by C. C. Koen
“Max,” Cece called out, skipping over to him. “Ya here.” Behind her stood another brunette, this one older than the other, wearing a blue pinstripe pantsuit. A name tag pinned to her lapel read “Director: Sally Morris.”
He crouched down and opened his arms, welcoming Cece as she wrapped hers around his neck. “How are you, sweet pea?”
“Great,” she yelled in his ear, stretching out the letters.
After their embrace, he extended the bundle of pink and lavender petals toward her. “These are for you. They’re sweet peas, and the little white things are baby’s breath.”
She twisted left and right, her violet, ruffled dress swishing from side to side. “Like me?”
He skimmed his thumb over her rosy cheek. “Just like you, sweet pea.”
“Did ya get my present?”
He shoved his cuff up and extended his wrist out to her. “You did great. I love it.”
With a beaming smile, she looped her arm around his. “Tea time.”
As he passed the director she thanked him for coming, but what she and Cece didn’t know—he wouldn’t have missed it for a million, trillion, zillion dollars. No amount could take the place of this honor or keep him from missing out on Cece’s gummy grin. Whether it was a second or an hour or whatever amount of time, she never failed to make him happy.
That he could handle—Maggie’s presence, he could not.
Which produced an entirely different reaction.
AN EXPECTED SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES MADE it perfect weather to put the swing set together. The end goal being Cece’s birthday a mere two weeks away, and with Memorial Day just ahead, it gave Maggie a chance to get a lot accomplished. This Saturday had been the best time to start.
Ready to tackle the enormous job and anticipating the warmer temperatures, she dressed for the occasion taking into consideration the slight chill in the morning air: cut-off jean shorts, a black tank top, her favorite “chefs are hot” hoodie, cowgirl boots, and a tool belt. When Matt put the leather organizers in her buggy, she’d tossed them back in the box they had come from. After he explained the necessity, she conceded and bought them for herself and Kat. Now that she had it on, she could see why. It contained all the essentials within easy reach. In preparation, she watched countless hours of YouTube videos about Gorilla playset construction. Confident, she walked outside with a coffee in hand and ready to jump in.
“'Bout time you got out here.” Kat’s perturbed remark wouldn’t deter her happy-go-lucky spirit.
“Yeah, Mama, we ready.” Propped on the edge of a turtle-shaped sandbox and designated work area, Cece waved the plastic wrench in one hand and placed the other on her hip. Her huge smile showed her eagerness to dig in and act just like the big girls. Matt insisted Maggie purchase the kid set identical to their belts and the sandbox, telling her once again to trust him, because it would save her a lot of grief in the process. He might have been right.
“You could’ve started without me.”
“Seeing as four hands won’t be enough, mine alone wouldn’t get it done in a million years.” Kat raised her empty palms in the air.
“I thought big sisters had super powers, at least that’s what you kept telling me all those years.” She wandered up to Kat’s side, grabbing her hand and linking their fingers together.
“My X-ray vision won’t help with this, Mags.”
Leaning in to Kat’s ear, Maggie whispered, “If your mind wasn’t always in the gutter, then you would’ve chosen a better power to have when we were kids. Good thing my Wonder Woman strength is here to save you, again.”
The coffee got snatched out of her hand and Kat sucked down a huge gulp. “You’re right, thanks for the save.” Kat wiggled the cup in front of her, chuckling as she picked up the directions on top of the stacked boxes. “All right, let’s do this.”
“Yeah, let’s get goin.’” A gruff order came from behind, causing Maggie to whirl around and confront her boss. Frozen in place, she got nothing out. Just stared as three of them strolled through the gate and into the yard. Matt, along with Alex, an investigator who worked with them, and the last person she wanted within a fifty-mile radius, Mr. Stone.
“Max.” Cece jumped out of the sandbox and right into his arms. He placed a kiss on her temple, bouncing her up and down a couple times as he sauntered closer.
