Getting Lucky (The Portland Pioneers Book 2) (30 page)

Tabitha followed Maggie’s gaze and her face broke out into one of her famous warm smiles. Or what Maggie had always believed was a warm smile, but now just seemed perfectly calibrated to make a person
think
it was a warm smile.

But Noah didn’t reciprocate, just gave a little shrug, his eyes never leaving Maggie’s, and went to sit on the opposite side of the Café, in an empty booth. Maggie glanced over at Tabitha and saw the smile waver a little. She was not
confident at all in her presence here, Maggie realized like a lightning bolt. She was just as unsure as Maggie herself was. Maggie just didn’t spend all her energy trying to hide and overcompensate.

“I’ve got to go help Rosa,” Maggie said. “I’ll see you later, Tabby.”

“Don’t call me that,” Tabitha said, but it was automatic, as her nails went back to tapping on the table. “You know I hate that nickname.”

Maggie only grinned. “Yeah, I know.”

When Maggie got home at four, Tabitha was in the bathroom. “Taking a bubble bath,” she explained as Maggie leaned her head against the wood of the door.

When she finally came out, a good hour later, Maggie was curled up on the couch, watching an old re-run of
Grey’s Anatomy.

Tabitha flopped down on the couch and Maggie glanced over at her sister. “How was your bath?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Tabitha plucked a magazine from the coffee table and proceeded to flick each page with increasing irritation.

“I have to work tomorrow too, but the Café is closed the two days after, for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.” Frankly, Maggie had spent the afternoon coming to the conclusion that there was something else that had driven her sister to Sand Point, and she wasn’t certain anymore that the reason was Noah. In fact, the two of them had interacted so minimally, it was difficult for Maggie to believe that there had ever been any affection between them.

Tabitha said nothing, just continued staring at the magazine, but since it was an issue of
Bon Appetit
, Maggie was fairly certain she wasn’t even reading it.

“You know, it’s pretty strange that you came all the way here to see me, only to ignore me,” Maggie continued.

“Maybe I’m here to see Noah.”

Earlier today, that comment might have upset Maggie, but she’d calmed down considerably and tonight, all it made her want to do was roll her eyes. “Please, you’ve barely acknowledged he’s alive,” Maggie drawled. “And don’t give me that bullshit about Christmas again, because we both know I’m smarter than that.”

Something flickered over Tabitha’s expression, some buried emotion that was gone before Maggie could properly identify it.

Dragging herself to her feet, Maggie tossed the remote in her sister’s general direction. “I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. I get up early.”

Tabitha didn’t even bat an eyelash, merely continued pretending to read the magazine as if it was the latest edition of
Vogue
.

Maggie made a frustrated sound at Tabitha’s stupid antics. “I promised a few people I’d make them a bread pudding for Christmas, so I might be a bit late,” she explained slowly, though the truth was, her sister didn’t deserve it, not after she refused to tell Maggie a single damn thing.

“Whatever,” Tabitha said with an airy wave of her hand. “I can take care of myself.”

Maggie knew that Tabitha had meant her words to come out breezy and confident, the usual Tabitha MO, but Maggie heard the barest hint of indecision underneath all the certainty and it couldn’t help but make her wonder.

Noah had no intention of staying away from the Café and away from Maggie. He needed her to know that she was still on his mind, practically all the freaking time, if he was being honest. Giving her space was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, when all he wanted to do was run into the kitchen where he knew she was cooking, and press her against the counter and kiss her until she realized just how crazy he was about her.

Or maybe he was just crazy. Noah glanced over at Cal, who was shifting nervously in the booth they were sharing. “What is your problem?” Noah frowned. “You look like you’re about to throw up.”

Cal looked around the Café again, and then nearly jumped when the front door opened and closed. Noah didn’t think he’d ever seen the man look so tense, even when he’d been an asshole. It had been almost impossible getting him to even eat at the Café—he’d actually claimed to be craving McDonald’s, the only fast food place in town, and Noah had said unequivocally that he was not going to eat that crap when Maggie’s cooking was an option.

It seemed that much of the town felt the same way, because the Café was fuller than he ever remembered it being, and Janice and Hannah were both frazzled and busy. Janice hadn’t even had time to make small talk, had only dropped off his iced tea and Cal’s coffee and had raced off to tend to her other tables. Noah hoped that Maggie and Rosa were managing okay in the back, but then he remembered this was Maggie. She was amazing. Unbelievable. Completely capable.

Okay, maybe he was definitely a little crazy.

“I just. . .” Cal stuttered and looked at the table top. “I’m not looking forward to seeing Tabitha. She’s obnoxious.”

Noah frowned and leaned back in the booth. “There’s no real guarantee you will. I mean, she’ll be at Maggie’s for Christmas, yeah, but that’ll only be for a few hours. And it’s a holiday. She’ll probably be on her best behavior.”

Cal shot him an incredulous look and it reminded Noah a lot of that very first conversation he’d had with Maggie, when he hadn’t known that what he needed and what he was asking for were two very different things. “You must not know her very well,” he said.

“I dated her for six months,” Noah said with a touch of annoyance, sick of hearing people say that to him.

That haunted look was back in Cal’s eyes and Noah was almost happy that his personal hypothesis was confirmed—almost because he
knew
Tabitha and that she’d just chew up and spit out a man like Calvin Keller. Which was probably why he looked so damn miserable. He knew it was hopeless. Noah felt a pang of sympathy for the guy.

