
Just as Calla was about to answer, the three children ran screaming into the front yard, each of them scattering in a different direction. Dax was hot on their heels, growling like bear and chasing them. He looked so relaxed with a large smile spread across his face. It was so free and easy, Magnolia couldn’t help but smile as she looked on. He was very much how she remembered him—free, full of life and completely attractive. Calla turned serious. “No matter how bad anyone wanted you to stay, you didn’t. So, no. No one can convince you to do something, Magnolia.”
Magnolia sighed. “I had this idea in my head of what life was supposed to be. Too many chick flicks I suppose, but when I was younger I pictured myself living in New York. Having days spent in small cafes and walking through museums. Living some kind of fantasy life. When I met Eric, he offered it to me on a silver platter. I was so, so stupid.”
“I’m not gonna disagree there.” Calla chuckled. “But you lost sight of what’s important. Have you found it now?”
Looking out over the grass as Hayden ran into Dax’s arms to be swung up, she sighed. “Yeah, I think I’ve found what’s important.”
Calla snapped her fingers in front of Magnolia’s face. “No, Maggie. You leave that man alone.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Remember that time in high school right before you and Dax got together?” She narrowed her eyes at Magnolia. “He was datin’ that Lulu Griffin girl, and with one look you had that boy knockin’ on your door. You’re givin’ him that same look now.”
Magnolia wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Oh, yeah, I remember her. When Dax and I got together, she was always waitin’ for her opportunity to swoop in. Still annoys me just thinking about it.”
“Yeah, I remember too, and I see the way you’re lookin’ at him now. Dax is off limits. Do you hear me?” She was deadly serious. She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Um, okay… Is he taken or something?” The thought of that shouldn’t bother her so much.
“Or something. You’ve been gone a long time. Things have happened. Don’t you come back into his life like a wrecking ball when he’s finally okay.”
Calla made it sound as if Dax had nearly died. Threads of worry ran through Magnolia. She’d always thought Dax was the strongest one of the group. In her mind, he’d be just fine without her or anyone else. “What happened?”
“It’s not for me to tell. Just listen to me and stay away.”
“Okay, I will.”
What had happened while she was gone? Had Dax gone through his own round of shit? Even when they were kids, she’d suspected he’d go to work on a ranch somewhere and make his life that way, and here he was. What could’ve happened that was so bad or different?
When she opened her mouth to ask, Calla held up her hand. “I’m not tellin’.”
Magnolia wrapped her arms around Calla’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry I didn’t keep in touch.”
“It’s fine.” Calla looked away.
“I mean it. I will never let our friendship go again.” Magnolia squeezed her.
“Well, we aren’t there yet,” Calla teased.
It hurt Magnolia knowing she’d lost a good friend like Calla. “How can we get back to where we need to be?”
Calla waved her away. “Give it an hour or two.”
A laugh burst past her lips and Dax turned toward her. “Good to see you smile.”
She called back to him, “Feels good to smile.”
Then all three kids barreled toward him, and even though he was as strong as a bull, he toppled over, letting them tackle him. “Ohhhh, y’all got me.” He peeked up at Calla. “See, told ya you’d be just what she needed.”
A red blush crept up Calla Lily’s cheeks. “Thanks for that. And on that note,” she stood up and opened her arms for a hug, “I gotta get goin’.”
“So soon?” Magnolia couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice, but she didn’t want to sound ungrateful for the visit. She stood, giving Calla another hug.
“Don’t you worry. We’ll be seeing each other soon.” She turned to Adam and Poppy. “Okay, y’all, time to go. Leave Uncle Dax be.”
“We don’t wanna go,” Adam called back.
“Adam Turner, I know you aren’t sassin’ me.” She put her hands on her hips and pointed her finger at him.
“Best listen to your momma, so you can come back and visit.” Dax came to his feet and directed Poppy and Adam toward the front porch.
Calla walked to the edge, leaving Magnolia to watch. “Oh, do you want your cookie plate?”
“Nah, you keep them. I made ’em for you.”
“Are those peanut butter sugars?” Dax barreled up the the porch and headed toward Magnolia just as Calla walked down and collected her children.
As she made her way to the truck and loaded up the kids, she turned back once more, calling out, “Maggie, we’re going to The Hole tonight, if you want to come?”
Dax reached for a cookie; Magnolia smacked away his hand. He gave her a sour look and muttered, “I’m gonna get your cookie eventually, Maggie.”
Was he flirting with her? She jutted her chin. “Not if I can help it.” She turned toward Calla. “Okay, I’ll stop by.”
“Okay, I’ll see y’all later.” Calla walked around the truck and hopped in, disappearing out of sight.
