I was amazed at how quickly they had turned on Maggie. Where just a few seconds ago they were wanting to get high with her, now they were ready to pounce on her.
“You think just because you did some time and now you got yourself looking all prim and proper that you’re not the same bitch you always were? Bitch, you ain’t nothing.”
“Whatever,” Maggie said and turned to leave.
Sarah reached around and grabbed Maggie’s arm, holding her there. Maggie looked frightened, and the “Knight in shining armor” part of me surged forward and rushed over to her.
“Maggie?” I asked, drawing attention from everyone there. “You okay baby?”
Baby? Where did that come from?
“Jace!” Maggie cried out, pulling herself free and rushing over to me. Instinctively, I wrapped my arm around her as she fled her two former “friends”. They glared at us, and I was suddenly reminded of the glares Jess and I received from Maggie across the table years ago. Holding her in my arms, I was struck suddenly by how this Maggie was no longer the same Maggie we met back then.
“Who the hell is Prince Charming here, Maggie?” Olive asked, mocking Maggie’s name change from ‘Mags’.
“Doesn’t matter who I am,” I answered taking Maggie’s hand in mine. She interlaced her fingers with mine, squeezing them tightly.
“Last chance bitch,” Sarah said, trying to entice Maggie away. “You wanna stay with the loser or do you want to party?”
Maggie looked up at me and smiled. She squeezed my hand, steeling her resolve.
“I’m never touching that shit ever again.” she said. ”
Olive and Sarah squinted their eyes at us as if trying to determine if we were worth the trouble.
“You’ve changed,” Sarah said accusingly. “You’re not the same girl we used to party with.”
“You’re right, and thank God I’m not,” Maggie said, standing a little straighter. “Thank you for noticing.”
The two scoffed at us, then turned away and headed towards whatever hole they had scoped out for getting high. Maggie’s hand held onto mine, and I could feel my bones starting to strain from her grip. As soon as they were out of sight, she sagged against me, breathing hard.
“Old friends of yours?” I asked
“I don’t know if you could call them that,” she said, sniffling. “They’re who I got my drugs from most of the time.”
“Ah,” I nodded. “Pillars of society.”
She chuckled. “More like the moldy stones that are buried deep underneath the pillars.” She glanced towards the way they had gone. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see them again.”
“It’s not your fault,” I reassured her. “It’s not like you went looking for them.”
“I know. Can I tell you something and you promise you won’t think less of me?”
“Of course.”
“I was tempted to go with them.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured.”
“That stuff is evil.” she shuddered. “But a part of me wanted it so bad.”
“So what stopped you?” I asked.
She looked up at me, tears shimmering in her eyes. “You did, and not just when you showed up. The thought of you stopped me. How you’ve done so much for me, and how disappointed you’d be if I did.”
“I’m glad,” I said and gave her hand a squeeze.
She pulled me close and kissed my cheek. Her lips were soft and I could feel the warmth of her breath blowing gently from her nose. She lingered for a moment and a part of me was tempted to turn my head and meet her lips, but before I could act on any impulse she pulled away and wiped her eyes.
“Come on,” I said, my voice heavy. “Jess is probably wondering where we ran off to.”
“Yeah,” she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
We walked towards the restaurant where we saw Jess, looking around trying to find us. She looked our way and waved us over. As we got closer, a bemused look crossed her face and a hint of a smile played at her lips. I wondered what she was looking at until I felt Maggie’s hand squeeze mine one last time. We were still holding hands!
Maggie released my hand as we approached. Her eyes were a little red still, so she excused herself to the restroom.
“You two looked cozy.” Jess teased as we sat at our table.
“Oh shush you. She had a rough moment.”
“What happened?” Jess asked concerned.
I proceeded to give her the quick rundown of what transpired in the park.
“Jesus,” Jess said when I finished. “That’s gotta be hard on her.”
“Yeah. Poor girl.”
“At least you were there to help,” Jess said, smirking a little.
“What’s so funny?” I asked
She took her napkin, dipped it lightly in her water, then proceeded to clean my cheek where Maggie had kissed me.
“You had a little lip gloss there.” she chuckled. “At least you were well rewarded.”
“I didn’t expect her to do that, I swear.” I tried to defend myself.
“It’s okay Jace.” she said reassuringly, “Besides, you two make kind of a cute couple.”
