Page 8 of Panther's Magpie
“Maggie, can I call you Maggie?”
I should be concerned that he knows my name even though I didn’t give it to him, but I’m not.
I nod as I go back to town, chewing on the corner of my torn thumb.
“We have a plan, but I can’t tell you. You just need to trust us to take care of you and her.”
“I don’t care about myself. Only her. She’s my family,” I tell him quietly.
How do I even begin to describe to this man how I’m feeling? He doesn’t know me or even Aspen. He doesn’t know what we’ve been through, our stories. The only one who does is Calloway, and the last thing he wants to do right now is see me. He blames me.
It fucking stings that he blames me. He’s known Aspen just as long as I have. He knows that as kids it was always her gettinginto the fights and causing trouble. I was just the one who was stupid enough to follow. He should know that it was her idea to stop and that I couldn’t stop her from doing what she did.
Could I have tried harder to stop her? Could I have ignored her request to pull over? Could I have dragged her out of there when I first felt like we were in trouble? Yes, I could have done all of that, but who knows what could have happened then.
“When was the last time you slept?” Eagle asks, bringing my attention back to him.
“I don’t know, this morning? I woke up at six and turned in a paper as soon as I could at seven. Then we pretty much got on the road immediately.”
“You live in California, right? That couldn’t have been a short drive.”
“Fifteen and a half hours. We go to school in Bakersfield.”
He whistles under his breath. “You guys were making some killer time. Even with your little bar stop.”
I shrug, unsure how to respond.
Outside of gas, we didn’t stop. We packed enough snacks to get us through. Up until the bar, Aspen had no desire to stop either. She just wanted to get home to Calloway. Or excuse me, Panther.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he finally asks.
I look at him again. He does look vaguely familiar, but I can’t say why, so I shake my head.
“I met you once when you were ten. When we came to school to look for that hair clip,” he tells me.
“You’re one of Cal…Panther’s friends,” I say, thinking back to that day.
I can’t say which one he is, but if he says I know him, I trust him.
“Yep, so when I say we will get her back, I mean it. I’ve known Panther a long time. He won’t let Aspen get hurt. He loves her.Let me get you set up in one of the bunk rooms,” he says as he walks out from behind the bar.
I shake my head. “No, that’s okay. I really don’t want to inconvenience you. I’ll be fine until Aspen is home.”
He shakes his head and presses his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look dead on your feet, and you won’t do Aspen any good if you’re tired.”
Reluctantly, I nod and follow him down the hall.
He’s not wrong.
Aspen will need me when she gets back. She always does.
Eagle leads me into a room and flips on the light. I have to blink several times from being blinded by the light. Looking around the room, I’m impressed. It’s clean and looks like it’s well cared for. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.
“Do you need anything?” Eagle asks.
I shake my head. “No, I’m good. You’ll let me know when you know something?”
He offers me a soft smile. “I will. Now get some rest.”
