know you love me. I can’t live my life without you any longer. When I see you with her, my heart hurts. Must we live our life for them? You know my marriage is unhappy, know there is only you I care about. Run away with me. I love you now and always.’ It’s signed with the initial L.”
“Wow,” Maggs whispered. “Just wow.”
“Oh, my.” Miss Sarah wiped her eyes. “She loves him desperately.”
“But who is A.J.?” Miss Marla asked.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think we should have read that.”
“Why, Maggie?” Mr. Goldhirsh asked.
“It’s private.” Looking at the writing again, something tugged at her memory. The way the tails were squiggly, and the i’s had little hearts above them. “And I’m not sure we want to know who wrote it, because if they never ran away, we don’t want to cause them trouble.”
“I doubt a few initials will help us find their identity anyway,” Miss Marla said, tucking the note back in the wallet and handing it to Maggs.
“There’s something familiar about that writing though,” Maggs said.
“Really?” Miss Sarah looked excited.
“I’ll take it to Chief Blake.” Maggie pushed it into her pocket.
“After you’ve studied it.”
Miss Marla and Miss Sarah were fierce gossips. Maggie hoped they kept this to themselves but doubted it.
“Now, Maggs, I want you at my house for meditation tomorrow morning,” Mr. Goldhirsh said. “It’s time.”
“For what?”
“To get that mind of yours working properly again.”
“I… ah, I have a thing.” She skirted around them. “I’ll take a rain check.” Maggs hurried up the path.
“I’ll come to you then,” Mr. Goldhirsh called after her. Buzz, she noted, was now trotting after them.
“Traitor.” It was only because they were heading down and he’d get food quicker.
It was demoralizing that the seniors in this town had it together way more than her. Trudging on, she inhaled cold, fresh air, and had to admit ten minutes later, if only to herself, it was nice being out here alone in the freezing cold. Nice and head-clearing, and yes, it gave her time to think. Okay, her cheeks were frozen, and there was every chance her nose would fall off, but she had to admit her morning walking regime was going okay.
Who had written that letter? Maggie had felt the emotion in every word. Did they run away?
Through an opening in the trees, she saw the ranger cabin where Fin lived. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Thinking about those kisses and what he’d be like in bed. Thinking about him and his family, and how they’d become estranged.
“And that has to stop now!”
The sound of feet up ahead had her tensing again.
Fin appeared.
“What has to stop?”
“Oh, thank God it’s you,” Maggs wheezed, clutching her chest. Big and vital. Dressed in jeans, hiking boots, a jacket, and woolen hat, Fin stood there watching her as she attempted to get her breathing under control.
“What has to stop, Maggs?”
“Nothing.” She waved a hand about, glad that the color in her cheeks would look like it was from the exercise.
“What the hell are you doing out here at this hour anyway?”
“Walking.”
“I can see that, just not why.”
She noted he wasn’t even slightly out of breath, like the seniors.
“I’m exercising.”
“Seriously?” She heard the surprise in his words, and that pissed her off.
“I can exercise!”
“I thought it gave you hives.”
“Ha ha.”
“I think in future you’d be better walking through town, Maggs. You can get lost on these trails, and no one would find you this time of year, as not many people are about at this hour, plus there’s the snow and ice.”
“I can look after myself. Besides, I just saw the Robbins sisters and Mr. Goldhirsh, and they’re on the trail.”
“They have been hiking here trails for years; you haven’t. I get that you like the privacy though. There’s nothing like being out here alone.”
Maggs nodded.
“But my advice is still to walk in town, and if not, with someone if you’re on the mountains.”
It niggled at her that he didn’t think she was capable, which she probably wasn’t, but still, she didn’t like that pointed out so clearly by him.
“I can handle myself.”
“Sure, I saw that when you attempted to pull a man twice your weight off another man. Both who, I may add, had been drinking.”
“Shut up, Fin. You’re ruining my peace.”
His smile did not make her tummy flutter.
“I’ll walk with you if you want. Just tell me what time. I’m usually out here anyway at this hour.”
Maggs wasn’t sure walking with a man you were sexually