Page 19 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
Zach looked like he wanted to say something more, but he kept himself from it, instead offering an easy smile, his eyes glinting in the dim light of the hallway. “No problem. Now, do you really need the bathroom?”
Maggie managed another laugh, this one not quite so shaky. “I might as well,” she replied, and then slipped inside, breathing a quiet sigh of relief as she shut the door. Zach Miller was too nice—and definitely too good-looking—for her own sanity. Her arm was still tingling from where he’d touched her, for heaven’s sake. And then there was the fact that he had to be at least ten years younger than her, and probably more. Why she responded to him the way she did was both shameful and ludicrous… She needed to be hyper-alert at all times.
She steeled herself to look at her reflection—reddened eyes, the lines from her nose to mouth looking starker than usual. The gray streak in her hair that had appeared after Matt’s death glowed white. She lookedold. Zach probably thought she was ancient.
Taking a steadying breath, Maggie did what she could to repair the damage—wetting a tissue and dabbing at her eyes, running her fingers through her hair to fluff it out a little. She still looked haggard, but oh well.
She washed her hands, turned away from her reflection, and steeled herself to head back downstairs. When she came into the kitchen, she was surprised to see Ben bent over the table, drawing on a piece of paper as everyone watched. The dishes had been cleared away and more wine poured. Zach looked up as she approached, sliding her a smile that felt like a secret they shared. She forced herself to look away without smiling back, although it was hard. Harder than she would have liked.
“What’s going on here?” she asked in what she hoped was a normal tone.
“Ben is drawing us a map of the RainQuest world,” Jenna explained. “It’s fascinating. So intricate and interesting, with all the details.” Her tone was warm; Maggie suspected she was doing her best to make up for her geek comment earlier, and she appreciated the effort.
These people werenice, she thought with a rush of gratitude, and they were trying. She needed to try too, as much as for Ben’s sake as her own. She needed to make Starr’s Fall work for them as a family as well as a business.
No more falling apart, she told herself sternly. No more social awkwardness or endless evenings of watchingIs It Cake?on her own. From now on, she was going to give their new life in Starr’s Fall 110 percent… whatever it took.
7
Maggie squared her shoulders as she stepped into the church, her Pilates mat rolled up under her arm. It had been two weeks since that dinner at Laurie’s, and she’d been determinedly making progress, one fumbling step at a time. Attending Elaine Barton’s Pilates class in the church basement was the next step in her Make-Starr’s-Fall-Work, or really Make-Maggie-Normal program.
Over the last two weeks, the boardgame café had begun to take shape. She’d ordered some furniture for the front room to be delivered next week; she’d set up a bank account; she was going on the barista course in a couple of weeks. They hadn’t been ready to open on February 1st as Ben had hoped for, but, as long as they’d passed the necessary inspections for food hygiene and fire safety, they could potentially open their doors by mid-March, with limited offerings of coffee and cake. It was both an exciting and scary thought.
Ben had done as he’d promised and continued with his schoolwork, spending his free time either organizing all the boardgames they’d bought or gaming, often with Zach Miller. Apparently, they’d formed some kind of team and Zach was, according to her son, “killing it.” Sometimes she heard him talking on his headphones to Zach, which made her smile because it was the most social Ben had been in well over a year, although she could barely understand the gaming slang.
“Complete skill issue!” he’d chortled last night, his thumbs moving rapidly over his controller. “You aresobot farming.I’m the one who secured the dub, are you kidding me? Oh, man, the lag!”
She hadn’t been able to hear any of Zach’s replies through the headphones, of course, but she had been curious as to whether he spoke the same incomprehensible language.
Her sister was less approving of their friendship. “Ben is playing with a thirty-year-old stranger?” she’d exclaimed when Maggie had explained the situation on one of their phone calls. She sounded both censorious and scandalized. “Maggie?—”
“He’s not a stranger,” Maggie had protested. “And I don’t know that he’s thirty, anyway. He might be younger.” Which was a depressing thought. “He’s a neighbor,” she’d continued, “and he’s very nice. He’s just about the last person I’d expect to be into gaming, but I’m very glad he is, for Ben’s sake. It’s good for him.”
Lynn had still been dubious. “How do you know this guy isn’t, I don’t know,groominghim in some way?” she’d demanded.
“Grooming him?” Maggie had repeated in disbelief. “Are you serious? I mean, I know you like to be cautious, Lynn, but… I’m pretty sure he’s just being nice.” She’d taken a deep breath as she’d briefly closed her eyes. “I need you to be happy for me, okay?” she’d told her sister quietly. “This is working, or starting to. I need you to accept that. And if things get hard, which I know they will, I need younotto ask me to move to Boston or back to Greenwich or wherever. We’re staying here. We’re going to make Starr’s Fall work.”
Lynn had been silent for a long moment. “Okay,” she’d finally said. “I get it. But if I’m right…”
“You aren’t,” Maggie had told her, exasperated as well as amused. “Trust me.”
Although really, Maggie reflected as she headed down the stairs toward the church basement, Zach Miller basicallywasa stranger. She hadn’t seen him in two weeks; they’d last spoken in the hallway at Laurie’s, when she’d almost lost it. Was he avoiding her, the awkward middle-aged woman who had become too emotional? She could hardly blame him, and yet she knew she was disappointed. Some part of her had been hoping to run into him.
She had seen Laurie several times, at least; they’d chatted in the street, and Maggie had stopped by Max’s Place to drop off a thank you card for the flowers and cookies as well as the dinner invitation. When she’d let it slip that she and Ben did not have a pet, Laurie had urged her to adopt one from the Humane Society. Maggie had demurred; she was barely managing to keep her and Ben together. Even though Ben had asked for a cat and she’d dreamed of a dog, she didn’t yet trust herself with another living creature quite yet. But maybe one day…
“Are you new?” An athletic-looking woman in matching lilac leggings and sports top, her wavy gray hair pulled back into a loose bun, came toward her. “I’m Elaine Barton. Welcome to Peaceful Pilates.”
Peaceful Pilates sounded nice, Maggie thought. Well, the peaceful part, anyway. “Thanks, I’m Maggie Parker. I just moved to Starr’s Fall.”
“You’re opening the boardgame café with your son, aren’t you?” Elaine remarked as she shook her hand. She let out a throaty laugh. “Everyone knows everyone else’s business here, I’m afraid, for better or for worse. Such an interesting idea—I’m a backgammon player, myself.”
“We’ll have backgammon,” Maggie promised. She was pretty sure it was one of the dozens of games they’d purchased a few months ago, when they’d first come up with the idea of the café.
“Looking forward to it.” Elaine gestured to the basement floor. “Roll out your mat and we’ll begin. Have you met the others?” There were three other women already sitting on their mats. “This is Annie Lyman,” Elaine said, pointing to a solid-looking woman dressed in gray sweats and an old t-shirt. She had curly salt-and-pepper hair and looked to be in her mid-forties. She gave Maggie a friendly wave.
“And this is Zoe Wilkinson,” she continued, pointing to the woman next to Annie, who was different from her in every way. She was in her late twenties, tall and lithe, with a shock of bright pink hair and a nose ring. While Annie was happy to simply sit on her mat, Zoe was already sinuously stretched out in a cobra pose, her head tilted back as she smiled at Maggie.
“Nice to meet you.”
