Page 78 of Forever To Me

Thinking about who hurt her and made her feel like she had to come here and hide her music. And then I thought about how I could find them and make them pay for hurting her.

Because I have no doubt that she was hurt.

You don’t get dropped by a record label like that without scars. And especially that record label. Something happened. And now I want to know. But if I try to find out, it opens me up to having to answer questionsfor her.

Maggie clears her throat, breaking the moment and waves a handful of papers in the air. “Alright, I have news.”

Mack perks up. “Good news?”

Maggie’s eyes sparkle. “I’m going to rebuild The Dogwood even better than it was before.”

Violet pauses, turning to face her fully. “You are?”

Maggie nods, spreading the papers across the table. She gestures for me to come closer, and I do, glancing at the blueprints, the notes, the sketches.

And damn if it isn’t impressive.

She’s not just rebuilding it—she’s making it a hell of a lot better. The Dogwood needed an upgrade, that's for sure. As old as it was, I'm not surprised it burned down. Everything was falling apart in that place. So much needed to be updated and brought up to code. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

“I thought about just retiring,” she admits, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Thought about taking this as a sign to slow down.”

She looks up, eyes warm and determined.“But this place is my home,” she says. “And I’m not done yet.”

I scan the plans, the layout, and the small, thoughtful details Maggie always includes in everything she does.

A wraparound porch by the office. A bigger kitchen. Twenty additional rooms. A small swimming pool.

A guest house on the property—one that wasn’t there before.

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re adding a guest house?”

Maggie shrugs, but I see the way she looks at Violet.

“I enjoy having company.”

Violet’s eyes go soft.

Mack nudges me. “You’re not gonna cry, are you, Dad?”

I shoot her a dirty look. “No.”

But I don’t say anything else. Because the truth is—this moment does something to me.

Seeing Mack happy.

Seeing Maggie excited about something again.

Seeing Violet here, in my house, looking like she belongs. When I see her with Maggie and Mack, I know she didn’t deserve whatever happened to her before she came here.

I’m not jealous.

I’m not.

But this friendship between us? It's bullshit. I thought I could do it. I thought it would be fine until I saw her withhim.

I’m just…observing. Yeah. Observing the situation across the bar where one of our regulars, Mason Carter laughs way too hard at something Violet said.

And she’s laughing too.Waytoo much. Like, what the hell is so funny? That guy is definitely not funny. He’s not even remotely funny.

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