Page 26 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
“Okay,” Zach said after a moment.
Maggie hesitated. Was it her place to tell Zach about what Ben had been through? She knew Ben would never offer the information voluntarily, just as she knew how furious her son would be if he discovered she’d been spilling his secrets, especially when she was still very much reluctant to admit any of her own.
Zach must have sensed her confusion, because he reached out and rested his hand over hers, the feel of his palm on top of hers both reassuring and unsettlingly exciting. “Maggie,” he said, “the last thing I want you to do is betray Ben’s trust. If he wouldn’t want me knowing, you don’t have to tell me.” He paused, squeezing her hand, which sent tremors of awareness through her. “But I think I could guess some of it, at least, already.”
“Oh?” She sounded nettled when she didn’t mean to, but how could he possibly know? What assumptions was he making, just because Ben was quiet and shy and liked to game? And even if those assumptions were right, should someone like Zach be making them?
Someone like Zach. Clearly, she was making some assumptions, too.
“I just mean,” Zach said quietly, “that he’s a quiet kid and I’m guessing what with you pulling him out of school, and him being happy to do his work online, he might have been bullied or something at his old school and that must have been pretty tough, for you guys to feel like a big move was needed. Plus the amount he games… well, usually you do that when your real life kind of sucks.”
“Oh?” Now she really did sound defensive. “And you would know that how?”
Zach frowned, and belatedly Maggie realized how aggressive she’d sounded.
“Because that’s why I started to game,” he told her, removing his hand from hers. She found she missed it. “You know,” he added, gentling his tone, “you’re not the only one who’s had a hard time. I mean, I know you’ve really been through the mill, and I haven’t lost a life partner or anything remotely close to that, but, Maggie…” He hesitated and then finished, sounding as if he semi-regretted saying it even before he had. “You don’t have the monopoly on struggle.”
Maggie drew back, chastened and yet still feeling defensive. “I know that,” she said, and Zach cocked an eyebrow, clearly trying to lighten the mood, at least a little.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you haven’t assumed that I’ve had it easy my whole life.”
Maggie could feel her cheeks heating. Okay, shehadassumed exactly that. She just hadn’t thought Zach had realized.
“You wouldn’t be the first one,” he told her, trying to sound lighthearted but not, Maggie thought, quite managing it. “Most everyone in Starr’s Fall thinks I’m a lucky, lazy you-know-what. And they don’t mind telling me as much.”
“So why do they think that?” Maggie asked.
“Because I was, back in high school,” Zach replied matter-of-factly. “I was on the baseball team, I had my pick of the girls, I thought I was all that and more. I was obnoxious, probably insufferable, and I’ll be the first one to say so.” He shrugged. “People change. But sometimes other people don’t let you, though, or don’t believe that you have.”
“And is that the entire population of Starr’s Fall?” Maggie asked, caught between sympathy and skepticism.
“Not everyone,” Zach allowed, “but more people than I’d like.”
“And all the dating?” She decided to be brave—or foolish—enough to ask. “What’s that about? Everyone I’ve talked to thinks you’re a… well, you’re a player.”
“Iwas,” Zach emphasized, “inhigh school.”
“But you still date a lot.”
He straightened, his eyes flashing as Maggie realized how prudish she’d sounded. “I didn’t realize that was a crime.”
“It’s not a crime, obviously,” she said quickly. “But it is a… athing, especially in a small town.”
Zach looked like he wanted to make a sharp retort, but then he sighed and slumped back into his chair. “Yeah, I guess it is,” he said quietly. “And maybe that’s part of the struggle.” He glanced at her, his eyes glinting with amusement. “Poor little baseball star, people think you’re shallow. Boo hoo.” He leaned forward, his elbows on the table, his voice dropping an octave, his tone turning intimate. “I know that was what you were thinking.”
“It wasn’t,” Maggie protested, and then gave an embarrassed laugh. “All right, maybe a little. From the outside, you seem like you’ve lived a charmed life, Zach. But I don’t want to be like everybody else.”
“I don’t want you to be like everybody else, either.” He held her gaze for a long moment, the humor dropping from his eyes as they lit with a certain knowledge as well as a sudden heat that made Maggie’s stomach flip. She tried to look away and found that she couldn’t.
“Zach…” she began, feebly. She didn’t know what she was going to say. This wasn’t the joking leer of earlier, when they’d had their re-do. He looked utterly serious… and thrillingly intent. And she wasn’t ready for him to be either.
He leaned forward a little more, so she breathed in his spicy, woodsy scent and her head started to swim. “What?” he asked quietly, a challenge.
Maggie shook her head. She was not going to spell it out for him.
“I like you, Maggie.” Okay, apparentlyhewas.
“You barely know me?—”
