ever happened to me. I talk like motherhood is torture, but really, when he lies beside me with his hand in mine, falling asleep as his beautiful eyelashes flutter gently, I melt. I feel this powerful love well up in me that is so big it could heat a nation. It’s times like those that I realize I’m not just getting through the days, I’m soaking them up, collecting all his childhood memories and storing them safely in my jar of hearts. I stop worrying about the wet clothes I left in the washing machine or the foot-puncturing toys on the floor that’ll greet me in the morning. I remind myself that my baby went to sleep safe and happy, and I tell myself I’m doing okay.”
“Good. Because you know what? Okay is enough,” Quinn said. “Some parents can’t even reach that milestone. I’m sure Charlie is a great little boy, and I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Auntie Quinn.” Maggie smiled. “You’ll be all kisses, hugs, and story time. That’ll be a big change from all the roughhousing he gets from his uncles.”
“Do they see him much?” Quinn remembered Maggie’s older brothers as being really protective of her, and always into outdoorsy things. At least Charlie would have some very macho male figures to look up to in his life.
“More now that the Ghost is locked away.”
Quinn wanted to know more about Colby, because she could tell Maggie hadn’t gotten over him yet. But Maggie changed the subject, refocusing the spotlight so it wasn’t on her anymore.
“What are you going to do about Ethan?”
Quinn let all the air out of her lungs as she struggled for the right words to say. “I don’t really know yet. I love him. Or at least I did. I think I still do. But I hate him too. At least right now.”
“You know, I always felt like he’d do something like this,” Maggie said softly.
That took Quinn by surprise. “You did? Why?”
Maggie paused, then released a long sigh. “There was a time or two he said some inappropriate things to me. Eased up too close in passing. He let his hands have a bit too much freedom.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It was a question tinged with soft accusation, but Quinn couldn’t keep it in.
“I wanted to. But you acted like he was everything to you.”
He was. He is. Still, she’d have wanted to know.
“I didn’t want to shatter the illusion of Mr. Perfect,” Maggie said. “You based your entire future around him. I just couldn’t mess that up. I’m sorry. But I told him straight out he’d better never try anything with me again, or I’d go straight to you. That’s when I guess he told you to stop spending time with me, because the calls started to get further apart. Then you started ignoring my text messages.”
“I never received any text messages,” Quinn said, turning defensive, even though her mind still reeled from the news that Ethan had put the moves on her best friend. Why she should be shocked, she didn’t know.
“Well, I sent them.”
Quinn knew then. Ethan had read the messages and deleted them. He was always picking up her phone, going through it. But God forbid she ever touch his. She should’ve suspected it before. She thought it was Maggie’s outgoing personality he didn’t like—but the fact is that it was her rejection that had turned him against her best friend. And she’d considered over the years that he might be too controlling, but she’d always pushed that thought away, because he really was a great catch, and she was lucky to have snagged him. She wasn’t ready to even consider they wouldn’t have a future.
“Let’s not talk about him anymore,” Quinn said. “Not for now. I want to focus on you. And tomorrow. I’m so nervous. But I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Well, if not for me being stubborn, I’d be sitting on a balcony right now, not right here on the sand beside you. I can’t believe you made me a reservation,” Maggie said. “You know me better than that.”
“Well, the cottage is so small. I didn’t want you to feel closed in.” She’d called the Maui location of her hotel brand and used her employee discount to reserve a room. Just in case.
But Maggie wasn’t going for it.
“Actually, small is better. I like to know every corner of where I am. Less space to check out before I go to bed,” Maggie said. “And of course I