Never Tell Your Dreams (19 page)

“Now where are you going?” Susie jumped up from her
desk chair. “Mitch? Are you okay?”

“I think I’m coming down with something.” He
continued to walk out of the office. “I’m going to work at home if you need
me.”

He didn’t wait to hear her reply. His plan was to
get out of the courthouse before he ran into Maggie. He was coming down with
something. It was something he’d felt for years. An aching, a yearning for
something he would never be able to have. Maggie.

Chapter 34

Faith makes things possible, not easy. ~
Unknown

Maggie twirled around. Surely she didn’t just miss
him or that rickety old truck that Mitch loved.

She ran up the courthouse steps and into the
building. Maybe someone had taken Mitch’s truck to run an errand.  It wasn’t
unusual for friends to borrow your truck or anything else they needed around
here.

“Hi, Susie.” Maggie tried to catch her breath. She
didn’t know what she was going to say to Mitch when she saw him, but she knew
she had to be honest.

“Maggie, are you okay?” Susie’s eyebrows narrowed.

Maggie waved her hand in front of her. “I’m fine.
Just a little out of breath. Maybe I need to take some exercise class or
something. I have nothing but time.” Maggie nervously laughed. “Is Mitch in his
office?”

“No, he was acting strange too.” Susie looked her up
and down. “Sort of like you; in a hurry to get out of here.”

“Oh.” Maggie couldn’t help but wonder if Mitch had
seen her and Grady. Probably not. “Did he say where he was going?”

“Nope.” Susie started to click away on the computer.

“Did he say anything about tomorrow?” Maggie felt
like she was pulling teeth to get any information out of Susie.

“Well, Patricia Van Meter did call to say she was
going to be here first thing in the morning.” Susie didn’t take her eyes off
the computer.

“Susie, listen. I’m not going anywhere. I’m back.
And I’m thinking about taking the County Attorney position. So we are going to
have to put our differences behind us.” Maggie planted her briefcase on Susie’s
desk. She dug Mitch’s keys out of it and tossed them on Susie’s desk.

Susie picked them up. “He gave you the keys to the
office?” Her mouth dropped open.

“Yes. Now is there any other information you can
tell me?” Maggie pleaded. She cared about the case, but she cared about Mitch
more.

“He said he wasn’t feeling well and was going home
to work for the day.” Susie sat back in her chair and folded her hands. “So,
what are your intentions with Mitch? You know, we aren’t those teenage kids
anymore.”

Maggie sat down in the chair in front of Susie’s
desk. For some reason Maggie felt that she needed someone to talk to, and Susie
was there.

“Grady came into town this morning. He left me
because he knew my heart was really in Grandberry Falls. He said he didn’t want
to settle for half of my heart.” A tear dripped down Maggie’s face. “I’m afraid
I’m in love with Mitch, and I might have screwed it up after all these years.”

Susie set the tissue box in front of Maggie.

“You know that he and Wendy aren’t engaged anymore,
right?” Susie gave Maggie a little hope.

“Yes. Wendy told me. He hasn’t said a word and that
is what scares me.” Maggie wiped her cheek.

“You and I have our differences, but we both love
Grandberry Falls. I’m sure you haven’t screwed things up with Mitch.” Susie got
up and walked around the desk. She sat down in the other chair next to Maggie.
“I was here to pick up the pieces for everyone when you left and decided to
never come back. And when Mitch came to New York and saw you with Grady, I was
here. I saw what you had done to him after all of these years.”

“I know. I know,” Maggie whispered, looking down at
her fingers. “It’s taken losing my Granny’s farm to get my head out of my ass.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Mitch is
going to save the day. I’m sure of it.” Susie got up to answer the phone.

Maggie had to do something. She had to find Mitch.
She grabbed her briefcase off the desk and headed back to her car. Susie said
he was going to work at home, and that is exactly where Maggie was going to go.

***

Mitch glanced at his cell every time it rang. When
he saw it was Maggie, he pushed the decline button. She was the last person he
wanted to talk to. He was on a high from learning about the property he could
offer Van Meter, but quickly fell flat on his face when he saw Grady holding
Maggie’s hands across the table.

You are so stupid.
He couldn’t
stop beating himself up. Maggie didn’t want him years ago, and she didn’t want
him now.

He had to keep his distance. The only reason she had
been spending time with him was for Hazel and her family.

The phone rang again. He didn’t even look at it. He
knew it was Maggie wanting to know what he had found out. She could wait. He
didn’t need her to give the proposal to Patricia. He’d gotten this far on his
own. He’d finish it tomorrow.

There was no guarantee that Van Meter’s clients
would take the deal, but Mitch would offer his property. The only thing Maggie
did do was put the correct wording in his mouth.

He rehearsed the speech over and over. The speech he
would give tomorrow to Patricia and Hazel.

Chapter 35

Faith is believing in things when common
sense tells you not to. ~ George Seaton

Maggie reached for her ringing cell. She was
positive it was Mitch calling her back.

“Hey. Where are you?” Maggie asked.

“Where are you?” Belle asked back.

Maggie pulled the phone away from her ear to confirm
it was Belle’s number. It
had
to be Mitch calling her back. She was
wrong.

“I’m heading over to Mitch’s house.” Maggie let it
slip. “Ummm. . .to talk about the case.”

“You need to get over here to help decorate.” Belle
demanded.

Maggie sensed a hint of anger in Belle’s voice.

“You said you were going to be here by eleven. And
it’s noon.” Belle said.

Maggie looked at her watch. Damn, Belle was right.
How did the time slip away?

“Fine. I’m on my way.” Maggie did a u-turn on the
old country road leading to Mitch’s.

