“I know it is, you little brat! Get out here!”
Maggie sighed and hugged her arms tightly across her chest as she stepped slowly into the living room. Her father was in his favorite chair in front of the TV, beer in hand. The football announcer’s voice filled the room as his eyes took her in. It was nearly five, so she knew that he’d probably already had a few.
“Why are you just standing there!” he yelled. “You know where the fridge is.”
Maggie felt his gaze on her as she went into the kitchen and opened the fridge to reveal the little white and red cans she had come to despise. She grabbed two, and her father glared when she handed them to him.
“You’re on your own for dinner tonight,” he said, as if that was anything new. He opened one of the cans and tilted it towards his lips, letting out a grunt and then a low belch. “Your stepmother shouldn’t have to cook for you. Now scram.”
“Yes, sir.” He didn’t have to tell her twice. Maggie ran out of the house and took a big gulp of air when she reached the front stoop. She sat down and put her head in her hands. Her stomach made a small noise, and she hunched over, trying to hold back the tears. Between the mean girls at school and her own parents, there was only one place she felt safe.
As if she’d willed it, Maggie heard a window open on the top floor of the house next door. She looked up and smiled for the first time all day as Elijah stuck his head out.
“Mags, you good?”
Wanting to seem brave, she nodded her head. Elijah scrunched up his face in concern. He could always see right through her.
“Wanna come over for dinner?”
“Your mom won’t mind?” She stood and craned her neck to meet his gaze.
“Are you kidding me? Meet me in the back.” He slid the window shut and disappeared.
Maggie pushed open the gate between their houses that would get her into Elijah’s backyard.
“Hi,” she said when she stopped in front of him. He searched her face for a moment before pulling her into a hug. When he released her, he led her to the bench under the willow tree. It was their bench, their tree. They would spend hours sitting there and talking about everything.
They sat, and Maggie ran a hand over the side of the bench where they’d carved their initials a few years before. She traced the double Ms that marked that she was there and then the E.L. for Elijah Lugo. She turned to him with a smile on her face.
Elijah was a good-looking kid. A lot of the girls at school had crushes on him, but if he liked anyone, he hadn’t told her.
“Think I can ask you a favor?” Elijah asked.
“Shoot.”
“Well...” He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt and looked down. “It’s just, the guys were talking at school.”
“You mean Jake.” She laughed. “What’s he got into your head now?”
“You know he kissed Anna Hendry.”
“Everyone knows that.”
“It’s just...” He looked sideways. “I’ve never kissed a girl.”
“So,” she said. “I’ve never kissed a boy.”
“Can I kiss you?” he blurted suddenly.
Maggie looked at him in shock, but he still wouldn’t meet her eyes. Her first kiss. Did she want it to be with Elijah?
“Yes.”
He finally looked at her.
“But I have a condition,” she said.
“Anything,” he stammered.
“Can you promise you’re only going to kiss me once? Because, Elijah, you are my best friend and if I lose you, I’ll have nothing.”
He nodded.
“I need you to say it,” she said.
“I promise, just once.”
She watched him, trying to figure out if he meant it. “Okay then, kiss me.” She scooted closer to him and closed her eyes.
It took Elijah a moment to get up the courage and, as soon as his lips pressed against hers, her eyes popped open. The kiss was short, and Maggie wanted him to do it again. But Elijah was the only person she could count on, so a first kiss was all it could be.
Her first kiss. Something they would always share.
Elijah couldn’t take his eyes from Maggie and she met his searing gaze as he reached out and touched his fingertips to her lips.
“Wow,” he whispered.
Maggie wanted to say the same thing, but she couldn’t. The rest of her life was messed up enough as it was. She needed Elijah.
When his gaze moved to her lips, she finally breathed out two words, “You promised.”
His shoulders sagged, and he looked away.
“Hey.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Best friends?”
After a moment of silence, he breathed deep, and she felt him return the pressure on her hand.
“Always.”
Present Day:
Thank God for Saturdays, Maggie thought as she dragged herself from her room. She was in desperate need of coffee. She flipped the lights on in her kitchen and pulled out a coffee filter. After filling the coffee maker, she hit the switch that would start the bubbling sound. Music to her ears.
Nothing happened.
“Dammit!” she yelled, pounding on the counter. How could anyone expect her to be useful today if she didn’t have caffeine in her system? “Shitty coffee maker,” she growled. In truth, it was. She’d only spent thirty bucks on the thing. It had lasted longer than anyone expected. It’s not like she had the money for one of those fancy ones, though. She was living in New York City on a teacher’s salary. Well, technically, she was living just outside the city. She couldn’t afford to live any closer.
She stomped back towards her bedroom. The people below me are probably real happy this morning, she couldn’t help but think. She stopped stomping. She was a thirty-two-year-old woman, for Christ’s sake.
Maggie threw her pajamas into the laundry basket and pulled on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She was not starting this day without coffee. Luckily, there was a shop just down the street. As she reached for her keys on the table by the front door, her buzzer sounded, letting her know someone was at street level wanting to come up.
