Steal Me (13 page)

M
aggie had long ago recognized that the best things in life were often the simple pleasures.

Taking your shoes off after a double shift.

Heck, taking your
bra
off after a double shift.

A glass of cold water on a horribly humid August afternoon.

The happy grin of a baby on a subway.

And today, Maggie was discovering a new pleasure, long forgotten since Gabby had moved to Denver:

Girl time.

Actually, if Maggie were totally honest, she’d have to admit that she hadn’t had this sort of unabashed girl time since even
before
her best friend moved across the country.

It wasn’t that Gabby had dumped her after Maggie had gotten divorced. Far from it. But Gabby’s relationship had been soaring just as Maggie and Eddie’s had been exploding, and although her best friend had had her back—fiercely—back then, their conversation had all been about Eddie, and Maggie’s escape from him.

It had been years since she’d enjoyed the pleasure of chatting with women about absolutely nothing of substance.

“No, no, no,” Elena was saying as she shifted half a dozen shopping bags from one hand to the other. “No
way
are we going lingerie shopping. We’ve already been to like a million different stores.”

“Um, no,” Jill said as she led the way down the crowded sidewalks of SoHo. “
You
went to a million different stores where the rest of us couldn’t even afford a key chain, and watched you buy eighty pairs of shoes with your attorney salary.”

“Hey!” Elena said, swinging one of her bags so it hit Jill in the butt. “Who insisted we go in all of those designer stores, and who insisted I need all the shoes?”

Jill sighed. “I can’t help it. I’m a glutton for punishment.”

“Well,
that’s
obvious,” Ava chimed in. “You’re partnered with Vincent.”

“Right?” Jill said, turning around to walk backward, incredibly managing not to walk into anyone. “Get this. Yesterday we went into Starbucks and when I ordered my usual mocha he asked if I was
sure
I wanted the whipped cream. Then he looked at my hips. And
then
he walked away, so I had to pay for his boring drip coffee.”

“You could petition for a transfer,” Elena said, slowing slightly to check out the window display of a store Maggie had never even heard of. “I mean, there’s got to be a way not to be stuck with the same grump for your entire career.”

Maggie watched Jill carefully at this suggestion and noted that the other woman’s smile slipped slightly at the suggestion, before the smile widened again even brighter than before. “Totally! I should. Okay, but seriously, El, we’re not going in that store. I want to find some sexy panties for my date on Friday.”

“And I need a couple new bras,” Ava added. “My favorite ones keep getting ripped when Luc—”

Elena held up a hand. “And
this
is why I don’t want to go lingerie shopping with this crew. One of you is banging my baby brother and the other
wants
to bang my big brother.”

“I do not want to bang Vin!” Jill exclaimed.

Ava and Elena both gave her a look, and her wide blue eyes blinked. “Oh.
Ohhhhhh
.”

All three of them turned and stared at Maggie, who’d been eyeing a gorgeous blue wool coat in the window that she could never, ever afford.

“What am I missing?” she asked.

Ava flicked her shoulder. “Don’t tease us. Are you doing it with Anth or not?”

Elena dry-heaved, but then immediately resumed her curious stare. “So gross. But yes, are you?”

“No!”

The other three women exchanged a glance, and Maggie narrowed her eyes at them. “Is this why you let me into your little shopping circle today? To pump me for information?”

Jill giggled and linked arms with Maggie. “You said ‘pump’ in the middle of a conversation about sex. Well done, you! And no, silly. We asked you because we
like
you. And because you round us out.”

“How’s that?” Maggie asked warily, letting herself be dragged forward by the pint-size blonde who was surprisingly strong for being like five-foot-one.

“Well, I’m the bubbly one, and Ava and Elena are always vying for the spot of sophisticated and sassy, but you are sweet and fierce.”

Sweet and fierce?

The sweet, she got. Not because she thought she was, but because she’d been hearing it most of her life. It’s what people called other people that they could push around. Maggie didn’t exactly consider it a compliment, but she knew Jill didn’t consider it an insult either.

But the fierce—

“I’m
so
not your girl for fierce,” she said.

“Oh stop,” Ava said, coming up on her other side. “If you try to take on the label of self-deprecating, we’ll kick you out of the group. No room for that.”

