Marked Down for Murder (Good Buy Girls) (4 page)

“What have you done?” Maggie asked Blair. She
was livid. “If you harmed one hair on that man’s head, I will kick your butt!”

With that she slammed out of her car and stormed toward the open door of motel room number seven.

“Sam?” she cried. “Are you all right? They didn’t knock you out or drug you, did they?”

She barged into the room with Blair right behind her, yelling, “You can’t stop true love, Maggie! Sam has made his choice, and it’s best for everyone involved if you just accept it.”

Maggie stumbled to a halt just past the threshold. The sight that greeted her made her eyes bug in shock and horror. Unfortunately, Blair slammed into her back, projecting her into the room.

“Whoa!” Maggie said, and quickly averted her gaze, holding up her hand to block the view.

“What is
this
?” Blair screeched.

Maggie glanced through her fingers to see Blair standing with her hands on her hips, facing the bed, looking ready to do battle.

“Wild guess here, but it looks to be Tyler Fawkes in bed with your daughter, ma’am,” Sam said from behind the hat he was using to shield his view. His eyes met Maggie’s, and he grinned. “What? Did you think they kidnapped me?”

“It crossed my mind,” she said. She moved to stand beside him and went up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay. I really was not up to snatching the hair off Summer’s head for harming my man.”

“‘Your man,’ huh?” Sam asked. “I do like that.”

“Summer Phillips, you get out of that bed right now!” Blair demanded.

“Hey, now, if you all could just give us a minute?” Tyler spoke up, but Blair turned on him.

“Do not speak,” she demanded.

“But—” he protested.

“No!” Blair roared. She reached over and yanked Summer out of the bed. Maggie was relieved to see that Summer was dressed, sort of, in a slinky slip type of thing.

“You had one thing to do,” Blair was yelling at Summer now. “One thing, and you screwed it up. This is why you are such a loser. How hard is it to seduce one man? You got the legs, the boobs—clearly it’s the brains you’re lacking.”

“I tried, but—” Summer began to protest.

The cold air from outside was billowing into the room, and Summer shivered. Blair was pacing, looking like she wasn’t sure who she wanted to paddle more—Summer or Tyler or both. When Summer’s teeth began to chatter, Tyler rose up out of the bed—he was still in his undershorts, thank heavens—and wrapped a blanket around Summer’s shoulders.

Tyler was a big man in both height and girth. He was also pretty hairy, with a full beard and a pelt of chest hair that looked like something only found in the zoo next to a sign that said
DO NOT FEED THE BEARS
. Despite his forbidding appearance, when he looked down at Summer it was with a tenderness that bespoke more than lust; it was a look of genuine caring and concern.

Maggie realized that Tyler was in love with Summer. The poor guy. Falling for a woman who, as far as Maggie could tell, was incapable of human emotions—that was some serious bad luck.

“It’s not Summer’s fault,” Tyler said. “I saw her driving out here and I followed her, well, because I’ve missed her and I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to see if maybe we could get back together.”

“I’m sure you wanted to
talk
,” Blair spat. Then she turned on Summer. “What’s the matter with you? Are you stupid or slow or both? Why would you go for him?” She waved a dismissive hand at Tyler. “When you’re supposed to be seducing
that
man!”

She pointed at Sam, who looked immediately alarmed.

“Say what?” he asked. “I came here because someone called in a disturbance, and then I found you two, which explained all the noise.”

His face flushed a faint shade of pink, and since Sam never blushed, Maggie could only imagine what he had walked in on. Oh, dear!

“Piecing it all together,” Maggie said to Sam, “I’d say, Summer was supposed to seduce you while Blair conned me into supposedly coming out here to look at some items for my shop; we were supposed to walk in on you two; I would be suitably devastated; and we’d break up, thus paving the way for you and Summer to be together forever.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Maggie looked at Blair.

“How am I doing so far?”

“I will not dignify that ridiculous story with an answer,” she said.

“Probably, that’s just as well,” Sam said with a glower. “Or I’d have to cite you for making a false report. Didn’t we already do this song and dance once? Did you really think we’d fall for it again?”