She turned on her intercom. “Hello?”
“Mags, it’s me.” It was a voice she’d know anywhere.
She buzzed him in and unlocked her front door before making a quick run through the living room, picking things up. When she heard the door open, she glanced up to see an imposing figure carrying a drink in each hand.
“Oh you are a beautiful man, Elijah.” She rushed over and took the cup he offered as he chuckled softly. “I’ve only been up for a half hour and it’s already been a hellish morning. My piece-of-shit coffee maker is broken, so I had no way to get the caffeine to keep me on my feet. I was about to go down to the shop on the corner. You know, the one where the coffee tastes like mud. But you, oh best friend of mine, brought me my favorite. Let me know if you ever need a kidney or anything and it is so yours.”
Elijah was used to her incessant talking, so he just laughed and sat down on the couch. It’s why they made a good pair. She was a talker, and he was a listener.
“Elijah, I am so done with this school year. I’m exhausted. I love my kids, but man, they just wear me down.”
“Only one more week,” he said.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I know. Then I’ve got all summer.”
“What are you doing this summer?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I figured I’d lie low. I’ll probably help out at Jason’s and hang out with Michaela since you and Jay will still be working.” Maggie’s cousin, Jason, owned a bar in the city.
“I thought Mic was working.”
“No, she’ll have a lighter class load this summer and she’s just volunteering at Family Services a couple of days a week.”
“Gotcha.”
“What about you?” Maggie leaned back on the couch and stretched her legs across his lap. “You just sold a flip so are you looking for a new one?” Elijah flipped houses for a living. He didn’t
do all the work himself, but he did do a lot of it. His specialty was carpentry.
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, one of the remodeling companies I’ve done some side work for said they’re going to float me a bunch of work in the next few months.”
“But you love doing houses start to finish.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to, but that’s why I’m here. I want to take you somewhere.” He grinned excitedly, the kind of grin that crinkles your eyes and lights up your whole face. Maggie sat up and reached out, wanting to touch his face when it was so full of joy. He’d always been like that. When they were younger, and she felt miserable, his happiness would seep into her and she would believe everything would be okay.
“Okay.” She patted his cheek.
Elijah’s phone buzzed. Maggie watched him look at the screen and scowl.
“You going to get that?” she asked.
“No.”
“Well, I’m going to shower while you keep ignoring your phone, and then we can go.”
Elijah told Maggie to pull the car up outside a brick house with a rotted front porch.
“I thought you said you weren’t flipping right now.” Maggie looked sideways at Elijah as he stared up at the structure in front of them.
“I’m not.” He grabbed her hand and pulled. “Just come on.”
They had to go around back to avoid stepping on the front porch. The yard was basically just a dirt patch with grasses forcing their way through here and there, looking more like weeds than anything else. The back stoop swayed underneath their feet but didn’t fall apart. They stepped into a house that looked like it had been gutted. Broken furniture was strewn in their path, but Elijah just kicked it away.
“Isn’t it great?” Elijah asked, not looking at her. Instead, his eyes were focused on the house around them. “Look at these high ceilings. Those beams are in great condition. And the size of this kitchen!” He rushed towards the area that was taken up by yellow cabinets with stained counter-tops. The appliances were gone, leaving empty spaces where they once were.
“There are three bedrooms,” Elijah went on. “And you saw that backyard. With a little TLC, it could be great for having everyone over. I’d build a deck, and we could put a grill out there.”
“Elijah, what are you talking about?” Maggie asked with a worried frown. She knew the look on his face. When they were younger and he would get one of his crazy ideas in his head, he would get a gleam in his eye. It was the only time he talked more than she did.
“I bought this place,” he said. “For me. I’m going to renovate it and keep it.”
“Are you nuts? This place is a dump.”
“That’s only because you can’t see it like I do. Think about it. I’ll do hardwood floors throughout the downstairs. Granite counter-tops. Custom cabinets. It’ll be beautiful.”
“Did you get it checked out?”
“Of course.” He finally looked at her. His scowl told her he didn’t like how she was trying to kill his buzz. “The foundation is solid. All the inspections were fine. I’m going to make a home.”
A home. Maggie had never known one of those. Elijah had one growing up, but he hadn’t found one since. Maggie knew he missed his family, and he missed Boston, but he moved to help her restart her life. When her marriage blew up four years ago, he had to choose between his two best friends. He chose her, and she knew he always would. He was her person.
“I’m sure you will.” She looped her arm through his and let him show her the rest of the house.
Chapter Two
Elijah couldn’t remember the last time he was so excited about anything. He’d been flipping houses for years. He started doing it with his old friend Jake, but Jake was no longer in the picture.
There’s something about making an old house beautiful again that fed a deep need in Elijah. But then, each house had to be sold, and it felt like something was taken away from him. This house was his.
