The Gift (9 page)

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Chapter 11

Maggie’s parents picked her up at Logan airport. They knew something was terribly wrong but they didn’t press her for
details. Maggie went home and stayed in her childhood bedroom, but there were
memories there too of the last time she had been home with Zak. Finally she
called up Spencer and told him what had happened. He suggested that they get
together to talk and maybe go out for a drink and to hear some music. He showed
up in his old Econoline van and drove her into Cambridge.

They found a booth at the Wursthaus where they could
talk undisturbed while they had dinner. Spencer got the bratwurst and a St.
Pauli Girl and Maggie ordered a roast beef sandwich and a Coke. She had decided
to stop drinking after her indiscretion with Justin. Maggie sat twirling the
green plastic sword with the cherry on it that was in her drink.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do now, Spencer,”
Maggie began.

“I’ve decided that I’m tired of living with a big group
of people,” Spencer answered. “I’ve found a two bedroom apartment in Davis Square, not too far from Jimmie D’s. Would you be interested in moving in with me
Maggie?”

“I might like that. I don’t think I’m going to be able
to live with my parents for too long. Speaking of Jimmie D’s, the Bayou
Blasters were supposed to play there in a month. I guess that won’t be
happening since Zak won’t be able to play any gigs for a while.  We should
probably cancel the tour.”

“That would be a shame, Maggie.”  Spencer thought for a
moment. “Maybe I could fill in for Zak, and Justin and Tom could come up from Louisiana to play the tour.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that. It kind of feels
disloyal to Zak to continue with the tour without him.”

“Why don’t you call Zak and see how he feels about it.
If it’s o.k. with him then you could bring it up with the other guys in the
band.”

Maggie went home to her parents’ after her dinner with
Spencer and thought about her future. Then she called Spencer and told him that
she would be happy to share an apartment with him. He had always been one of
her best friends and was laid back and supportive. She thought that they could
be happy living together as friends. Spencer had never shown any romantic
interest in Maggie, she was glad of that now.

Maggie had always gotten along with men a lot better
than she had with women. Maybe it was because she had grown up with three
brothers, or maybe it was because most women weren’t interested in the same
things that she was. She liked to talk about music, bands, and instruments, all
the same things that her male friends discussed. She wasn’t ever really sure
what to talk about with her women friends, maybe about their boyfriends, but
Maggie was never really one to listen to gossip. She liked to live her own life
and she didn’t worry too much about what other people did.

Another reason that Maggie didn’t get along that well
with other women was that they were jealous of her, her good looks,
intelligence and talent. Men were able to appreciate Maggie for these
attributes without finding her threatening.

So Maggie felt perfectly comfortable about the idea of
moving in with Spencer. Two weeks later, he drove over in the Econoline van and
picked up some of the boxes that Zak had moved to Maggie’s parents’ house. They
also took some furniture that Maggie’s parents had stored in the basement, a
full-size bed, a small bureau and a rocking chair.

After several hours of hard work, Maggie and Spencer had
moved her boxes and the furniture into her room and they had set up the bed and
mattress. Maggie suddenly felt sick to her stomach, but she figured it was from
the heavy exertion. After a couple minutes, the feeling passed and she
continued to put away her few clothes and books. She had left most of her
things in Louisiana. She figured she would have to go shopping for some
clothes, but fortunately Spencer said that he would lend her his F-style
mandolin. It was a much better instrument than the Harmony and had the “chop”
sound necessary to playing good rhythm in bluegrass music.

Some of Spencer’s friends had helped him move into the
apartment the previous day and Maggie was surprised at how homey everything
looked already. The kitchen was fully stocked with dishes, glasses, pots and
pans. Spencer liked to cook and he had all the necessary equipment. He had also
brought over a yellow formica table and folding chairs for the kitchen, and a
small blue sofa and coffee table for the living room. The apartment was
sparsely furnished, but Spencer told Maggie that they could go over to the
Salvation Army store in Davis Square and get some more furniture later.

Maggie was happy that she had a place to call her own,
but she missed Zak and Justin. She had come to love both of them and she didn’t
know how she would be able to go on without them. Maggie suddenly felt
exhausted. It had been a long day. She felt overwhelmed by all the changes in her
life. She lay down on the sofa, and instantly fell asleep.

When she awoke, it was early evening. Spencer had gone
out to buy some food and she was all alone. She decided that since she had some
privacy that it might be a good time to call Zak. She had called his brother
Caleb a couple days before and he had told her that Zak had moved in with his
mother. Zak was having some trouble getting around with the big cast on his
leg, so his mother encouraged him to let her help him out for a few weeks until
the cast came off. Chère had moved in with Caleb until Zak was up to taking
care of her. She was having a lot of fun living with another dog and two kids.

Maggie called Zak’s mother’s house and Caleb answered
the phone. She told him that she wanted to talk to Zak. Caleb said he was happy
to hear from her and then called out to Zak and told him that he had a phone
call. After several minutes Zak finally answered the phone.

“Maggie, is that you? How are you?  Are you coming home
soon?” 

Maggie was quiet for a minute.

“I don’t know Zak. I think I’m going to stay in Boston for a while. I got an apartment with Spencer. I guess I’m going to look for a job.”

She could hear Zak sigh heavily.

“Maggie, my love, I hope you can forgive me. I never
meant to hurt you. I miss you so much. Please consider coming back.”

Maggie felt bad for hurting him. She knew that she and
Justin had behaved almost as badly as Zak. Of course they never would have
slept together in the first place if he hadn’t slept with Jacqueline.

“Maggie, I know you probably feel like you can’t trust
me anymore, but I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. I’ve also
stopped the drinking and the drugs. Please Maggie, come home, I need you.”

