A Promise Worth Honoring (Promises Collection) (6 page)

Garrett drove to the fairgrounds and after a ten minute walk through the livestock area, over the footbridge spanning the Cosumnes, he hunkered down in the beer gardens. Still clenching and releasing his fists, his mind punished him for being such a fool and reacting to Maggie in Dane’s arms when his mind knew damn well she wasn’t into the guy. But his heart... the way anger had punched into his chest... No way would he cause a scene and ruin her chance of winning the competition. Dane would be a far better partner. That fact had been obvious. 

The bartender slid a cold brew toward Garrett, one he didn’t plan on drinking, but such was the cost of the stool. At the top of his red plastic cup, foam boiled over and bubbled down the side.

“Hey, mind if I sit?” Emily took the empty seat beside him.

He slid his gaze toward her, dressed in a black dress that hugged familiar curves he no longer ached to touch. “You want a drink?”

She leaned in close. “No, thanks. Thought you looked like you needed some cheering up.”

He then flicked a few fingers in a lazy brush off. “I’m fine.”

Her knee brushed his and slid along the outside of his thigh. “Saw the entire thing at the studio. I was going to tell you, but then you showed up. They’d been dancing for hours and,” she tapped her chest, “even I was uncomfortable.”

Swiveling to face her, he widened his eyes and encouraged her to go on, knowing by her delicate eye roll she took pleasure in her tale.

“Seems every time Dane took a break, Maggie followed him. I even saw them in the dressing room together.” Emily flipped hair the color of her dress behind her shoulder and brushed his thigh with her hand.

At her words, tension, arctic and stiff and acidic, gripped his entire being. He pressed his chin to chest, leaned in, and gripped her arm. He didn’t believe a word she’d said. If anything, Maggie would tolerate more than she should in order to avoid making waves. Unlike Emily, however, Maggie wasn’t a first-date-sure-thing kind of girl, but more akin to Mrs. Deter’s porch planks. Maggie believed some fruits were worth waiting to be picked by cherished hands that remarkably had been his last night. “Emily, you called me friend. So turn around and walk away. Right now.”

Leaning her chest against his, she squeezed out the shadow between them. “Why? Going to be just you and me in this town when Maggie’s long gone. How about some fun... for old time’s sake?”

“Garrett?”

At Maggie’s voice, he lifted his head, his eyes as wide as his mouth that hovered above Emily’s dangling ruby earring. He eased Emily back and slid off the seat, his pant leg getting stuck on the stool and tripping him up. “Maggie.”

She gasped and glared at Emily’s hand on his chest, holding him back. “You’re drunk! And angry with me? I don’t blame you for returning to... old habits. Some are harder to break than others. But some habits are worth fighting to destroy, worth taking time to find another path to something better. I thought we had that.”

He swiped off Emily’s hand and in two strides came to stand in front of Maggie.
The smudged mascara under her eyes made his gut twist and he reached out.

“Don’t.”

The hurt in her voice and her rejection was deserved. He was a coward. Not deserving of her as he stood. “I was coming and find you. But, first, I needed to—”

“Lose your mind.”
Maggie folded her arms across her chest and flickered her gaze between his drink and Emily.

With his wide stance and arms held out from his body, he blocked her view of both distractions. Couldn’t stand her gaze to shame him more. “Without you, every passing minute I lose my mind.”

“Oh, please.” Emily pulled back his shoulder a few inches. “Maggie kissed Dane, and, by the looks, she enjoyed every minute.”

Maggie lowered her arms. “Looks are deceiving.”

His mouth puckered, remembering the apple pie. He stared at Emily. How strange something once so enticing could actually become poison to the palate. “Emily, I’m sure there’s more to the story than what I witnessed.”

“Ah, yeah, there’s more to the story. You didn’t have to see Maggie slink around Dane like a cat in heat for three hours.” Emily slipped her hand across his shoulder. “She’s not for you. So, come on, let’s get out of here.”