“Since it worked so well the first time, I’m sure they were counting on it,” Maggie said.

“Hey, now, hold up,” Tyler sputtered as he tried to yank on his pants. “What are they talking about, Summer? Is this true?”

“No, sugar, it’s all just a horrible misunderstanding,” Summer said. She was looking at Tyler with pleading eyes, but it didn’t work.

“I can’t believe you’d do that to them or to us,” he said. He frowned at her. “You were really going to bust them up by seducing him? That’s just cold and mean.”

“No, Tyler, wait. I can explain,” Summer pleaded. She put her hand on his arm to stop him from leaving.

He shook her off, looking hurt and disappointed. “I’m sorry, darling, but you’re not the girl I thought you were.”

With that, Tyler grabbed his shirt and jacket and stormed out of the room.

Maggie would have thought he’d slam the door in a temper, but Tyler shut it quietly behind him, making his departure seem all the more serious and condemning.

Summer had been Maggie’s nemesis since childhood. Maggie thought she’d enjoy seeing Summer put in her place, but Summer was the picture of misery, and Maggie was stunned to find she actually felt sorry for her.

“If you care about him, go after him,” Maggie said. “Trust me on this.”

“You stay out of it!” Blair snapped. She turned to Summer and said, “Don’t even think about following that man. You put one toe outside this room and I will disown you.”

“But I lo—” Summer began to protest, but her mother cut her off.

“No, you don’t,” Blair said. “You can do so much better than that no-account trailer trash.”

“Tyler’s not—” Maggie protested, but Blair cut her off, too.

“And
you
can bet I won’t be taking you to see my friend’s collectibles either,” Blair said.

“See?” Maggie asked. “Now that’s where I should have caught on. A viper like you doesn’t have any friends!”

“How dare you?” Blair sucked in a breath, but Maggie didn’t care.

“Oh, I dare. You might want to be nicer to Tyler,” she said. “As far as I can tell, he’s your only ride home.”

With that, Maggie spun on her heel and stormed out the door. She could hear Sam trying to choke back a laugh as he followed her.

Once they were in the parking lot, the chilly February wind did wonders to cool Maggie’s ire. She pulled her coat more tightly about herself as she stomped to her car.

“I can’t believe I fell for it,” she muttered.

Sam jogged to catch up to her and caught her hand in his. “Hey, Maggie, hold up.”

“Sorry,” she said. She slowed her pace to match his. “I am just so angry. I can’t believe I fell for Blair’s line about having friends with old fifties kitchen memorabilia. I am such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not,” he said. They stopped beside her car and he tugged her into his arms. “You’re a savvy small business owner who thought she was onto a score.”

“But what if Tyler hadn’t followed Summer out here?” Maggie asked. “What if I had walked into their trap?”

Sam leaned back to study her face. “What if you had walked in on Summer and me alone? What do you think you would have found?”

An image of Summer from their high school days having a jolly good time with a guy wearing Sam’s football jersey flashed through her mind.
Gross!

At her silence, Sam continued, “I can tell you what you would have found—me hiding in the bathroom.”

Maggie burst out laughing. The idea that Sam would hide from Summer on the make was ludicrous and lovely.

“Thank you. I thought you might be hiding under the bed, but the bathroom makes more sense,” she said. She glanced at the closed motel room door. “I have to be honest. For the first time ever, I actually felt sorry for Summer. Her mother was so cruel to her.”

“Me, too,” Sam said. “Her mother is a horror. I really thought Blair was an over-involved helicopter mother, but clearly she has her own agenda, and Summer’s happiness is not on it.”

“This whole episode explains a lot,” Maggie said. “About why Summer is the way she is. I always wondered what made her so mean and now I know it’s in her DNA. She is either genetically predisposed for cruelty or she just doesn’t know any better.”

“And that is another thing I love about you, Maggie Gerber,” he said. “You have a big heart.”

Sam leaned forward and kissed her, and Maggie felt as if all was right with her world again.