Before I could respond, Maggie sat down in the seat next to mine. She looked more composed than she did before. Jess and she began talking in depth about what had happened, and I could barely get a word in edgewise. Maggie’s hand moved and rested on my knee, and I suddenly didn’t trust myself to speak properly anyway.
*****
I sat in my office, leafing through the contents of a plain manila envelope. It had been delivered to me via special courier. A soft knock on my door pulled my attention away. Jess walked in, smiling when she saw me. The door closed behind her with a loud click, and she walked over to me and gave me a gentle kiss.
“Sorry,” she said, sitting beside me. “Had to do that.”
“Didn’t get enough this morning?” I smiled at the memory.
“Oh, I did.” her hand drifted between her legs. “But a little extra never hurt. What’s that?” she nodded towards the papers in my hand.
“Me being an idiot.”
“Well, what else is new? What’d you do?”
“I hired a PI to track down Maggie’s parents,” I said with a sigh.
“You did what?! Why?!”
“You and I are too much alike. We want answers to things. This has been bugging me for a while now. Where did they go? What happened to them? So I called a firm and asked them to find out for me.”
“Don’t think that’s an invasion of privacy?”
“It’s close, but I’m not looking into Maggie. I’m trying to find her parents. Maybe give her some closure if nothing else.”
“Splitting that hair awfully thin.” she admonished, “But I guess it’s admirable in a way. Kinda,” she said as she leaned over and looked at the papers. “So what’d they find out?”
I handed the papers to her and she glanced through them. Her expression grew more and more concerned as she looked through them.
“Oh,” she said softly
“Yeah.” I took the papers back and looked at them for the hundredth time.
The PI had done an excellent job with not only their current whereabouts but also a thorough background on them.
The Cavanaughs were up and coming power players in the local political arena. They probably could’ve gone national without much effort. All of that came crashing down when their son went on his rampage. The payout didn’t wipe them out, but it severely hamstrung them. Still, they were left with more than enough to enjoy a comfortable life and would have if it wasn’t for some incredibly bad investment decisions on their part.
By the time Maggie was caught, what was once a large family fortune had dwindled into a meager savings account. Without any real skills other than “failed politician,” the couple sold all of their remaining assets as a means of survival. They now lived in a small suburban garden home, living off of the proceeds from what remained of their previous life.
“So they just moved across the city?”
“Looks like,” I said, putting the papers back in the envelope. “Right across the city and never once cared what happened to their daughter.”
“No pictures of them?”
“No. I wasn’t interested in what they looked like, only where they went.”
“So what are we going to do about that?” Jess asked pointing at the envelope.
“I think that’s up to Maggie.”
After dinner, I called a quick family meeting in the living room. The January winter had fully embraced the area, but the fireplace kept most of the chill at bay. The soft pops and cracks from the wood sap helped to ease the tension I felt as I explained what I’d done.
“I wasn’t trying to pry into your past Maggie, I swear. I just wanted to be able to give you some closure, and maybe a chance at reuniting with them if you wanted.”
“Do . . . Do you want me to move out? Move in with them?”
“God no!” Jess and I both cried out.
“This wasn’t for that at all Maggie,” Jess said. “Jace was just trying to help. Even if he didn’t do a very good job of it.”
“Here.” I handed the envelope to Maggie. “This is yours. You can do whatever you want with it.”
She looked at it like it contained anthrax. Hesitantly, she took it from me and stared at it.
“You know, when I was in Logan I would often dream that they’d come to see me. They never did of course. Then I started to think what if they did, you know? I doubt they’d’ve changed any. Mother would still be the same judgemental bitch. Father would still be the demanding, dominating asshole he always was. The only thing they ever gave a damn about was their legacy, and how they could ensure it would continue.”
She was silent for a moment, still staring at the envelope.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to leave?” she asked quietly.
“Maggie,” Jess said, walking up to her and putting her arm around her. “We love you and love having you here. We want you to be happy, and if living here makes you happy then you can stay forever as far as I’m concerned.”
“Same goes for me,” I said, smiling warmly.
Maggie nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. Then, with little flourish or preamble, threw the envelope into the fireplace. I almost moved to take it out before I stopped myself. It was hers do with as she pleased.
With Maggie in between us, the three of us watched as the paper caught fire. It flared to life briefly before being reduced to black ashes.