by Jennie Marts
“Mom! Guess what?” Dylan cried as he launched himself at her and threw his arms around her neck. “Dad’s here!”
While happy to get a rare hug from her youngest son, she was annoyed that Chad’s return had prompted it. Maggie took advantage of the moment to squeeze Dylan against her, as she murmured, “So I see.”
Dylan radiated with excitement. “Isn’t that great, Mom? Dad is back! He had a big fight with Sapphire, and she broke up with him, and so now he’s back and he wants to stay here. I told him it would be fine with us. It is fine with us, right, Mom? Mom?”
Her son’s frantic flow of words seemed to suck the breath from Maggie’s lungs, and her heart beat faster as the pace of his voice accelerated. “Great” was not exactly the word she had in mind when she thought about Chad.
Stunned, she sank to the couch, so mindless that she landed on her Coach bag, and her left cheek was probably smashing a lip gloss and a pack of gum. “Did you say ‘stay here’?” she croaked.
“Just for a few days, a week at the most,” a deep male voice said from the kitchen doorway. Maggie whipped her head around to see her ex-husband leaning against the door-jamb, a sheepish grin on his face. “Hi, Maggie-May.”
Maggie’s mouth opened and closed, but no words seemed to form as she took in the sight of her ex-husband. She hadn’t seen him in months and she hated to admit he looked pretty good. The hair plugs Sapphire had insisted on had grown in and seemed more natural as they blended with his dark hair. His teeth looked whiter against his tan skin, and he wore shorts, flip-flops, and a clichéd Ed Hardy shirt that screamed, “Recently divorced and trying to recapture my youth.”
He had always been good-looking, but he’d dropped ten or fifteen pounds and seemed to be in better shape than he had the last five years of their marriage. I guess having a younger girlfriend is good incentive for working out, Maggie thought. Maybe I should think about getting one.
“What are you doing here?” she finally managed to ask. “And don’t call me Maggie-May.”
Chad nodded to Dylan. “Hey, kid, why don’t you go up to your room for a bit? Give your mom and me a chance to talk.”
“Okay, Dad.” Like a golden retriever, happy to please its master, Dylan headed for the stairs. Stopping at the first step, he turned back to face his father. “You won’t leave while I’m up there, will you?”
A fist of pain clutched at Maggie’s heart as she heard the subtle desperation in her son’s voice. As angry as the boys were at the man who had cheated on their mother, they both still missed their dad. At fourteen, Dylan was often pulled between those feelings of anger and the desire to have his father around. Maggie knew that Dylan harbored the secret hope that his parents would get back together and things would go back to the way they were.
Maggie feared that Dylan’s enthusiasm at his Dad’s return might be the result of that hope.
Chad waved away Dylan’s concern. “No way, I’ll still be here.” He flashed Maggie a used-car salesman grin. “Unless your mom kicks me out…”
Seriously? Was he flirting with her? The pain turned to “pissed,” and Maggie propelled herself off the sofa. “Dylan, go on up to your room and let me talk to your dad. He won’t leave without saying goodbye.”
She pointed at Chad. “You, in the kitchen. Now.”
Chad ducked his head sheepishly, and stepped back into the kitchen. “Hey, no need to get hostile.”
Maggie followed him into the room, the little dog close on her heels. Chad pointed to the tall stool that sat against the kitchen’s center island. “Let me get you something to drink, and we can just talk.” He used his soothing voice as he pulled two glasses from the cabinet above the sink and filled them with ice.
He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a Diet Coke, and scanned the remaining contents of the fridge. “Don’t we have any beer?”
Maggie shook her head incredulously. “No, I don’t have any beer. I have teenage boys, and they don’t need the temptation of beer in the house. Besides, I don’t even like beer! And in case you’ve forgotten, this is my house and my refrigerator and I can keep whatever I damn well please in it.” She blew her dark bangs out of her eyes.
“Geez, you don’t have to get all snippy about it,” Chad said. “I’ll just have a Diet Coke too.” He popped the tops of the two cans and poured the soda into the two glasses, then handed one to Maggie.
