“Was that the year we threw our own private party?”
“Remember Cindy and Earl, Janelle and Steve, you and me, and … who else?”
“Brenda and Bob?”
“No … Barb and Bob.”
“Right.” He chuckled. “I never could keep the twins straight.”
“Who could? It surprises me he didn’t marry both of them.”
“Whatever happened to Bob?”
Maggie took a sip of her martini before answering. “He’s living in Oregon, going bald, and has four kids.”
“Bob? I don’t believe it.”
“You weren’t here for the ten-year reunion.” Maggie hadn’t bothered to attend, either, but Janelle had filled in the details of what she’d missed.
“I’m sorry I missed it,” Glenn said. He lifted his drink and finished it off in two enormous swallows.
Mildly surprised at the abrupt action, Maggie took another sip of hers, moved to a deep-seated leather chair, sat, and tucked her long legs under her.
Glenn took a seat across from her. “So what’s been going on in your life, Maggie? Are you happy?”
She shrugged indolently. “I suppose.” From anyone else she would have resented the question, but she’d always been able to talk to Glenn. A half-hour after being separated for years, and it was as if they’d never been apart. “I’m a wealthy woman, Glenn, and I’ve learned the hard way about human nature.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Didn’t you just get done telling me that we had three hours before the rehearsal?”
For a moment, Maggie was tempted to spill her frustrations out. To tell Glenn about the desperate pleas for money she got from people who sensed her soft heart. The ones who were looking for someone to invest in a sure thing. And the users, who pretended friendship or love in the hopes of a lucrative relationship. “You must be exhausted. I’ll cry on your shoulder another time.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned forward and reached for her hand. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”
“Great times.”
“Ah, the good old days.” Glenn relaxed with a bittersweet sigh. “Who was it that said youth was wasted on the young?”
“Mark Twain,” Maggie offered.
“No, I think it was Madonna.”
They both laughed and Maggie stood, reaching for her purse. “Well, I suppose I should think about heading home and changing my clothes. Steve will be here in an hour. That’ll give you time to relax.” She fanned her fingers through her hair in a careless gesture. “I’ll see you tonight at the rehearsal.”
“Thanks for meeting me,” Glenn said, coming to his feet.
“I was glad to do it.” Her hand was on the doorknob.
“It’s great to see you again.”
The door made a clicking sound as it closed, and Glenn turned to wipe a hand over his tired eyes. It was good to be with Maggie again, but frankly, he was glad she’d decided to leave. He needed a few minutes to compose his thoughts before facing Steve. The first thing his friend was bound to ask him about was Angie.
Glenn stiffened as her name sent an instant flash of pain through him. She had married Simon two months earlier, and Glenn had thought that acceptance would become easier with time. It had, but it was far more difficult than he’d expected. He had loved Angie with a reverence; eventually, he had loved her enough to step aside when she wanted to marry Simon. He’d been a fool, Glenn realized. If he had acted on his instincts, he’d have had a new bride on his arm for this trip. Now he was alone, more alone than he could ever remember. The last place he wanted to be was at a wedding. Every part of it would only be a reminder of what could have been his and what he’d allowed to slip through his fingers. He didn’t begrudge Steve any happiness; he just didn’t want to have to stand by and smile serenely when part of him was riddled with regrets.
Maggie shifted into a higher gear as she rounded the curve in the highway at twenty miles above the speed limit. Deliberately, she slowed down, hating the urgency that forced her to rush home. The beach house had become her gilded cage. The world outside its door had taken on a steel edge that she avoided.
Although she had joked with Glenn about not being married, the tense muscles of her stomach reminded her of how much she envied Janelle. She would smile for the wedding pictures and be awed at all the right moments, but she was going to hate every minute of it. The worst part was she was genuinely happy for Janelle and Steve. Oh, Janelle had promised that they’d continue to get together as they always had. They’d been best friends since childhood, and for a time they probably would see each other regularly. But Janelle wanted to start a family right away, and once she had a baby, Maggie thought, everything would change. It had to.