Her feelings were going to have to wait. Probably
best anyways. The eminent domain case needed to be taken care of first and
foremost. Then they could discuss her future as Grandberry Falls attorney, and
occupying a piece of his heart.

She tried to call him one more time, leaving a
message, “Hey, where are you? What was the big secret you needed to find out?
Call me. I want to make sure we have everything for tomorrow morning. I’m going
to help decorate for the festival, so call me or stop by.”

Maggie held the wheel with one hand and the phone up
to her heart with the other.

She imagined the look on his face when she confessed
that she didn’t believe she could live without him in her life.

Everything felt good. Everything felt right. Even if
the eminent domain case didn’t go in their favor, she was confident they would
make it through just fine.

###

It was ten o’clock at night by the time all
decorations were up.

Maggie looked around. The starry sky lit up the
night, and the paper lanterns glowed all over the park, and dotted the lake. It
took her breath away.

She’d been to this festival so many times that she
never realized what all went into making it happen. The table decorations were
in place, all the kid games were set up just waiting to be played, and Hazel’s
tea stand was ready to serve up the best sweet brew in town.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Hazel embraced Maggie from
behind.

“Yes. Amazing.” Maggie patted Hazel’s hands. “Are
you worried about tomorrow?”

Hazel grabbed Maggie by the arms and turned her
towards her. “No. I know something is going to go our way. I’m not sure what.
But something tells me it’s going to be all right.”

They hugged.

Maggie loved being here. She couldn’t imagine not.
Too many years had gone by that she wasn’t here, but she was making up for it
now.

“Have you seen Mitch?” Maggie asked.

Hazel smiled. “No, but there seems to be a different
look in your eye.”

Maggie turned away. She had forgotten how well Hazel
knew her.

“Maggie Greenlee, is my wish coming true after all
these years?” Hazel clasped her hands together and did a little jig.

“Granny, don’t be ridiculous. I was just curious. I
wanted to go over a few things.” Maggie pretended to fix a few of the place
settings on one of the picnic tables. She wasn’t about to confess to anything.
“Besides, you need to focus all your matchmaking skills on Belle and Butch.”

“Don’t you worry about your sister.” Hazel shook her
finger at Maggie. “I’ve got that covered.”

She still needed to talk to Mitch and see if he felt
the same way. After all, he’d never told her about his broken engagement.

“Let’s go home.” Maggie suggested. “We have a big
morning ahead of us. We need all the sleep we can get.”

Maggie pulled her cell out of her pocket to see if
Mitch had called and had missed it somehow. There was nothing there.

She’d have to go to bed on a wing and a prayer that
they were going to be able to ‘wing it’ with Patricia. Only Maggie knew all too
well that Patricia Van Meter wasn’t coming to town to play nice, she was coming
to town to win. And Patricia Van Meter never
winged
it.

Chapter 36

Feed your faith and your fears will
starve to death. ~ Unknown

Today is the day
, Mitch thought
as he straightened the office the best he could. He had left strict
instructions with Susie to be sure to have coffee, Danish items, and other
treats for the big meeting.

Everyone in town seemed to realize the day was
today. He’d received several phone calls from citizens on both sides of the
fence.

“Okay, these are from the Trembling Cup.” Susie
rushed into the office. Her wavy hair flying behind her, a tray of pastries in
her hands.

Mitch smiled at Susie. He wasn’t use to seeing her
dressed up. Everyone was putting their best foot forward.

His thoughts continued to go to Maggie and how he
dodged all her phone calls yesterday. She was going to be mad.

“What?” Susie put the tray on the desk.

“You are all fixed up. Not your usual self.” Mitch
helped her.

“This is a big day for you, and I’m here to support
you.” Susie plugged in the coffee pot and started the brew cycle. “We have
twenty minutes. Where in the hell is Maggie?”

“Do we really need Maggie?” Mitch filled up the
sugar dish, and put out the cream.

“Um, yes.” Susie nodded her head. “She did work
there. Where in the hell is she?”

“I’m right here.” Maggie walked through the door,
Hazel trailed behind.

His eyes searched her face, trying to reach into her
thoughts. The nagging images of Grady holding her hands made him sick. It was
an image he wasn’t able to get out of his head. Her tight skirt gave way to her
long slender legs planted in black stilettos. She looked amazing.

Beautiful,
he thought
looking at her long dark hair pulled neatly back at the nape of her neck. Her
bangs hid just the top of her eyes, making her a little more mysterious. She
created a want in him that no one had ever done to him.

“And I’m here too.” The woman walked in with a
barrage of people. Her blunt black hair, cut just above her chin, didn’t move
as she sashayed into the office. She nodded. “Maggie.”

Don’t they have sunshine in New York?
Mitch wanted to
ask, because he’d never seen someone as pale-skinned in his life. She was
gaunt, thin, and rude.

Without a word, Patricia Van Meter and her minions
took a seat at the conference table, ignoring the treats.

“Patricia.” Maggie walked over to her former boss.
Patricia stood up, nose to nose.

They both looked very New York to Mitch. He secretly
thanked Maggie for being there. Patricia definitely intimated him. He had to
put the feelings he was having for Maggie aside in order to address the issue
at hand.

Maggie and Patricia kissed each other’s cheeks.
Mitch walked over.

“Thank you for coming. It’s great to put a face with
your voice.” Mitch held his hand out. “I’m Mitch Dozier, and this is Hazel
Greenlee.”

“Aww, Maggie’s grandmother.” Patricia’s voice was
snide. “Yes, let’s get this little matter taken care of.”

Patricia snapped her fingers. One of the gentlemen
jumped up and began talking all sorts of legality with the Pelt Company and
eminent domain gibberish that Mitch didn’t understand at all. He glanced over
at Maggie who was taking all sorts of notes and nodding her head.