Page 23 of The Promise Of Rain

My gaze dropped to the counter like a rock.

Love was just a word people threw around.A verbal emoji that meant little more than a heart-eyed smiley face tacked on to the end of a message.

I smiled.“Well, thank you anyway.You made yourself a target with all the old biddies in town when you didn’t have to.”

She cocked a sassy brow.“Coming from the city, they already had me in their sights.”She laughed.“They deserved every shock we delivered to their mercenary little hearts.”

A small smile escaped me.

She laughed.“Come on,” she cajoled.“It was fun, and you know it.”

The front door swung open at one minute to three and Maggie Martin, Baxter’s now wife, four months pregnant with their second child, walked in.

“Lock the door,” Maxine ordered.

“Gotcha.”Maggie spun the deadbolt on the door before turning back around and making her way over, unwinding her scarf from around her face.

It still hurt to look at her.

Before my world blew up, Maggie had been my best friend.

Baxter had understood me in ways none of the others could, but our relationship was based on trauma.

Maggie?Maggie had been my first real girl friend.

Losing her hurt almost as much as losing Deacon.

I’ll try to steer clear.

It had been two weeks since I’d seen him, but his words echoed daily, pinging off the jagged edges of my heart.Did I really want him to steer clear?

I pushed the thought away.With everything that stood between us, and everything he didn’t know, there was no way forward for us that wouldn’t rip one or both of us apart.

I readily returned Maggie’s offered smile, though I suspected we both felt the tug of loss stretching between us.

While we had patched things up to the point I was her bridesmaid several weeks back, I didn’t trust her to stick with me the next time something went wrong.

And something always went wrong.

Though I still cared for her deeply, I had no wish to dismantle the wall of the past that towered between us.

Even if I knew where or how to begin.

Maxine lifted the third tumbler to show Maggie.“Hot chocolate.”

Maggie’s eyes lit up.“Thank you!”

“Here,” Maxine said, jumping off her stool and shoving it over for Maggie to perch on.

She shook her head.“I don’t want to take your seat.”

“Sure you do,” Maxine countered briskly as she grabbed hold of Maggie’s arm and manhandled her onto the stool.“There you go.”

Maggie’s astonished eyes met mine.

I burst out laughing, my spirit momentarily effervescent.

Maggie jerked her thumb at Maxine.“She’s so tiny but so strong.”