“Oh, hey,” Sam said as he stepped back. “Don’t you have a date tonight?”

“I do,” Maggie said. “At five.”

She glanced at her watch. It was a quarter to four. She’d never make it back in time to dress and change. Oh, no!

Sam smiled at her. “It’s okay. I think your date is running behind as well. Want to roll it back to five thirty?”

“Ish,” Maggie amended. “Five thirty-ish. That’s a fifteen-minute buffer, for the uninitiated.”

“Five thirty-ish it is,” he said. “See you at the shop.”

Maggie gave him a quick kiss and climbed into her car. She saw Sam wander over to the far side of the lot, where Tyler was sitting in his truck. She wondered what sort of pep talk Sam would give to Tyler. He’d certainly suffered a humiliating blow at the hands of Blair Cassidy.

This all could have gone so horribly awry. She couldn’t help but be grateful that Summer and her mother’s scheme hadn’t worked this time.

Sam arrived at the shop at five thirty on the dot.
Maggie was relieved that she hadn’t needed the ish factor after all. When she opened the door to let him in, he looked suitably awestruck by her slinky black dress and high heels.

“Wow,” he said. “You are gorgeous.”

Maggie felt her face get hot as she took in his charcoal gray suit, light blue dress shirt and burgundy necktie.

“You clean up pretty well yourself,” she said.

He grinned at her. “Deputy Wilson threatened to tase me if I wore my uniform.”

Maggie laughed. She could see Dot doing that. Sam lifted her coat off the back of a chair and held it open for her. Maggie slipped it on and felt his hands rest on her shoulders with the familiarity of someone who was becoming intimately acquainted with her person.

Was this really them? She caught sight of their reflection in the window glass and her breath caught. They were a couple; a couple that was dating, going out to dinner and, dare she think it, falling in love again. She wondered what her brokenhearted seventeen-year-old self would have thought if she had known the future held this moment in store.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

Maggie felt her face grow warm. Did she have the nerve to tell him? Yes, she did.

“Just that I wish I’d known when I was seventeen that I’d have the opportunity to fall in love with you again,” she said.

Sam’s blue eyes met hers in a look that was more than the scorching heat of chemistry, although there was plenty of that. It was a tangible connection of the soul-deep kind, the twined vines of friendship, love and passion. Wow.

“I wish I’d known, too,” he said. “Realizing I’d get to call you my girl again would have helped me get through some very dark days.”

He kissed her, and to Maggie it felt as if there was a promise tucked in it.

“Ready to go?” he asked when he stepped back.

“Yes, definitely,” she said.

Sam led the way out the door, waiting while Maggie locked up. He was driving his personal vehicle tonight and not a squad car. Maggie hoped that this meant they could have a crime-free evening.

“Who’s on patrol tonight?” she asked as he settled her into his SUV.

“The rookies,” he said. “Deputy Wilson threatened to tase them, too, if they called me before they called her.”

“She is determined that you have a night off,” Maggie said.

“So it would seem,” Sam said. “I have to admit, it will be nice to eat in a restaurant and not be worried that I’m going to have to run out halfway through the meal.”

“So, we’re going to a restaurant?” Maggie asked.

“Voltaire’s, if that’s okay?” Sam asked.

“Okay?” Maggie asked. “It’s the finest French restaurant in the county. I’ve always wanted to eat there.”

“I’d heard something like that,” Sam said.

“Talked to Ginger, did you?”

“Well, I wasn’t a crackerjack detective on the Richmond force for nothing,” he said. “I do need to make one stop first.”

Maggie nodded. That was fine. Everything was fine. She’d be just as happy to eat at a highway truck stop, so long as she was with Sam.

They hadn’t driven far when Sam pulled over to the curb on the town green. He turned in his seat and said, “Come on, I want to show you something.”

He got out of the car and hurried around to open the door for Maggie. She noticed the center of town was quiet as she slipped out of the car and into the cold night air.

Sam took her hand and walked her down the path that led through the barren green. The gazebo where the local geriatric jazz band put on weekly summer concerts was lit up with strings of white and red lights.