“What are you doing?” Maggie marched up to Matt, stopping him before he could get halfway across the yard. Alex and Mr. Stone strolled right past her, not paying her any mind or looking in her direction.
When they got within Kat’s reach, she slapped Alex on the back, mumbling, “Thank goodness, I didn’t think you’d come.”
Alex tossed a muscled arm over Kat’s shoulder and leaned into her. “I told you we would.”
Ticked off her sister would go against her wishes, she turned her fury on Matt, who happened to be closer at the moment. “I told you I didn’t want help.”
He pulled her into a hug, yammering in her ear, “I won’t pull the boss card on you, but since I know how stubborn you are, chalk it up to male ignorance or stupidity. Whatever you wanna call it. You want the swing ready for Cece’s birthday, right? Grin and bear it, Mags. We’re not going anywhere.” A man with kids was a dangerous thing. He knew which card to whip out and throw down. She’d do anything to make Cece happy. Even put up with Mr. Stone.
“You’re off my Christmas cookie list too,” she grumbled while they walked side by side to join the rest of the group.
“When we’re done, I’ll be back on it, and you’ll be adding me to your lifetime dessert a month registry.” He yanked on her ponytail a little too hard, punctuating his point. She tried to hip check him, but he jogged ahead of her, taking the direction booklet out of Kat’s hand and reading it aloud. Like a synchronized assembly line, each of them got in position, hands full of materials, and dove in.
Cece dug in the sand with a shovel, forming a fort Mr. Stone told her to build. “A very important job,” he explained that it would help them figure out what the finished product would look like. Enraptured by anything that came out of his mouth, Cece stuck her tongue between her teeth and concentrated on “big girl work” as she called it.
Before Maggie joined the pack, she stood there, hands on her hips, taking it all in. Kat, with a tape measure and spray paint, marked the spots in the grass to set the poles. Alex and Mr. Stone dug while Matt laid out the pieces in sequence.
“Mags, get your ass over here. This was your idea, so don’t think you’re gonna supervise while we do all the work,” Kat demanded, tossing the tape measure over to her. “Chop, chop, little sis. Put those Wonder Woman powers to good use.”
That started a grand discussion and argument about superheroes and the powers they each wanted. A tomboy and the life of the party, Kat had always been a free spirit, capturing male attention wherever she went. Opposite of Maggie who’d rather read a book or cook than socialize or run around the streets, getting in trouble like her sister. Regardless of their differences, she enjoyed every minute with Kat and hated the months they’d been apart when she and Cece still lived in Texas. This move had been the right one. Even with Jake hounding her, she liked New York. Going to school and working for Matt were the highlights, but being with Kat brought a calm and settled the restlessness she’d experienced in her hometown.
Animosities dropped for the time being, she used her brainpower and flexed the few muscles she had, taking pride in what they would accomplish for the sake of her daughter. For once Kat was right—a few additional hands would be more efficient. But she’d never admit it. Even if her sister put her in a headlock and wrestled her to the ground. She wouldn’t let Kat know how much she liked the bantering, the guys straining muscles lifting one hefty piece after another, or their shirts flying off as the temperature rose. Oh no, she wouldn’t say a damn thing. She couldn’t over her cotton mouth as she examined Mr. Stone’s sizable chest. Suits were too much clothing for him. Professional wear gave him a
refined, polished stature. His shirtless, sculpted pecs, loose-fitting cargo shorts, and high-top boots displayed a rough side that kept pulling her attention away from what she should’ve been doing. When he ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, mussing it into wavy clumps and exposing more of his abs, her heart erupted into palpitating, arrhythmic bursts. She licked her lips and could almost taste the saltiness dripping over the ripples and trailing into his waistband.
How long had it been since she had sex? Four, five years?
A sudden hot flash hit her, so she unzipped the hoodie, tossing it on the grass. Her assigned task had been to screw in the bolts, not ogle Mr. Stone. As she attempted to concentrate on what needed to get done, she stretched up on her tiptoes to the end of the pole and secured the nut.
