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Authors: Kate Kelly

Only You (19 page)

BOOK: Only You
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“Maggie seems like a sensible kind of gal to me. I’m sure she knows her limits.”

“What’s wrong with you, JD? You’re acting like she’s sick or something.” Ellie peeked into a half-empty box and pulled out two wine glasses, oblivious to the silence that blanketed the room. “Where do these go?”

Maggie watched Clay do a mental calculation, then glance at her and JD with a gleam in his eye. Ethan looked angry for a minute, then sighed and moved closer to his brother’s side, as if offering support. Jesse leaned against the kitchen door, watching everyone as if they were pieces in a chess game. Gwen dug into the box and raised her eyebrows as she waited for Maggie to tell her and Ellie where the glasses belonged.

“Wine glasses go on the second shelf. Jesse, did you bring all the boxes in?”

“No, ma’am. I’m on it.” He pushed away from the door and headed for the front hallway. Clay followed him.

“Where’s Claire?” Ethan asked.

“San Francisco.”

“What?”

Maggie smiled. “Don’t worry. She’s coming back.”

Ethan grunted something and wandered outside as he pulled his cell from his pocket.

“Can we talk? Please?” JD added.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Excuse us,” JD addressed Ellie and Gwen before taking Maggie’s elbow and ushering her into the pantry. He closed the door behind him. She wished he was pulling her into the small room because he couldn’t restrain himself and needed to kiss her
right this minute
. She wouldn’t mind feeling his arms around her right about now. But by the stern look on his face, she doubted that was going to happen.

“What’s Jesse doing here?”

“Helping.”

“I told you he’s dangerous.”

“No, you said maybe he is. He came to apologize, and then offered to help. Which I appreciate. More to the point, what are you and your posse doing here?”

He looked uncomfortable. “I wanted to know if you needed help with anything. Ethan and I were having lunch at Arnie’s, and when Clay and Ellie heard I was coming over here, they asked to come, too. Ellie invited Gwen. Believe me, I don’t want an audience.”

Maggie braced herself. “Because you’re ashamed or because you’re going to tell me again that I’m lying?”

“I deserved that. No. I wanted to check up on you and see if you needed help with moving in.”

“Oh.” She sank onto the top step of a small stepladder.

“I’m going to need time, Maggie. None of this is easy for me. For now, I want you to know I talked to a couple of local carpenters, and they’re booked solid right through to Christmas.” He smiled crookedly. “I’m not a bad carpenter. Put myself through architecture school that way. I figured, you know, if you need anything done, like installing windows in the carriage house, I could help.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure I have the answer to that. Because it seems like the right thing to do, I guess. And because . . .” He touched her elbows and pulled her toward him. “I care about what happens to you, Maggie. I think it would be a good idea if we spent a bit more time together. Get to know each other better. It seems like you and I . . . we go at everything backward. I think we need to start over and give ourselves a chance to see if . . . I don’t know . . . if we make sense.”

Maggie frowned. It wasn’t exactly a declaration of love, but JD had a point. They didn’t know much about each other. “I think I’d like that. But what about your new design job? Won’t you be gone a lot the next few months?”

“I’m considering passing on the job.”

“Please don’t because of me.”

“I’m doing it for myself as much as for you. I made a lot of mistakes with Lydia. And Donnie. I like to think I’ve learned from those mistakes. And now that Ethan’s here, I’d kind of like to spend some time with him, too.”

“I’m not Lydia.”

“I know you’re not. But like I said, I’ve got to start somewhere. Let me do this for you.”

He was involved, whether or not he wanted to be, and he needed to do something. Spending time together, getting to know each other, was exactly what she wanted.

“Thank you.” She inhaled the lovely warm scent of him as she kissed his cheek, then hastily stepped back, uncertain about boundaries. He had a good point about them going at things ass-backward. 

JD blew out a deep breath. “Good. So, I guess you should know my full name is Jackson Daniel.”

“Oh my God.” Maggie giggled. “Jack Daniel, really?”

A smile softened the stern angles of his face. “I kid you not. My old man was fond of his whiskey, but my mother insisted that I at least be called Jackson.”

“I love your name. Jackson,” she said, trying it out.

“I’ve been called JD all my life. I don’t want to change it at this point.”

“No, JD suits you. Maybe when I get mad at you I’ll call you by your full name.”

He laughed. “Just like my mother did.”

“I wish I’d met her.”

“Me, too. You’d have liked each other. Your turn. Is Maggie short for Margaret?”

“Close. Marguerite.”

“Marguerite Kennedy. No middle name?”

“Cynthia.”

“I think I’ll stick with Maggie. It suits you.” His gaze warmed as he continued to look at her. “I guess you should get out there and tell everyone what you need unpacked. You’re probably not going to like me saying this, but I don’t think you should be climbing up on chairs or ladders when you’re alone. You have my cell number, right?”

She nodded, trying to hide her grin. JD was here. He was making an effort. She had no idea what had happened in the last few days to change his mind, but even if they made it as far as friends and no further, that was something, wasn’t it? Their child would get to know both her parents.

“I don’t like bothering anyone.”

“Calling me to help won’t bother me, Maggie. Not calling me might, though.”

“Okay.” She nodded. She hated asking for help, but if JD could make an effort to get along, so could she.

He opened the door. “Make a list of what you need done, and I can come over tomorrow to discuss how to go about it. Do you have any idea where you want me to start?”

“The carriage house, I guess. It would be nice to get a start on that business before Claire and Sammie decide to leave permanently. Claire’s pretty riled up these days.”

His mouth twitched. “You’re starting a business to keep your friends here?”

She blushed. “Kind of, but I need something to do, too. Is that wrong, giving them a reason to stay?”