“Look at that,” Maggie said. “Someone decorated the gazebo.”

She glanced at Sam, and even in the dim light of the night she could see his face flush with embarrassment.

“You?” she asked.

He gave a self-conscious chuckle and put his free hand on the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

“Oh, Sam,” Maggie said. “It’s beautiful.”

Together they climbed the steps. The red and white lights cast a pretty glow all around the wooden structure. The gazebo was legendary in St. Stanley as the place where all the couples came to pledge their love. It had been built over a hundred years ago. Maggie figured there probably wasn’t an original board left in the place, but the town had faithfully, some might say scrupulously, maintained its original look, because it was the heart of St. Stanley.

The story went that Stewart Devon, a wandering carpenter, blew into St. Stanley and was hired to build the gazebo. While he worked, he fell in love with the mayor’s daughter. Of course, the mayor forbade his daughter, Anastasia, to have anything to do with the lowly carpenter. So Stewart built the gazebo as slowly as he could until the mayor threatened to throw him in jail if he didn’t finish.

Reluctantly, Stewart finished the gazebo. The town held a party to celebrate its completion, and Stewart prepared to leave St. Stanley. Mysteriously, the gazebo burnt down that night. A witness claimed that Anastasia was the one to burn it down.

The mayor didn’t want his daughter arrested for arson and so asked Stewart to take her away with him. Stewart said no. He knew that Anastasia loved St. Stanley and didn’t want to leave and so he made a pact with the town that if he rebuilt the gazebo they would not arrest Anastasia for arson. The town agreed and the couple was the first to be married in the gazebo. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Devon lived out their days in St. Stanley, having three children and seven grandchildren, and the gazebo became a sacred spot to all St. Stanley couples.

Doc Franklin had gotten down on one knee and proposed to his wife Alice here. During a summer concert, Roger Lancaster had first asked Ginger out on the steps. And Sam Collins, well, when he was eight years old, he’d been on the receiving end of a bloody nose from seven-year-old Maggie O’Brien, years before she became Maggie Gerber, for teasing her about her favorite sparkly pink shoes.

Sam turned Maggie to face him, holding her hands in his.

“The night before I left for college, I had it all planned out. I wanted to bring you right here, with flowers and music, and tell you that I loved you and ask you to wait for me.”

“Oh, Sam,” Maggie felt her heart squeeze tight. “I’m so—”

“No, don’t be,” Sam said. “I didn’t know it then, but it played out the way it was supposed to. You were destined to marry Charlie and have Laura and become the amazing woman that you are. And I was supposed to go to Richmond and become a detective. I loved my career, and I wouldn’t be the man that I am if I hadn’t chosen that path.”

“But this is so wonderful,” Maggie said. “And it hurts me to know that you did this for me back then, and I shut the door in your face. Gah, I’m a horrible person.”

Sam lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his. “No, you’re not. Honestly, Maggie, I don’t think we were supposed to be together until now. We were both pretty hotheaded and stubborn. Well, more you than me,” he teased. Maggie didn’t argue because it was true. “I think we both needed to live a little and grow up a lot so we could truly appreciate what we have between us.”

“Thank you,” Maggie said. Her voice was rough, as she had to force her words past the lump in her throat. “For all of this, and for letting us have a do-over.”

Sam let go of her hands and crossed the gazebo to take a single red rose out of a box with a note.

Maggie smiled when she took the flower and the note from him. She opened the card but the note was blank. She flipped it over and then glanced at Sam in question. He smiled and then held up one hand. From it dangled a diamond-encrusted heart on a golden chain.

“Valentine,” he said. “Maggie, will you be my valentine?”

Maggie swallowed the lump in her throat, which naturally made a tear slip out of the corner of her eye. Sam wiped it away with the gentlest touch. Then she grinned and nodded.

“Yes, most definitely,” she said. “I’ll be your valentine so long as you promise to be mine.”

“Always,” Sam said.

He moved to stand behind her and fastened the necklace around her throat. Maggie fingered the heart and watched it sparkle in the light. It was perfect.

