“Can you get him started with the steamer in the dining room while I say goodbye to Silas?” Maggie asked Dean.
“Sure. Come on in. See you around, Sly Sy,” Dean said, leading the way inside. “You know anything about making coffee, Cody?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Silas warned her.
Hands on hips, she scowled up at him. “I’ve got a to-do list as long as my arm. I don’t have time to argue with you, let alone justify my actions.”
“Where’s the list?”
She frowned at him.
“The list, Maggie,” he growled.
“It’s on the whiteboard,” she said.
He stomped inside and found a small whiteboard on an easel in the front room. The woman probably owned stock in the company. She limped in behind him, mouth open and ready to go another round.
“Uh-uh,” he said, drilling his finger into her shoulder. “You will sit and be nice to my stepfather and do exactly what he says.”
“I have work—”
“You are work. I’ll start at the top and work my way down. Whatever doesn’t get done is not an emergency requiring you to limp around trying to finish up. Dean and Jim will back me up.”
They both heard the car in the driveway. He poked her again. “Behave yourself.”
“You’re not actually going to—”
But he was already shoving his way out the screen door.
Not only had the woman confronted a pack of teens hell-bent on troublemaking, but she’d made one of them come back to get punished. Two things were certain: Maggie Nichols was a hell of a woman, and he was still very, very pissed off at her.
17
Morris Thomas was a mild-mannered man with a soft voice, softer middle, and thick glasses. He showed up in an Idaho State University T-shirt, chunky outdoorsy sandals, and a backpack full of medical supplies. He looked utterly huggable.
“I’m sorry to waste your time,” Maggie said as he carefully examined her foot and toes. “Silas overreacted.” She said that last bit louder to make sure the man who was muscling the power washer around to the side of the house would hear her.
“If Silas is overreacting, you must really have had him worried,” he said with a smile playing on his mouth.
“He doesn’t need to worry about me,” she grumbled.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Morris advised, noting the glares Silas and Maggie exchanged. “My stepson has a big heart and usually a very long fuse. How does that feel?”
She winced as he poked and prodded. “It’s okay.”
“I don’t suppose you’re going to let me talk you into an X-ray at the urgent care?”
“I don’t suppose I will,” she agreed with a small smile.
“My best guess is it’s a sprain. Rest. Ice. Keep it elevated. Some anti-inflammatories to help with the pain and swelling. Take it easy this weekend. As long as the swelling stays down and you’re careful and you take regular breaks, you can be back on your feet Monday. You can try buddy taping it to the next toe. It’ll take a few weeks to heal.”
“Okay,” she said. She must have answered a little too quickly because the PA sharpened his gaze.
“Your body needs energy to heal,” he cautioned her. “Don’t force it to expend that energy somewhere else less necessary.”
“I have a timeline,” she complained. Ugh. She hated whining almost as much as she hated not getting things done.
“You remind me of my lovely wife. Very smart. Very good at what she does. And very, very bad at remembering that getting ahead of the to-do list isn’t the only way to be successful.”
“Your wife sounds like someone I’d like,” she mused.
They heard a snarled curse as the hose attached to the power washer whipped off the porch.
“I imagine she isn’t the only one in the family you’d like,” Morris guessed. “If it isn’t getting better, I want you to go in for an X-ray. Now, what are we going to do this weekend?”
She sighed. “Rest. Ice. Elevation. Anti-inflammatories. Pout.”
“It’s a beautiful spring weekend. Might I suggest enjoying the view with a glass of wine and a good book?”
She didn’t know what was odder, the suggestion or the fact that she couldn’t remember the last time she’d done anything like that.
“Sounds great,” she said lamely.
He patted her knee. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go ask Silas for a quick tour of the grounds. His mother and I are very proud of his work.”