She beeped the horn instead of going to his door, as it was just too cold to do the reverse chivalry thing, and he ran out almost immediately. She quickly cleaned off the passenger seat and threw everything in the back. He got in and Maggie could smell his particular personal smell, a mixture of disinfectant from the veterinary clinic, soap, and laundry detergent. It didn’t have anything like the effect Scott’s smell had on her. Primarily, Drew smelled clean.
Maggie liked the look of him, though. Hannah described him as “crunchy granola,” due to the longish brown hair and sideburns, and the mountain hiker/biker outfits he wore. Tonight he had on a heavy wool sweater, a denim shirt, and faded olive-colored pants. Maggie thought his face looked open and honest, with grayish green eyes and a goofy smile, and she also noticed he had a crooked eyetooth when he smiled. He seemed a little shy, but earnest somehow. He had, as Hannah liked to refer to the qualities of honesty, integrity, and helpfulness, “that boy scout thing.”
“How do you like your house?” she asked, as she turned her car around in her old driveway.
“It's pretty crappy,” he said. “I don't guess Theo's likely to do anything about it now.”
“Maybe we can find you something better.”
There was not much real estate available in Rose Hill, and students snapped up the year ‘round rentals, subletting to tourists each summer. There were slumlords like Theo who charged exorbitant rental rates to students and tourists for falling down firetraps, and there were occasionally houses for sale, but someone usually had to die for property to come available for sale.
Due to Rose Hill’s proximity to the ski resorts, more and more people from outside were buying up houses in the area to use as vacation homes. This drove the housing prices up, which drove the property taxes up, which would eventually make Rose Hill too expensive for local people. They had watched this happen in Glencora, then the towns surrounding it, and now the “rich tourist effect” was rolling down the mountain toward smaller towns, like a slow motion avalanche.
Maggie thought about the empty space on the second floor of her own building, which held overstock and junk. She had considered renovating and renting it out, but she wasn't sure she wanted anyone in her building with her. What if they had loud sex every night, or partied every weekend, or worst of all, wanted to hang out with her all the time? She shuddered at the thought.
“I’m hoping whoever inherits it will be willing to do some work on it,” Drew said.
Maggie turned right at the end of Possum Holler and went down Peony Street to Rose Hill Avenue, where she turned right again.
“That would be Gwyneth or Caroline, his sisters,” Maggie informed him. “Gwyneth is a bit of a pill, but Caroline’s all right.”
Drew shifted in his seat so he was facing her.
“I’ve been looking forward to this all week,” Drew said. “It seems like every time you and I get a chance to talk we get interrupted.”
“That’s my fault,” Maggie said. “There never seems to be enough hours in the day for all I have to do. Plus I can never tell anyone in my family ‘no’ when they ask for something. In case you haven’t noticed, the Fitzpatrick family owns every other business in this town. At least it seems like it.”
“Tell me about your family. Hannah says you have three brothers, but I only know Patrick.”
“Nope,” Maggie said. “Last time we got together I told you my bookstore story. Tonight it’s your turn. Why in the world did you buy Owen’s practice?”
“Fair enough,” Drew said. “The first thing you have to know is the 24-hour veterinary emergency center I worked in was in a tough part of Philly, and it was intense. When I first started I loved the fast pace and the constant adrenaline rushes. After eight years of it, though, I was feeling pretty burned out.”
“I had some money saved, so I decided to take a year off and basically live in a tent. I thought by the end of the year I would know what I wanted to do next. I started in Glencora, during the big bike race last summer. It was July, and you know how great the weather is then.”
“During the six weeks of summer we get,” Maggie said.
“Exactly,” Drew said. “I was living in a tent in the state park, hiking and biking every day, and feeling happier than I had in a long time. I didn’t know how miserable I was in my job until I was away from it in such a peaceful, beautiful place.”
“Where were you supposed to go next?”
