She looks messier than I’ve ever seen her. An oversize, rumpled hoodie dwarfs her tiny frame, the hem of her shorts just barely peeking out from beneath it. Her socks are mismatched and her shoes are untied, a far cry from the stylish outfits she always wore in Montana. All that blonde hair is tied back in a ratty bun, strands falling loose, and she has bags beneath her eyes that are so dark she looks sick.
She’s still the prettiest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.
Just can’t stay away from trouble, can I?
“Who’s that?” Benji asks, eyes bouncing between the two of us.
I don’t bother answering him before I vault over the pasture fence. What would I say, anyway? There’s too much to explain right now. Leaving was supposed to solve all of this, my idiotic mistakes behind me, but I should have known better.
I hate that part of me is relieved to see her.
“What thehellare you doing here?” I bark the words out at her, bristling with a fresh dose of fear. “How’d you even find my address?”
Did David figure out who I am? Is she here to warn me that he’s coming to bring the wrath of God down on my head? Did I make a mess of a friendship my father has been trying to cement for years?
Does Pa already know? Is he expecting this? Will he?—
“I’m pregnant!”
She throws the words at me like they’re both an accusation and a prayer, her eyes red-rimmed and her hands shaking.
Pregnant.
The word echoes in my brain as my blood freezes, memories best forgotten bouncing around in my skull with a vengeance. I haven’t thought about Chelsea in years, nothing more than passing memories and bitter reminders. But now, hearing that word again, I feel like I’m standing in front of my ex, my life about to spiral out of control once again.
A bitter, brittle laugh claws free from my chest, and Maggie flinches.
“Say something,” she demands, her voice fragile as she stares at me.
“Say something?” I repeat, my mouth turning up at the corners in a hysteric grin as I fight back panicked laughter. “Fuck you, Magnolia. You want me to say something? Fuck you.”
She gapes at me, the trembling in her hands getting worse.
I haven’t been like this since I found out Chelsea was cheating on me for our entire relationship. But that word, that goddamnword, makes something caged and animalistic in my chest snarl and snap. All I can see is my own bitter, hateful memories.
Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to let venom spill from my lips even as tears well in Maggie’s eyes.
“Your dad put you up to this?” I sound like I couldn’t care less about any of this, disbelieving and unphased, but the pain of her rejection and how she used me has been festering in my chest forweeks, and it’s starting to seep into my bloodstream. Now she shows up, unannounced, pulling the same tricks Chelsea did? “You only fucked me to get under his skin in the first place. Pretty sure you succeeded. You think I’m going to take the blame for you if you pretend to be pregnant?”
Maggie’s brows scrunch together, anger filling her eyes. “Pretending? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I knew your dad was an asshole, but I didn’t think he was cruel enough to rope his own daughter into his bullshit.”
“My dad has nothing to do with this!” she shouts. “What the fuck is wrong with you? He doesn’t even know?—”
“Shut the fuck up, Magnolia. I’m not listening to this shit.” I sneer at her, desperate to make sure this is finallyover. The tears in her eyes are nothing more than a distraction, nothing more than trouble, just like she’s always been. A voice in the back of my mind whispers that she can’t bethisgood of an actress, but I firmly ignore it.“So what are you two after, huh? You aiming for the businesses, or just the money? How greedy is your old man?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Maggie’s voice is shrill, panic coating her words as she takes a few shaky steps forward. “Bennett, I came here to bewithyou, I don’t?—”
“Jesus fuck, Magnolia, do you think I’m that stupid? At least be straight forward if you’re trying to fuck me over.” I shake my head, fury buzzing like wasps inside my brain. “Guess I’m expecting too much from someone trying to trick me about being pregnant. Should’ve known you weren’t any different.”
I expect to see guilt or panic on her face, but what flashes in her eyes is pureanger. Her cheeks go red with it, her shaking hands balling into fists at her sides.
“What the hell are you on, you asshole? I’m not lying, and I’m not trying to baby-trap you! I came down here because you wouldn’t let me talk before you left because I was trying to tell you that I didn’t want it to be casual anymore! I was trying to fucking apologize, and you justleft!” she shouts, throwing her hands in the air as she stomps her foot in the dirt. “And what the fuck are you talking about money for? You’re aranch hand—I’m offering to use my own money to have a life with you! I’m willing to changeeverythingabout my life just for a chance to make things work between us.”
Tears flow down her face steadily, and my blood is still frozen in my veins. The look in her eyes is agonized, the same one I seein the mirror every day, and I realize the weight of my stupidity all at once.
Maggie doesn’t know.
