Page 42 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
He pushed the pestering questions away as he grabbed a heavy box of hardware supplies, his arms aching with the effort, some part of him glad for the distraction of pain. He didn’t like thinking this way, like everything he’d ever done was because of some stupid childhood trauma. Besides, everyone hadsomekind of trauma in their past, right? It wasn’t like he was different, and no matter what Jenna said, his parents hadn’t beenthatbad. And wasn’t everyone looking for love, in one way or another? That was the human condition.
In the distance, he heard the sound of a car coming up the drive and then parking. It was too early for customers, only a little after nine when the store opened at ten; it was probably someone for Jenna. Annie Lyman sometimes stopped by pretty early. He reached for another box.
A few minutes later, he heard the sound of footsteps crunching on gravel as someone walked up to the barn. He straightened, one hand going to the small of his back, as he turned around. A ripple of surprised pleasure went through him at the sight of Maggie standing in the doorway, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater, puffer vest, and jeans, the weak wintry sunlight filtering from behind her and giving her dark hair, pulled up in a messy bun, a golden halo. He drank in the sight of her as he smiled his greeting.
“Hey,” he said softly. He’d been planning on heading over to the café later today, but he was glad she’d made the effort to see him. Really glad, even if his thoughts still all felt jumbled up from his conversation with Jenna.
“Zach,” Maggie said, and her voice sounded hard, unlike anything he’d heard from her before. “I need to talk to you.”
* * *
Maggie had been doing her best to control her temper as she’d driven over to Miller’s General Store, but just the sight of Zach looking gorgeous, giving her that lazy, knowing smile, was enough to send her blood back to boiling. He was so sure of himself, so arrogant, and so reckless.Howcould he have told Ben to do such a thing?
“Okay,” he said, and now he sounded cautious, the smile sliding from his lips as he regarded her warily, his hands resting on his lean hips.
Maggie clenched her hands into fists at her sides and then forced herself to flatten them out. She wanted to sound reasonable, but she was just too angry and afraid to moderate her tone or her temper. “How could you have been so… sostupid, with Ben?” she burst out.
Zach stilled, his eyes narrowing as he cocked his head. “Care to elaborate?” he asked in that mild way that Maggie had once liked but now just seemed like craven thoughtlessness. Did he even care about Ben? About her? Or had it all—the gaming, the helping out, thekiss—just been a way to amuse himself?
“The meme,” she practically spat. “Suggesting he make a meme and send it to the whole school?Hackinto the school’s computer system? You didn’t think that might come back to bite him? That maybe telling an impressionable fourteen-year-old to do somethingillegalis not the best idea?” Once she started, she found she couldn’t stop, the words spilling over, filled with both hurt and rage. “You didn’t stop to consider that telling Ben to hit back at his bullies might not be the best advice, especially in today’s climate where it seemed as if the police might knock on your door if you so much as like something on social media? That not only is doing such a thing immature, irresponsible, and unwise, but it could actuallyhurthim?” She shook her head, filled with bitterness. “You’ve acted so understanding with Ben, but you’re still that high school jock inside, aren’t you? You have no idea what it’s like to be bullied, what Ben went through, what he’s still recovering from. He washospitalized,you know,” she continued shrilly. “Those kids made his life such a misery that he… that he cut his own wrists.” Maybe she shouldn’t have admitted that, but right now she needed Zach to know.
Something flared in his eyes and his mouth tightened. “I didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t tell you, because it felt like something Ben should share.”
“You didn’t think that maybe I should know, since I was spending so much time with him online?” His voice was mild, but Maggie heard latent anger underneath it. She knew he had a point, but she was too angry to acknowledge it.
“You knew he was vulnerable,” she argued, her voice turning ragged as she tried to hold back her tears. “And yes, maybe I should have told you all that before, but Ben didn’t want people to know. But even so, youknewhe was vulnerable. You told me so yourself. Why would you do this to him?” she cried. “Or were you just not thinking?” She shook her head, unable to stop the torrent of words, of feelings. “Maybe you really are that thoughtless. And maybe it’s my fault, for thinking someone like you was mature enough to—to be afriendto my son?—”
“Someone like me?” Zach interjected quietly. He arched an eyebrow, looking nothing more than curious. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“You know what I mean,” Maggie cried. “All the signs were there, and I just ignored them. Everyone in townwarnedme what kind of man you are, and I chose not to believe them?—”
“Oh?” he interjected again, and now he almost sounded amused. “And what kind of man am I, Maggie?”
“You’re just a player, aren’t you?” she exclaimed on something like a gasp. “You played with my emotions, and you played with my son’s. I can forgive the first, because I’m old enough,wayold enough, to have known better, but I can’t when it comes to Ben.”
Zach was silent, his expression impossible to read, although to Maggie’s eyes he didn’t look remotely apologetic or remorseful. A growl of frustration escaped her. “Aren’t you going tosaysomething?”
He shrugged, seemingly indifferent. “Why should I? You’ve made your mind up already.”
Maggie stared at him. “Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“Would it matter if I did?” Zach countered. “You didn’taskme anything, Maggie. You just barged in here with all your assumptions and accusations and didn’t even let me speak.”
“The school was going to call thepolice?—”
“Is Ben okay?” Zach asked quietly, and Maggie blinked, discombobulated by the sudden shift in his tone, the apparent evidence of his concern.
“Yes,” she replied, drawing a steadying breath. “I mean, he will be. I made some calls, and the whole thing is hopefully going to be dropped. But Ben was freaking out, and he’s so fragile, and it all could have been really, really bad for him?—”
“Yes, it could have,” Zach agreed. He turned back to haul another box, and Maggie gaped at him.
“That’s it?” she demanded. “No explanations? You’re not even going to apologize?”
“I’m sorry Ben got in trouble,” Zach replied evenly. “That must have been very difficult for him.”
He made it sound as if the whole episode had absolutely nothing to do with him. Maggie shook her head slowly. “I can’tbelieveyou?—”