Maggie started to cry softly.

“Zak, I’m not ready. I have to think about it.”

She calmed down a little and got to the point of her
phone call.

“Zak, I’m almost broke, I need to make some money to pay
my rent. I was wondering if it was o.k. with you if I took those gigs that we
had lined up in the Boston area.”

Zak was silent for a moment.

“Well, who are you going to get for your band?”

“If it’s o.k. with you, I thought I would invite Justin
and Tom to come up and Spencer could fill in on lead guitar.”

Zak was quiet for a minute or two, and Maggie could sense
that he was upset.

“Justin and Tom need the work, so I think you should ask
them,” he replied.

“How long will it be before you can start playing gigs
again?” Maggie wanted to know.

“The doctor said that it would take about another month
for my broken leg to heal.”

“I don’t know Zak, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.
Justin and Tom are your friends and your band,” Maggie said.

Zak responded, “No, it’s o.k. They deserve a chance to
go on the tour that we set up. Maybe we can get back together to play again
after the tour is over.”

Maggie felt terrible. She told Zak to take good care of
himself and then she hung up. Maggie lay back down on the sofa and cried
herself to sleep.

An hour later, Maggie was awakened by a phone call from
Justin. He said that he had gotten a phone call from Zak who told him that
Maggie needed the band for the tour. Zak told him that they should go on
without him while he was recuperating and he would join them later on. Zak had
also told Justin that he was worried about Maggie. She had sounded so tired and
sad. He told Justin that he needed to go to Boston and take care of her.

“Do you think that you and Tom would want to go on tour
without Zak?” Maggie asked. “Spencer offered to fill in on lead guitar. He’s
probably not as good as Zak, but he can take decent breaks.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind getting out of Louisiana right now, Maggie. It’s kind of depressing in the house now that you’re gone.”
Justin thought to himself that there were too many memories. “Tom and I could
drive up to Boston in two weeks to kick off the tour at Jimmie D’s.”

“Well, maybe you could bring up the rest of my clothes
and my instruments,” Maggie suggested.

“Sure, there will probably be enough room for them in
the Lincoln. Zak told us to take his car since his driver’s license has been
suspended because of the accident.”

Maggie told him that she looked forward to seeing him
and hung up. Then she lay back down on the couch and drifted back to sleep.

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Chapter 12

The next morning Maggie was awakened by Spencer
who had come into the kitchen to make breakfast. He asked her if she wanted
some coffee and brought some in for her.  He sat down next to her on the couch
and she told him that Justin and Tom were coming to Boston to do the tour.
Maggie took a couple of sips of her coffee and then suddenly didn’t feel too
well.  She got up quickly, went into the kitchen and threw up in the sink.
Spencer heard her running the water for a while and then she came back into the
living room with a glass of milk. She sat down again, but was still looking
queasy. 

 “Maggie, are you o.k.? You don’t look so good.”

 Maggie had huge dark circles under her eyes and was
looking somewhat frail. Spencer thought that she looked like she had lost some
weight over the last month.

“No, I’m fine. I’m just feeling kind of upset because I
talked to Zak last night.” 

But Maggie wasn’t feeling fine, she started feeling sick
again and told Spencer that she needed to lie down. He moved over so she could
put her legs up on the couch. Then suddenly he asked her if she was pregnant.

Maggie heard a rushing noise in her head for a minute.
She tried to think. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she had
her last period. There had been so many things going on, she hadn’t even thought
about that. She tried to remember when she had sex the last time. There was the
time at the house with Justin, but she also had sex with Zak one night when she
was on tour in Atlanta.

She looked at Spencer and turned white. Suddenly she
felt like she was going to throw up again. Spencer asked her if she knew who
the father was. Maggie whispered “I don’t know.”

Maggie had been on the pill for several years, but after
she was engaged to Zak, she decided to change to another method of birth
control. She was worried about taking hormones for too long and had heard that
they might make it difficult for her to get pregnant later on, so Maggie had
switched to using a diaphragm. She had forgotten it when she went on tour and
had relied on Zak to use a condom. She couldn’t remember if Justin had used any
kind of protection. She assumed that he had, but she had been too drunk to
notice. Now she was going to have to ask him about it. It was going to be an
extremely difficult conversation.

“Try to relax, Maggie. Everything’s going to be fine. I
can go down to the drugstore and get a pregnancy test kit, if you like.”

Maggie said o.k., but she had a feeling that she knew
what the result was going to be.

Later that afternoon, Spencer went down to the Rite Aid
and purchased the kit for Maggie. While he was there he ran into a waitress
from Jimmie D’s that he knew. She saw him buy the test kit, but she didn’t say
anything about it. She told Spencer that she was looking forward to seeing him
play again at the bar, Lost Highway was one of her favorite bands. He told her
that he might be playing there again in a few weeks with a new band called the
Bayou Blasters. She said that she would look forward to it.

When he got back to the apartment, Spencer could tell
that Maggie had been waiting anxiously. She almost ripped the bag from the
drugstore out of his hands, thanked him briefly and then locked herself in the
bathroom. She came out about half an hour later with a stunned look on her
face. He put his arms around her and she sobbed into his chest. He heard her
muffled voice say “What am I going to do?” He told her not to worry, that
everything would work out, but he wasn’t too sure about that when he said it.

Maggie went into her bedroom and closed the door for a
while. Then, she came out and went into the living room to use the phone. She
had decided to call Justin. Fortunately he was home and he answered the phone.
She told him that she had something to tell him and asked if it was a good
time. He replied that he was alone and had some free time.

“Justin, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m
pregnant,” she said.

“Holy shit, Maggie.”  He was stunned and couldn’t go on.