Automatically, Maggie took the road that veered from the highway, and a few minutes later turned onto the long circular driveway that led to her waterfront house. The huge structure loomed before her, impressive, elegant, and imposing. Maggie had bought it for none of those reasons. She wasn’t even sure she liked it. The two-story single-family dwelling on Eastwood Drive where she had grown up was far more appealing. Sometimes during the darkest hour of a sleepless night, Maggie would mull over the idea of donating her money to charity. If possible, she would gladly return to the years when she had sat blissfully at her bedroom window, her chin resting on her crossed arms as she gazed at the stars and dreamed of the future. Childhood dreams that were never meant to come true.
Shaking herself from her reverie, Maggie parked the fancy sports car in front of the house. For this night she would put on her brightest smile. No one would ever know what she was feeling on the inside.
Janelle’s mother looked as if she were preparing more for a funeral than a wedding. Flustered and worried, she waved her hands in five different directions, orchestrating the entourage gathered in the church vestibule.
“Girls, please, please pay attention. Darcy, go right, June left, and so on. Understand?”
The last time anyone had called Maggie a girl was in high school. Janelle, Maggie, the bridesmaids, the flower girl, and the ring bearer were all positioned, awaiting instructions. Maggie glanced enviously to the front of the church, where Steve and Glenn were standing. It didn’t seem fair that they should get off so lightly.
“Remember to count to five slowly before following the person in front of you,” Janelle’s mother continued.
The strains of organ music burst through the church and the first attendant, shoulders squared, stepped onto the white runner that flowed down the center aisle.
“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Janelle whispered. “Tomorrow Steve and I will be married. After all the years of loving him, it’s like a dream.”
“I know,” Maggie whispered, and squeezed her friend’s forearm.
“Go left, go left.” Mrs. Longmier’s voice drifted to them, and Maggie dissolved into giggles.
“I can’t believe your mother.”
“The pastor assured her he’d handle everything, but she insisted on doing it herself. That’s what I get for being the only girl in a family of four boys.”
“In another twenty years or so you may well be doing it yourself,” Maggie reminded her.
“Oops.” Janelle nudged her. “Your turn. And for heaven’s sake, don’t goof up. I’m starved and want to get out of here.”
Holding a paper plate decorated with bows and ribbons from one of Janelle’s five wedding showers, Maggie carefully placed one foot in front of the other in a deliberate, step-by-step march that seemed to take an eternity. The smile on her face was as brittle as old parchment.
Standing in her place at the altar, Maggie kept her head turned so she could see Janelle’s approach. The happiness radiating from her friend’s face produced a curious ache in Maggie’s heart. If these feelings were so strong at the rehearsal, she couldn’t help wondering how she’d react during the actual wedding. Maggie felt someone’s eye
s on her and glanced up to see Glenn’s steady gaze. He smiled briefly and looked away.
The pastor moved in front of the young couple and cracked a few old jokes. Everyone laughed politely. As the organ music filled the church, the bride and groom, hands linked, began their exit.
When it came time for Maggie to meet Glenn at the head of the aisle, he stiffly tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow.
“I never thought I’d be marching down the aisle with you,” she whispered under her breath.
“It has all the makings of a nightmare,” Glenn countered. “However, I’ll admit you’re kinda cute.”
“Thanks.”
“But so are lion cubs.”
Maggie’s fingers playfully bit into the muscles of his upper arm as she struggled not to laugh.
His hand patted hers as he whispered, “You’re lovely.”
“Is that so?” Maggie batted her eyes at him, blatantly flirting. “And available. I have a king-size bed too.”
They were nearing the back of the church. Glenn’s dark eyes bored holes into her. “Are you looking for a lover?”
