Maggie Moves On(114)

He found her in conversation with Veronica, the plaster master—as she’d been dubbed by Jim’s crew—in the sitting room. The mess of soggy plaster and ruined carpet had been hauled out that morning shortly after Silas kidnapped her.

“Like I said, it’s a real good thing this happened when it did,” Veronica said to Maggie. “It made the plumber open the wall up there to check the old couplings, and he found another bad one. Would have been a whole lot worse.”

“I’m glad it played out this way,” Maggie agreed.

“Should have this patched and repainted in two days. Carpet guys are already scheduled for the day after that.”

“I appreciate it,” Maggie said.

“Forgot your shirt there, Sy?” Veronica smirked at him in the doorway.

He glanced down and realized he was wearing only shorts. Unzipped ones at that. He turned away from them and zipped his fly.

Veronica winked at him on her way out. “Looks like you had a nice afternoon.”

Maggie reached up to brush a hand over his hair. “You look exactly like you just had sex,” she observed.

“I did just have sex. Why did you leave?”

“I had a few things to catch up on, and you were so cute snoring—”

“I do not snore,” he said, offended.

“Okay. You were so cute whistling through your nose I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“So you’re not mad anymore? About this.” He pointed at the ceiling. “About me kidnapping you and forcing you onto the river?”

She cupped his cheek and gave it a gentle pat. “Why would I be mad about that? It gave me a lot of time to think about a lot of things.”

That had been the point. But now he was wondering if he’d overplayed his hand.

“So everything’s fine?” he asked warily.

She nodded, looking thoughtful. “I really think it’s going to be.” She gave him another pat and then headed for the staircase. “Dean?” she called.

“Maggie?” Dean yelled back from what sounded like the third floor.

“Marco!”

“Polo!”

Silas chased Maggie up the stairs, and Dean met them on the landing.

“I need to put a GPS tracker on you in this damn house,” he complained. “It’s like a continent.”

“Before you say anything, I know I missed the call with the paint people,” she began.

Dean waved it away. “Forget about it. I took the call, listened to their demands, and then I exercised our right to cancel the contract.”

Silas saw Maggie’s eyebrows skyrocket. “I’m sorry. Did you say you canceled the contract?” She looked shocked but not outraged.

“They were too nitpicky with their demands. They can’t glue strings to you and play you like a puppet. It’s not authentic. Plus they pissed me off. So we’re out some advertising dollars. But we don’t have to jump through any damn hoops anymore. I think it was worth it. But you can yell at me if it’ll make you feel better.”

Silas watched as Maggie threw her arms around Dean. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for getting me and having my back.”

“I also had a talk with Cody about keeping his word and not impregnating girls, especially after he recently managed to gain their parents’ respect.”

“I helped with that,” Silas said, wanting his credit.

Maggie peeked over Dean’s shoulder at Silas and reached for him. She pulled him in for a group hug. “Thank you both for getting me and having my back.”

“What did he do?” Dean wanted to know.

“I kidnapped her and threw her in the river,” Silas said.

“And that’s what unleashes Zen Maggie? I always thought it would be a combination of a head trauma, alcohol, and maybe a massage or a really great pair of shoes,” Dean said.

“It might have been the fluffernutter I packed her. I nailed the peanut butter ratio,” Silas told him.

“You’re ruining our very nice moment,” she warned before releasing them.

“Sorry,” they both said.

“Now I need to go deal with some things. I trust that you can entertain yourselves?”

“I’ve got an empire of Hot Landscaper Guy lovers to thrill with a behind-the-scenes interview on getting dirty with fertilizer on Insta,” Dean said grandly. He pointed at Silas. “And then I have a date with your brother.”

“I guess I have an asshole dog to wash,” Silas said, shoving his hands in his back pockets. Still feeling unnerved. Something had changed in Maggie, and he needed to figure out what exactly that meant. “I can pick up some groceries for dinner tonight, since we’re cooking,” he offered.

“Sounds great. See you later,” she said, rising on tiptoe to brush a distracted kiss over his cheek.



Silas washed the dog and managed to hose the worst of the mud off the cats as they sprinted by. Then he fixed the timing belt on the mower before talking Cody into driving him into town so he could keep an eye on the kid’s driving habits.

They picked up the groceries and swung by the hardware store before it closed to get Maggie a new drill bit to replace one she’d misplaced. And since they were there at the counter, Silas bought two little succulents in hammered-copper pots that would like the light in the kitchen and play off the range hood.