My Ex-Boyfriend’s Brothers (Ex Marks the Spot)

29. Maggie

29

***Maggie***

“ Y ou look amazing in that dress, Maggie.” Christina wrapped her arm around me in a half hug and grinned. “God, you’re glowing. Did you go to the spa?”

I did everything to stop the blush threatening to stain my cheeks. The tiny quirk of her eyebrow and twitch of her lip told me that I was failing at hiding the real reason for my glow. “I think this is just my color. You’re glowing, too! Of course, you’re glowing, though. You’re perfect.”

She glanced down at the chart I was working on and pushed it away. “Have lunch with me?”

I saw Gregor come out of the kitchen and felt a Pavlovian reaction to the idea that Luke might be around since Gregor was. “Um, yeah. Lunch sounds great.”

Gregor spotted me and his smile was immediate. He hurried over, his eyes shining with happiness. Seeing the giant man after hearing the story of him saving Luke was different for me. I found myself wanting to get up and hug him tight. Gregor didn’t need a reason to hug me, though. He bent down and scooped me up. “Ms. Maggie! Let Gregor cook for you and Ms. Christina. Mr. Luke busy with work. He have late morning.”

I was definitely blushing then. “You don’t have to cook for us if you’d rather take it easy, Gregor. It’s nice of you to offer, though.”

“Gregor cook. Good practice for Mr. Luke.” He let me go and patted my hair into place. “Oops.”

Christina laughed, as happy to chat with Gregor as she was with anyone. After the run-in with Mr. Heath that morning, it was nice to see someone treat everyone the same. “You can definitely cook for us, Gregor. I always tell Luke he’s lucky to have you at his side.”

“Gregor lucky to have Mr. Luke. And Ms. Maggie.” His grin told me that he knew exactly where his boss had been that morning. “Gregor cook now.”

I cleared my throat and smiled like I wasn’t sitting on a massive secret. “I’m glad you got another break from work. I would’ve worked straight through lunch without you.”

She scooted her chair closer to mine, completely unfazed by the loud sound the chair made on the wood floor. “You’re keeping secrets, Ms. Maggie.”

My phone rang and saved me from having to answer. I laughed at the crestfallen look on her face as I grabbed my phone. That laugh died when I saw the number calling, though. “Sorry. Give me just a second.”

I turned away from Christina and answered. It was the nursing home I was desperate to get Mom into, Waverly Place. As soon as I answered and heard the voice of the manager, I felt my heart sink.

“Ms. Lately. This is Cara Conway. We’ve been waiting for your call. Are you still planning on having your mother moved to our facility?”

I took a deep breath and my fingers tightened on my phone. “Yes, ma’am. I’m just finalizing some things with the financing.”

“Spots rarely open up here, Ms. Lately.” Sighing heavily, Cara lowered her voice. “Maggie. I’m doing my best here. I understand your fears with your mom and I want to help you. I’m doing everything I can to hold this spot but I won’t be able to for much longer.”

“I just need a little bit longer. Please.”

“Keep me updated. If I don’t hear from you within the week, I’ll have to assume you’re letting the spot go. I’m sorry, Maggie. I really am. I just have to do my job.”

After she hung up, I stayed facing away from Christina as I composed myself. The panic I felt coursing through me was painful as it stole my breath. The urge to hurry up and take care of my mom was suffocating when I couldn’t do anything but make the wedding perfect, one day at a time. No matter the rush, things wouldn’t happen any faster for me.

“Maggie?”

I forced a smile and turned to Christina. “Sorry about that. That was just a last minute thing for the wedding.”

She frowned. “Something you should know about me, Maggie, is that I have the hearing of a bat. People hate it. At these big influencer events I have to attend, I can hear them all talking shit about me from across the room. It’s a blessing and a curse.”

“Okay, it wasn’t about the wedding. Everything’s fine, though. Tell me more about these influencers who are horrible enough to talk shit about you. I need to know who to never accidentally support.”

She looked like she wanted to press me for more information but decided against it. “Okay. I can send you the Excel spreadsheet of who’s an asshole and who’s not so bad.”

I leaned into the conversation, eager to forget about the call. “You made a spreadsheet?!”

She laughed and shook her head. “No. I should, though. I might as well have it all in a spreadsheet. Amanda Manning? Total monster behind the scenes. I once saw her throw a full can of soda at her mother.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No! I saw it! And Corey Todd? He’s a total creep. I caught him trying to steal my panties once.” She moved even closer. “Oh, and Cassandra Morgan?”

I grabbed her arm and leaned in. “No! I love watching her decor videos!”

“Total sweetheart.” Christina laughed and then stood up to fix my hair. “She once gave me a nipple cover because I couldn’t find mine. We each walked around with our arms blocking one boob all night. Every time I met her eyes across the room, I laughed.”

“This is amazing. Just tell me everything.”

The more she talked, the easier it was to pretend like my world wasn’t spiraling outside of the lodge. After Gregor brought us a delicious lunch, we ate it together while she shared stories about the people coming to the wedding. It massively helped me finalize the seating chart.

I was just starting to really feel better when Brad joined us. With a sour look on his face, he slammed his phone down on the table and slid it across to me.

“Brad? What are you doing?” Christina pulled the phone over so she could read the social media posts on the screen. “Oh, wow. That’s awkward.”

“I told you to get The Van for the wedding, Maggie. I assumed that, since I’m paying you to do what I want, that you’d get them! Imagine my surprise when I posted that they’d be playing our wedding, just for the lead singer to see and tell all of social media that I was a liar! What the hell, Maggie? What are you even doing? If I’d known you were going to be bad at your job, I wouldn’t have given it to you!”

Christina stood up and put her hands on his shoulders. “Brad. That’s enough. You can’t talk to her like that.”

“I told you they weren’t available, Brad. I told you multiple times.” I swallowed the urge to cry at being insulted in front of other people. “We’ve had at least six conversations about it.”

“You’re a liar. I would remember something like that. Jesus, Maggie! You just have to do your job. It’s not that hard!” Throwing his hands in the air, Brad grabbed his phone and turned his stare at his future wife. “She’s clearly starstruck by you, or something. You need to let her focus on her job, babe.”

I stood up and flashed a smile at Christina. “I’ve got to run. I’ll see you later.”

“Wait, Maggie. I’m-”

I didn’t hear whatever she wanted to say. I rushed out of the dining hall, leaving everything behind, and ran into the closest bathroom. I locked myself in one of the stalls and gave into the tears. They were tears of shame and anger, tears from trying my best to swallow down all of Brad’s abuse. I wanted to shake him.

His ire towards me made no sense. Things hadn’t ended horribly between us. I planned a wedding for him in no time at all, hardly. I was doing a good job, despite what he said. I didn’t understand why he was intent on being so cruel to me.

The sound of the bathroom door opening made me cringe. I liked Christina, I really did, but I didn’t want to talk to her about her fiance making me cry. It wasn’t Christina who spoke to me, though.