The question caught Maggie by surprise. The old Glenn would have swatted her across the rump and told her to behave. The new Glenn, the man she didn’t know, was dead serious. “Not this week,” she returned, deliberately flippant. “But if you’re interested, I’ll keep you in mind.”
His gaze narrowed slightly as he tilted his head to one side. “How much have you had to drink?”
Maggie wanted to laugh, and would have if not for a discouraging glare from Mrs. Longmier. “One martini.”
The sound of a soft snort followed. “You’ve changed, Maggie.” Just the way he said it indicated that he wasn’t pleased with the difference.
Her spirits crashed to the floor with breakneck speed. Good grief, she thought angrily, it didn’t matter what Glenn thought of her. He had made her feel like a teenager again, and she’d behaved like a fool. She wasn’t even sure why she was flirting with him. Probably to cover up how miserable the whole event made her.
Casually, Glenn dropped her arm as they entered the vestibule and stepped aside to make room for the others who followed. Maggie used the time to gather her coat and purse. Glenn moved in the opposite direction, and her troubled gaze followed him.
A flurry of instructions followed as Steve’s father gave directions to the family home, where dinner was being served to the members of the wedding party.
Maggie moved outside the church. There wasn’t any need for her to stay and listen. She knew how to get to the Grants’ house as well as her own. Standing at the base of the church steps, Maggie was fumbling inside her purse for her keys when Glenn joined her.
“I’m supposed to ride with you.”
“Don’t make it sound like a fate worse than death,” she bit out, furious that she couldn’t find what she needed.
“Listen, Maggie, I’m sorry. Okay?”
“You?” Amazed, Maggie lowered the purse flap and slowly raised her dark eyes to his. “It’s me who should apologize. I was behaving like an idiot in there, flirting with you like that.”
He lifted a silken strand of hair from her shoulder. “It’s rather nice to be flirted with now and then,” he said with a lazy smile.
Maggie tore her gaze from his and withdrew her car keys. “Here,” she said, handing the key chain to him. “I know you’ll feel a whole lot safer driving yourself.”
“You’re right,” he retorted, his mood teasing and jovial. “I still remember the day you wiped out two garbage cans and an oak tree backing out of the driveway.”
“I’d just gotten my learner’s permit and the gears slipped,” she returned righteously.
“Unfortunately, your skills haven’t improved much.”
“On second thought, I’ll drive and you can do the praying.”
Laughing, Glenn tossed an arm across her shoulders.
They chatted easily on the way to the Grants’ home and parked behind Steve and Janelle in the driveway. The four car doors slammed simultaneously.
“Glad to see you still remember your way around town,” Steve teased Glenn. The two men were nearly the same height, both with dark hair and brown eyes. Steve smiled lovingly at Janelle and brought her close to his side. “I hope everyone’s hungry,” he said, waiting for Glenn and Maggie to join them. “Mom hasn’t stopped cooking in two days.”
“Famished,” Glenn admitted. “The last time I ate was on the plane.”
“Poor starving baby,” Maggie cooed.
Glenn was chuckling when the four entered the house. Immediately, Janelle and Maggie offered to help Steve’s mother and carried the assorted salads and platters of meat to the long table for the buffet. Soon the guests were mingling and helping themselves.
Maggie loaded her plate and found an empty space beside Glenn, who was kneeling in front of the coffee table with several others. He glanced up from the conversation he was having with a bridesmaid when Maggie joined them.
“Muffie, you know Darcy, don’t you?” Glenn asked.
“Muffie?” Darcy repeated incredulously. “I thought your name was Maggie.”
“Muffie was the name Glenn gave me in junior high. We were next-door neighbors. In fact, we lived only a few blocks from here.”
“I suppose you’re one of those preppy, organized types,” Darcy suggested.
Glenn nearly choked on his potato salad. “Hardly.”
Maggie gave him the sharp point of her elbow in his ribs. “Glenn thought he was being cute one day and dubbed me something offensive. Muffie, however, was better than Magpie—”
“She never stopped talking,” Glenn inserted.
