Page 31 of Deception & Daylight (Oak Ridge #3)

Mags

? Caves - Noah Kahan

L ucy was discharged today, and she’s been put on strict bedrest. Miles set up her room on the main floor of the inn, and he’s taken time off work to be with her, but he hasn’t been the same since Dr. Shaw — or Nathan since he’s insisting we use his first name — dropped the cancer bomb.

During one of our visits to the hospital, Lucy and Nathan sat Miles down and explained everything in detail.

Roughly a month ago, during a routine breast exam, they discovered a mass.

The biopsy showed that it was stage one cancer.

Around the same time, she met Nathan and started a round of oral medication leading up to her surgery to remove the tumor, but before any of that could happen, she took a fall down the stairs and landed herself in the hospital with a fractured hip and a concussion which has pushed back her surgery date by at least a month.

Now I’m sitting in my favorite spot on the window seat, listening to their conversation through the cracked door to Lucy’s bedroom. I can just make out her shape on the bed as Miles tucks one of her hand-knit blankets around her legs.

“Stop fussing. I’m fine.” Lucy says as Miles props another pillow up against the headboard. “When do you go back to work again?” she teases.

“You’re stuck with me until your boyfriend lets you off bedrest.”

“You can’t be serious, Miles. You have work to do and I’m a grown woman. I don’t need you coddling me.”

“Says the woman who was diagnosed with cancer and couldn't be bothered to tell anyone.”

“I already apologized. I just couldn’t find the right time.”

“There’s never a right time to tell someone you have cancer, Ma. And you’re not getting rid of me. Somebody has to run the inn while you’re recovering. And knowing you, you’ll be overworking yourself again as soon as I turn my back.”

Lucy balks at that. It’s clear who Miles inherited his stubbornness from. “Maggie’s my only guest for the next few days and after that, I should be able to do most of the work from my wheelchair.”

“Fuck that,” Miles says. “The crew can handle work without me for a while. I’ll be taking over the inn until after your surgery. Once your secret boyfriend gives you the go ahead to get back to work, I’ll go back to mine.”

“Nathan is a nice man, Miles. Give him a chance.”

“Is that the only thing you took away from that speech?” he teases.

“Well, no. But I felt it was important to address it.”

Miles carefully sinks down beside her legs, taking her hand in his. “As long as he’s good to you, I’m happy for you, Ma.”

“He is. Now get your stubborn ass out of here.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“Always were my bullheaded child,” she retorts. “You have a date to get ready for, Miles. Don’t leave Mags waiting.”

At the mention of my name, I rise from my seat and gently rap my knuckles against the door. “Come in, sweet girl. I know you’ve been listening in.”

Feeling slightly embarrassed for having been caught eavesdropping, I slowly approach Lucy’s room.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. I’d like to help.

I have nowhere else to be for the foreseeable future, and it seems like you might need me here.

” The offer slips off my tongue before I even have time to think it through.

I’m not supposed to be sticking around — every cell in my body is telling me to run — but there’s a much louder voice compelling me to stay. For Lucy.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” she says.

“You aren’t asking. In fact, I’m insisting. I can’t promise I’ll be any good at the hospitality thing, and I’m hopeless in the kitchen, but I’ll do my best to help in any way I can.”

Lucy motions for me to join them on the bed. Reluctantly, I sink down beside Miles, only her legs separating us on opposite sides of the mattress. Once I’m within arm’s reach, Lucy pulls me to her and envelopes me in the kind of hug only a mother can give.

“You’re way too good for my boy, Maggie Watson.” She winks at Miles and he clutches at his chest with feigned indignation.

I let out a burst of laughter. “Truth hurts. Huh, Barlow?”

Lucy smiles as she glances between us. “Alright, I’ll let Miles show you the ropes tomorrow.

Go on now, git. You two have a date to get ready for.

” Miles starts to cut her off, but she gets the jump on him.

“Ah ah. I won’t hear a word of protest from you.

Take your girl out for the date she paid for, Miles Andrew Barlow.

” Just then, a knock sounds at the door.

“And that’ll be my hot date,” she adds, dismissing us with a wave.

