Magnolia Storms Page 12

  “Will Aunt Maggie be carrying us to church? Or Josh? Or what?” Dahlia shot a look over at Maggie.

  “What?” Maggie seemed to be caught off guard. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

  “We could ride together, Miss Maggie. My daddy knows the way.” Expressive brows lifted above J.D.’s vivid blue eyes.

  “So y’all actually go to the same church now?” Maggie’s forehead crinkled above her adorable sloped nose.

  “Duh. Why else would we ride together?” Dahlia’s tone wasn’t really appropriate, so Josh stifled a laugh.

  “Enough with the duhs, young lady.” Maggie huffed. “And I thought Josh was filling in with the dinner because it was too short of notice for Angie and Cammie’s church to get something together.”

  An honest mistake. Josh bobbed his head. “It made sense to keep J.D. going to the same place when I’m in town. Consistency and all, you know.”

  “Oh.” Maggie’s full lips circled, capturing his attention. “Okay. But I better take my car, so I can make it to the lunch visiting hour.”

  “Why can’t I see Mama yet? Isn’t she getting better?” Dahlia’s voice cracked and her eyes pleaded.

  “She is, sweetie.” Maggie stood and went to her niece, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “The doctor wants to make sure she rests and stays away from germs.”

  “Achoo!” J.D. sneeze loudly.

  “Cover your nose with your napkin, buddy.”

  J.D. complied, but three more times, he let sneezes rip.

  Not the best timing.

  “Is he getting sick? Angie said her son had caught something.” Worry carved hard on Maggie’s face. She seemed to shrink back.

  “I’m not sick. Daddy burned my nose hairs with the strimp.” Pinching his nostrils, his son let his head fall back. “I tell him not to, but he didn’t listen.”

  Chuckles circled the table. Thank goodness. His timing might be pretty good after all.

  When they finished, J.D. dragged Dahlia to his room to play. Despite her curt replies lately, she was still a sweet girl and likely pretty anxious about her mother.

  While Ruth finished her tea, Maggie helped clear the table. She rinsed the dishes and placed each one in the dishwasher in a meticulous fashion.

  Josh stood back and watched. No doubt, she’d hate to see the way he haphazardly threw them in.

  “I’ll walk Aunt Ruth home and come back for Dahlia soon.” Maggie found the dish detergent in the cabinet above the sink and started the wash cycle. She’d already caught on that he had to store cleaning products up high to keep his three-year old out of them.

  “Works for me.” After covering the bowl of leftovers, Josh carried it toward the refrigerator.

  At the same time, Maggie stepped toward the archway to leave the kitchen. Their shoulders collided. The bowl jostled in Josh’s hand, and Maggie grabbed for it. Her fingers landed on his.

  After the bowl righted, her hand recoiled as if struck by lightning. “Sorry.”

  “My fault.” A lot like the elevator incident at the hospital. Couldn’t they move past this?

  “Be back soon.” She all but ran to shoo out Ruth.

  Nope. They may be friends, but they weren’t moving past the juvenile behavior, yet.

  Chapter 15

  ONCE MORE THE DESIRE to pack her bag and run home overwhelmed Maggie. With a careless brush of Josh’s hand, her heart leapt to her throat. Somehow she had to convince her family to head north, away from the Coast. Away from the worry about the weather. Away from the memories flooding her of life on the Coast. Away from memories of being in love with Josh Bergeron.

  Maggie held her aunt’s arm as they traversed the yard and climbed the porch steps. If Cammie improved, surely they could transfer her to a hospital in Jackson. There were plenty of doctors in the state’s capital. Rehabilitation centers, too.

  Aunt Ruth hobbled back to her bedroom to change into her loungewear, as she called it, so Maggie took a minute to do the same. She slipped on her favorite black yoga pants and a long Weather Service T-shirt. There was nothing like yoga pants to help one relax. Whoever created them deserved an award. Now where were her cushy flip-flops? Her feet were killing her from standing around the store for hours. And she’d thought sitting at a desk was hard on a person’s back. How in the world did her elderly aunt keep going? They sure did make people sturdy in her day. Once she’d located the shoes, Maggie padded down the hall to her aunt’s room.