“—or Maggie the Menace.”
“For obvious reasons.”
“For a while, it was Molasses.” Maggie closed her eyes at the memory.
“Because she was forever late.”
“As you may have guessed, we fought like cats and dogs,” Maggie explained needlessly.
“The way a lot of brothers and sisters do,” Glenn inserted.
“So where did the Muffie come in?”
“In junior high, things became a bit more sophisticated. We couldn’t very well call her Magpie.”
Darcy nodded and sliced off a bite of ham.
“So after a while,” Glenn continued, “Steve, Janelle, the whole gang of us decided to call her Muffie, simply because she talked so much we wanted to muffle her. The name stuck.”
“Creative people are often subjected to this form of harassment,” Maggie informed her with a look of injured pride.
“Didn’t you two …?” Darcy hesitated. “I mean, Steve and Janelle obviously had something going even then.”
“Us?” Maggie and Glenn shared a look of shock. “I did ask you to the Sadie Hawkins dance once.”
Glenn nodded, a mischievous look in his eyes. “She’d already asked five other guys and been turned down.”
“So I drastically lowered my standards and asked Glenn. It was a complete disaster. Remember?”
Their eyes met and they burst into fits of laughter, causing the conversational hum of the room to come to an abrupt halt.
“Hey, you two, let me in on the joke,” Darcy said. “What’s so funny?”
Maggie composed herself enough to begin the story. “On the way home, Glenn’s beat-up car stalled. We learned later it was out of gas. Believe me, I wasn’t pleased, especially since I’d sprung for new shoes and my feet were killing me.”
“I don’t know why you’re complaining; I took you to the dance, didn’t I?”
Maggie ignored him. “Since I didn’t have a driver’s license, Mr. Wonderful here insisted on steering while I pushed his car—uphill.”
“You?” Darcy was aghast.
“Now, Maggie, to be fair, you should explain that I helped push, too.”
“Some help,” she grumbled. “That wasn’t the worst part. It started to rain and I was in my party dress, shoving his car up the street in the dea
d of night.”
“Maggie was complaining so loud that she woke half the neighborhood,” Glenn inserted, “and someone looked out the window and thought we were stealing a car. They phoned the police, and within minutes we were surrounded by three patrol cars.”
“They took us downtown and phoned Glenn’s dad. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. The Girls’ Club had sponsored the dance, and I was expecting roses and kisses in the moonlight. Instead, I got stuck pushing Glenn’s car in the rain and was darn near arrested.”
“Believe me, Maggie made me pay for that one.” Glenn’s smiling eyes met hers and Maggie felt young and carefree again. It’d been so long since she had talked and laughed like this; she could almost forget. Almost. The present, however, was abruptly brought to her attention a few minutes later, when Steve’s cousin approached her.
“Maggie,” he asked, crowding in next to her on the floor, “I was wondering if we could have a few minutes alone? There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
A heavy sensation of dread moved over her. It had happened so often in the past that she knew almost before he spoke what he would say. “Sure, Sam.” As of yet, she hadn’t found a graceful way of excusing herself from these situations.
Rolling to her feet, she followed Sam across the room to an empty corner.
“I suppose Steve’s told you about my business venture?” he began brightly, with false enthusiasm.
Maggie gritted her teeth, praying for patience. “No, I can’t say that he has.”
“Well, my partner and I are looking for someone with a good eye for investment potential who would be willing to lend us a hundred thousand dollars. Would you happen to know anyone who might be interested?”
Maggie noticed Glenn making his way toward them. As she struggled to come up with a polite rejection for Sam, Glenn stopped next to her.
“Sam,” he interrupted, taking Maggie by the arm, “excuse us for a minute, will you?” He didn’t wait for a response and led her through the cluttered living room and into the kitchen.
“Where are you taking me?” Maggie asked when he opened the sliding glass door that led to the patio.