Hayden charged up the stairs and ran at Dax. He reached up, tapping Dax’s hip. “Up, up, up.”
Without hesitation, Dax lifted him as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Magnolia raised her eyebrows. “You’re good with kids.”
He shrugged. “I spent a lot of time with Adam and Poppy. You get used to it after a while.”
A pang of jealousy went through Magnolia. All the things Hayden had missed out on living in New York. Sure, he’d had play dates, activities, and was busy all day long, but when had he gotten to be a kid with a family of kids growing up around him? She was about to ask Dax how he’d learned so much when he snagged a cookie from the plate and wagged his eyebrows. “See? I
told ya I’d get your cookie.”
Before he took a bite, Hayden reached out his tiny toddler hands. “Cookie, please?”
With no hesitation, he handed it over, then looked at Magnolia. “Are you going to make me steal another, or are you going to take pity on me?”
The man was so damned charming, and having Hayden in his arms did nothing to lessen the attraction she felt toward him. Eric would’ve eaten the cookie first then handed Hayden a second cookie. It was the little things she’d ignored all this time, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized Eric was a selfish man. And she’d fallen for it. She plucked a cookie from the plate and handed it to him. “I’ll share my cookies with you… because you asked so nicely.”
When his eyes locked with hers, they were liquid heat. “Thank you.”
They stood like that, eating cookies and smiling, until Hayden started squirming to get down. Dax let him slide down his leg and run off. “You sure you want to go tonight?”
“Yeah, it’ll be good to get out.” She hesitated. “Should I not go?”
For a second she thought he might not want her there. That momentary hurt was a shock to her. He shifted from one foot to the other, running his hand over the back of his head the way he did when he got nervous. “Well, ah, Zinnia will be there.”
“So?”
“So, she’s not as forgiving at Calla. And is definitely angry at you.”
Magnolia looked away from him before she admitted, “She has a right to be angry at me.” Then as if he drew her back to him, she met his breathtaking gaze. “You all do.”
This close to him she could appreciate his honey skin, the smell of nature clinging to his shirt, and his roughly honed features. Silence hung between them, and she fought the urge to step closer to him. As if sensing her thoughts, he stepped back from her. “I gotta get going. I need to get cleaned up before I head out.”
“Are you going to The Hole too?” A flicker of excitement sparked with in her.
“Yeah, I told Finn I’d be his wing man tonight.” Then he grabbed one last cookie and turned from her.
Wing man? As in picking-up-women kind of wing man? She wasn’t jealous, not in the least, not even for a second. Denial is not pretty, Maggie. “Okay, then I guess I’ll see you there.”
He leapt off the porch and patted Hayden on the head as he walked by. He called over his shoulder, “See you.”
Once Maggie regained her thoughts after watching him walk away in those jeans she was beginning to love, she had to wonder. When was the last time she’d gotten jealous over Eric? Even after finding out about the affair, she hadn’t been. Was it a sign of maturity at the time or a lack of feelings? She called out to Hayden, “Time to go in.”
She took one step and walked right into her father’s barrel of a chest. “Dad! You startled me.” She grabbed her chest and gave a light chuckle.
“Thought I’d come check on ya. See how you were doing.” He gazed off in the direction Dax had gone as though accusing her of something.
Hayden ran up into her arms. “You mean since you dunked me like we was at a state fair?” She patted his shoulder. “I’m fine, Daddy. And you were right. It was time to start pickin’ myself up.”
“Yep. Listen, I saw you lookin’ at Dax.”
She stepped around her father, heading toward the front door. “We were just talkin’.”
He followed behind her. “Magnolia, stay away from him. I don’t like to step into your business, but in this case, I’m going to.”
“Why does everyone keep tellin’ me that?” She opened the door and stepped through.
“Never you mind why. Just listen.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
“I got it.”
“Magnolia Reed.” His voice held a warning tone.
She turned to look over her shoulder. “I heard you.”
He walked past her, heading to his office while she stood by the front stairs. “Yeah, we all know how well you listen when you want to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She put her free hand on her hip.
When he reached the door to his office he paused, giving her a stern look from down the hall. “Means even though you’re down on your luck, I still see the old Magnolia, and I know that Magnolia is always heading in the direction Dax is heading in. And I am telling you not to.”
“Dad, my marriage ended less than a week ago.”
“Yeah and you spend four days fretting on it. But I can see now the winds have started to change, and darlin’, you are dangerous to that man when you’re at your best.”
“Dangerous to Eric?”