  “Knock, knock.” She didn’t feel right leaving without explaining where she was going, in case Aunt Ruth hadn’t heard her plan. “I’m walking next door to get Dahlia.”

  “Oh, okay. You did a good job at the store today.”

  “Thanks. It was pretty busy. What do you think about having Sylvie Daigle help out there?”

  “I think it’s great. Y’all could hire her to take my place.”

  “What?” The shock of that statement stunned Maggie. “You always said you’d never retire until you...” Saying kicked the bucket seemed wrong. Like the words would invite more trouble.

  “We all say stupid things now and then.” She chuckled and winked at her. “You should know.”

  Nice. Her aunt hadn’t lost her sense of humor. “Are you sick?”

  “Nothing like that. Some of my friends at the senior center are going on those Caribbean and Alaskan cruises.” Aunt Ruth’s wrinkled lips twitched into a one-sided smile. “It’s a thing now for people my age.”

  “A thing, huh?” Dahlia and Aunt Ruth were rubbing off on each other. “I think you should go for it then.”

  The front door opened and slammed shut, and Dahlia jogged down the hall.

  Maggie turned to face her. “I was going to get you and walk you back.”

  Lines crinkled Dahlia’s forehead. “It’s right next door. Besides...” Her voice lowered. “Josh insisted on standing on the porch to watch. Like I’m a baby.”

  “Good for him. Want to play a game or something before I go to the hospital?”

  “I recorded a show I’ve been dying to watch. Oh, and J.D. wants you to read him a story.” A slight smile crept across her lips. “I told him I’d send you right over.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. And what show? Is it age-appropriate?”

  “Mama lets me watch it.” She lifted one shoulder. “Poor J.D. He’ll probably cry himself to sleep if you don’t go.”

  That stinker was trying to set her up. “You people are all alike.”

  “Like you, Aunt Magnolia.” Dahlia giggled and turned back toward the living room.

  Groaning, Maggie trudged down the hall. She didn’t mind reading to J.D., in fact, she relished the idea. Too much. That was the problem. The delightful child oozed sweetness, and he was entrenching himself in her heart.

  “THE END.” JOSH SAT on the edge of the twin bed in J.D.’s room. The story finished, he fingered the last page before closing the book. Maybe J.D. would go on to sleep. If Dahlia remembered to tell Maggie about the reading request, he’d be surprised. Really shocked if Maggie came.

  “What do you want to read next, captain?”

  “Umm.” J.D. chewed his lip and pointed. “This one.”

  “Green Eggs and Ham. Going with a classic, huh?”

  “Uh huh. Saving the boat book for Maggie.”

  Josh’s stomach dropped like a man overboard. Already, his son would be disappointed, and it’d be his fault. It was one thing to let his own heart be tossed at sea like a piece of driftwood. It was another to set his little boy up for a heartbreaking goodbye. What an idiot he was being. Hadn’t his own little-boy heart been shattered when he’d been abandoned by his father? He knew the kind of wreckage that left.

  “Am I too late?” Maggie poked her head in.

  His stomach dove deeper. So she’d come. Right when he’d decided it was a bad idea. Josh set the book aside and leaned his elbows against his knees.

  “Miss Maggie, I saved my favorite book for you.”

  �
�Oh, let me see.” She wandered around to the other side of the bed. “Theodore and the Tall Ships. What a surprise.” Her smile tightened.

  Obviously, Maggie wasn’t happy with the nautical selection, but she covered well. She took the book and began reading.

  Josh leaned against the doorjamb and watched her.

  Dressed casually in T-shirt and gym pants, wearing the longest part of her hair secured in a clip while the rest of the dark curls cascaded around her shoulders, Maggie looked a lot like she had the summer after they’d graduated, the summer he’d had to report to the academy. The summer before the hurricane. Nights spent walking on the beach under a blanket of stars. They’d chased ghost crabs with their flashlights, used their flip-flops to touch the glowing jelly fish that washed up along the shore. They’d kissed. Oh, how they’d kissed. Always waiting for real intimacy, because they’d both had no doubt they’d marry. The thought blasted warmth through his chest and to his cheeks. Tugged on his heart, too.