“I was going to meet some friends in Virginia to hike a big piece of the Appalachian Trail, do some white water rafting on the New River, spend a couple months in the Smoky Mountains, and go farther south as it got colder. I planned to spend January, now that is, in Key West.”
Maggie nodded outside at the snow and the night sky and said, “No dockside sunsets here.”
“But you have to admit my house is not much better than a tent.”
“True. So then?” she prompted.
“I came down to Rose Hill for provisions and saw a notice on the bulletin board in the grocery store, advertising the vet practice for sale. I decided there was no harm in having a look. It felt like fate, you know?”
Caroline Eldridge was another one who talked about fate and karma, and even if she was dubious, Maggie understood what he meant and nodded.
“I met Owen’s wife, Pat, and looked at the practice. She let me examine the books, and although it was a small business, it was turning a profit. I pictured myself living and working in this beautiful place, riding my bike to work, hiking, and canoeing on weekends, and I was hooked. I took what was left of my savings, cashed in some stocks, bought the place, modernized the surgery, and moved here.”
“Did your family and friends think you’d lost your mind?” Maggie asked.
Drew laughed and nodded.
“Yeah, pretty much. My parents are MD’s, and so are both of my sisters, so when I went to vet school instead of med school that was their first clue I wasn’t going to toe the family line. When I decided to take a year off, they all thought I would come back and go to med school. Then after two weeks I did this instead.” He waved to indicate the snowy landscape outside. “I’m sure they thought I’d had a breakdown of some sort.”
Maggie eyed him curiously.
“And had you?”
Drew looked away from Maggie, out the window, and answered with a shrug.
“I wanted to make a big change in my life, to simplify it, and to have some peace and quiet in order to think.”
“So what do you think now?”
“I like the practice and the people, and even if I’m not a ‘local,’ everyone has been kind to me, if a little reserved.”
“They’re waiting to see if you stay or not,” Maggie said. “If you last through a couple winters then they’ll start thinking about warming up to you.”
“We’ll see, I guess,” he said. “I have to tell you when the leaves fell and the snow started flying in October, I thought it was beautiful.”
Maggie laughed.
“You didn’t know you wouldn’t see green grass again until May.”
“It sometimes feels like winter will never end,” he said, and he sounded so forlorn Maggie’s heart went out to him.
“Well, most people here don’t have it snowing inside their houses,” she said. “That’s probably why it’s harder on you.”
As they drove down the long driveway toward Sam and Hannah’s house, the dogs ran out to greet them, and Maggie could see Sam not far behind.
“Did you know Sam's in a wheelchair?” Maggie asked Drew.
“No,” Drew said. “What happened?”
“War,” was all Maggie said, and let Drew surmise the rest.
Sam prided himself on making accurate, instant assessments of people, and his initial impression of Drew was of an intelligent, soft-spoken man who was definitely attracted to Maggie. Drew kidded around with Hannah in a way that connoted only friendship and nothing more. Sam had been a little concerned at how much “Drew says,�
�� he had heard from his wife since the new vet arrived in town, but now that he could see them interact, he decided he could rest easy.
Drew was mostly focused on Maggie, and Sam watched him draw her out with questions and defer to her opinion about whatever they were discussing during dinner. Hannah was a merciless matchmaker, and he could see she was overly pleased with herself on this night.
Earlier she told Sam her goal for the evening was to convince Drew to stay in Rose Hill, and if a romance with Maggie was what it took, then so be it. Sam felt sorry for Scott, but he was familiar with the ruthlessly fickle ways of women.
Sam thought Maggie could do much worse. Drew was intelligent and funny, with a dry, quick wit he could appreciate. His attentions were making Maggie feel warm and flattered, Sam could tell, but not bombarded or manipulated. Having battled with depression over the years, Sam thought he could recognize the signs in other people. Maggie had been sad for a long time, and it was good to see her relax and enjoy herself.
Hannah carried on, like she usually did, and made it easy for everyone to laugh and have a good time. Sam was quiet and mostly observant, but when he asked Drew some questions about his office technology, Hannah threw a roll at him.
