Maggie Moves On(48)

“Great. You’re hired,” she told him.

Dean punched his fist into the air. “Eighteenth time’s the charm!” he said, most likely referring to how many times he’d asked Maggie for help.

“Yeah, yeah, smart-ass. Give Dean here your lunch order for later. He’s buying for all of us today.”

“I won’t even make dry-heaving noises when you lick your fry sauce straight out of the container,” Dean promised Maggie. He danced over to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her on the mouth.

“Get ahold of yourself, idiot.” Maggie laughed.

Even Cody cracked a smile.

Kevin bounded into the room, happy to find so many people in one place.

“Looks like I’m missing a party,” Silas drawled from the doorway. His T-shirt was damp. His hat was on backward, and he had little chips of paint clinging to the hair on his arms.

“Tour over already?” Maggie asked, extricating herself from Dean’s embrace.

“It doesn’t take long for family to recognize my genius. Unlike some others,” Silas said pointedly.

“Don’t worry, Sly Sy,” Dean assured him. “I’m not moving in on your girl. I’m just thinking about what I’m going to do with my free time.” With another whoop and an “Eh, what the hell?” he grabbed Sy by the neck of the damp T-shirt and laid a smacking kiss on him.

Maggie barely managed to smother her laugh when Dean released a dazed Silas.

“I get why she married you,” Silas mused, recovering from the kiss.

“Should I come back?” a tentative voice asked from the doorway. The stranger was dressed like he was heading to the office instead of a job site on a Saturday morning. His skin was dark, his hair cut in a precise fade. He pushed his glasses up his nose in what looked more like a nervous habit than a necessary adjustment.

“Maggie, Dean, this is my brother, Michael,” Silas said. “Mikey, this is Maggie Nichols and Dean Jensen from Building Dreams.”

“Wow. Hi. It’s great to meet you.” Michael’s head bobbed and then bobbed again. “I watch your show. A lot. Like every episode. You’re great.” He said it to Dean. Then blinked. “Uh, you both are great. And yeah. I’m gonna go now.”

“We’re kind of a big deal,” Dean stage-whispered to Cody and then winked at Michael, who suddenly became very interested in the toes of his shoes. “You’re welcome to hang out. I’m buying everyone lunch later.” The tips of Dean’s ears were turning pink.

Well, well, well, Maggie thought.

“Oh, I just stopped by to see Sy, since he bailed on paddleboarding this afternoon.”

“Sy is free to keep those plans,” she said quickly. “He’s not needed here.”

“Nice try, Nichols. You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Silas said, his tone edging into sinister.

“Clearly these two need to finish their fight,” Dean said to Cody and Michael. “Why don’t we turn lunch into brunch and the three of us can run delivery service. If we’re lucky, they’ll have knocked the place down by the time we get back.”

“Let’s maybe not freak out our new hire?” Maggie suggested, no longer as amused.

“You’re the one who asked him to take a picture of your feet and then confessed to stalking him on social media. I’m rescuing him before we end up in some creepy harassment lawsuit.” Dean turned back to Cody. “Come with us, New Guy. Leave the steamer. You’re above that now.”

“I want a breakfast sandwich,” Maggie called as they headed for the door.

“Yeah. Yeah. Egg, bacon, cheese croissant.” Dean rattled off her favorite order. “Sy?”

“Sounds good to me,” Silas said, without taking his eyes off Maggie.

Cody followed the elated Dean and the starstruck Michael to the doorway. He paused. “Thanks, Maggie,” he said, his voice low and earnest.

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. “Welcome to the team.”

Silas laid a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Let’s walk and talk for a second,” he said.

“Silas.” Maggie packed a hard-to-ignore warning into those two syllables.

“It’s happening whether you like it or not. Stay there. I’ll be back,” he said, guiding the nervous-looking Cody out of the room and toward the back of the house.

“Of all the high-handed, annoying, arrogant…” Maggie muttered to herself until she heard the door to the sunporch squeak open and shut.

She jumped out of her chair, wincing when her toe reminded her it wasn’t ready for speed, and then limped to the bay window.

Silas faced Cody on the ripped-up terrace. The kid didn’t look terrified exactly, but his shoulders were hunched almost up to his ears. It looked as though Silas was doing most of the talking.

It wasn’t up to him to discipline her employees or take care of her problems. She didn’t need someone overstepping and taking charge.

Cody was nodding now, arms crossed in front of his chest as he stared at the ground.

She watched Silas lay a hand on the boy’s shoulder. It didn’t look overtly threatening. Still, she was surprised when Cody cracked an actual smile.

It was a short conversation with none of the yelling she’d expected. And when it was over, they shook hands before parting. Cody jogged toward the front of the house, but Silas stayed where he was…staring right through the window at her. They studied each other through the glass, and Maggie was the first to break. She limped out of the room, down the hall, and into her office.