Page 14 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
“Maggie Parker,” Laurie replied, “and her son is Ben.”
An awareness twanged through Zach as his hand stilled on Max’s back. He’d just been thinking about Maggie, recalling seeing her yesterday, the way her deep blue eyes had widened as she’d nervously tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, that single streak of gray reminding him of a bird’s wing. So Maggie and Ben were coming to dinner. When Jenna had relayed Laurie’s invitation, she hadn’t mentioned that salient fact.
“I asked Annie to come too,” Laurie continued, “but she has to stay home with her mom.” She gave an unhappy frown, and Jenna nodded in understanding. Annie Lyman ran Lyman Orchards and Zach knew her mother had advanced Parkinson’s. He’d known the Lymans his whole life; it was a terrible and yet also inspiring thing to witness Barb Lyman’s decline, managed with both humor and dignity, yet inevitable and tragic too, as she succumbed more and more to the ravages of the disease.
“What’s their story?” Jenna asked as she took a pile of silverware from Laurie and started setting the table. “Maggie Parker’s, I mean?”
Zach carefully deposited Max back on the floor and went to get the plates, trying to act as if he wasn’t eager to hear every word Laurie was about to say.
“I really don’t know,” Laurie admitted. “Only that she and her son moved here on their own to start this boardgame café. But maybe she’ll tell us something of it tonight.” She paused, her head cocked in thought. “I get the sense,” she finished slowly, “that she’s been a little… battered… by life.”
It was the same sense Zach had had not just of Maggie, but of Ben too. There had been a fragile and bruised quality to the pair of them that had made him feel weirdly—and nonsensically—protective of them both. Like they’d had a few too many hard knocks and might not survive another one unless they had someone to keep them upright. Or was he just being fanciful, wanting to swoop in as the protector, finish the fairy tale? He had a tendency to overthink these things. Overimagine, too.
“Haven’t we all,” Jenna replied on a sigh. Laurie gave her a commiserating look while Zach kept quiet. He knew that during a year-long internship in San Francisco more than ten years ago, back when he’d had his brief stint in college, Jenna had had some kind of heartbreak. She didn’t talk about it, and he didn’t ask, but he suspected it was what was behind some of her more barbed remarks about his dating life—not that knowing that made taking them any easier.
“Hello?” a voice called up the stairs, and then a few seconds later Joshua appeared at the top, giving Zach his customary cautious smile, almost as if he was afraid Zach might vault over the table, pull him into a headlock, and give him a wet willy in his ear. And in truth, hemighthave done just that when they’d both been fourteen, but not now. Not for a long time.
Zach raised his hand in a salutary fashion. “Hey,” he said, and Joshua gave a nod back, along with a very small smile.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Not much.”
It wasn’t much conversation, but it was at least a start, Zach supposed. He watched as Joshua went to Laurie and kissed her hello, and then gave Jenna a quick, one-armed hug. Okay, he wasn’t feeling like an outsider, he told himself, even though he knew he kind of was. But then, he’d felt like an outsider in Starr’s Fall for a long time, which was kind of ironic considering he’d spent basically his whole life here, and he had no great desire to go anywhere else. Kind of a conundrum, really, to not entirely like where you were living, even if the place itself felt as if it had settled right into his bones. Truth was, he couldn’t imagine living anywhere other than Starr’s Fall. He just wanted it to feel better.
A sigh escaped him, and Jenna glanced over. “What?” she asked, her tone landing somewhere between teasing and nettled. “Bored already?”
“Nope,” Zach replied as he finished laying the plates on the table. He purposefully ignored his sister as he turned to Laurie. “What else can I do?”
“Oh…” Laurie glanced between him and Jenna, clearly sensing the palpable tension. They obviously needed to clear the air about managing the store. Zach had been working on a new business plan for some high-end tourist items, and he was determined for Jenna to take it seriously.
“Um, do you want to fill a jug of water?” Laurie suggested. “Joshua, why don’t you put some music on? I’ll just check on the lasagna…”
She went to the oven while Joshua fiddled with his phone to connect it to the speaker. Zach reached for the blue pottery jug above the sink and started to fill it with water, all the while feeling his sister’s assessing gaze on him.
“You okay?” she asked after a moment, her tone mild, maybe the tiniest bit apologetic.
“Yup.” He turned off the sink and went to put the jug on the table. Now was not the time to have it out with Jenna, not that he’d even know what that would look like. As close as they were, or at least as peoplethoughtthey were, they’d never really done heart-to-hearts. Jenna was too prickly and private, and he was… well, he was too wary. He didn’t need his sister throwing yet more assumptions at him about who he was now, just because of who he’d once been.
Cello music floated from the speakers, the mellifluous sound seeming to ease the unspoken tension between him and Jenna. It was hard to stay grumpy when Yo-Yo Ma was playing Bach in a way that wrapped around your soul. Zach gave her a quick, semi-conciliatory smile, and she nodded back. It would, he suspected, take the place of a proper conversation.
“I think dinner’s ready,” Laurie said as she straightened from the oven. “Now we just need to wait for Maggie and Ben.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang.
“Jenna, can you get it?” Laurie asked. “I’m just going to drain the green beans.” She turned back to the stove. “Joshua, do you want a beer? Zach?”
“Sure.” Zach opened two bottles and handed one to Joshua as he listened to the murmurs and exclamations coming from downstairs. He felt a curiosity as well as an excitement flare to life inside him, and he realized just how much he was looking forward to seeing Maggie Parker again.
He took a long swallow of his beer just as they came up the stairs—Jenna first, following by Maggie clutching a bottle of wine like a life preserver, and then finally Ben, his shoulders slumped, his sneakered feet dragging along the floor like he was entering the ninth circle of hell, which, for him, maybe he was.
“Maggie!” Laurie exclaimed. “And Ben, too. I’m so glad you both came.” She went forward as Maggie held out the bottle.
“I brought this,” she said uncertainly, her gaze darting from person to person and then landing on Zach, her startled gaze widening as color flooded into her cheeks.
Oh, that was anicereaction. Zach tipped his bottle back and took another swallow as Maggie’s gaze darted away.
“Let me introduce you,” Laurie continued, blithely unaware of any undercurrents. “This is my boyfriend Joshua, and my friend Jenna, and her brother Zach. They run the general store, which is so cute and old-fashioned. You should definitely have a look through it when you get the chance.”
