Page 7 of One Lustful Summer
A few minutes later, Chris makes his way back to our table, takes a seat, smiles and then reveals the information he found out.
“Her name is Maggie. She moved here from the city. She’s single, and y’all won’t believe this, but she is the one who purchased grandma’s place.”
The shock on all our faces at the news was apparent when I looked at Dean and Thomas. The house was an eyesore, but it held a lot of our memories.
“Bet she was in first surprise when she saw the house,” Thomas says.
“Yeah, Lauren alluded to that a little,” Chris answers. “But Maggie just shook her head and said, ‘It’s okay. I’m gonna figure it out.’ She seems very optimistic.”
While they talk amongst themselves, my gut twists and turns. I wanted to purchase the house, but I didn’t have the money. I asked my uncle if he could hold on for a couple more months so I could try to sell my place and have the cash up front to buy the house. The problem was you can’t get a mortgage on that home, because of all the work that needed to be done. No lender was going totake out a loan on it, so it had to be a cash purchase.
But my uncle, my mom’s brother and also the executive of our grandmother’s estate, didn’t want to wait around. His impatience upset a lot of the family. If had given us more time, we could have done something, but he was so money hungry to get what he could. And because of his greed, we lost the opportunity to keep some of our family’s history.
If those walls could talk. I can’t even imagine what we would find out. Years and years of people living there, of our family, our history.
After placing our food orders with the server, the conversation changes to the end of the school year. Chris and Thomas are both teachers in the local schools. Thomas teaching science at the middle school, and Chris teaching social studies at the high School, and coaching football.
I sit and listen and wonder what it would be like to have an entire summer off, or even a month to have time just to do things for me; for me and Jodi.
As dinner wraps up, and our server takes our empty plates from the table, we order another round of drinks and a sweet tea for myself. I have a one drink minimum if I’m driving.
The announcer, Carl, steps up on the small stage where local bands play every now and again, tapping on the microphone. “Good evening, Gypsy patrons. We’re going to change things up tonight for trivia.”
This has everyone’s attention. Their faces turned to Carl. “Since everyone knows everyone here in Paulding and some teams are more knowledgeable than others. I think it’ll be a fun way to mix everything up and make teams of two males and two females. Four person teams.”
There are some groans across the room, but my eyes instantly look over to where Maggie is sitting with Lauren.
Carl continues, “I’ll give you guys the next five minutesto get teams together, and we’ll have four per team. I’ll be coming around to hand out the kiosks in just a moment.” He steps down, and the piped music plays again.
Lauren looks over at our table, and I raised my eyes up at her. She’s caught me staring over there a couple of times, watching Maggie. Her eyes going from me to Maggie. A non-verbal conversation taking place.
Within seconds, Lauren stands and says something to Maggie. In a blink of an eye, Lauren and Maggie are walking this way.
“Okay, guys,” Lauren says once she has approached our table. “We gotta split teams. Dean and Rowan, are you with us?”
Dean looks at them both. “Yeah, have a seat.”
“Come on now. What about me and Thomas?” Chris exclaims with a fake pout on his face.
Chapter 6
Maggie
“Susan and Nikki need partners. You better hurry.” Lauren answers to her cousin Chris.
It’s comical to see how fast he and one of her other cousins are out of their seats and head to the table she and Lauren just left. Lauren and I take the vacated seats, and it’s my luck that the seat is next to the hottie from the hardware.
I feel his eyes on me, but I keep mine averted from him. The magnetic pull I feel from him is confusing. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. A push and pull of sorts. I want to look, to be close. But I’m out of sorts here.
“Maggie,” Lauren calls, and I look up at her with a smile, grateful that she has pulled me out of my head. “This is my brother, Dean.” She says, flicking her wrist at the man next to her. “And my cousin, Rowan,” she continues as she tips her head to the man next to me. “Dean, Rowan, this is Maggie.”
“Chris gave us the lowdown,” Dean drawls. “But he didn’t tell us how beautiful Maggie is. Right, Rowan?”
I feel my checks burn. Both men are handsome, but the one next to me is the one I’m interested to hear from. He’s been quiet since Lauren and I approached.
“That would be correct,” Rowan says beside me. His deep voice giving me goosebumps. “Beautiful.”
One word, so many feelings. I look over at Rowan and his eyes lock with mine. I’m held in his trance and I can’t leave. Thegirl from the hardware that was confident giving him the once over. She’s not here tonight. I try to conjure her up, but fail.