He knew Maggie thought he was crazy, and he’d hear it from her, eventually. She could never keep her opinions inside for long. He sank a lot of his savings into the house, and there’d be a lot more needed for materials and for the jobs he couldn’t do himself - like plumbing or electrical issues. On top of that, it meant he couldn’t take on a flip this summer. But he could do it. A buddy of his with a construction company was throwing him a bunch of work over the next few months so that should tide him over.
As Elijah stood in the entryway of his new home and looked back, he couldn’t help but see what the place could be.
“You coming?” Maggie called from the back of the house. He strode across his soon-to-be-living-room and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
Home. It was something Elijah was lucky enough to grow up with. No one could enter his mom’s house without feeling like they belonged there. But that was in Boston. In New York, he had yet to find it. He lived just outside the city, but he was only there because of Maggie.
At first, he had followed her from Boston after her life there blew up. She’d needed someone. Then he stayed because he just couldn’t leave her.
“You’re quiet.” Maggie smirked sideways at him as she pulled into the street.
“Just thinking,” he responded.
“About?”
“You think I’m nuts, don’t you?” he asked.
“A little,” she admitted. “But that’s not really a bad thing. I get it. I understand why you’re doing it.”
“It’s a bigger project than I usually take on.”
“And? It’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.” He meant it. Maggie’s support meant more than anything else. She glanced sideways at him again and smiled her patented Maggie smile that made him feel like nothing else mattered.
Damn, this woman’s strength always astounded him. Between her parents, her marriage, and everything else she’d been through, no one would blame her if she were a wreck. But no, instead she took on everyone else’s problems as well and was there for them.
Jason and Michaela were waiting for them outside the diner. Jason was Maggie’s cousin, but they were more like brother and sister. They were the only family either of them liked to claim and with good reason.
Maggie parked the car, and they got out.
“Hey guys,” Jason said, draping an arm over Maggie’s shoulders.
“Glad you could join us.” There was sarcasm in Michaela’s voice but a smile on her lips.
“Sorry we’re late.” Maggie shrugged and then pointed a finger at Elijah. “Blame him.”
Elijah just shrugged. It was his fault after all.
They walked in and made their way to an empty booth. Michaela and Maggie were already talking a mile a minute, so Elijah leaned back and watched as he always did. Jason flagged down a waitress and got their menus.
After a few minutes, the waitress returned.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
Michaela and Jason went first and then the waitress turned to Maggie.
“First,” Maggie started. “We’ll both have coffee.” She waggled a finger between her and Elijah. “He’ll have the ham and cheese omelet.”
“I can order for myself,” Elijah interrupted her.
Maggie stared at him and smirked. “Well, am I wrong?”
“No,” he said, breaking eye contact with her. “I’ll have the damn omelet.”
“That’s what I thought.” She turned away from him and handed the menus to the waitress. “I’ll have the eggs benedict and fruit.”
Elijah secretly loved that Maggie knew him so well. He also knew everything there was to know about her. They had no secrets. He looked up to find Michaela staring at him curiously. Her eyes darted back and forth between him and Maggie, and a small smile came to her lips. He raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything.
“Chris is coming to town tonight,” Jason said once they had all started eating.
�
��So, we all going to Jason’s?” Maggie asked.
“Well, I won’t be anywhere else.” Jason smiled through a mouthful of food.
Maggie threw a grape at him and he caught it out of the air before popping it into his mouth.
“Ass,” Maggie said.
Jason’s was busy by the time they got there later that night. Elijah lived right around the corner from Maggie, so she thought it just made sense that they went everywhere together. They were usually going to the same place, anyway.
They found Michaela and Chris sitting at the bar while Jason poured them drinks.
“Hey, man!” Elijah clapped Chris on the shoulder, and Maggie moved to hug him.
“It’s good to see you,” Chris said, releasing her.
Jason set a beer in front of Maggie, and she thanked him. It would be her only one that night. In fact, she never had more than one. Her father was a drunk, and she saw first-hand what that did to a person.
“How’s everything?” Maggie asked Chris.
“Oh, you know, okay I guess,” he answered, dropping his shoulders and sighing. “It’ll be better once I’m back in the city.”
“When will that be?”
“Very soon, I think. Our new offices are almost ready.”
Chris had moved home to Connecticut after his father and Michaela were in a car accident. Michaela didn’t have any long-term problems, but their dad was a different story. He’d lost a lot of his memories and was slower than before. Chris ended up taking over their family’s law practice. Before the accident, they’d planned on opening an office in the city, but that had been put on hold.
“Seeing anyone?” Maggie asked.
Chris blushed and shrugged his shoulders.
“Chris Matthews, you sly dog.”
“What about you, Mags?”
She could feel her face heating up and didn’t know why. She looked sideways at Elijah, whose gaze seared into her, and then answered, “No.”
“Well, then can I have this dance?” Chris held out a hand to her, and she laughed, setting her drink down and following him to the dance floor. She’d always liked Chris. Whatever guy he was dating had better be good enough.
The New Beginnings (Books #1-3) Page 18