She took a deep breath then a long sip of the sweet liquid. How many fights had they had where Chad’s voice had calmed while hers became more anxious? She took one more sip, using the drink as an excuse to calm her nerves. “What are you doing here, Chad?”
“Well, you see, um…” Chad looked at everything in the room except for her. “Sapphire and I sort of got in this fight, and she sort of kicked me out.”
“Then why don’t you ‘sort of’ stay in a hotel? What are you doing here?”
“Well, you see…”
“No, I don’t see. What is going on? Quit stalling and spit it out!” Maggie said, using a cross between her “defense attorney” and “mom” voices.
“She spent all my money, and I can’t afford to stay in a hotel,” Chad said, all in one breath. “There. Are you happy?”
Mmmm, just a little, she thought. But what she said was: “No, I’m not happy. I am annoyed that you are here, disrupting our lives.”
“Hey, this used to be my life too.”
“Used to be is right,” Maggie said, her voice rising again. Before it could reach skyscraper level, the front door banged open and Maggie groaned as she heard her oldest son, Drew, calling for her.
“Mom! Hey, Mom! My acceptance letter from Colorado State University was in the mailbox when we got home.” He flew into the kitchen, a look of pure joy on his face.
His look quickly turned to one of suspicion as he saw his father leaning against the counter. “What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Drew.” Chad pushed off from the counter and extended his hand to his son.
Drew kept his hands loosely at his sides. “I said, what are you—”
The sound of Dylan’s excited voice and his feet clambering down the stairs broke into Drew’s sentence. “Drew! Drew! You won’t believe it!” The boy tumbled into the kitchen, almost colliding with his older brother. “Drew! Dad’s here. Did you see? Dad’s here! And he’s gonna stay with us!”
Drew turned to Maggie, an incredulous look on his face. “He’s what?”
“Okay, hold on, bud,” Maggie said to Dylan. “No one said he’s staying.”
“Oh, but c’mon, Mom, you gotta let him stay. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go,” Dylan whined.
“The boy has a point,” Chad said, a satisfied grin on his face. He leaned back against the counter, content to watch his son plead his case for him.
Drew looked questioningly at his mother, silent understanding flowing between them—of the struggle of making Dylan this happy and kicking Chad-the-Cheater out on his keester.
“C’mon, Mom, it’s just for a few days.” Dylan moved to stand next to his father. He’d grown several inches over the summer and, at five foot ten, now stood almost as tall as Chad. “And I’ll even help clean up the house more. I can unload the dishwasher tonight. And Dad will help too, won’t you, Dad?”
He looked at his father, who smiled and put his arm around his son’s shoulder. “Of course I will. I’m pretty good with running the vacuum. C’mon, Maggie, what d’ya say?”
Maggie felt her resolve melting as Dylan’s eyes pleaded with her. Having Chad here seemed to make her son so happy, and she would do just about anything to keep that smile on his face. Even if it meant putting up with her ex. “Well, if it’s only for a few days…”
“A week, tops,” Chad assured her.
“Mom!” Drew said, giving his mother his best, “what-the-hell-are-you-thinking?” glare.
Maggie shrugged and nodded at Dylan. “It’s only for a few days.”
Drew’s eyebrows rose.
“A
week, tops,” Chad said again, clapping Dylan on the shoulder. “I’ll sleep in the extra bunk bed in Dylan’s room. It’ll be like a camp-out.”
He looked toward Maggie. “You won’t even know I’m here. I’ll be gone before you know it. I’ve got a couple things lined up, I just need to get my feet back under me.”
Hmmm, Maggie thought. Where have I heard that before?
Chapter Four
“So someone was really murdered at Jeremy’s office?” Sunny asked.
“Yep.” Maggie set Diet Cokes in front of Sunny and Cassie, her best friends since college. “I can’t believe I haven’t had a chance to talk to you guys yet.”
The last few days had flown by in a whirlwind of activity. Suddenly, Wednesday night was here, and Maggie was hosting their weekly book club meeting at her house.
Luckily, she had given the bakery down the block from her office building the schedule of her meeting nights and they had two of her customary scrumptious desserts boxed and waiting for her when she ran in at six o’clock that evening.
