Page 19 of The One You Want

Maggie gaped at the closed stall doors. “He’s not a dud.” Maggie turned to her. “He’s really quite good at it.”

The prim answer made Rose chuckle before thoughts of her night with Marc surfaced and she almost agreed with Maggie out loud. “Good for you. Maybe one of these days you should surprise him at his hotel.”

“Wearing a coat with nothing on under it,” the woman in the stall called out again, then flushed the toilet.

Maggie blushed. “Trust me, I don’t need to do anything but show up. He’s always so eager to strip me down and have his way with me.”

The woman in the stall walked out. “So long as he lets you have your way with him.”

Maggie high-fived the woman. “Damn straight.” But Maggie’s vibrant smile dimmed. “I just wish we talked more. I mean, we do, it’s just...”

Rose rubbed her hand up and down Maggie’s arm. “What is it, Mags?”

“We talk. We do. About work, what to eat, where to go out, stuff like that. I just wish he’d open up more about himself.”

“Just ask him,” the woman said as she passed and opened the bathroom door. “Men don’t volunteer stuff the way we do.” With that bit of advice, she walked out just as the other woman in the second stall emerged saying, “She’s right. Guys are always up for sex, but when it comes to their feelings . . . They bury that stuff deep. But if he loves you, he’ll want to share. Maybe he just needs more time. If you’re getting married soon, then you’ve got all the time in the world, right?”

Maggie’s eyes lit with an “aha” gleam. “That’s right. We have a lifetime to explore everything about each other.”

Rose gave Maggie a nudge toward the open stall. “There you go. Things are moving fast right now, but you’ll continue to build on your relationship. Nothing is set in stone. It doesn’t always have to be a certain way. You and Marc can make it what you want it to be so you’ll both be happy.”

“Marriage is all about compromise,” the woman said, drying her hands on a paper towel. “Good luck.”

Rose nodded at Maggie. “See. You and Marc have decades of conversations ahead of you.”

Maggie agreed with a firm nod, then pinched her lips. “But we’re getting a dog. I’m not compromising on that.” She firmly shut the stall door and any further discussion on that topic.

Rose chuckled under her breath and took the stall next to Maggie, her thoughts on years of seeing Maggie and Marc together, watching their relationship grow and flourish, and how Rose held back something that could potentially strain their friendship. Or blow it up.