his soul
But the state of Jake’s soul was not her concern, she reminded herself sternly as he walked toward her. Her energies would be better focused on conducting a civil, rational conversation.
Jake smiled as he sat down across from her. “Well, that buys me an hour.”
“You have an appointment?”
“Mmm-hmm. But I wish I didn’t”
His comment, as well as the familiar tone in his voice, startled Maggie. She didn’t know how to respond, so she remained silent, uncomfortably aware that he was studying her.
“The years have been good to you, Maggie,” he said finally. “You look great.”
This wasn’t at all the polite, impersonal conversation she’d expected, and the warm, husky note in his voice rattled her. “Th-thanks. So do you,” she replied, berating herself for letting him fluster her.
“So tell me about this place.” He made an allencompassing gesture. “Have you been doing this long?”
That was more like it, she thought with relief. Questions like that she could handle. “Eight years. I moved to Boston about a year after…” She started to say, “after you left,” but changed her mind. The less she talked about them, the better. “…after I got the twins,” she continued. “I worked in a graphic design firm there for three years. By then Abby was finished with all her operations and therapy, so there was less need to stay in a big city. And I thought it would be better for the girls to grow up in a small town. We’d visited Maine on vacation once and loved it, so we came up and looked around one summer. This place happened to be on the market at a good price. It had been vacant for a while, and even though it was structurally sound, it needed lots of cosmetic help and some updating. Before I knew it, I was the proud owner of a B&B. I did freelance design work for a while to tide us over until we established a clientele, and I still sell some of my watercolors to a greeting card company.”
She paused and took a deep breath. “The early years here were a little rough, and it took a lot more hard work than I expected to get established, but I’ve never regretted the move,” she finished.
Jake eyed her speculatively, making no attempt to conceal his admiration. “I’m impressed, Maggie. It took a lot of courage to make such a radical life-style change. Not many people would have risked it.”
She shrugged dismissively, but was oddly pleased by the compliment. “I did a lot of research before I made the move. This is a popular area, and the B&Bs do well. I drew up a pretty solid business plan, so it wasn’t too difficult to get a loan for the necessary improvements. And I found ways to keep the capital expenditures reasonably low.”
Jake stared at the woman across from him, struggling to reconcile the Maggie he knew with this savvy businesswoman. His Maggie would not have had a clue about business plans or capital expenditures. Apparently she’d changed even more than he suspected. But it wasn’t an unpleasant change, he realized, a faint smile touching his lips.
Maggie noted the smile and eyed him cautiously. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just that the Maggie I remember had very little interest in business. I’m surprised, that’s all.”
“The Maggie you knew didn’t need to be interested in business, Jake. This one does.”
There was no hint of recrimination in her matter-offact tone, but the old, familiar guilt tugged at Jake’s conscience. If he’d honored his commitment to her, Maggie wouldn’t have had to struggle alone to build a life for herself and the twins. It couldn’t have been easy, though she’d downplayed the difficulty. Which only made him admire her more.
“You seem to have done a good job,” he said quietly. “This place is obviously a success. And the twins seem like fine young women. Abby looks as if she’s recovered fully from the accident.”
Maggie nodded. “She has. She needed two more operations after…after I took them in, and therapy after that for three years. But she’s fine now.” She glanced toward the kitchen, her eyes softening. “They’ve been a tremendous help to me through the years. I couldn’t have made this place a success without them. And they’ve brought a great deal of joy to my life.”
Now was the perfect opening to ask the question that was most on his mind. He reached for his coffee and took a sip, trying to phrase it the right way. “Has it just been the three of you all these years, then?”
Maggie turned and looked at him directly. “If you’re asking me whether I’m married, or have ever been married, the answer is no.”
“Why not?” The indiscreet question came out before he could stop it, and he felt hot color steal up the back of his neck. He shook his head and held up his hands. “Listen, forget I asked that, okay? It was way out of line.”
She toyed with the edge of a napkin, then gave a little shrug. “It’s all right The simple fact is, you weren’t the only one who didn’t want to take on a ready-made family, Jake. Especially one with medical problems.”
He flinched. She’d scored a direct hit with that comment, whether she intended to or not. “I guess I deserved that,” he admitted.
She frowned. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that I eventually realized my situation was an awful lot for anyone to take on, especially in the early years. And as time went by, I simply lost interest in romance. I have a nice life. Why should I change it? But tell me about you,” she urged, adroitly shifting the focus before he could pursue the subject. “What are you doing here?”
He took her lead readily, grateful she hadn’t taken offense at his rash question. “Actually, I’m interviewing this afternoon at the Maine Maritime Academy.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “For a job?”
“Yes. To make a long story short, I’m leaving the navy and Dad is coming to live with me.”
“What about your mom?”
“She died five years ago, Maggie.”
“Oh.” Her face looked suddenly stricken, and he reached across and laid his hand over hers. Maggie had always gotten along famously with his parents. They’d held a special place in her heart, especially after her own parents died.
“It was a shock to all of us,” Jake continued gently. “She had a stroke about five years ago. She lived for about six months after that, and Dad took care of her at home. That’s where she wanted to be. Mom was a great believer in families taking care of their own. In fact, before she died, she made Rob and me promise that if Dad ever got to the point where he couldn’t live alone, one of us would take him in rather than relegate him to a retirement or nursing home.”
“And he isn’t able to live alone now?”
Jake shook his head regretfully. “No. He had a heart attack about eight months ago and went down to stay with Rob and his family in Atlanta while he recovered. Except that he never did recover very well He’s gotten pretty frail and a little forgetful, and Rob and I finally realized that he couldn’t ever go home. Rob was perfectly happy to have Dad live with them—the kids love having their grandpa around—but three weeks ago he lost his job in a corporate downsizing, and Jenny— Rob’s wife—had to go