“His name was Jim, and he was poisoned. Jeremy called last night and told me that the cause of death was some kind of poison in his coffee cup.” Maggie sliced into one of the desserts and placed a thick piece of chocolate mousse cake onto a plate before passing it to Sunny.
Maggie filled them in on all the details while also filling the other three plates: another large piece of chocolate cake for Piper, who at eighteen, could still eat whatever she wanted; a small piece of the Boston cream pie for Cassie, who was always watching her weight; and a small slice of each on a plate for Edna, who claimed she liked to have her cake and eat it too.
“And Edna was there?” Cassie asked. She wore her standard “mom” outfit of jeans and a t-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled into a clip, a few loose tendrils of curls escaping the fastener. Her shining eyes and upturned nose gave her a cute pixie-face appeal, and the few extra pounds she was always complaining about actually looked good on her petite frame. Her door and her arms were always open, and she was the first to give out hugs, usually followed by cookies.
She pulled the plate toward her and swiped a finger through the middle section of pudding. Bringing a large dollop of yellow cream into her mouth, Cassie closed her eyes and groaned in pleasure at the delicious vanilla flavor.
“Of course she was,” Maggie said, then turned to Sunny. “But where is she now? Why didn’t she come with you?” Sunny lived a few doors down from Edna, and they usually carpooled to book club each week.
“She had an exercise class downtown, so Piper is picking her up after her class and bringing her over,” Sunny explained.
The front door opened, and the sound of Edna’s voice carried into the kitchen as she doled out her characteristic advice to anyone who would listen.
“Speak of the she-devil now,” Maggie said with a smirk, then her jaw dropped as Edna walked into the kitchen. “Oh. My. Gosh! What are you wearing?”
Edna had on a tight pink sweatsuit over a lime-green tank top. A pink and white braided head-band circled her silvery curls.
“What?” Edna asked, turning in a circle. “This is my new exercise outfit.”
The women exploded into laughter as Edna turned, displaying the word “Juicy” spelled out in hot-pink letters across her backside.
“Edna,” Sunny gasped between fits of giggles. “Where on earth did you buy some Juicy Couture?”
“Isn’t it cute? I got this down at the Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Mabel and I signed up for a Zumba class, and I needed a new sweatsuit. I loved the color, and got it marked down from $7.99 to $2.49 with my senior discount. I like it. It kind of makes me feel sassy.” Edna winked as she gave her behind a little wiggle.
Which only set the women off on another round of hysterical laughter.
“You are sassy.” Sunny wiped the tears from her eyes with the corner of her napkin. The antics of her neighbor never failed to amuse her. True to her name, Sunny’s bright personality worked perfectly with her job as an elementary school teacher. She was of average build and height, and her friends envied her shoulder-length, naturally curly blond hair. Her easy laugh and positive spirit also contributed to her Sunny disposition.
“Well, I like her new sweatpants.” Piper smiled at Edna. “I think they make you look hot.”
“Ha! See there. Piper thinks I look hot.” Edna gave a satisfied huff. “So the rest of you can just shut up and eat your cake.”
Piper laughed, dropped her bulging back pack on the floor, and sank into a chair at the kitchen table. “Speaking of cake, can someone pass me a plate? I’m starving.”
Cassie picked up the plate with the large piece of chocolate cake covering it. She passed it across to the table but halted midway as a man wearing a white t-shirt and pajama pants walked into the kitchen.
Both her mouth and the plate fell, and the only sound in the room was tiny toenails on the kitchen floor as Barney raced into the room and frantically began eating the fallen cake.
Cassie could only gape at the man, who casually cut himself a piece of the dessert.
“Hello, ladies,” Chad said, a slow grin crossing his face, as if he were just daring them to question his arrival.
Edna, never afraid of a dare, was the first to speak. “What in the Sam hell are you doing here?”
“Just getting a piece of cake. I always did love book club night.” He picked up a fork and stuck a large bite of chocolate cake in his mouth. “The dog really shouldn’t eat all that chocolate,” he said around the bite of cake as he gestured to the dog with his fork.
