Page 44 of Maggie

Wylder said, “Look, Maggie. I like being with you. I don’t know what that looks like exactly. My life is here, and your life isn’t. At least not until your tours stop. I’m not sure how that works out. But I want to spend time with you.”

“I like being with you, too. I don’t know. I guess ultimately our relationship — friends, lovers, whatever — comes down to what you’re open to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... How much commitment do you want? Do you want to date and do a long distance relationship where we’re together and see each other when we can? Or a friends-with-benefits arrangement without the relationship and see each other when we’re in the same town? Or even go back to friends?”

He ate a bite of egg. “I don’t think I could go back to friends, Maggie. Can you explain, what does friends-with-benefits look like?”

“I guess whatever we want it to look like. We could make it exclusive if we wanted. Or not. I don’t know. My first thought, maybe it means we’re friends who do ‘fun’ stuff until we meet other people and then we go back to being friends.”

Wylder growled. “No. I don’t like it.”

“Okay. So what do you want to do?”

Wylder was quiet for a minute as he thought. He reached his hand across the table to her. She put her hand in his and he threaded his fingers through hers. He stared at their hands, then spoke.

“My reservation has nothing to do with you and everything to do with years of avoiding relationships,” he said. He looked up at her to make sure she understood. Once she nodded, he looked back down at their entwined fingers. “I don’t know that I’m ready for a relationship. But...” He grew quiet again. “You and I... Until yesterday, we were only friends. I...” Frustration and struggle crossed his face. “I can’t ignore the feelings I’m having. I feel protective of you. Possessive. Jealous at the thought of someone else having you. I don’t like that you have to travel, but I know it won’t last forever. Relationship feelings.” He drew in a deep breath then released it. His gaze met hers. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be any good at it, but would you try being with me? Exclusively? Boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Maggie nodded. “Yeah. I would.”

He smiled. “Great. I’m probably going to fuck up, but I’ll try my best not to.”

Maggie smiled at his honesty. “That’s okay. Me, too. We’ll figure it out. Pinky promise to talk out any issues or concerns?” She unlinked their hands and extended her pinky.

“Pinky promise.” He firmly shook pinkies with her.

He looked her outfit up and down, which consisted of his t-shirt and boxers. “We need to get you some different clothes before dinner tonight. Would you prefer to swing by your dad’s or to go shopping?”

* * *

Maggie scrolled through the articles on her smartphone’s browser as she waited to help Wylder prepare a food dish. They planned to make deviled eggs for his family’s dinner, and they were waiting on the hard boiled eggs to finish cooking.

“Looks like we were successful yesterday,” she said. “You’re officially trending on social media.”

“Oh yeah?” Wylder asked from the kitchen.

“Oh yeah. Hot artist and tattoo shop owner? You’re all over twitter.”

Wylder laughed. “That’s great.”

“You’re probably about to get a lot more business at your shop, too. You and the shop have both been tagged in these posts and articles. Most of the articles cite you as my new boyfriend but there are a couple that say we had a secret wedding, too.” She laughed. “Oooh and apparently we have a secret baby on the way.”

Wylder laughed. “Something you need to tell me, wifey?”

“I guess, hubby. I have to read the article first and get the details, though. It’s a surprise to me, too, and I have to read up about what I’ve been saying.”

Wylder laughed. He picked up the pot of eggs and drained the hot water off them. He tipped the eggs into a bowl of cold water that was sitting on the counter.

Maggie said, “It looks like there are some articles about Frieda’s wedding but none of them cite us as attending. Actually, none of the articles say whose wedding we attended. Not sure how that happened, but it seems like karma. Frieda isn’t getting any publicity off me.”

Wylder brought the bowl of eggs to the table. He gave Maggie a kiss then sat down beside her.

“I can’t say I’m upset by that,” Wylder said.

Wylder and Maggie joked and laughed and had a nice afternoon together as they peeled eggs and made the filling for deviled eggs. The afternoon felt “domestic”, and Maggie couldn’t say that she disliked it.

* * *

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