  When Maggie finished reading, she rumpled J.D.’s hair. “Goodnight, pumpkin.”

  Scrambling up, J.D. flung his arms around her waist. “Goodnight. Love you bigger than the world.”

  The same hug and the same words J.D. said to Josh every night.

  The bombshell had Maggie blinking. She returned the hug, a mix of astonishment and amazement written all over her face. “Love you, too, J.D.”

  Josh’s throat seemed to close off, locking the air in his diaphragm. Yep. He was an idiot. Both he and J.D. would suffer for it when Maggie abandoned them. With a quick push of a button, he turned on the sound machine, and rolling waves played from the speaker. “Go to sleep so we can get up for church tomorrow.”

  “Yes, sir. But you didn’t say it, Daddy.”

  “Love you as long as the Mississippi River and as wide as the Gulf of Mexico.” He kissed J.D.’s head and moved to the light switch. “I’m going to turn the light off, so Maggie can see the stars now.”

  “Okay. Love you bigger than the world.”

  He flipped the switch, which allowed the glowing constellations on the ceiling to make themselves known. What would she think of that?

  “This is amazing. Like being on a real boat in the Sound.” Maggie’s voice wobbled. “See you tomorrow at church.”

  “See you later, gator.”

  Josh smiled at his son. “You go on to sleep while I walk Maggie out.”

  Her steps were sluggish as he followed her, and she seemed deep in thought. What he wouldn’t give to know what was going on in that beautiful head. He stared at the black curls. And he’d really love to sink his fingers in her hair.

  Talk about heartache and bad ideas. He balled his fingers at his sides, commanding them to stay put.

  At the front door, Josh stepped in ahead of her and put his hand on the knob. “Can we talk on the porch for a few minutes?”

  Her teeth caught her bottom lip, and she turned away from him and then back. Twice. “Okay. But I have to leave to see Cammie soon.”

  He followed her out and leaned beside her on the wooden railing. “I know being home and the accident’s gotta be stirring up a lot of hurt.” It was for him. “How are you holding up, really?”

  The Gulf wind whipped, and Maggie shivered. By reflex, he wrapped an arm around her. “Cold? Or worried about the storm?”

  She shook her head and didn’t recoil. “I love that little boy already, Josh. Blast it. What’s it been...a few days?”

  What did that mean for them, if anything? “He’s easy to love.”

  She covered her eyes with one hand and massaged her forehead.

  Was she hiding? Crying?

  “Maggie.” He nudged her chin toward him, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. Fine. He could say this to the top of her head. “How do you think I feel? I love you and your whole crew. Always have. Now you’re here and my son... I feel like I’m living in a dream, but I’m going to wake up one day, and you’ll be gone. And we’ll be... I’ll be...abandoned...like always. J.D. will be hurt. I’ll be torn apart. Again.”

  Her head jerked up. Jaw squared and stormy eyes flaring, she shot him a hard look. “Me leave him? You leave him every two weeks, and every time you do, you could very well not come back.”

  “I always come back. I’m a pilot. It’s what I do.” Why’d she have to be so stubborn? “You can’t ask me to give up everything that makes me who I am because you’re afraid.”

  “Don’t you see?” Her head gave the slightest shake. “Piloting is not who you are. It’s a career. It’s not what I fell in love with. And you don’t have to be like my father to make anyone proud.”

  At least she’d said it. The L-word. That was something. “Okay. You’re right. But Maggie, you can’t live in fear. Storms find you, whether you’re inland or on the Coast. What’s next? Are you going to live in a tornado shelter? Or build a house twenty feet in the air in case of a flood? Are you preparing for earthquakes? I mean you can’t tell me you feel alive living the way you do. You’re more than that.”

  Her gaze dropped. “So what if I’m careful—prepared? I am alive. I’m happy enough.”

  Every molecule of his being told him otherwise. She’d shut herself off. Partly his fault. Maybe a lot his fault. Part of it was simply life in this temporary and imperfect world. Bad things happened, and way too often, they happened to good people. But surely God intended Magnolia Marovich to be fully alive and engaged. And the Coast had been as deep a part of her as it was of him. Before Katrina had washed that life away as if it were a child’s sandcastle.