Only, Garrett wanted Maggie more now than he ever had, wanted to console her and hold her and kiss the glassiness from her eyes. “Things have changed, Emily. I’ve changed. I’m not interested in what you have to offer. Not now. Not ever.”

“I’m not seeing a change. But I’m not wasting any more time…” Emily flipped her hands and studied his expression. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and stomped off.

“Emily’s right about one thing.” Maggie tore off last year’s white satin sash, an identifier she’d been expected to adorn when wandering through the fairgrounds, and plopped the fabric onto the bar, right in the amber puddle. “You haven’t changed. And until you face what’s eating you, what’s stopping you from going after what you love, you’ll be miserable in your own skin.”

Pain stabbed his chest. Saying he loved her hadn’t mattered. He’d doubted her loyalty and that had marked her. “With you, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”

Jerking her chin upward, she turned around.

“Where are you going? Maggie, I love you. Only you. And I’ll change. Tonight. I promise. We can go off together. We don’t need to stay in this town any longer.”

Gaping, she flashed him her palm. “I’m quitting veterinary school. It’s not what I truly want anymore. So stop pleasing others while sacrificing your own happiness.”

But he wasn’t unhappy standing before her. On the contrary, he’d lived more in the last week than in his entire life. “Maggie, I’m doing this for you. For us. Don’t you understand that me being with you is all I’ve ever wanted?  Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

“Talking is over. Now is time for doing and I pray, Garrett Parker, you listen to your heart’s desire before all you’re left with is regret.”

# # # #

Shaking in her skin, mouth dry, fake nails picked off to the sensitive cuticle, and any mascara that had clung to her lashes a smear of black on her cheeks, Maggie stalked to the dressing room to confront her mom. Maggie’s state of disarray was reflected in Emily’s pursed lips, her pageant coach’s hushed whispers, and Beatrice Pritchard’s cavernous stare. But Maggie stood firm.

Her mother
hurried toward her, squeezing Maggie’s upper arm. “You’re a mess.” She dug in her purse. “Where’s some makeup removing pads...?”

Maggie grabbed her mom’s ha
nd. “You know, Mom, I’m tired of holding back. Tired of coordinating dresses and shoes. Tired of smiling, when inside I’m a wreck. Pageants used to make me happy, but now, they don’t.”

Her mom smiled and pulled Maggie’s arm to align her backbone toward the cottage cheese ceiling.
“Oh, dear, here comes your pageant coach…”

“Mom!
” Maggie jerked away. “Are you listening? I have to make myself happy and find another way.”

After her mom waved off the coach, Maggie
gave her a little shake. “People’s lives aren’t perfect. Everyone has their fears, and we’re good enough just as we are. Right now, I’m not even sure I want to compete in the dance competition tomorrow.”

Her mom’s lips pinched into a straight line.
“Honey, I’ve supported you all this time because I thought pageants made
you
happy.”

Maggie rolled her brows and eased backward, her heels dragging across the floor. “What?”

“I love you and wanted to spend time with you. That’s why I’ve always encouraged pageantry. You want to go another direction, I’ll be there to support you.”

Background music played
Kiss of Fire
.

Maggie flashed back to Garrett—his sweating brow, his straining arms, his blistered feet—as he’d learned the tango. Again, he’d sacrifice
d for her, but because he really loved her? “But I thought you and Grandma wanted me to enter because of tradition.”

Her mom draped an arm over Maggie’s shoulder. “Well, sure. After your father passed, we all needed the distraction.”

What am I hearing?
“Distraction...” Had Emily and the beer acted as a diversion to keep Garrett from heavy thoughts of her leaving town after the pageant? And of seeing her in Dane’s arms?

“Honey, what’s wrong? There’s more going on here than you’re telling me.”

Maggie buried her face in her hands and leaned into her mom’s shoulder. “Everything. I don’t want to go back to college in the spring. In fact, I’m not sure I want to be a vet. I can run my doggy rescue without a veterinary license right here in town, if that career means staying with the man I love.”

