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Maggie made her way into Kate’s kitchen with a plate of homemade cookies. Kate’s brother had come to visit and she had invited everyone over to meet him.
Andrew was tall, at least six foot three, and stocky in an athletic way. He had sandy-blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He reminded Maggie of Chris Hemsworth or Brad Pitt, the clean-cut good guy who could be the cowboy or the news anchor, depending on the day.
The kitchen island was covered in trays of food.
“Holy cow,” Maggie said. “Are you feeding a small army? I thought it was just a few of us today.”
“It is.” Kate was bent over, with the entire top half of her body stuck in the refrigerator. She emerged carrying another tray filled with black and green olives and somehow found space to put it with the other food. “It’s so beautiful and warm out that I thought we could barbecue.”
“Didn’t you say there’d be six of us, sis?” Andrew said as he made his way out to the barbecue grill on the back patio with matches in his hand.
“Six of us?” Maggie looked from Andrew to Kate.
“Yeah, well, there’s you and me and Hannah and Paul.” Maggie noticed Kate was talking in almost a whisper. She seemed hesitant to continue.
“And Andrew and…” Maggie helped.
“And, well, Josh,” she said as she slipped her head back into the refrigerator.
“Josh is coming today?” Maggie asked.
Andrew looked at them through the glass doors that led to the backyard. Kate came out of the refrigerator and waved to him. She continued to flit around the kitchen, fussing with food.
“Why didn’t you warn me that Josh was coming?”
“What do you mean warn you about it? It isn’t like he’s going to debate you or something and you have to prepare a defense. I just thought that it would be nice to get to know him better myself, and that Andrew and Paul would enjoy having another guy here. And maybe, just maybe it might be a good chance for you two to start over again post-Dad era.” She whisked out the back door with a plate of meat the size of a Buick to give to Andrew, who was staring at the sky and nursing a beer. Small flames shot out from the grill.
Maggie had begun to look at things differently since her talk with Kate. She’d even considered telling Josh about the letters. But then that bizarre meeting with Gwen happened and she was more confused than ever. She didn’t need to bog his life down with her stuff.
There was a knock at the front door. Kate and Andrew kept talking away having not heard. Hannah’s voice echoed from the front entryway, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Hellooo! Anybody here?”
Maggie heard Hannah and Paul come through the front door, closing it behind them. They came around the corner into the kitchen, Paul carrying an enormous grocery bag.
“Hey, you. I didn’t know you were already here,” Hannah said as she made her way into the kitchen. “Great, we can get this party started!!” She took the bag from Paul and plopped it on the kitchen counter in front of Maggie.
Her expression and tone of voice changed immediately when she saw Maggie’s face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
As if on cue, Paul announced that he would be out back with Kate and Andrew if anyone needed anything, and promptly escaped through the back door.
“Hey, Mags. Are you in there somewhere? What’s going on? You’re kind of zoned out.” She looked out the back door toward Kate, Andrew and Paul who were now sitting casually in deck chairs and laughing. The meat tray was empty, the grill cover was closed and smoke spewed from it like a forest fire had been ignited inside. Hannah turned back to Maggie and said, “Well? What’s your deal?”
Maggie shook her head. “I’m sorry. Just lots on my mind.”
“You wanna talk about it?” Hannah moved toward the olive tray in front of her. She began rearranging olives in strategic spots on the tray as if a design would be the outcome. “Is it something about your dad? Or Josh?”
“No. Well, Kate did just tell me Josh is coming today.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. I’m used to you playing matchmaker.” She rolled her eyes at her friend.
“Oh, come on, Mags.” Hannah tried to tease and play it off, but Maggie knew better. Hannah would match-make any chance she got. “Kate wanted to get to know all of us better, including Josh, so she invited him. And we would never do anything to hurt you and you know that. You make this thing out with Josh to be a bigger deal than it is. The only tension that’s between you guys is from you. Let it go and start your friendship over with him as adults. See what happens now that the past is behind you and your dad is gone.” She shrugged. “Besides, you aren’t staying in town anyway. You could at least enjoy his company while you’re here.”
“Kate said the same thing, basically.”
Hannah winked. “Smart woman.”
“Well, if Josh is coming, I need to check my hair and makeup, don’t I, my matchmaker?” Maggie batted her eyes at Hannah.
Not taking the bait Hannah said, “Yes, you do.”
