Maggie Norris and Luke Vaudest come with attitudes of stone-cold, rude, sarcastic snakes. Every single time the pair have clashed, it has never ended up being a good thing. The two are more than fine with never crossing paths, again.
Until Maggie d...
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"A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden." — Unknown
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Chapter 75 <—————————————>
Maggie
I beat the girls back in the house, but Kade stayed outside to help bring in some more food Kimberly bought. I tried to situate myself at the table, but with my nerves, I couldn't stay still, so I resorted to walking in small circles.
Footsteps echoed through the quiet of the house, since the only thing live right now was the crackle of the fireplace, and the thunder of my heart. I wasn't sure which was louder.
Kimberly rounded the corner, first. Raven was behind her, and Levi, still sporting an angry carved expression, headed straight for the fridge, and pulled the entire case of Buds Light out.
I paused in my tracks, and it caught the girls attention.
"Oh, Maggie, I'm glad you're awake," Kimberly smiled, still holding one of the grocery bags. Her eyes dipped to it as she reached inside, and pulled out a bag of jolly ranchers. "I got you a couple more of sweets, since the boys are destroying all of the others."
My nod was rough, and it sent the loose strands of my ponytail astray. "Thank you."
"Hey." Raven placed her bucket of popcorn she'd gotten from the theater down, her eyes sweeping over me. A hint of concern pounced through them. "You okay, babe?"
My fear nearly coughed up another lie, as it had routinely done for the past couple of years. Instead of letting it out, I pushed it back down with all of my strength and hope for their reactions.
My voice barely even hit an octave as I said, "I know this is sudden, but I need to talk to you. Both of you. It's about..." Doubt clouded my mind until it was all foggy, again.
Kimberly's paused on her bags at what I said, and Raven did the same. They passed a look to one another, then returned to me with an expression along the lines of concern and confusion.
Kade, who had just finished placing some of the groceries up with Levi, turned, and met my eyes. For the first time, I had a clear message from him: you can do this and take your time. I appreciated it more than he realized.
At my nod of appreciation, he returned it with one of understanding, then stepped closer to Kimberly. Kissing her head, he glanced down at her. "We'll be back. Levi's gotta help me with something real quick—"
Levi, who had already demolished his third bottle of beer, paused with it half way to his mouth. His confusion lined eyes swung over to Kade. "I do?"
