It’s my turn to choke like a fish out of water, struggling for words as Ma stares me down, her smile nothing but teeth and cold anger.
“I—What?” I manage. “No, I thought?—”
“You certainly didn’t,” she cuts me off, voice as sharp as a razor even as she continues to smile at me. I’ve never seen her this pissed in my life that she wears a smile yet cuts me with every word. “You reacted without thinking at all, and your terrified, pregnant girlfriend ran off alone, and you didn’t even have the guts to go after her.”
“She’s not my—” I stop myself halfway through my instinctive denial. We may not have defined our relationship, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Lying to myself isn’t going to help. “I have no idea where she’s going, Ma. I don’t—what am I supposed to do?”
She sighs at me, her smile finally dropping as she reaches up to ruffle my hair. It’s relieving, knowing that I can lean on her like always. The soft touch keeps my panic at bay, but it doesn’t change the fact that I fucked up.
“I’ll make some calls. Chances are, she’ll end up at a motel or a diner somewhere in town.” I’ve never been more grateful for Ma’s connections in my life. “No son of mine is going to act like that and not apologize, you understand? Not when I’ve got a grandbaby on the way.”
I know she’s just being her usual self, rolling with the punches as they come and thinking ten steps ahead of me, but it’s soothing to hear her so confident. That’s probably why she’s staying so calm. She knows I’m freaking out enough as is.
The thought of being able to see Maggie again bolsters something inside me, and my panic slides a little further back. I won’t lose this, won’t loseher. I won’t let myself.
Sure, I’m still terrified—I’m about to be adad, and I never expected when I first saw Maggie that we’d wind up like this, but my gut tells me this is the right choice.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good,” Ma says with a reproachful grin. “Go and get cleaned up and figure out something to say that will convince the poorgirl you’re just an idiot and not an asshole. We’ll fix things from there.”
Chapter Nineteen
MAGGIE
“Fuck!”
I stifle my screams and sobs into the pillow clutched to my chest, body shaking with agony and terror.
As much as I wish I could be angry, I just feel like an idiot. How could I have thought this would go any differently? Bennett left me behind at home without so much as a backwards glance. I can’t believe I deluded myself into thinking he actuallycared.
“Goddamnit.” I whisper the word into the crumpled, tear stained pillow. “Goddamnit.”
The blinds block out most of the sunlight, leaving me shrouded in the semi-dark of the cheapest motel room I could find in Lubbock. It reeks of cigarettes and loneliness. The thought of picking up my phone to call Penny is enough to make me flinch, so I just stay huddled on the ground, sobbing. I can’t close my eyes without seeing the unclouded fury on Bennett’s face, so I keep them open, staring at the warped linoleum floor as tears stream down my cheeks. I didn’t expect him to blow up on me like that, and I didn’t expect it to rip me to shreds.
I have no idea how much time passes before a sound shocks me out of my stupor.
A knock. Two. Three.
I whip my head up to stare at the door with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Another series of knocks, a little louder this time.
I scramble up from the floor, my knees slipping as I try to get my exhausted limbs to cooperate. Fear and hope clamor in my gut, the thought of Bennett standing outside my door both all that I want and the most terrifying thing that could happen right now. Did he chase after me? Decide he believed me after all? All I want is to fall into his arms, I don’t even care if he apologizes right away. I just want him tobe here.
The tears don’t stop as I yank the door open, but I’m not greeted by the sight of Bennett at all. In fact, the person at my doorstep is a woman I’ve never seen before. She’s stunning, perfectly set bleach-blonde waves and bright, warm blue eyes. Her smile is so wide that it almost hurts to look at with how shattered my heart is right now.
“I—hello?”
“Hi, Magnolia.” Her voice is soft, gentle, and she holds out a pack of tissues in a well-manicured hand. I take them, rocketing between heartbreak and total confusion. “Can I come in?”
I blink at her, tears still clinging to my lashes, the pack of tissues crumpled in my palm.
“I—Do I know you?”
Does she have something to do with Bennett? Is she his sister, his cousin? Someone he sent to get me to go away because he doesn’t even want to tell me to fuck off himself?
“Not yet,” she says, still so kind as she smiles gently at me. “My name is Sophia. I’m Bennett’s Ma. Saw you hightail it off the ranch earlier, figured I should come have a chat with you.”