“Then neither should you,” Edna retorted. “I’ve heard chocolate is bad for dogs.”
Maggie shooed the dog away as she scooped up the remains of the cake with a napkin. Cleaning up the mess gave her something to focus on so she didn’t have to look into the eyes of the women who knew her so well.
“Maggie?” Sunny asked, not able to phrase anything more than the one word.
Maggie tossed the mess into the trash while giving Chad a look of exasperation. “Really?”
“What? I just wanted some cake.” Chad shrugged, doing his best to look innocent.
“What are you doing here?” Edna repeated. “And why are you in your pajamas at six thirty at night? Don’t you have a job?”
Chad’s grin faded. “Look, I’m just between jobs right now—”
“Chad, just take the cake and go upstairs,” Maggie said before he could make things worse.
“Fine.” He took his plate and left the kitchen, Barney following close at his heels, the dog’s only allegiance to whomever currently had cake.
The women of the Pleasant Valley Page Turners stared expectantly at Maggie as she washed her hands and began wiping crumbs off the kitchen counter.
“Well?” Edna said, propping her hands on her hips. “Are you gonna tell us what that no-job, cake-eating, pajama-wearing cheat of an ex-husband is doing here? Or are you just gonna ignore us and wipe down the counter and act like that little scene didn’t just happen?”
“I’ll choose to wipe down the counters and act like nothing happened.”
“Maggie!” Cassie and Sunny cried in unison.
Maggie threw the dishcloth in the sink and sighed. “Sapphire spent all his money and kicked him out. When he showed up here, Dylan was so excited to see his dad that I agreed to let him stay here for a few days. End of story.” She picked up a fork, stabbed a large bite of chocolate cake, and stuffed it into her mouth.
“That is sooo not the end of the story,” Sunny said. “Why isn’t he working? Why did he come here? Why didn’t he stay with a friend?”
As Sunny shot rapid-fire questions at Maggie, Cassie walked around the counter to enfold their friend into a hug.
“I don’t know how it happened.” Maggie’s voice was muffled as she spoke into Cassie’s shoulder. “He was just here, and Dylan was so happy, and I was worried about Jeremy and it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. And it’s only for a
few days.”
“Hmmph!” Edna still had not removed her hands from her hips. “How is it you can be so tough in the courtroom, but you let this guy walk all over you?”
Maggie shook her head. “I don’t know. I was married to the guy, so he knows how to push my buttons and get me to cave. In this case, that button was Dylan. Don’t worry, I’m making sure he’s looking for another place to stay.”
The women looked at Maggie, not sure how to respond. Their silence was broken by the strains of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” coming from somewhere in Edna’s vicinity.
Edna reached into her tank top and pulled a cell phone from her bra. Pushing a button, she snapped into the phone, “What do you want, you old bat?”
Whatever the “old bat” had to say must not have been good, because Edna’s face fell and she told the caller, “I’m with Maggie now. We’ll be right there,” before ending the call and shoving the phone back into her bra.
“What’s going on?” Maggie asked.
“Grab your purse, we’re going to the police station,” Edna said. “Jeremy’s been arrested. C’mon, I’ll drive.”
Chapter Five
“He’s not under arrest.” Officer McCarthy shook his head at the group of women crammed into the front office of the Pleasant Valley Police Station. “Why did you all think you needed to show up? There hasn’t been this many people in here since the Clapshaw twins accidentally drove their dad’s truck into the side of the Tastee-Freez.”
Maggie looked around the crowded reception area. The five members of the Page Turners book club had filled the small space, and Jeremy’s tiny grandmother had walked in a few minutes after they arrived with enough stuff to take the space of two people.
Mabel carried her handbag on her wrist and a purple tote the size of Texas over her shoulder. To Maggie’s surprise, she noticed a red and white bucket of fried chicken tucked under the older woman’s arm.
“I wasn’t sure how long we’d have to wait.” Mabel gestured to the bag. “I brought a few paperbacks and my laptop in case I need to update my status on Facebook. I hope they have Wi-Fi here.”