“There is just one thing you need to know,” she said. “If things had gone differently that night, I would have told you I loved you, too, and I would have waited. In fact, I feel as if I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time. I love you, Sam Collins.”

The smile Sam gave her was one she would carry with her always. It was him at his most boyish, just like when they were teens. She treasured that look. When he kissed her, she knew they had finally done it. They had healed the old hurts and laid to rest the ghosts of their past.

Dinner was perfect. The food. The wine. The company. Maggie couldn’t remember when she’d had such a magical evening. She gave Sam his gift after dinner. She had used her connections in the resale world and gotten him a signed jersey for his beloved Ravens. Sam was thrilled. He was also a good storyteller, talking about his life in Richmond, but he was also a wonderful listener, asking her questions about her life in St. Stanley and marveling at how she’d managed on her own after Charlie had died.

Over the past few months, they had each shared snippets of their lives apart, but somehow, after their time in the gazebo, it was as if a final barrier had been removed. The stories they shared now were more personal and more honest. Maggie felt as if they knew it was okay. There was nothing, no secret they couldn’t share, that would drive the other away. It was a remarkable place to be in after all these years.

Maggie felt like she could sit in the glow of the candlelight, drinking in the sight of Sam sitting across from her, for hours, days, quite possibly weeks, and never get tired of him, of them. Yes, they both had the crinkly lines of age at the corners of their eyes, and gray hair was just beginning to sprout, but she couldn’t help but feel they had their whole lives ahead of them.

They were just leaving the restaurant when Maggie’s phone chimed. She wondered if it was Laura calling from college to ask about her date. She surreptitiously pulled her phone out of her purse and checked the display as they walked to the door.

The number was Ginger’s. Now, she knew her BFF was curious about her date, but she didn’t think she’d be calling and interrupting unless something had happened.

“It’s Ginger,” she said.

“You take it,” Sam said. “I’ll get our coats.”

He made his way to the coat check and Maggie answered the phone.

“Hello,” Maggie said.

“You’re not naked, are you?” Ginger asked.

“What? No!” Maggie said. “We’re just leaving Voltaire’s.”

“Oh, good, Roger said not to call because I might be interrupting . . .
you know
,” Ginger said. Then she giggled.

Maggie rolled her eyes. She felt as if they were still in high school. “Clearly, you’re not interrupting
you know
, so what’s happening?”

“Michael just called,” Ginger said. Now her voice was straight-up serious. “Joanne is in labor. They are on their way to the hospital right now.”

“Get out!” Maggie said. “But this is early, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Ginger said.

Maggie could hear the concern in her friend’s voice.

“Claire and Pete have already left for the hospital, and Roger and I are on our way now,” Ginger said. “I can keep you posted with texts if you want.”

Sam returned with their coats over his arm.

“Oh, no,” Maggie said. “Good Buy Girls stick together through it all, especially birth. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Sam raised his eyebrows and mouthed,
Joanne?
Maggie nodded at him and he blew out a breath as if he were nervous, too.

“But it’s your first Valentine’s Day with Sam,” Ginger protested. “You should spend it alone together.”

“There’ll be more Valentine’s Days for us,” Maggie said.

Sam smiled at her as if he liked the sound of that, and Maggie almost forgot who she was talking to and why.

Sam took the phone from her hand. “We’ll see you at the hospital, Ginger,” he said.

Whatever she answered made him chuckle as he hung up. Sam held open her coat and Maggie shrugged it on. He then handed her phone back, and Maggie tucked it into her purse.

As he walked her out to the car, Maggie noticed that he had a faraway look in his eyes. She suddenly felt very guilty for ending their date at the hospital.

“I’m really sorry about this,” she said. “But Joanne and Michael have been trying for so long. I just feel like she needs all the support she can get, especially with the baby coming this early.”

Sam put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “Of course you need to be with Joanne. Besides, it’s a baby. How cool is that?”

Maggie looked at him and saw the happy light in his eyes. Oh no, he liked babies! Panic started to thump through her. Maybe he wanted some of his own. Maybe he wanted them with her!