“What the hell, Maggie?”
Startled by the yelling, she dropped the wrench a centimeter from hitting her big toe. As she bent over to pick it up, Mr. Stone shouted and made her jump all over again. “What are you doing?” Before she stood all the way up, he shoved his T-shirt into her face. “Put this on.”
Instead of listening to his order, she swiped her hand across her damp brow, setting it on her temple and blocking the sun.
“Christ, cover yourself up.” He grabbed her other hand, clasped it around the material, and held it closed.
Following the direction of his eyes, she glanced down.
“Forget something, Mags.” Kat’s ribbing hadn’t helped the situation.
Well, since she didn’t know she’d be surrounded by men, she hadn’t given it a second thought when she opted out of wearing a bra. Sometimes on the weekends, she lounged around the house without one. On the small side, a thirty-six B, it wasn’t a big deal on those occasions. Now, with his eyes zeroed in on her rock-hard nipples, she determined that choice hadn’t been a wise decision. Yet, instead of doing what he said, she remained rooted in place, resisting his pull as he tugged his shirt, and her hand up, trying to cover her. Her libido kicked up to full blast and desire shoved her toward him—to tease, play a little.
“Dammit, Maggie, take this. Put me out of my misery.” His grumbled plea should have been undecipherable since he’d spoken it so low. The huskiness in his voice licked along her spine, and tingles followed as though his lips brushed along her skin from waist to neck.
She loosened her hold, and his hand rose, brushing a knuckle across her nipple, the exact spot he wanted to shield.
Her legs turned to Jell-O. The mushy mass below her hips wouldn’t hold her up any longer. She swayed into him, grabbing hold of his waistband. Their chests beat against each other—his bare, hers begging to be, causing her nipples to harden even more. The coarse hair on his heated thighs scrubbed against her shaved, smooth ones. Her gaze kept wandering from his eyes to his tongue sliding over his bottom lip, moistening the ridges to a glistening, delectable, nibble-him morsel.
She wanted to touch him. No, she needed to. Unable to stop herself, she swept her thumb over his damp belly button, grit and sweat coating the pad of her finger. Each of their bodies called out suck me, go ahead and taste.
“Step back, Maggie. Get away from me, right now,” he groused, his lips closing in, a breath apart from hers. At least a half foot taller, his height difference didn’t matter. He sucked her in with his beautiful eyes that had so many variations of brown, green, and blue in them, she could’ve been gazing in a kaleidoscope. “Last chance.” The warning came out as a soft growl, his lips slicking against hers as he attempted to scare her away.
“Mama, Dada on ya phone.”
“Give it to me.” Kat ran toward Cece sitting on the stoop by the back door. When Maggie last checked, Cece had been dropping her Barbie dolls off the top as if they were performing various stunts from a high dive. Maggie had no idea how her daughter got her phone, which had been left inside on purpose.
Jumping from the top step, Cece took off in a zig-zag gallop, her arm with the cell held out in the opposite direction from Kat. “He said Mama, he said Mama,” she screamed over and over.
Her daughter’s high-pitched yell jolted her into gear. She sprinted over to Cece, sweeping the jackrabbit into her arms. By then Kat caught up to them. “Take her inside.”
Kat’s bug-eyes and grinding jaw communicated her disapproval, but she did as Maggie asked. Grabbing a kicking and wailing Cece, tears streaming down her cheeks, Kat headed toward the house. “I wanna talk to him,” Cece kept shouting while being carted away. The back door slammed shut. Her screams could still be heard through the open kitchen window.
With a finger stuck in her ear, Maggie tuned out the screeching. Then did some of her own. “Jake? Jake, you there?” She pulled the phone away and saw five reception bars, and the time ticker still moving. “Jake.”
The click came next. Dammit. She stabbed the recent calls and searched for the number listed at the top—unknown, and when she pressed redial, the ring went unanswered. A cold sweat rushed over her skin, and she didn’t realize her body was trembling until someone gripped both of her shoulders, steadying her.