Miles and I scramble from the room as Dr. Nathan Shaw strides inside with a takeout bag and a te nder smile. I don’t know how long they’ve been seeing each other, but it’s clear this man has it bad. I shove Miles with my shoulder, smirking. “Don’t you dare say a word,” he warns.

“Who? Me? I would never.” He stalks towards me with single-minded focus until my back is pressed up against the wall. “So… Mama Lucy snagged herself a silver fox,” I say, puffing out my chest in defiance.

“Keep going and I’ll have to give you something better to do with that mouth.”

“Promises, promises.”

Before we can go any further, a throat clears, jolting us apart.

I turn my head, body still pressed up against the wainscoting, to find Matty scowling at us. “Why the fuck didn’t you call me?” he seethes. “Too busy with your little fuck toy to let me know my mother was in the hospital?”

Miles straightens his spine, pinning his brother with a glare. “Back the fuck up. You have no right to come in here and demand shit of me. Not after everything you’ve done.”

“No right? I’m your brother!”

“Where the fuck were you when our father snapped my arm in two places, Matt? Where was my brother then?”

For the first time since I met the man, Matty appears almost dejected.

His eyes travel around the room, looking anywhere but at his brother’s stony expression.

Miles is putting on a show, but I don’t miss the slight tremble in his hands.

Acting on instinct, I place my palm on his back, tracing soothing patterns along his spine.

Soon, his shoulders relax and he looks down at me with something like awe in his expression as he tucks an errant strand of hair behind my ear.

I give him a halfhearted smile, silently encouraging him to release his anger.

“Mom is on bedrest. She has a fractured hip and a concussion. I’m sure she’d love to see you,” he says. Without another word, he tugs me along with him, straight out the front door.

Miles

I guide Mags to the porch swing, adjusting the pillows so she can sit between my thighs, resting her back against my chest. We sit like that for a while, just listening to each other breathe, until her soft voice fills the silence. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Resting my cheek on the top of her head, I inhale a steadying breath, prepared to share a part of my life very few people know about.

“My father was… not a good man. When I was sixteen, our dad’s truck was stolen.

The cops found it abandoned in a ditch. Matty didn’t have a license at the time, and he called me to pick him up.

I urged him to tell someone what happened so we could mitigate the reaction, but he refused.

Turns out Matt had stolen my license, and he’d left it behind in the passenger seat of the busted up truck. All evidence pointed to me.”

Maggie spins to face me, something unreadable etched across her features as she places her hand on my chest. I place my hand over hers to keep it there; it’s feels as though her touch is the only thing keeping my heart beating.

“Dad was angrier than I’d ever seen him before.

He damn near knocked my door off the hinges when he stormed into my bedroom.

I denied the accusation, of course, but in his fucked up mind, the license was all the proof he needed.

I just remember the cracking sound as he twisted my arm. The pain was… indescribable.”

A tear trails down her cheek, and I swipe it away with my thumb. “Don’t cry for me. It was a long time ago.” She’s been through enough; she doesn't need to take on my demons, too.

“You were just a kid, Miles.” Her bottom lip trembles as she holds back her tears. My kindhearted M aggie. Mom was right — she’s way too good for me, but fuck if I’m not a selfish asshole.

I pull her to me, resting my forehead against hers. Wrapped up in her familiar floral scent, my body instantly calms. As fucked up as it is, by that time, I’d already learned to live with his cruelty. Our lives carried on as if nothing happened.

If anyone asked, the broken arm was a product of the car accident that left my dad’s truck in a ditch.

The doctors bought it — hook, line, and sinker — as they always did.

Well-respected businessman William Barlow could do no wrong.

I couldn’t bring myself to contradict his claim — my mom wouldn’t have survived the guilt.

Not wanting her to bear any more of the emotional weight of my past, I swiftly change the subject. “We should get ready for our date.”

She bites her bottom lip, and I have to tamp down the urge to tug it free. “After everything that’s happened, are you sure you still want to go?”

“Look at me, Mags.” When her glassy eyes meet mine, I instinctively cup her cheek in my palm. “Right now, there is nothing in this world I want more than to take you out in my truck, pull your body up against mine, and watch the sunset over the lake.”