Page 47 of Playing for Keeps in Starr's Fall
She pressed send before she could overthink it; she was already having palpitations at the thought of Zach reading the message.
“Now,” Liz sang out, “we need to find something for you, Maggie!”
Two blue ticks appeared by her message. He’d read it already.
Maggie swiftly slid her phone into her pocket as Liz came toward her. “What are you looking for? Something special?”
“An outfit for the grand opening of the café,” Maggie answered. Her fingers were still curled around her phone, waiting for the vibration to indicate that Zach had replied. “Good luck with your ‘get-together,’ Annie,” she called as her friend started out of the store. “I want to hear all about it.”
“And I want to hear all about you and Zach,” Annie replied. “Because something seems to be going on there!” So she had heard the hottie comment, clearly. “Don’t misjudge him the way everyone else has,” she added, like a warning.
Okay, the universe was clearly sending her a message. Maggie’s fingers tightened on the phone, willing it to vibrate. With a wave, Annie left the store, and Maggie turned her attention to Liz, who was pulling out silk blouses and tailored pants, not the kind of thing she wanted to wear to the opening of a boardgame café.
“I was thinking something more casual,” she told Liz. “And colorful. And maybe a little… funky.” She blushed as she said it.
“Colorful and funky?” Liz glanced at Maggie’s outfit—a gray turtleneck sweater and dark blue jeans. She hadn’t worn colorful and funky in a long time, but once she’d loved bright colors and whimsical prints. She’d put all those clothes away when Matt had got serious about his job, and she’d done her best to assimilate with the soccer moms of Greenwich, Connecticut—a well-heeled bunch, to be sure.
“Okay, let’s see what we have in the colorful and funky department…” Liz murmured as she continued to riffle through the racks.
As discreetly as she could, Maggie slid her phone out of her pocket, just in case she’d somehow missed the vibration of a message. Nope. Nothing. Disappointment curdled her insides, and she slipped her phone back in her pocket. Well, what did she expect? Zach to snap back with a “sure, no problem”? She’d been too unkind for that, she realized. It was a bitter pill to swallow, the taste of her own insensitivity acrid on her tongue.
“What about corduroy?” Liz suggested. “I always think it’s such a fun fabric, and this bright purple is pretty colorful, especially with the patch pockets.” She held up a miniskirt in vivid purple with aqua-blue patches for pockets. Maggie might have worn something like that in college, but now as a respectable, middle-aged widow?
Except that wasn’t who she was. It wasn’t who she wanted to be anymore.
“I’ll try it on,” she told Liz, and took her hand off her phone to take the skirt.
“And let me find a top to go with it, maybe in that blue…” Liz said, hurrying away to look.
A few minutes later, Maggie was gazing at her reflection, quietly amazed at the transformation some new clothes—and color—could do. She might still have that skunk-like streak of white in her hair, but her face looked younger, less drawn, and the aqua top Liz had found brought out the blue in her eyes.
“Wow, that took ten years off you,” Liz remarked, and then gave an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry, I meant that in a good way.”
“I took it in a good way,” Maggie assured her. She smoothed her hand down the skirt. With colorful tights and ankle boots, it would be the exact vibe she’d wanted for the opening of the store—fun, enthusiastic, a little bit whimsical.
“I’ll take them both,” she told Liz firmly. “And some tights.”
Back at home, Maggie put her purchases away and then went to check on Ben—and Penny, who had definitely settled into their household routine. Her son was in front of the computer, morosely clicking on the message icon on the RainQuest app. A small sigh escaped her as she leaned against the doorway of the kitchen.
“Did you finish your schoolwork, Ben?”
“Yeah, a while ago.” He sighed and slumped a little more in front of the computer. “Zach still hasn’t messaged me. And he hasn’t been on RQ atall.”
“He’s busy—” Maggie reminded him, knowing it was sounding like an increasingly feeble excuse.
“I know, but you’d think he’d still hop on once in a while. It makes me think he didn’t ever want to play with me. Like, was he just doing it out ofpity?” He pushed disconsolately away from the computer, spinning in his chair.
“Oh, Ben.” It was, Maggie feared, time to be fully honest. “I think he’s avoiding playing RainQuest because… well, because I’m afraid I might have been a little harsh with him,” she admitted with a wince.
Ben glanced up at her, his gaze full of accusation. “So youdidsay something!”
“I might have lost my temper a little,” Maggie felt compelled to acknowledge. “About the whole meme thing, I’m afraid.”
“Mom…”
“I know, I know,” Maggie said quickly, holding up one hand to stop the understandable torrent of dismay. “It was just, you’d told me you got the idea from him, and?—”
“I mean Idid, but I knew he was joking,” Ben retorted, his voice full of disgusted defensiveness. “He even told me he wasn’t suggesting such a thing, and that I shouldn’t do anything like that,obviously.”