“Nope, none,” Elena said. “And you are too fierce. I’ve seen you lift those trays at Darby’s. And more important, I’ve seen you stand your ground to every one of my family members. My dad when he’s trying to order the sausage he’s not supposed to have, Nonna when she tries to talk about her favorite sex positions, the boys when they’re, well,
boys
. You even manage to manipulate Mom into ordering the freaking pancakes instead of oatmeal once in a while, and that is no small feat.”

“So, I’m thinking all of that translates more to manipulative than it does fierce,” Maggie said.

“Yes!” Ava said, holding up her hand for a high five. “Even better! Manipulative we can work with, assuming, of course, you never manipulate
us
.”

“Is that even possible?” Maggie asked dryly. “To manipulate you three?”

“That’s a negative,” Jill said. “Oh look, here’s my store.”

Elena threw herself in front of the door before Jill could enter. “Or, another idea…we skip the bra shopping for today so I don’t have to imagine my brothers having sex with any of you, and in exchange, I buy us all wine?”

“Done,” Jill said quickly.

“Well, that was easy,” Elena muttered.

Jill caught Maggie’s eye and winked. Maggie smiled back. Apparently she wasn’t the only one that could be manipulative. Elena had definitely just walked right into Jill’s mission for free wine.

“I know just the place,” Ava said. “They have happy hour seven days a week and an awesome by-the-glass list.”

She glanced at Maggie. “Do you like wine, Maggie?”

“Love it,” Maggie said. “Although I don’t really
know
it.”

“Fear not,” Elena said. “We’ve got you covered. I know my way around the menu. Although honestly, it’s boozy grape juice, so you really can’t go wrong.”

The sidewalk narrowed again, so they had to walk two by two, Elena and Ava ahead, while Jill fell into step beside Maggie.

“Hey, if this is weird for you, you can say so,” Jill said quietly, tugging nervously on her short blond ponytail.

Maggie glanced at the shorter woman. “What do you mean?”

Jill bit her lip, as though debating how much to say. “Vincent told me about your dad’s accident. The cause of it. I didn’t know if—”

“You want to know if I skip booze because my father’s an alcoholic.”

Jill winced. “Well…yeah. I mean, I’m just saying we don’t want to pressure you to drink after what happened.”

Maggie felt a strange lump in her throat at the other woman’s caring. It was a tiny gesture. A small thing, really. But the kindness meant something.

“My dad’s mistakes are his own,” Maggie said quietly.

“How’s he doing?” Jill asked.

Great question,
Maggie thought. The day after the accident, she’d had every intention of heading back to the hospital first thing.

She’d called to see if he was awake.

He was.

And he hadn’t wanted her to come.

It’s a long trip, Bug. Don’t worry about it. Cory’s coming by later and we’re going to watch the game.

She’d argued, but he’d been insistent in his easygoing way.

Maggie would like to say that her eyes hadn’t watered when her dad had outright rejected her, but the truth was it had stung. A lot. Why wouldn’t her dad want his only daughter there after a major car accident?

And then he’d laid it on her.

You really want to help, Bug, I’m going to need a hand with these damn medical bills. Do you have any idea how much they charge for a fucking catheter these days…

It wasn’t that her dad didn’t need her.

He did. He needed her
money
.

Money she didn’t have.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “He’s fine. Recovering.”

Jill nodded. “I’m glad. And if you ever want to talk…I had an uncle with a drinking problem. It’s hard, watching them destroy their lives, you know?”

Maggie knew. She
sooooo
knew.

“Hey, slowpokes,” Elena said. “Hurry it up!”

“It’s a good thing alcohol’s not your vice,” Jill said with a grin. “Because the Morettis are so not the people to hang out with if you do. They can drive a saint to drink.”

“Yeah, figured that out pretty quickly,” Maggie said. “The time I got a sexy text from Anthony, I sought liquid courage and had only a killer headache to show for it the next morning.”

Jill skidded to a halt before letting out a whoop and grabbing Maggie’s arm, dragging her forward to the door of the wine bar that Elena and Ava had just entered.

“Elena, honey, I thought you’d like to know that Maggie here has been sexting with your brother.”

Elena shrieked in horror and Ava tilted her head thoughtfully. “Does one sext
with
someone? Or do you just sext them. Is sext the verb?”

