The New Husband(41)

“You’re the parent,” Maggie answered with a shrug of her own.

“Oh, I forgot.” Her rebuke was gentle. “So, since I’m the parent, why don’t you tell me what you were thinking?”

“I was just messing around,” Maggie said, but Nina caught a look in her daughter’s eyes suggesting that there was more to the story.

“What’s going on with you?”

“I said it was an accident.”

“It was an antique and also a gun. You know better.”

“I was curious,” Maggie said. “I said I was sorry. I’ll pay him back.”

“When? Over the next fifteen years? It’s worth thousands of dollars.”

Maggie had no answer for that, not that Nina had expected she would.

“You’re a smart girl, Maggie. You don’t do things like this. Did you do it intentionally? Did you do it to upset Simon?”

There! Maggie’s nostrils flared out and she blinked rapidly, two of her easy-to-spot tells, making her non-answer all but an admission of guilt.

“Why?” Nina said, letting her exasperation be heard. “Why are you making this so hard on us all? Do you want to see your therapist more? I don’t know what to do to help you, but you have to come to terms with the fact that Simon is a part of our lives now.”

As Nina thought for a moment, she went to pull her hair back out of habit, forgetting all the hair spray holding it in place.

“I can’t let this go by without doing something,” she said. “Hand it over.”

Maggie knew what was being asked of her and tossed her phone onto the bed with attitude, where it made a small bounce and landed next to Nina.

“Take it,” Maggie said dejectedly. “When can I have it back?”

“How about right now.”

Simon’s voice came from the open doorway, where he had hovered unnoticed.

“Sorry to be eavesdropping,” he said. “But may I?” Maggie responded with another shrug of her shoulders—Do what you want, she told him silently, and so he entered her room.

“I don’t think Maggie should be punished at all,” Simon said, taking a moment to look around and appreciate all of Maggie’s things. This was her space, and normally she would not have welcomed Simon inside.

“People make mistakes, and nobody got hurt,” Simon continued. “She apologized and I accepted her apology. Worst case, I get a new musket; best case, I can get it repaired. I was going to drive over to Wicked Weaponry tonight—I sent their repair guru a picture of the damage, and he thinks he can fix it up and it’ll be as good as old.”

Simon waited for a laugh that didn’t come.

“Yeah, that wasn’t very funny,” he admitted. “But no punishment at all. That’s my plea here. It’s fun to have, but I don’t need it for the field trip. And I’ll find another way to store it. That was my bad. Maybe I’ll keep it at the gun store until I figure something out. Doesn’t matter, none of this matters. I just want things to be better for us all, and this is one way I can think of doing that. Nina?”

Nina shifted her gaze to Maggie, who appeared placid but uncomfortable, like she was trying hard not to react to Simon’s overture in any way. She certainly appeared to be actively avoiding eye contact with him, though for a teen that was no surprise.

“Okay,” Nina said, rising from the bed, putting herself between Maggie and Simon. “How about we shake hands and make a pledge to try and work harder to support each other.”

“Deal,” Simon said, jumping on the offer, extending his hand fast as a whip crack. Maggie held out a few beats before extending her arm to give Simon an extremely tepid handshake. Glen would have made some remark, as he believed strongly that a firm handshake and solid eye contact were signs of maturity, but Nina had had enough for one day to try any additional corrective measures on her kid. She was tired, oh so tired, and wondering how the heck she was going to get up in the morning and do it all over again.

You’ll do it by putting one foot in front of the other, she told herself. Millions of people do. Nina kissed the top of Maggie’s head, taking in the smell of marigold-scented shampoo, and then turned to Simon.

“Please tell me I don’t have to make dinner,” she said.

“You don’t have to make dinner,” he answered with a dimpled smile. “It’s grilled chicken with lemon, capers, and rosemary. Already cooked.”

“Oh, thank God,” Nina breathed out.

“How about you take off your work clothes and I’ll set the table—with Maggie’s help.”

The look he sent Maggie made it clear she owed him and not to complain. Maggie rose reluctantly from her chair.

“I’ll have a glass of wine waiting for you downstairs, but I’m going to let you all eat without me,” Simon said. “Want to get to the gun store before they close and see about fixing it up before the field trip. Might be able to avoid some disappointed kids.”

Nina made a kissing sound that made Maggie sneer.

“Thank you … thank you,” she said. “I’m a working woman now. I need to be pampered.”

“You are a superstar,” Simon said, “and soon you’ll be a well-fed one. Maggie?”

Maggie slunk out of the room with footsteps that were close to being a stomp. Nina let out a big sigh once she was gone.