“I live the way I do for a reason. I don’t have to take other people’s feelings into consideration.”
“Are you even taking yours into it?” he demanded. She sounded pissed off and just a little bit scared, and he hated it.
“Silas, you’re the one who wanted me to have a little time and space to think. And I thought about a lot of things on that water. A lot of those things scared the hell out of me. So I’m doing what I do, weighing my options, doing my research.”
“Are you even going to stay long enough to find out how Campbell found the gold? What he did with it all? Do you even care? What about Cody? And Wallace? Your sister? Were you even going to ask me to go with you?” he snapped. The ache in his chest was getting worse, blooming bigger by the second.
“Sy,” she said, hurt in her voice, “you mean a lot to me—”
He held up a hand, cutting her off. “Save it.”
“Hey, Sy, what do I do with the chicken?” Cody called from the kitchen.
“Get the marinade out,” he called back. “I’ll be there in a second.” He turned back to Maggie, who looked like she’d had the wind knocked out of her. That made two of them. Couldn’t she see what they were building together? “Look, I’ll stay and help you cook dinner tonight because I’m selfish enough that I want to be in that memory of yours. But after dinner, I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back until the party.”
“Why?” She looked shocked.
Good. He didn’t want to be alone in that.
“Why?” he repeated on a humorless laugh. “Because I’ve been building us into something you don’t think we are. A relationship. A partnership. You’ll get the time and space to decide if what you really want is to continue going solo.”
Those molten brown eyes went wide on him. “What if I don’t want to stay?” she asked, her voice trembling just a bit.
“Then I’ll go with you, if you let me. But you need to decide if you’ve got room in your life for me. And, darlin’， I take up a lot of space.”
“You can’t give up everything to follow me. That’s how resentment grows. That’s how you start stalking exes on Instagram and having FOMO meltdowns over farmers market hashtags and engagements.” Her voice was hushed, but the panic rang through clearly.
“You are everything to me, Maggie. Do you hear me? The fact that you think I’d give you up over geography? What do you think we’ve been doing here?”
“Having fun. I told you. I warned you from the start,” she said defensively.
“I know you did. But actions speak louder than words. I’ve got more damn clothes than you do in your closet. You bought my dog a bed for your office.”
“Your roots are here,” she argued. “You can’t just rip them out and go if I want to.”
“They’re planted deep, and that’s why they’ll survive no matter where I am. It’s you, Maggie. I’ve been waiting for you. Make the decision. Don’t just do what you’ve always done and call it a choice.”
43
They cooked balsamic chicken with oven-roasted vegetables and ears of bicolor sweet corn loaded with butter and salt to a group-curated playlist that covered everything from Dua Lipa to The Smashing Pumpkins and Earth, Wind & Fire.
The kitchen—her kitchen—was filled with people she loved, but Maggie was having a hard time enjoying it, knowing that she’d hurt one of them so deeply.
They gathered around the dining table to eat off real dishes and catch up on the day as the world outside the window went pink and orange. Afterward, with the dishwasher making its maiden voyage, they gathered on the terrace to enjoy Popsicles and beers.
While Keaton put on a show for the adults, running from one end of the terrace to the other with the cats and Cody giving chase, Silas wandered over to the fountain. Maggie felt herself drawn to him. She intertwined her fingers through his and squeezed, hoping she hadn’t ruined this. Not with everything that she’d realized today.
He returned the squeeze and brought her knuckles to his mouth.
She loved him. Fiercely. And that scared the hell out of her. She thought there wasn’t anything worse until the sun set. Then Silas said his goodbyes, collected his dog, and drove home.
“Where’s Sy going?” Dayana asked, approaching her with a glass of wine in one hand and a Popsicle wrapper in the other.
“He’s giving me some space,” Maggie said evenly.