Page 218 of Falling Backwards
“I’ll be right back,” she says on a burst of breath.
I look at her just in time to see her spin away from my side and start walking.I stop pushing the cart and turn to watch her stride across the short distance to the automatic doors, which open with perfect timing, not slowing her for even half a second.
Hm.She must’ve dropped her credit card in the checkout area or something—but as I start following her back into the store, I see she’s not going in the direction of the registers.
Uh oh, is she sick?Is she rushing to the restroom?
I pick up my pace so I don’t lose sight of….
Oh.Oh, wow.
I stop in the middle of the front area, surprise taking me as Maggie makes a clear beeline for the crop top mannequin.She stops at a rack next to it, flips through the hangers there, and extracts two of them, holds them up, inspects them.Then she’s back in that purposeful stride, now going to the checkout area for sure.
I realize I’m smiling.
In no time, she has paid and is coming back to me, clutching her plastic bag, and I’m finally able to see the soft determination on her face.
Now I’mgrinning.
I can already see she’s blushing, her eyes having trouble staying on mine; her resolve hasn’t made her feel any less shy.
So freaking cool.So freaking lovely.
When she gets to me, I ask her, “Now ready to go?”
She nods and tosses her bag into the cart with the dumbbells.“I got two sizes to try on at home.I’ll just bring them back if I don’t like them.”I can hear the bit of wispiness in her voice, and I think she can, too, because she clears her throat.“Or…if I do like one of them, I’ll bring back the other.”
Since these are some of the moments in which she’s avoiding my gaze, I reach out and lightly touch her chin, silently encouraging her to stop doing that.She tucks her bottom lip into her mouth as she looks at me; unlike the last time she did it, she seems to be so preoccupied with the shirt thing that she doesn’t notice what she’s doing.
As much as I’d like to absorb that cute gesture before she does notice and let her lip slip free, I look straight into her eyes instead.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell her.
I can just hear the slight tremble in her breath as those eyes absorbme,as those cheeks burn pink, as a soft smile graces her lips.
“Thank you,” she says back.“I think I am too.”
I feel like sweeping her up in my arms and spinning her around with a hug, kissing her goofy, shouting into the day about how damn much I like who this girl is.
Instead, I sweep her bangs out of my way and kiss her scar, then simply say to her that she is real-life magic.
Oh, what that bit of truth does to her expression.
I can’t wait to keep seeing this look every day until she learns to feel her magic for herself—then I’ll enjoy seeingthatevery day.
—
Maggie slips and her near-shriek pierces the air of her building’s lot as her knee hits the ground, causing our good mood to come to a shrieking halt.
“Oh, shit!”I rush to set my dumbbells down and deal with the ones in her arms because she’s kneeling too awkwardly to do anything with them.Then I take hold of her and guide her to standing.“You okay?You hurt?”
“Ow, ow, ow,” she whimpers.“My knee.”
“Your knee?All right, we’ll check it out.What did you slip on?”My eyes search around her feet for what might’ve caused her to fall.
“I don’t….”As she steadies herself with her hands on me, plastic shopping bag swinging from her wrist, I notice she’s favoring one leg; the other is the knee she landed on, the one that’s hurt.“My feet didn’t get caught on anything.I didn’t trip.I just suddenly—um—”
‘Suddenly’is right.One second we were talking about something I can’t even recall right now, and then she was slipping, gasping, going down.She truly didn’t stumble over anything.