He definitely knew what it was like to lose your wits over Tabby, but then Cal had also lost the possibility of Maggie, too, and as far as Noah was concerned that was much,
much
worse.

“Well, she’ll definitely be here,” Cal said glumly. “She wouldn’t miss an audience like this.”

Noah considered this, and realized that maybe Calvin had seen through Tabitha’s act and
still
liked her. Noah frowned. This was potentially a lot more serious than he’d ever realized.

“So Maggie invited you to Christmas then,” Cal continued after a long silence, clearly attempting to change the subject as if Noah couldn’t read the misery written all over his face. “That’s good.”

It was a whole lot better than
good
, Noah thought, it was freaking awesome. He couldn’t wait to give Maggie the present he’d ordered for her. He could imagine her smile as she tore the wrapping off and realized just how well he’d come to know and love her.

“What’s Christmas usually like?” Noah asked.

“Well, you were at Thanksgiving. Kind of like that. Too much amazing food. Maggie loves those English crackers. I’m warning you now, she gets really cranky if you don’t put on that paper crown thingy. And there’s presents and a tree. Basic Christmas stuff, I guess.”

Jack had called him a few days ago and had begged Noah to come back to Portland for Christmas. “To make up for ditching us at Thanksgiving,” he’d insisted. “You need to get away from that place. It makes you morbid.”

But Sand Point actually did the complete opposite. Sand Point centered and grounded him, made him happy, and while Maggie was definitely responsible for
some
of that happiness, Noah didn’t consider her the entire reason. If Jack wanted to get into morbid, though, staying in Portland and being faced every day with everything he probably wouldn’t ever have again was definitely higher on that list.

“I’m staying here,” Noah had insisted to Jack, even before Maggie had extended an invitation to come over for Christmas. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he might leave. His house was here now, and even though he and Cal had it mostly torn apart, it felt more like a home than that slick, modern condo in Portland had.

Jack’s voice had dropped in tone and volume and Noah had been fairly certain that he was trying to avoid Izzy listening in. “I’m worried about you. Have you been seeing Dr. Singh?”

“Not since I saw you last,” Noah had said, feeling no compunction in rolling his eyes at Jack’s question. They’d had dinner only a few weeks ago, and even during the worst of his concussion symptoms, he hadn’t been to see Dr. Singh that frequently.

Jack didn’t say it, but Noah had a feeling that his best friend was more worried about his desire to move to Sand Point than he was about his concussion. He missed Jack too, but Noah was getting better with the idea that the part of his life where they’d spent so much time together, bunking together while on the road, and hanging out at Jack’s house, drinking beer and playing XBox, were over. Jack had already moved on, though he wouldn’t admit it, and he was building a life with Izzy.

It was time for Noah to build his own, and he felt good about the foundation he’d laid here in Sand Point. The thought of leaving baseball hurt—it was probably never
not
going to hurt—but he could think of it now without the familiar pounding at his temples that usually signaled the start of a migraine.

“What did you two want for lunch?” Noah glanced up and Janice was back, pen out, expectant look on her face. “I’d better get the order in now, things are crazy today.”

“I’ll have the turkey sandwich, and a cup of the chicken noodle soup,” Noah said, not even bothering to glance at the menu. He knew it backwards and forwards anyway, which really said it all. He craved every part of Maggie, even down to the details of the food she created.

“Same,” Cal said, absently, clearly distracted by some commotion at the front door. Noah turned and rolled his eyes. Tabitha was standing there, practically fucking posed at the entrance, just to make sure nobody missed her presence.

“Great,” Noah said flatly. “Looks like you were right.”

The only open booth was right next to Cal and Noah’s and of course, she sauntered over, dispensing smiles as she went, as if she were some sort of professional beauty queen.

“Noah. Calvin,” Tabitha acknowledged them as she slid into the free booth. “So good to see you both,” she cooed.

Noah pointedly ignored her, and Cal flushed bright red.

“Well shit,” Noah said under his breath as Janice walked over to Tabitha and asked her what she wanted to drink. “You
do
have it bad.”

Cal’s face flushed an even deeper red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Noah just rolled his eyes. “When you’re ready to face the truth, just give me a call. I’ll walk you through it.”

Frowning, Cal pulled out his tablet, like he was actually going to do work, which was the only pretext that Noah had managed to drag him to lunch under—but Noah knew better. Cal’s stupid tablet was just an excuse to avoid the conversation, a tactic that Noah had figured out weeks ago.

“Let’s look at some tile options for the kitchen,” Cal said, his voice morphing into “professional contractor” mode and Noah just laughed.

“If it’s for the kitchen, you should probably show Maggie,” Noah observed.

Cal did a double take. “What?” Noah asked.

“I was just wondering if I missed something,” Cal retorted. “Like why on earth Maggie would be picking out the tile for
your
kitchen.”

Noah just grinned. Cal’s question was purely rhetorical and deep down, he had to know it. “She’s the only one who’s going to be using it,” Noah said.

“Does Maggie know this?”

“Well, technically,
no
. But she would
have if Tabitha didn’t have such spectacular timing,” Noah complained. He remembered the last morning of waking up alone in Maggie’s bed—was it weird that he’d already begun to mentally refer to it as
their
bed?—and hearing her in the kitchen. He’d known then, like a switch being flipped, that he was never going to want to be anywhere else. It had seemed like the most natural thing in the world to just
tell
her, even though he hadn’t even known her for two months. He hadn’t been afraid to scare her off; he’d only known that if he tried to contain the words one moment longer, he’d go crazy.