“Nah. It’s nice. It means you care about your friends.”

“They’re good to me, too. Are you still living at your house?”

“I am.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t finish the job of furnishing it. Do you still need help?”

She held her breath as he hesitated. Had she pushed too hard? Stepped over some invisible barrier?

“Now that you mention it, I push the furniture around and nothing looks like it’s in the right place. I think the problem is, I’m trying to imagine where you would put stuff. So yeah, it’d be nice to have some help. But I don’t want you doing too much.”

A warm glow washed over her. Not many people other than Sammie and Claire had cared about her welfare. She could get used to being fussed over. Or she could get her heart broken. JD had offered to fix a few things around her house. He hadn’t said he loved her or that he believed he was the father. He was covering his bases because of past mistakes. Maybe all she really was to him was a way to redeem himself.

Two hours later, Maggie, happy, but exhausted, stood at her front door and accepted hugs and kisses as her friends left. She couldn’t believe the amount of work they’d accomplished. The house was already beginning to look like a home.
Her home.

She rubbed her back and turned when she heard a door closing inside the house. JD clattered down the stairs and stopped by the front door, studying her.

“Your back’s bothering you again?”

“Not much.” She smiled. “I may have overdone it a bit today,” she conceded as he continued to frown at her.

“It’s not just about you anymore, Maggie. You have to consider the baby.”

“I know. I plan to do nothing more strenuous than read a book this evening.”

“Good.” He stepped closer, ran his fingers lightly down her arms before pulling her into his chest. She wished she could spend the entire evening curled up in his arms. But JD was already looking around for his cowboy hat that hung on the rack behind him. He adjusted his clothes, as if shedding the feel of her, and straightened his shoulders.

“I can come up to your place tomorrow morning, if you like,” she suggested, careful to keep her voice neutral. “It probably won’t take long to put most of your furniture in place and finish unpacking a few boxes.”

“If you’re not too tired. Call me when you know how you feel. Otherwise, I’ll come here.” He looked like he wanted to kiss her, but he turned and ran down the front steps, got in his truck and drove away.

It hadn’t escaped her notice that they were both starting out fresh and making new homes for themselves, separately. No sense in feeling sad about it. Truth was, she liked the idea of having her own place while they got to know each other better. She didn’t care to be dependent on JD or anyone else.

As she turned to go inside, a white sedan across the street caught her eye. Hadn’t she noticed that same car earlier today when Jesse first arrived? For some reason, she thought she recognized it for a second, but she couldn’t think where she could have seen the car before. Probably just someone visiting her neighbors.

She smiled as she closed the front door. Small towns. Everything was different here.

Chapter Nine

Maggie checked her reflection in the dining-room mirror before heading out the front door. She rubbed at the freckles that sprinkled her nose, shrugged and turned away. Dominic had hated her freckles, had said they made her look common. If not always worrying about what others thought of you was being common, then she was all for it.

She took a minute to study the dining room. It was darker than she’d like, and she planned on asking JD how difficult it would be to replace the one window with garden patio doors. She wouldn’t mind a small brick courtyard off the side of the house. Not that she expected JD to take on a big project like that, but he could probably give her an idea if it was even possible.

The door on Sammie’s old Ford station wagon protested loudly when Maggie pulled it open. Sammie and Claire had driven her Porsche to Jackson Hole. They’d dropped the coupe off to be repainted and would pick it up on the way home from the airport. She needed a vehicle big enough for a car seat and all the paraphernalia parents seemed to need these days. A Porsche coupe didn’t seem like the appropriate vehicle for a mom-to-be. She’d miss the sports car, though. Sammie’s worn-out station wagon was the only available car until she bought a new vehicle. She wasn’t planning on going any distance, so the Ford would do for now.

Maggie pumped the gas pedal when a puff of black exhaust shot out of the tail pipe. She wished Sammie had gotten the car serviced before she’d left. Maybe she could do that for her friend before she came home.
Home
. She smiled as she gazed across the street at her house. Not one of them, Sammie, Claire or herself, had realized they needed a place to call home until they’d bought the house. Claire had given up her condo in Chicago. Sammie hadn’t renewed the lease she had on a small house in San Francisco. And Maggie had sold her soulless condo. Buying the house had been the right decision for all of them.

When the engine stopped coughing, Maggie revved it one more time, pulled out and headed toward JD’s. She planned to make a pit stop to fuss over Lulu on the way to his house. She wouldn’t mind buying Lulu. Once the baby was born, she’d love to start riding regularly. She couldn’t think why Ethan would object to her boarding her horse at his ranch, but if he did, maybe Clay had room at his place. She made a mental note to drop by Clay’s sometime in the next few days. She wanted to learn more about Jesse’s situation, too, and there was no point in asking JD. He’d lecture her on all the reasons she should stay away from him. He could have a point. Jesse was a loose cannon. But he needed a friend, and so far, she was all he had.

Her nerves fluttered when she caught sight of a white sedan in her rearview mirror. It looked like the one that had been parked in front of her house last night. She started humming under her breath as she took in her sparse surroundings. She’d already passed the town limit, and the houses were farther and farther apart and set back a good distance from the road. She probably had only another ten miles to the turnoff to Ethan’s ranch. She didn’t like how close the sedan was following her, but she’d be okay as long as she kept the car moving. They weren’t necessarily following her. They could just be headed in the same direction. Right? Why would anyone follow her, anyway?

Her unpredictable emotions had taken over the minute she’d found out she was pregnant. Sooner, really. Only she hadn’t realized that was the reason she was acting a little crazy. There was no real threat here. Cooper Creek was a small town, and it was entirely plausible that the car that had been parked in front of her house was now taking the same route as she was out of town. Nothing sinister in that, right?

BOOK: Only You
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