“Don't start that!” Hannah protested. “If you let him, Drew, he will lure you into his gingerbread house of technology, fatten you up on gigabytes and megabytes, and we will never see you again.”
Sam smiled ruefully and let Hannah change the subject.
The subject of Drew's appalling living conditions came up and they brainstormed about possible alternatives.
“It will be months before the estate is settled,” Sam advised. “I wouldn't count on Gwyneth or Caroline to save you.”
“I think Mamie has a garage apartment some staff used to live in,” Hannah said. “It’s full of junk now, but we could clean it up. I will get on it first thing tomorrow.”
“If I could work out a decent place to live,” he said, “I'd love to stay.” Sam noticed he started his statement looking at Hannah, but ended it looking at Maggie.
When Hannah brought up Theo’s murder, Drew told them all about the dog breeding scam, and although they already knew about it, they were careful to act surprised.
“Who do you think killed him?” Hannah asked Drew, who shrugged.
“I haven’t a clue. It’s some real serious karma for whoever did. I wouldn’t want murder on my conscience.”
“You and his sister have a lot in common,” Maggie said, and then proceeded to tell Drew about Caroline’s philosophies and her charitable work.
Sam watched amused as Hannah tried to steer the conversation back to Theo’s murder and away from Caroline, Drew’s stint in the Peace Corps, global warming, and third world hunger, with no success.
Maggie and Hannah cleared the table and washed dishes while Sam took Drew out to see the kennel and feed the ‘prisoners.’ Hannah asked Maggie if she had heard anything new about Theo's murder, and Maggie got her caught up on what she knew from talking to Scott.
Mentioning Scott made Maggie feel a little disloyal for enjoying Drew's attentions so much, but then she reminded herself she and Scott were not a couple, and he had been spending plenty of time with Sarah lately.
Hannah told Maggie about seeing the Feds up at Theo’s lodge, before the country sheriff’s car arrived.
“I got a call from one of my scanner grannies this evening,” Hannah said.
“What’s going on?”
“Tiny Trollop, our crime fighting kitten, was sitting out in front of the police station today, making cell phone calls.”
“Silly kitten.”
“She was calling someone at the Federal Bureau of Investigations.”
“Well connected kitten!”
“Quite. It seems our county mounty was not too happy about the FBI cleaning out the safe before her boys got there.”
“They took everything?”
“Evidently.”
Maggie felt a little sick at her stomach. She hoped they covered their tracks well enough.
“Anything else?”
“Whoever it was she called said the Feds are going to take over the case, because they think it may be connected to a larger investigation they have going on.”
“Damn.”
“I know.”
“So somebody we don’t know may have killed Theo over what we found in the safe.”
“Somebody important, maybe.”
“What does Sam say?”
“That I shouldn’t worry.”
“Are you worried?”
“No, not really. Think about it. The county people didn’t know what was up there, so they can’t know anything was taken before the feds got there. We had on gloves, so we didn’t leave any prints, and we had a perfectly legitimate reason to be up there, taking care of those dogs. Which reminds me, I have got to find homes for those dogs.”
Maggie handed Hannah the next dish to dry. She wasn’t so convinced they were in the clear, but she wanted Hannah to be right.
“I can think of a dozen hunters in this town who would jump at the chance to work with one of those dogs.”
Hannah wiped the plate and shook her head.
“The problem with that is they were all bred to hunt, but none of them actually has. They might all be gun-shy and impossible to housebreak.”
Maggie washed and rinsed the pans, and then handed them one by one to Hannah.
“Mom and Dad would take one, as long as it got along with Lazy Ass Laddie, and you know Ed loves dogs.”
“Ed's a one-dog man, and he recently got that black lab. Let's see what happens this week. Maybe Willy will sober up and come back, and then he can take care of them out there.”
Maggie stopped what she was doing and put her head close to Hannah's.
