Afterward, Rob offered to buy Maggie an ice-cream cone, and they sat on a bench in the sun, enjoying the cold treat.
“That was amazing,” Maggie said as she captured a drip of chocolate ice cream with her tongue. “I took so many great pictures. I can’t wait to see them on my computer.”
Rob smiled at her. “It is fun, isn’t it? You know, before we sold the company, all I did was work. I never enjoyed a nice sunny day. I rarely took my bike out for a coastal ride, and I certainly didn’t go to a place like this to buy fish. I ran to the local store, got what I needed, went home, and ate it. I feel very lucky that now I can take my time, enjoy more in life, and work less.”
“You and Matt worked very hard to get where you are. It’s not like they just handed you free money. But it must be nice, not having to worry anymore about money, and just enjoy life,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, but money isn’t everything. I had always hoped to find someone to share my life with and have children, like Cassie and Matt. Their life is so full. I just wasn’t lucky enough to find the right one.”
Maggie studied Rob thoughtfully. He was smart, good-looking, and had a kind disposition. She couldn’t imagine why he’d never been able to find someone to settle down with.
“Do I have ice cream on my face?” Rob asked, wiping his mouth and beard with his napkin.
Maggie felt her face heat up. She hadn’t realized she’d been staring at him for so long. “No, no. I didn’t mean to stare. Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like the singer Bob Seger?”
Rob broke out in laughter. “Actually, I have had a couple of people say that. Especially since I grew this beard. I take it as a compliment, though. I like his songs.”
“Me, too. I was listening to Bob’s music when this whole crazy journey began. And ever since I left, I keep running into people with variations of his name. Bob, Bobbi, and now Rob. There’s definitely a theme going on here,” Maggie said. She told Rob about her encounters with Wild Bill and Bobbi.
“You have had an interesting trip,” he agreed.
Cassie was happy to see them when they returned to the house, and especially pleased to see the fresh fish for dinner. While she and Maggie got to work in the kitchen, Rob, Matt, and the kids went into the den to play Matt’s latest video game, trying to find errors in it.
Once Maggie finished helping Cassie, she brought her computer down to the kitchen and uploaded the day’s photos. The picture of the child reaching for his ice-cream cone was adorable, and the ones in the fish market had turned out beautifully. The colors were vibrant and alive as the slick salmon flew through the air. Maggie was pleased and started adding the best ones to a folder of her favorites from the trip.
“Wow. That’s a beautiful shot. Did you take it?” Cassie asked as she came up behind Maggie, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. They were looking at one of the photos of Lake Tahoe.
“Yes, I did. Isn’t it wonderful? The water is so crystal clear by the shore, and then deepens in color as the water becomes deeper.” Maggie began clicking through the different pictures for Cassie.
“Who’s that?” Cassie asked when a photo of Wild Bill came up on screen. He was standing with his back to Maggie, looking up at Mount Rushmore. Maggie had changed the photo into sepia tone for an old-fashioned look.
“That’s Wild Bill. What’s more American than a photo of an everyday citizen admiring a national landmark? I think the sepia tone adds impact, don’t you?”
Cassie stared in awe at the photos. “I forget just how talented you are,” she said. “You really need to start doing this for a living. This is what you love, and you’re brilliant at it.”
Maggie smiled up at Cassie. “Thanks, sweetie. I’ve been thinking about that more and more. I spoke to Andrew about opening that artists’ shop I’ve always talked about. He’s not too thrilled with the idea, but he said we could talk about it.”
Cassie grunted and turned back to the dirty pans in the sink. “You don’t need his permission to do what you want. Don’t you still have some money left from your dad’s house? You could use that to start your business. Forget what Andrew thinks. He only cares about his own ambitions.”
Maggie looked over at Cassie. “What is it about Andrew that you dislike so much?”
Cassie stopped washing dishes and turned toward Maggie. “You mean besides the fact that he cheated on you?”
“You’ve never liked him, even before that happened. Why?”
“He’s always been so damn arrogant. Even when you first met him, he just had a way about him that irked me. And his attitude has become worse over the years. I figured that he’d mellow with time, but he’s become more self-involved. Plus, he takes you for granted.”
Maggie stood and walked over to Cassie. She wasn’t angry with her cousin for speaking her mind, but it did make her sad that two people close to her didn’t like each other.
“He’s not as bad as all that, you know. Andrew comes from a very proud family, and it comes off as arrogance sometimes, but he doesn’t mean it to. Most of the time, I think he’s torn between being the man he wants to be and living up to his mother’s expectations.”
“And did his mother’s expectations include him cheating on you with some bimbo from his office?” Cassie asked.
Maggie sighed. “No. I don’t know what he was thinking when he did that. We never really discussed it. That’s the biggest problem between us. We haven’t sorted all that out the way we should have right away. We both just ignored our problems. It seemed easier at the time, but now, I realize that was wrong. It’s why I left. All those buried emotions finally came to the surface, and I ran away from them.”
Cassie stared hard at her. “This isn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself. You always make excuses for him. It’s time he accepted the blame for his behavior.”
