Page 62 of Unbroken
Blessed
Sofiaflashedhera huge grin as Maggie came into the dining room a little before the lunch rush. “Glad you could join us, boss,” she teased. “JT said you might not be in today.”
Maggie fought back her own grin. “Now why would he say that?” she asked innocently. “I’m much better today. I just had some personal things to take care of this morning.”
“Did your personal thing have whisky eyes and hunky muscles?” Sofia asked with a knowing smile.
Maggie blushed and cleared her throat, but her lips quirked up despite her best efforts. “Maybe,” she admitted and slowly flicked a piece of imaginary lint off her blouse with her left hand.
Sofia’s eyes bugged. “Oh my God! Is that what I think it is?” she squealed, grabbing Maggie’s hand. “It’s gorgeous! I’m so excited for you! I knew y’all would work everything out! You’re made for each other!”
Maggie shushed her and led her down the back hall towards her office. Once out of earshot of her customers, Maggie gushed, “It is, isn’t it? I couldn’t have picked out a more perfect ring myself. But don’t say anything yet. Dani is going to kill me if she finds out I didn’t call her immediately.”
“She won’t hear it from me,” Sofia assured her, “But you know how the grapevine works here. It won’t be long before everyone knows.”
“I’ll tell her this afternoon,” Maggie said. “I really want to shout it from the rooftops, but I want her to have her day. I don’t want to take any of the attention off of her and Levi.”
“That’s so sweet. I’d be busting to tell everyone in town!” Sofia said, then lowered her voice.
“And, he and Dani are opening a clinic. He’s moving to Gladewater! No more long distance!” She sighed happily. “This is quite possibly the most perfect day of my life so far.”
Sofia hugged her again. “That is such good news. And for Dani, too. I know she was starting to get a little restless.”
“She’s apparently been working on this for a couple of months and didn’t say a word,” Maggie said. “She’s so going to get it for not telling me she had this whole plan going on while I was worrying all the time about how Zane and I were possibly going to make things work long term.”
“Maybe she just didn’t want to get your hopes up until the deal was sealed,” Sofia offered.
“Possibly,” Maggie agreed. “I need to tell JT about it. Not sure how he’s going to take anything about me and Zane right now.”
“How’s he taking the engagement?” Sofia asked. She knew JT had been completely torn up over Maggie’s attack and Zane cutting out on her at the hospital last weekend. She’d never seen him in such a mood. Normally happy go lucky and always smiling, when it came to his sister and Zane, he became a completely different person. A Rottweiler instead of a Labrador Retriever in the blink of an eye.
Maggie sighed. “He’s agreed to be happy for me, but I know he’s not thrilled. Especially after what happened last weekend.”
Sofia nodded. “That was really hard for him, Maggie. I caught him in the kitchen late one night with a bottle of Jim Beam. He tried to pull himself together when he saw me, but I saw him wiping his eyes. He was really wrecked.” Sofia rubbed at her chest like the memory caused her heart to hurt. “He acts like he’s over it, but I know he was terribly worried about you. Still is.”
Maggie’s eyes glistened. She’d known JT was mad about the whole thing, but she hadn’t realized how scared and upset he had been. “Oh, that makes me feel terrible. I don’t guess he talked to you about it?” Sofia shook her head.
Maggie blew out a breath in frustration. “He shuts down his feelings so hard, it drives me crazy. He’s always been that way. Sure, he can have a temper, but he hides any other feelings under that ‘I’m here for the party’ persona. I keep hoping he’ll find some woman that can crack that code and make him open up.” Maggie gave an ironic smile. “Kind of like Zane did for me. I guess we’ve both been affected by my dad leaving more than I ever realized until recently.”
Sofia understood exactly what Maggie was saying. She’d been a part of their lives long enough that she had seen the positive changes in Maggie since Zane had come into her life. She kept trying to break through to JT, even to just be a real friend to him, but he kept her and everyone else at arms’ length. He was everyone’s buddy, but no one really knew him. He even hid a lot of himself from his sister. Sofia had made a study of the man over the years but she still hadn’t figured out how to get him to open up to her.
“I always felt lucky to have an older brother to watch out for me, but as we’ve gotten older, it’s become an issue,” Maggie admitted. “I love him with all my heart, but I’m afraid he’s always going to see me as his ‘baby sister’ and not a grown woman.”
“Maybe by your third baby, he’ll come around,” Sofia teased, trying to lighten the mood again.
She was rewarded when Maggie laughed. “Maybe. Come on, enough of this. Let’s go over that event schedule with you and then I need to get on to Dani’s. I’ve lost a bunch of time this week and tomorrow’s the big day!”
Sofia tucked her arm through Maggie’s as they headed down the hall. “I can’t believe it’s finally here. They are so stinkin’ cute together. And now, we have another wedding to plan!”
Maggie gave her a squeeze. “Let’s get this one done before we even think about anything else. I’m half scared to tell Mama about it.” She rolled her eyes. “Dani just thought she was being extra with her wedding.”
Sofia laughed. “I can’t wait to see what happens.” She was so lucky to have started working for JT and Maggie. She’d never felt like just an employee. She’d always felt like family. Sometimes, like now, that was a great thing. Sometimes, like with JT, she didn’t know if it was a good thing at all.
Maggie texted Zane that she would meet him at the bunkhouse when she finished up at Dani’s instead of him coming to her, and left for the farm. She heard We Should Be Friends by Miranda Lambert blasting from the open windows as she got out of her car. She giggled. Dani loved her Miranda. She was probably singing along at the top of her lungs as well.
“Calvary’s here!” Maggie shouted letting herself in. She found Dani in her bedroom. It looked like a tornado had just come through. Clothes were everywhere. Dani stood in the middle, hands on hips, her red hair wild. She turned to her with a pleading expression. Maggie covered her mouth, trying to bite back a laugh.
“Help,” Dani said simply.