“We didn’t
sext
,” Maggie said, shooting an apologetic smile at the couple who’d turned around to stare at her. “We just—he just—”

“Say no more,” Ava said, holding up a hand. “Not until we get to a table; I want to hear every last juicy morsel.”

“And
I
want to know if his incredibly tall stature translates to an impressive stature in other places,” Jill chimed in as they crowded into a small four-top in the corner.

Elena swatted Jill across the back of the head. “Maggie, if you answer that question, I’m reneging on my offer to pay.”

“I couldn’t answer even if I wanted to,” Maggie admitted. “We, um…”

“Haven’t done it?”

“No,” Maggie said, slowly warming up to the topic of talking about sex. It had been a long time since she’d talked about this stuff. Hadn’t realized that she wanted to. “But the mixed signals are killing me.”

“But he’s kissed you, right? You’ve got to at least give me something; I’m going through a dry spell,” Jill said.

Maggie’s body tingled as she remembered the feel of his hands on her back. In her hair. His tongue against hers as he’d pressed her into the wall, coaxing moans from her mouth.

Ava gave a knowing laugh. “I know that look. That’s a yes.”

Elena propped her chin on her hands and looked at Maggie. “Okay, I don’t want to know details. Obviously. But can I just say how glad I am that he’s found someone like you?”

Maggie glanced warily around the table. “Well, I don’t know that he’s really
found
me. I don’t even know what’s going on. And sometimes I think he only wants me because of my connection to his case.”

“No, that’s just it,” Jill said. “He wants you
in spite
of his case. That’s huge. Especially for a guy like Anthony. Especially after everything that he’s been through.”

“You mean because of that girl…the one you mentioned when you and your mom came into the diner?” Maggie asked Elena, fishing shamelessly.

Jill and Elena exchanged a glance. “It’s really his story to tell.”

Ava’s fingers wrapped around Elena’s wrist. “You have to tell her. Anthony never will.”

Elena blew out a long breath. “Okay. Fine. It’s not like it’s any big dark secret or anything. But first…we wine.”

Maggie waited impatiently while the other three women debated the wine list, caring not at all about red vs. white, but caring an awful damn lot about this mysterious woman in Anthony’s past.

“Okay,” Elena said, once they’d decided to start with a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and everyone had a full glass in front of them. “You’re sure you want to go here? Because I think we all know, once you go prowling into a guy’s past, it’s a hell of a lot harder to get out of his future. You’ll become entangled.”

I want to be entangled.

“I’m sure,” Maggie said, taking a sip of wine for courage.

Elena blew out a breath. “Okay, so I don’t know all the details. To be honest, when Vannah came onto the scene, we all thought the relationship had the staying power of wet Scotch tape.”

“That’s…oddly specific,” Ava muttered.

“She was a model, and looked it. Tall, thin, waif-ish…”

Pretty
, Maggie silently added. Vannah would have been very, very pretty.

“I don’t know what the hell she modeled,” Jill muttered.

“You knew her?” Maggie asked.

Jill shrugged. “Our appearances at Moretti events overlapped occasionally. I remember her being…vacant. One of those women who was always claiming to be busy, but never seemed to
be
busy. And despite the fact that she was like ninety pounds, she had this way of sucking the energy out of the room.”

Elena nodded. “None of us ever figured out what Anth saw in her, and apparently he couldn’t figure it out either, because he slowly stopped bringing her around. When he finally ended things altogether, nobody batted an eye.”

Elena dipped her dark head down, staring into her wine, and Maggie watched as her usual confident, smiling face shadowed. And because Maggie already knew how this story ended, she had a pretty good guess what Elena was feeling.

Sadness. Maybe even guilt at her flippant dismissal of this Vannah.

“And then she died,” Maggie said softly.

“Yeah.” Elena ran a finger around the rim of her wineglass.

“But they were already broken up,” Maggie said quietly. “I can see why Anth would be regretful at the loss of life. It’s horribly tragic, but…did he still love her? Is that why it continues to haunt him?”

“No,” Elena said quickly. “I don’t think he ever loved her in that way. And yes, he was saddened by the death of someone so young. We all were. But for Anth, it was more than that.”