“We’ve been together for a long time, Cassie. We have two children together. What am I supposed to do?”
Cassie reached out and squeezed Maggie’s arm. “I just want you to be happy. I want you to have what Matt and I have. Someone who cares about you and wants to make you happy.”
“Andrew was that guy, once. We’ve just gotten off track.” Maggie wasn’t sure if she believed her words, but she hoped she was right. She’d spent too many years with Andrew to just throw their relationship away. Even after all they’d been through, she had to believe they could find a way to fix their marriage. They had loved each other once, and she wanted to believe that their love was still there, somewhere, buried under all the pain.
Cassie turned back to her dishes. “If you weren’t married, I’d try setting you up with Rob. He’s a sweetie. You two would be perfect for each other.”
Maggie walked over to her computer and sat down again. She couldn’t believe what Cassie had just said. She hadn’t even thought of Rob that way. As she continued working on her photos, Cassie’s words kept tugging at her thoughts.
A while later, Maggie’s phone vibrated on the island’s counter. She was happy to see it was Kaia.
“Hi, honey. How are you?”
“Mom, you won’t believe what Dad has done,” Kaia blurted out.
Maggie frowned. She walked into the living room so she could talk to Kaia privately. “What’s going on?”
“He had a big argument with Kyle last night, and now Kyle has moved out. He was just here, packing up his clothes and stuff. He told me not to worry about it, that he’d be okay at his friend’s apartment. But I’m worried. You should have heard them arguing, Mom. It was so awful. At one point, I thought Kyle was going to punch Dad.” Kaia started crying.
Kaia’s tears tore at Maggie’s heart. She took a deep breath. She was so furious with Andrew right now, but she didn’t want to say anything that would upset Kaia further. “I’m so sorry, honey. Everything will be fine. I’ll talk to your dad, and we’ll settle this. Did
Kyle say which friend’s place he was staying at?”
“Nick’s apartment,” Kaia said, sniffling. “Mom, you have to come home. Dad is just going crazy. He’s nice one minute and angry the next. Please come home.”
Maggie felt terrible. She wanted more than anything to reach through the phone, hug Kaia, and tell her everything was going to be fine. But she was fifteen hundred miles away, and even if she left this very minute, she wouldn’t be home for at least two days. Besides, Andrew was the one who had made this mess, and he was the one who had to fix it—and fix it fast.
“Kaia, I promise you everything will be fine. Let me talk to your dad, and we can sort this out.”
“He’s not here. He’s still at work,” Kaia said.
“What? He didn’t pick you up from school this afternoon?” Maggie asked, growing angrier by the minute.
“He wasn’t in a very good mood this morning, and he asked me to take the bus home. He said he had a lot of work to do and had to stay all day. After last night, I just did what he said.”
Maggie bit her lip as she paced the living room. She wanted to scream. Instead, she calmed Kaia down as best she could, then hung up and immediately hit Andrew’s name on her phone. When he didn’t answer, she clicked her phone off and swore under her breath. She decided to wait until he was home from work before confronting him, because if she knew him at all, they were in for a hell of a fight.
Andrew’s day was a nightmare. He couldn’t concentrate on work, because he couldn’t get the fight he’d had with Kyle off his mind. And then there was Kaia’s reaction. When he’d seen the distraught look on her face, he’d realized exactly what he’d done. He’d allowed his emotions to get the best of him and let his son walk out of the house. He should have stopped him, but he didn’t.
Why had Kyle been so angry with him when all he wanted to do was spend some time with him? Kyle had insinuated he knew why he and Maggie were having problems, and that infuriated Andrew. If she told the kids what he’d done, that was unforgivable.
Andrew knew that Kaia was also angry with him for telling her to take the bus home so he could get some work done, but he didn’t have much choice. His work had suffered ever since Maggie left, and it was driving him crazy. He liked being organized. He liked following a schedule and keeping to it. But his schedule had gone all to hell, and he found himself constantly apologizing to coworkers and clients for not getting projects done on time. As if all that weren’t enough, he was upset about missing the airport-planning committee meeting last night, too. He hated to admit that without Maggie, his life was falling apart. He had never realized just how much she did to make things easy for him, and it irritated him to have to acknowledge that.
He saw a call come in from Maggie in the late afternoon, but he didn’t answer it. He figured she’d probably found out about Kyle leaving home, and he didn’t want to have that argument with her at work. Even though he didn’t like the way things happened last night, he didn’t think it would kill Kyle to live with one of his buddies for a while and learn what it was like to be responsible for his own bills. Maybe then he’d appreciate getting an education instead of complaining about it. Andrew decided that he’d call Maggie when he got home that night and they could sort things out. Until then, he had work to do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Maggie kept her family problems to herself as they all sat down to dinner and ate the delicious salmon Matt had grilled and the asparagus tips, roasted potatoes, and salad she and Cassie had made. After dinner, the kids headed to their rooms to do their homework. The adults sat in the living room and chatted easily, and at one point, Rob said that he’d be leaving the next day for home.