Maggie laughed and stuck her tongue out at her friend as she headed down the hall to the bathroom. Just as the door clicked behind her she heard Josh’s and Hannah’s voices echo through the entryway. She hadn’t heard him knock on the front door. Leaning on the sink for a minute, she took few deep breaths.
A much older version of herself stared back at her in the mirror. She still looked young, just not teenager young. Is that how Josh saw her? He was so comfortable in his own skin. So confident. Sure of things. Could he really love her? Her heart ached for the answer to be yes, but her head still told her there was someone better for him. Someone with less mess than her.
She emerged from the bathroom and found Hannah and Kate in the kitchen. Andrew, Josh, and Paul were surveying the grill outside. Maggie was relieved not to have to talk to him right away. He still gave her tummy butterflies. Kate and Hannah smiled at her.
“You okay, kid?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Just breathe. And be yourself.” Kate said.
Maggie laughed. That was precisely what she feared. What if she was herself and Josh, well…
“You’re thinking too hard on this.” Hannah said. “Kate’s right. He loves you as you are. Trust me.”
Maggie took a deep breath and let it out. Her friends moved towards her and shared a group hug. The guys glanced at them through the door then shrugged before they turned their attention back to the cooking meat.
*
The group sat around the patio table out back with enough burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and baked beans to feed half of North America. Each plate was piled high and for the moment it was quiet. Every mouth was stuffed with food. It was unusually warm for that time of year so they’d decided to take advantage and eat outside. In comfy jeans and a sweatshirt, Maggie relaxed.
“So, Andrew,” Hannah began, “Kate hasn’t told us much about you. What do you do in New York?”
Josh jumped in. “You’re kidding, right? You don’t know who this is?” He pointed at Andrew.
Hannah looked at Josh and then Andrew. “Um…nope. Should I?”
“Cheerleader she may have been, but baseball isn’t her sport.” Paul gave Andrew an apologetic look.
“No worries.” Andrew said. Why did he almost look embarrassed? Maggie was just as lost as Hannah.
“This, ladies, is none other than Drew MacIntire. The one and only pitcher for the New York Empires. You are sharing a meal with greatness.”
Andrew laughed. “Okay. That’s a tad overdone.”
Hannah looked at Kate. “What? Why didn’t you say anything? And you call him Andrew.”
“I call him Andrew because that’s what I’ve called him since the day I was born. And if I bragged about him all the time, that big fat head of his wouldn’t be able to fit through the door.”
In true brother fashion, Drew leaned over and tried to ruffle Kate’s hair. And in expert sister fashion, she avoided him with little effort.
“It’s also nice to come and visit my sister in a place where I can lay low. Get a break from the attention.” Drew said.
“Oh, ’fess up. You’re here to check on me and report back to the family.”
He lifted his beer to his lips and smiled. “That too.”
Kate shook her head and stood to clear the table. Andrew, Paul and Hannah rose immediately to help her. Maggie started to get up but Kate said, “Oh no, no. You sit and relax some more.”
Maggie couldn’t help but notice Kate’s quick glance toward Josh before leaving the table with the other co-conspirators.
Josh smiled at Maggie. “It looks like we have some matchmakers on our hands.”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Maggie…” His tone was serious. “I do want you to know that I wasn’t sure if you’d be here today or not. I accepted the invitation to have a nice time with friends and I hoped it would include you.”
“It’s okay, Josh. I’m fine.”
“Liar,” he said, with a look of familiarity that Maggie found surprisingly comfortable.
Maggie chuckled. “Okay, I’m an easy person to read.”
“You’re like an open book.”
They were both laughing now. Josh looked past her to the back door of Kate’s house. Kate, Hannah, and Paul were peering through the window as if Maggie and Josh couldn’t tell they were looking. Seeing Josh look their way, they busied themselves around the kitchen like nothing was going on.
“They are thinking pretty highly of themselves right now.”
“Oh, let ’em,” Maggie said with a wave of her hand. “They’re in there doing dishes and we aren’t. I believe that makes us the smartest ones in the bunch. Not that that’s saying much.”
Josh laughed. Maggie sat back in her chair. She could listen to that sound all day. Her friends were right. It was time to start letting go of the stuff she clung to, open up to what might be. She just wasn’t sure yet if Josh would be part of her future. Even with no idea of what was to come, her heart softened at the thought.