Maggie arrived home; it had been a long and tiring day. The greeting from Kate had left her feeling even worse than she had earlier. She was still waiting for the profiler to get back to her, and every time her phone pinged, Maggie hoped it was an email.
‘What time does your brother get home?’ There was no smile on Kate’s face. She just stared through Maggie.
‘Why do you want to know that?’ Maggie rubbed her hands. Was I too sharp in my answer? The last thing she wanted to do was make Kate feel even worse. She had enough on her plate to deal with.
‘Oh, I didn’t realize it was a sore spot. I just was planning on making dinner and wondered whether it should be for two or three. Sorry if I touched a nerve; it’s not like I asked you to tell me about the case.’ She turned her back on Maggie and headed back to the kitchen, but Maggie followed, gently grabbed her arm and spun her around to face her.
‘Hang on. Look, you haven’t touched a nerve. I shouldn’t have snapped. I know you’re angry with me and I totally understand that, so I guess I was responding to your anger. I have no idea what Andy’s schedule is these days. I can text him if you want?’ Maggie combed her fingers through her hair. She needed to get a grip or she risked pushing Kate away.
‘It’s fine. I can see you’re busy. Just give me his number and I’ll drop him a text.’
Shit. ‘Sure.’ She picked up her mobile, found his number and read it out to Kate. Maggie went into the living room, and took out her notes to distract herself. When she heard giggles from the kitchen, her curiosity was piqued. She went to the kitchen on the guise of getting a drink.
Kate’s back was to her.
Is Kate flirting with my brother?
‘Ahem.’ She made her presence known and pointed to the kettle mouthing ‘do you want a cup?’
Kate nodded. ‘OK. I’ll save you some and leave it in the oven. See you later.’ She smiled as she ended the call. ‘Your brother is pretty funny.’
‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’ Maggie shrugged.
‘Are you sure you’re OK, Maggie? I feel like I’ve done something to piss you off and I’d rather we talk about it than let it fester.’
‘Huh?’ Was Kate being serious? As childish as it was, Maggie was only responding to Kate’s cues and when her brow furrowed, Maggie decided it was time to call her out on it. ‘You’re the one who’s been off with me, and before you get defensive, I totally understand you want to be involved in the case, but you need to see it from my perspective. My hands are tied; we risk compromising everything we’ve done so far if we get you involved. In fact I’ve probably already told you too much, but you’ve done nothing wrong, OK? I’m just feeling a bit pressured and I sometimes forget to deal with those feelings.’
‘Projecting then?’ Kate cocked her head and Maggie was surprised there was no apology forthcoming.
‘Yeah. Sorry.’ She smiled and handed Kate a mug of tea. Sometimes you had to choose your battles, and this wasn’t one of those times.
‘As long as you’re OK … we’re OK. Let’s leave it at that for now. Now shoo! I have a culinary masterpiece to prepare.’ She motioned for Maggie to leave her to get on with making dinner.
‘Sounds great! What are we having?’
‘Macaroni and cheese.’ They both burst out laughing, though Maggie noticed it seemed forced from Kate. At this point she’d take what she could get.