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I didn’t care about Carter Bryant I’d known who he was as soon as he came over to talk to me. The mask had been a good disguise, but he hadn’t changed his voice any. I could have called him out on it at any moment and I hadn’t because it was none of my business. I didn’t care about him. He was just some guy.
So then why did this hurt so much? Everything Suzie had said hurt me deeply.
The door leading to the back of the shop opened. Our manager poked her head through the crack, peering back and forth between us. “Did I hear arguing?”
She knew Suzie and I didn’t get along.
I saw no reason to start something over this, though. I shook my head.
Suzie smirked at me and rolled her eyes, like she thought this meant she had won. I still said nothing, even though I really wanted to tell her that she couldn’t win anything when Carter clearly had no interest in her whatsoever. She might beat me, but that battle was one I was pretty sure she’d lose.
Luckily, the lunch rush came not much later, occupying us both. I grabbed a quick break when another employee finally arrived and texted Maggie.
“This day sucks.”
She didn’t reply until an hour before I was due to leave. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I couldn’t answer it without getting in trouble, so I finished and clocked out as usual. In the break room, I removed my apron and grabbed up my purse, and finally looked at my phone on my way out of the coffee shop.
“Come by my place? Deacon’s out for once. I’ve got your favorite ice cream.”
I hadn’t eaten since I’d grabbed an apple during lunch. My stomach growled at the mention of ice cream; Rocky Road would taste even better when I didn’t have to pay for it.
I went to Maggie’s house and let myself in. “Mags?”
“Coming,” she called. I heard the refrigerator door shut. She came around the corner, bearing two bowls loaded with Rocky Road ice cream, plus sprinkles, mini marshmallows, and chocolate syrup—all of my favorite toppings. She held one of the bowls in my direction. “Take this. I’m freezing my hand off.”
I grabbed the bowl and shoved a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth, swallowing the sugary-sweet goodness before I could even taste it. “God, I needed this.”
“I could tell.” Maggie flopped down on her couch and looked up at me, cradling her bowl of ice cream in her lap. “I know your days usually suck, but you don’t often come right out and say it like that.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, I like to try and stay more positive than that. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, geez, don’t apologize.” Maggie pointed her chocolatey spoon at me. “You can tell me anything. I just know you, is all. So what happened?”
I pointed at my ice cream. “I want to eat this before it melts.”
“And I like mine very melty. So, I’ll talk first. Is it rude of me to tell you my day has been fan-tas-tic?”
I laughed. “No. I’m happy for you. Why? Is it because of Brian?”
“Yes, it’s because of Brian!” she squealed. “Oh, my goodness, Megyn, he is everything I ever could have hoped for and more.”
“I’m happy for you,” I repeated. She had clearly been harboring this crush for a long time. Had I known or was I too busy with my own things? It could be hard to tell what I didn’t know and what I knew, but had forgotten. Small details tended to get lost when I was busy trying to stay afloat.
Either Maggie sensed I was in the dark or she felt like gushing. Maybe both. “I’ve been into him for years, way back when he was still a lawyer and not Carter’s assistant. I found out about him because he was in the paper, some quote of his. That was back when I used to watch for my articles to appear, back when it was all still really new to me.” Maggie waved her spoon in the air and then licked it, thinking. “I always wanted to ask him about that quote.”
“What quote?”
“Honestly?” She shrugged. “I can’t remember. Before the party, I could recite it word for word, right down to the punctuation. And then I met him and I asked him about it. He told me he couldn’t even remember what he might have meant. He had no clue. He told me he never liked interviews, since you can’t prepare for them like you can court cases. He bullshitted his way through a lot of them. So now I don’t remember the quote, because it doesn’t matter anymore. Maybe it wasn’t really that important. It was just a way to meet a guy I really admire.”
I kept eating my ice cream while listening to her, watching her face while she talked. I’d never seen her like this before.
“Brian said he felt like he was letting me down and said he wanted to make it up to me. I told him I respected his honesty. And then he wanted to know more about me. Let’s be honest, not a lot of people are interested in lawyers. So we got to talking. He’s such an intellectual and so hot. Way hotter than in his pictures. And in his Spider-Man costume, literally drool-worthy.”
“Did you know he was going to go as Spider-Man?”
“I have my sources,” Maggie said vaguely. “I heard a rumor. Anyway, I gave him my number and he called me this morning. We’ve been texting all day. I’ve gotten no work done at all and I couldn’t care less.”
Wow. A huge difference.