“I didn’t know you were leaving so soon,” Maggie said, sorry to hear he was going. She was just getting to know him, and had hoped to spend a little more time with him while she was here.
“I don’t want to wear out my welcome,” Rob said. “Besides, the weather is supposed to be clear the next couple of days, so I know it will be good for biking along the coast.”
“You know we’d never throw you out, Rob,” Cassie said, sipping the last of her white wine. “Even if we were sick of you, we’d still let you stay.”
Rob chuckled. “That’s why I’m leaving. That way, you’ll want me to come back soon.”
“I’ll bet that’s a beautiful ride on a motorcycle,” Maggie said. “A lot of amazing pictures just waiting to be taken.”
“Gee, Maggie, you should ride along with Rob. After all, you already have the leathers,” Cassie teased.
Maggie glared at her.
“Leathers?” Matt asked. “What type of leathers do you have, exactly?” He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
“Riding leathers, you idiot,” Maggie said, reaching out to hit Matt on the arm. “Keep your mind out of the gutter.”
Rob smiled at Maggie. “They must be from your wild ride with Wild Bill,” he said, winking.
Maggie rolled her eyes.
“Actually, it’s not a bad idea,” Rob said. “We could stop along the way so you could take pictures, and you could get some beautiful photos of my vineyard. It might be fun.”
Maggie glanced around the table. Cassie was nodding and Matt said it was a good idea, too. “That’s nice of you to invite me, but I couldn’t impose on you that way. The last thing you want is someone making you pull over every few miles.”
“I think it would be fun having you along. You might enjoy yourself,” Rob said.
“Yeah, Maggie, you should go. You can always hop a plane when you’re ready to come back. You’d have a great time,” Cassie said.
Maggie wavered a moment. Riding down the coast road on a motorcycle without a care in the world did sound like fun, but she couldn’t brush away her problems that easily. She had to get Andrew to fix what he had done, and she might even have to go home. But for a split second, she wished she could go with Rob.
“It’s a nice idea,” Maggie finally said. “But I really shouldn’t. Thanks for asking, though.”
“You can change your mind anytime. I’m serious when I say I’d be happy to have you along.”
Maggie nodded, but she knew she couldn’t accept. Her life was complicated enough without her traveling down the road with another man, no matter how innocent it was. Isn’t that what Andrew had accused her of? Picking up random guys? At least I’m not sleeping with them, she thought spitefully.
She thought about how nice it would be to be free of responsibility and travel wherever the wind took her. Ever since she’d left home, she’d felt so much lighter and happier, not having to worry about everyone else’s needs. She knew it was selfish to feel that way, but she couldn’t help it. She loved her children and had unselfishly given of herself to them all these years. She couldn’t even think of a life without them. But every once in a while, it would be nice to have time for herself. She wished she could collect the carefree feelings of the trip in a bottle and open it from time to time after she returned home, to remember how it felt. Maybe her life wouldn’t feel as heavy anymore.
Later, after Maggie had gone off to her room to work on her photos, her phone buzzed. She answered it instantly when she saw it was Andrew calling.
“I tried calling you today,” Maggie said, dispensing with any pleasantries.
“I know. I’m calling you back,” Andrew said. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? Really? You tell me. What the hell happened between you and Kyle last night?”
“Oh, you’ve heard about that,” Andrew said calmly. “It’s no big deal, really. We had a disagreement. He went to stay with some friends. It’ll blow over in a few days, and I’m sure Kyle will move home then.”
Andrew’s flippant tone infuriated Maggie. “Andrew, you listen to me. I don’t know what you and Kyle were fighting about, but you need to go get him and bring him home. I don’t want him s
taying at Nick’s apartment.”
“Oh, get off it, Maggie. You’re right. You don’t know what happened. And it won’t kill Kyle to be away from home for a little while. Weren’t you the one who said he’s old enough to make his own decisions? Well, he decided he couldn’t live under the same roof as me, so he moved out. Thanks to you,” Andrew added nastily.
Maggie’s blood boiled. She got off the bed and started pacing, trying not to scream and scare everyone in the house. “Thanks to me? What on earth do you mean by that?”
“You know damn well what I mean. Kyle insinuated that he knows what happened between you and me last year. How dare you tell the children? That’s pretty low. Our problems are between us. Telling them so they’d hate me is . . . unforgivable.”
Maggie stopped pacing. “How dare you blame me? I didn’t tell Kyle anything. And I never said a word to Kaia, either. I can’t believe you’d think I was even capable of doing such a thing. I have never tried to play the kids against you. No matter what you did.”
“Then how does he know? And why is he so hateful toward me while he acts like you can do no wrong? I’ve never given Kyle any reason to hate me. You’re the only one who could have done that.”
Maggie shook her head. He was so clueless. Did he really think he could run around town with another woman and no one would know? “You really don’t get it, do you?” Maggie asked, her voice quiet now. “The night that I confronted you about your affair with that woman, you never even asked me how I knew. Didn’t you ever wonder how I found out about her?”
“No,” Andrew replied sharply. “I just figured some nosy person like Derrick told you.”
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