“Can I say something completely horrible?”
“Always,” said Hannah. “In fact, I demand that you do.”
“I hope Willy never comes back, and if it's because he’s dead, I won't be sorry.”
Hannah bumped her friend's shoulder and nodded.
“Lots of people feel the same way, not just you. Don't feel bad.”
On the way back to town, Maggie felt shy and backward being alone with Drew. He, on the other hand, was in a great mood, telling Maggie all about the camping, hiking, biking, and white water rafting he planned to do with friends over the summer. One of the vets he used to work with was going to come down to cover his practice for a few weeks so he could take a vacation.
“You should come too,” he said to Maggie.
“Oh no,” Maggie said. “My idea of roughing it is staying in a motel that doesn’t have a restaurant attached.”
“No, you’d love it, I know you would.”
Maggie, who was not kidding, knew what it was like and knew she would hate every minute of it. Gabe had finally quit begging her to go fishing with him after she accidentally knocked a coffee can full of bait into the water as they loaded the canoe.
“I really don’t think you want me along,” she said. “I burn to a crisp after five minutes in the sun, I hate bugs, and I’m not a big fan of either blisters or sweating.”
He hardly seemed to hear her, and instead regaled her with tales of hikes he’d gone on in the past. Maggie was reminded of how often men seem to only hear what they want to hear. She listened to him go on and on, and tried to seem interested.
When she stopped the car in front of his house he said, “Thanks for the great evening,” leaned over, and kissed her. Maggie was surprised, but it was a pleasant experience.
“I had fun, too,” she said when he stopped.
“Come over tomorrow night,” he said, “and I’ll cook dinner.”
“Sure,” Maggie said, a little buzzed from the kissing.
“Okay then, see you tomorrow,” he said, and got out of the car.
Maggie was glad it was dark enough so the instant hot flash she knew was making her cheeks burn was not easily detected. She drov
e home feeling fizzy and girly, smiling and giggling to herself like an idiot.
She parked in the alley behind her building and when she got out of the car, saw Duke running by with some small, unfortunate rodent clamped in his jaws.
“Your landlord's home now, Duke, you better get a move on.”
Duke kept on at a trotting pace, and didn't waver from his path.
Maggie let herself in the back stairwell and locked the door behind her. From this small alcove, she could walk up the backstairs to the hall outside her apartment or go on through to the bookstore. Someone had shoved a note under the back door and she stepped on it with snowy, wet boots before she saw it, stuck to the bottom of her right foot. She shook off her gloves and picked it up, holding it under the stairwell light to read.
“Call me when you get home,” was written on it, and it was signed “S” for Scott.
Maggie instantly felt deflated, guilty, and irritated. She sat on the small folding chair she kept by the door and pulled her boots off, then took her coat and scarf off and hung them on a hook.
She put on the slippers she left by the back door earlier, disarmed the security system, and slipped through a connecting door to the bookstore, which was closed and dark, with only a few lights left on for security. She went to the front counter and reached over it to retrieve the daily sales log, to see how they'd done during the day, and the number was good. Ski season was always good for business, there was plenty of snow, and now that the students were back, they used the café to meet friends, study, and keep fueled with espresso and coffee drinks.
Maggie was too wound up to go to bed. She wanted a few minutes to try to regain the sweet feeling she'd had with Drew before she saw Scott's note. She knew Scott was probably out walking around, keeping an eye on her apartment for a light to go on. She wasn't ready to let go of the happy romantic feeling Drew's company had provided in order to re-enter the complicated world of whatever it was she felt about Scott.
They were friends, and if they both could undergo some sort of personality transplant, maybe they could be more. Right now, though, it seemed too difficult. There was a physical attraction that was too strong to deny, but there was also what seemed like too much history, and what Maggie believed were unrealistic expectations on his part. They talked around it sometimes, but they didn't talk about it, and it left things between them feeling, Maggie thought, ‘unfinished,’ for lack of a better word.
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