“Uh, I don’t know.”
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. Do you need a ride home?” she asked. Her toe was throbbing worse now.
He shook his head. “Nah. Not supposed to take rides from strangers.”
“Not supposed to break into their houses either,” she pointed out.
“I’ll text my sucky friends and meet them on the road.”
“Good enough,” she said, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Be here at nine.”
He nodded, hands in his jacket pockets, and turned to leave.
“Oh, and, Cody?” she called.
He turned around.
“If your sucky friends ask, tell them I cut off your pinkie toe with a hatchet and buried it in the basement.”
MomOf4: Maggie, I just wanted you to know that my daughter and I have been watching your show for years and today she applied for tech school where she’s going to learn to build houses! Proud mama moment. Thanks for being the amazing example you are!
FortyThreeBabe: OMFG, if MY ass were that big I’d never let myself be seen on camera. Maggie is so gross I can’t stop laughing!
DallasDeelite: I am living for this beach house! Maggie is this the one you’re going to finally keep?
16
Saturday mornings were when Bitterroot’s teenage part-timers were dispatched in two pickups with trailers to do the mowing and trimming jobs around Kinship. Silas had a few commercial properties as clients, but most of the business came from families too busy with spring sports to keep up with the lawn, or senior citizens, who got the rock-bottom discounted rate.
The kids fought over the old folks because the snacks were great.
Silas liked to do a few drive-bys every weekend to make sure everyone was on task and not fucking around with string trimmers and leaf blowers like he and Michael had when they were put in charge of the family lawns. He still had a scar on his shin from the cord of a Weed Eater. Teenagers today seemed to be at least a little more responsible when money and snacks were on the line.
There was no real reason for him to swing by the Campbell Place. And if he got his drive-bys out of the way and spent an hour or two on paperwork, he could take the paddleboard or the kayak out for the afternoon.
If he stopped in to see Maggie, well, that would throw a wrench in his whole day. Plus, he’d probably end up kissing her again. And he wasn’t sure how she’d feel about that. Seeing as how she hadn’t responded to his texts last night. Maybe that had given him a mild case of nerves.
But if he did drop by, maybe he could test the waters, so to speak, under the guise of preparing for the week ahead. It would just take a minute or so.
“Wanna go see the pretty lady?” he asked his dog. Kevin cocked his head from his copilot position in the passenger seat.
“All right, then. Let’s go.” Silas steered the truck out of town and up into the hills. It was less than a ten-minute drive, during which he called his sister Nirina and got the 411 on her last doctor appointment. Five months along, and mama and baby were doing just fine.
“When are you bringing Campbell Place Girl into the shop? We need a heads-up so we can dazzle her with our wares,” Nirina chirped in his ear after she’d filled him in on all things baby.
“Listen, I just talked her into kissing me, and it took me three dates. Meeting the family’s gonna take at least seven.”
“Damn, Sy. You’re losing your touch in your old age.” At twenty-six, Nirina was the baby of the family. To her, anyone over thirty was old.
He slowed to make the turn onto Maggie’s lane and noticed the deep ruts in the dirt that turned to black tire tracks on the asphalt. “Hey, I gotta go, Niri. Call you back.”
Kevin, picking up on his concern, put his front paws on the dashboard and let out a low growl.
The ruts fishtailed back and forth on the narrow lane the whole length of the driveway. There was a gouge taken out of one of the tree trunks. He bet the car looked worse. Grimly, Silas tightened his grip on the wheel.
He was relieved to see Jim’s van parked out front. A power washer hooked to a hose sat at the bottom of the porch steps. The front door behind the screen was open, and there was music, Whitesnake, coming from somewhere inside.
Silas pulled in behind the contractor’s van and shoved the truck into park.
“Maggie!” It was not a friendly call. It was a summons.
He was halfway up the porch steps when she limped through the screen door.
“Oh, hey,” she said, giving him a smile that pissed him off.
“Oh, hey? What in the hell happened?” he demanded, closing the distance and grabbing her by the shoulders.