  Josh pressed closer, holding her face with both hands, breathing in the view of the girl he’d loved since childhood. The woman who’d landlocked herself out of grief and devastation. “Maggie.” His breath hitched. “You’re more than what you’ve become.”

  Liquid filled her already glistening eyes. “You don’t know me or my life. I—”

  “Kiss me, Maggie. Then walk away like it meant nothing. Prove to both of us once and for all that you’re alive and fulfilled up there in Jackson. Not just playing it safe. Prove you don’t need me or anyone else.”

  “I don’t have to prove anything to you.” Defiance laced her voice.

  “Of course you don’t. Prove it to yourself. Afterward, say the word, and I’ll take J.D. out of town as soon as you can get someone else to fill in at the store. We’ll get out of your life. I’ll put my house on the market. Prove it, and I’ll do everything in my power to lessen the chances of you ever running into me again.”

  Her jaw tightened, and from the looks of it, she gritted her teeth. “You... You are so maddening, Josh Bergeron.”

  “Yep.”

  In one quick motion, she raised her gaze. Her mouth captured his. Caressed his skin with enough power to capsize him. She cupped the back of his head with her hands, teased his neck, sending shockwaves through his entire body. The power and intensity of her kiss crashed over him with more force than any hurricane ever could. He lost himself in the strength of it, drowned in his love for her. His fingers found their way to her hair and roamed through the ocean of soft curls.

  With a sudden gasp, she pushed him away and pressed her fingers to her mouth.

  Josh’s vision blurred as he stood dazed. Like a dream of another life had come true. For one second.

  “I have to go.” Maggie turned and fled, running toward Ruth’s house.

  He should have known better than to give her such a stupid and painful and intoxicating challenge.

  Chapter 16

  HOW SHE’D GOTTEN TO the hospital, Maggie had no clue. She was so flustered, yet here she was, waiting to enter the ICU. Fire still lingered on her lips, Josh’s kiss branded deep into her skin. And beyond. How was she supposed to think, much less function?

  She shouldn’t have accepted his dare. She knew better. But he’d always been able to push her buttons, goad her...provoke her into some kind of crazy action. The image of the dazed expression on his face when she’d left slipped through her mind.
A bitter chuckle shook her chest. He’d likely gotten more than he’d bargained for this time, too.

  Good. Maybe he’d let her be. That would be the best thing.

  The nurse appeared and motioned her through. Maggie continued her foggy procession until she reached her sister’s bedside.

  “Oh, wow.” Cammie’s eyes widened. “Tell me everything.”

  “What?” Her sister could read people faster than a card shark. “How are you?”

  “The same. And you can’t fool me—I know that look. You kissed Josh. Now spill it.”

  Less than a minute and Cammie had nailed it, the same as she had when they were in junior high, the first time Josh had kissed her. That night circled round to front and center in her mind. They’d been sitting on her parents’ porch steps. That night he’d professed his love for the first time, too. His lips had been soft and sweet then, barely a hint of beard compared to tonight’s masculine scruff. He’d been lanky and thin, but now he was a grown man, muscular and broad. His arms firm and strong around her waist. The kiss passionate and fervent, drinking her in, engulfing her. Maggie’s midsection fluttered and swirled as if a swarm of dragonflies hummed inside her.

  “I do not wanna talk about it.” And she shouldn’t think about it anymore, either.

  “Hmm.” Cammie’s mouth twitched into a sarcastic smile. “I’ll wait to hear more. But not too long. Tell me about something else first—the store, Aunt Ruth, and Dahlia. The weather even.”

  Relief replaced the angst saturating her. Cammie was giving her a pass—for once. Maggie briefed her sister on anything and everything else she could come up with until the visiting time passed. “I better go. I have to follow the rules and let you rest.”

  “Coward.” Cammie rolled her eyes. “Since when are you a rule-follower.”

  “Since your doctor said—”

  “Did someone call for a doctor?” And there appeared the neurosurgeon, the friendly Dr. Castro. He couldn’t have timed it better. In fact, he seemed to be here pretty often, checking in on Cammie.