Page 52 of Maggie

Chapter 16

Wylder

“Where’s Aunt Maggie?” Kelsey asked the next week as his family finished up dinner.

Wylder’s stomach churned at the mention of her name. He hadn’t talked to her for a week but being without her still didn’t feel any easier. He’d grown accustomed to talking to her every day.

“Maggie’s in New York,” he said.

“Cool. I saw her on The Rock Hour the other night. She looked great.”

“I agree. She looked great.”

“When’s she coming back to town?”

“Umm... I’m not sure.”

Aubrey interrupted. “Kelsey, did you do your homework?”

“Uhhh...”

“Go do it now.”

“Fine.” Kelsey scooted her chair back from the table and took off down the hallway. A lot of the usual crowd had left already and only Aubrey’s family and Wylder’s parents remained.

Aubrey’s gaze settled on Wylder. “What did you do?”

“What do you mean?”

His dad chimed in, “You broke up with Maggie, didn’t you?”

Wylder sighed. “Yes, I broke up with Maggie.”

“Why?” his dad asked.

“It wasn’t working out.” Wylder avoided eye contact and drank a sip of water.

“You self-sabotaging prick,” Aubrey said.

Wylder swallowed wrong and coughed in surprise. “Wait, what?”

“She made you happy, and you couldn’t stand something going right so you sabotaged it.” Aubrey angrily scooted her plate away from her.

“Maggie’s on the road all the time. We’d never see each other. It’s better not to have that attachment than to miss her all the time.”

“Do you miss her now?”

“Yeah, but that’s going to fade.”

“Is it? Breaking up was the wrong solution. It won’t work.” Aubrey gave him an angry look, picked up her dishes, and stormed into the kitchen.

His dad cleared his throat. “I love you so I hate to say it, but I agree with Aubrey. I think you and Maggie are good together and this is a mistake.”

We’re so good together, Maggie’s words echoed back to him.

“I watched her be a rockstar, and she’s great at it. I don’t fit into that world,” Wylder said.

“She won’t be on tour forever. In a few years, her bandmates will probably insist on being a studio band so they can slow down. Surely, you can compromise for a few years.”

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