“You okay?” Mr. Stone’s sturdy stance pressed against her back should’ve been supportive, but instead it sent a tidal wave of fury, disgust, and pain through her.
Her eyes closed, and the tremors rolled through her again. “Jesus, Maggie, you’re shaking like crazy.” He pulled her tight, his arms wrapping around her stomach, and whispered something she couldn’t decipher. All she could register was the dead phone call in her hand, and the sobs still choking Cece. Whenever her daughter got that upset, she would gag and sometimes throw up. Maggie could relate. She wanted to do the same thing right now.
“I have to go to her. Get her calmed down.”
“Of course.” He released her.
She turned around to say something but didn’t know what. “I . . . I . . . It could take me a while.”
He shook his head, grabbing her shoulders again. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll keep going out here. We won’t bother you. I promise.”
Overwhelmed, she threw her hands up to her face and broke down into sobs too. No questions, chastising, or complaints, he tucked her against his chest and held her until her tears dried up. After she swiped her arm over her wet eyes and nose, he walked her to the house, opening the door and waiting until she went inside.
Cece’s hiccupping whimpers hit her first. Kat registered next, arms crossed and on guard between the kitchen and the living room. It didn’t matter how ticked off her sister might have been, she needed to get to her daughter. In several large strides, she shouldered past Kat and marched to the couch, where Cece had curled into a ball. She carried her upstairs to console her and when calmed down, she’d talk to her about her father, in a way a four-year-old could understand.
If only Maggie did. Because no matter how many times she tried, none of it ever made any sense to her. She loved her daughter more than life itself, and she didn’t know how to make up for the fact that Jake acted like Cece didn’t exist. Did she want him calling and threatening her every chance he could? No. But she would listen to it every day if it meant he would care about his daughter like she did. She’d put up with anything if Cece didn’t have to experience heartbreak at such a young age. No child or adult deserved to be treated with such disregard. Jake had refused to hold her as a baby, play with her as a toddler, and barely spoke to her. What would cause a man to treat his own flesh and blood with such indifference? She just couldn’t understand it. The amount of joy Cece brought into her life couldn’t compare to anything else. Not even cooking, which she couldn’t imagine not doing. Yet without Cece at her side, taking part in the process, it wouldn’t be the same. Just as her own mom had done, she taught Cece basic cooking techniques from the time she turned two. She wouldn’t have it any other way. All she wanted was for her daughter to be happy and loved. If Cece got that, then Maggie had what she needed.
As they lay in Cece’s princess bed cuddled in each other’s arms, she made a solemn vow to ensure her daug
hter always had that. No matter what.
Exhausted from the breakdown, Cece fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. It wasn’t uncommon for her after an emotional event. She’d be knocked out for the next hour or two.
About a half hour later, Maggie made her way downstairs, baby monitor in hand. The screen door slamming darted all eyes her way. The amount of progress they’d made astonished her. The fort base and climbing wall were secured, and the poles for the swing portion were stacked and ready to mount. Maybe she’d been upstairs a lot longer than she thought.
The more Matt, Alex, and Mr. Stone watched her, the more agitated she got, because she could just imagine the slew of questions on the tips of their tongues. As she trudged toward them, she ended the discussion before it began. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, good, 'cause you’re too late. I already gave them the run down.” Kat’s snide declaration had her fuming all over again.
“Have you lost your ever f-in’ mind?” She charged up to her sister, shoving Kat in the chest. “What’s wrong with you?”
Kat tapped her chin and mocked, “Go ahead, hit me. At least you’d be doing something. Maybe you’ll find those guts you used to have, Mags, and stop Jake from harassing you.”
As she bent over ready to wrestle Kat to the ground like they used to as kids, strong arms wrapped around her middle, hauling her off her feet. “Whoa, calm down. That won’t help.”
Her hands swung in the air along with the pent-up frustration and anger Maggie had building toward Jake, not her sister. It came gushing out as she growled and kicked.