He shook his head. “To Dax.” He opened the door and walked through, leaving her alone in the hall to wonder what the hell she was missing and why everyone didn’t want her near Dax. Like she was such a bad person. Tonight will be fine.
Chapter 8
This is not going to be fine. Magnolia sat in the cab of her truck at the back of the parking lot. She’d thought it would be nothing to show up at the town watering hole. But looking at the parking lot full of every sort of pickup there was and a few motorcycles out front, she didn’t know if she was ready to be around so many people. The sound of loud music and laughter could be heard even all the way out there. On the exterior, The Hole looked exactly as the name implied—it was a big square gray structure with a shitty sign that read The Hole just above the front entrance.
Magnolia sat in the cab of one of the Triple R pickups with her hands plastered to the steering wheel and the engine still running. Sweat gathered between her palms and the wheel as she sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t do this.” She pressed her forehead to the center of the wheel. Nervousness had never been a part of her make up. She’d always been bold and brash. But sitting outside knowing everyone in the town already knew what she was going through made her want to curl up in bed and hide. Small town gossip traveled faster than wild fire, and Briar Ridge was no different.
Just as she was about to convince herself to put the truck in drive and go home, a tapping on the window startled her, making her snap back against the seat. She pressed her hand to her chest and wound down the window. “Geez, Dax, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
The moment the window was all the way down, she was hit with his clean, fresh scent. On the ranch, he was rugged and dirt-covered; all cleaned up, he was still rugged as hell, but there was a hardness behind his eyes he hadn’t had ten years ago. How had she missed it before? It gave him more sex appeal than any man should have. When he stood so close to her door, she couldn’t help but run her eyes over him, noticing the top two buttons of his black shirt were open, giving her a peek at his sunkissed skin. The stubble on his jaw, which seemed to be ever-present nowadays, was sexy as hell. He leaned up against the door. “Are you plannin’ on stayin’ in the truck all night, or are you gonna come in and have a drink?”
“Are you offering to buy me one?” she teased while she kept her death grip on the steering wheel. A nervous ball rested in her throat, and her eyes darted from his chiseled face to the shabby exterior of The Hole.
The right side of his lip tilted up in a smirk. “Only if you’ll let go of that death grip you’ve got there.” He nodded toward her white-knuckled hands.
“Dax!” a male voice called from across the parking lot. “Let’s go.”
Magnolia squinted her eyes, trying to make out the shady figure. “Is that Finn?”
“Yeah. Big son of a bitch, isn’t he?” He turned and yelled back, “I’ll be right there.”
“He must’ve grown five inches since graduation!” One by one, she pried her fingers off the wheel. “So much has changed.”
The sting of regret was something she rarely felt, but coming home and seeing all the things she’d missed made her feel it every day since she’d been home. It was as though she stepped out of a life she was in the middle of and ruined it all. Only now she realized it too late. In her gut, the fee
ling of longing overcame her… She missed them so much! Those four years away at college blinded her to what she’d left behind, and now she realized why she stayed away. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks—if she’d ever come home, she never would’ve left again. Instead, she went after a life she thought she wanted, but here in Briar Ridge, this was what she needed.
Dax shrugged. “Not as much as you think. It’ll be okay.” He pulled open the door then held his hand out to her. “Come on, Maggie. You can do this.”
With shaking hands, she turned off the ignition then took his hand. The warmth of his touch seeped into her skin and memories she’d long pushed back flooded to the forefront of her mind. Those memories of Dax pressed up against her, his tan skin brushing hers, his hands in her hair and the feel of them running down her back. For a moment, the past ten years had never happened, and they were still Dax and Maggie, the football player and the field hockey star. As she slid from the cab of the truck, she wondered if he remembered them like that, too? When he closed the door behind her, he uttered, “That-a girl.”
“Thank you,” she whispered as she looked up at him, trying to shake away the thoughts of their past. Tension gathered between them. Magnolia felt it coiling in her stomach, gathering low in her belly.
With his hands on his hips, he blew out a tension-filled breath. “Shall we?”
Swallowing that ball of nerves, she walked forward. With each step, her cowboy boots scuffled against the pavement. The cool night air seeped though her black leather jacket, chilling her skin. She’d chosen a white V-neck t-shirt for tonight, which showed just enough skin to make her feel attractive.
Dax ghosted beside her. When his hand pressed to the small of her back, a thrill shot up her spine. She didn’t dare say a word; she was just happy to have his touch on her. All too soon, they came to the entrance and closer to Finn. When he dropped his fingers from her back, she fought the urge to reach out to him.
A large, wide smile spread across Finn’s face. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Hey, Finn.” Magnolia lifted her hand, giving him a sheepish wave.