“Garrett?”

Maggie’s eyes widened and she pressed back to hold her mother’s grey gaze. “Yes, but how did you guess?”

“A mother knows when her daughter is in love.”

“But love is scary.” Her heart raced and her chin quivered. “We don’t know where we’re going or where we will end up.”

“Neither did your father and I. But because we loved each other, we decided to figure out life together.”

A memory of her parents laughing and sharing a tender moment rose in her mind and she smiled, even though the funeral overlapped the happy memory. “Do you regret marrying him?”

“Heavens no. I regret him dying. But how could I regret being with him? He was a great man. My hero.” Her mom gave her a gentle squeeze. “And together, we made you.”

Maggie’s heart fluttered, then fell like a wet feather. “Dane kissed me and Garrett saw. When I went to find him and explain, I found him with Emily suctioned onto his leg, like a vernal pool leech onto a cows hoof.”

Her mom winced and glanced over at Emily, whose dress plunged down her spine all the way to the small of her back, and her eyes widened. “Oh, dear. Then what happened?”

Maggie explained the scene and how she’d turned her back on her best friend. “Right now, I’m frustrated at myself for not telling him he’s perfect as he is. I want to tell him how much I love him and that he doesn’t have to make any hard decisions about his career right now. But, whoever stole my bag also took my purse and phone.”

Her mom shifted a turquoise taffeta dress over her arm. “So, I guess you’re forfeiting the dance tomorrow?”

Maggie shrugged and gathered the dress from her mom. She considered dropping it in the lost-and-found pile, but instead hung the gown in her locker. Confronting her mom had been easier than all the years she’d spent doing what she hadn’t particularly loved and holding back. But she still had college debt, and that responsibility tugged her to finish the competition. “This will be my last competition.”

In her mind, Garrett’s words surfaced.
“Tonight, I’m going to change.”

She clutched her mom’s arm. “I have to stop Garrett from committing to firefighting—something he really doesn’t want to do—and reliving something that haunts him.”

Her mom threaded her arm under Maggie’s. “Be honest and tell him how you feel.”

“I will. I’m willing to take time to figure things out. He doesn’t have to force a career because he believes he has no other options.”

Her mom dug through her purse and handed Maggie the keys to her new sports car. “Go get him. I’ll catch a ride home…”

# # # #

Up over the fairground footbridge, Garrett strolled between the fair animals bedded down for the night. Wiring overhead strung a finite series of forty watt bulbs and turned the straw, where the farm animal menagerie bedded down, a sickly yellow. Wheelbarrows piled high with waste matched the way he felt inside.

If something didn’t change, if he didn’t face his fear of disappointing another, like he’d let down Maggie, he might as well replace his last name with
failure
. He needed to take time to explore his options, even if that meant breaking his promise to his father.

Breaking a promise—
a deathbed promise
…

He choked on his tight throat and crushing chest, staggering toward the fun zone that blurred to a dizzying array of white light in his colorless existence. If he didn’t capture the illusive change, then he’d never become that fun-loving guy.

A ewe bleated.

Near her head, Garrett spotted a lifeless lamb, half the size of the other that rooted at the ewe’s teat, tail wagging like a silent celebration of life. Instead of focusing on the healthy lamb however, the ewe drew her tired tongue in long pulls over the weakling.

It reminded him of everyone encouraging him to find his happiness. 

A virtual lost cause.

The ewe gave the lamb a wasted nudge.

If Garrett didn’t take drastic measures, he might as well be that poor animal coiled up in a fetal position, cold, stiff, and finally succumbing to his failure to thrive.

Scrubbing a hand at his leaking eyes, he tried to swallow past the unmoving bulge in his throat. No longer a cadet, not yet a firefighter, in a fog, he shuffled along the concrete walkway toward the fun zone while the walls of his life closed in and cloaked his future.