Twenty-Five
Stamped and Sealed
“So when am I going to meet this man of yours?” Maggie asked from across the table. She sipped her Diet Coke from the straw and then proceeded to dip her French fries in the puddle of mayonnaise she had put on her plate. I was having a hard time trying not to let that ruin my appetite, but I think my disgust must have been obvious since she proceeded to make provocative noises as she dipped another fry through the glob that now seemed to dominate most of her plate. “Mmm, so good.”
Shaking my head to dismiss her disgusting habit, I answered, “Soon. He needed to get some work stuff done today, but you’ll be meeting him later tonight.” Maggie had only been in town less than an hour. I’d picked her up at the airport a short while ago and it wasn’t until I saw her walking toward me that I realized how much I’d missed her. She was easy to spot with her fiery red hair and loose curls that seem to fall in all the right places. Maggie had always been a beautiful girl, but she somehow seemed to get prettier as time went by. Her fiery attitude matched her red hair too. There was no in between with Maggie. You either loved her or hated her. I loved her. She was fiercely protective, loyal, and wasn’t shy about telling you what she thought, although she wouldn’t bulldoze over you either. She seemed to have perfected walking that fine line between beating you over the head and letting you know she cared by opening her heart. She was intense at times, but Maggie wouldn’t be Maggie if she wasn’t.
It took me a while to convince her when I called that I was indeed getting married in a week. That conversation went something like…
“Hey Maggie, I have some very important news and you need to be sitting down for it. Are you sitting?”
“Yeah, I’m sitting. Let’s hear it, chick.”
“I’m getting married.” I sort of blurted it out.
“Shut up! You are not!”
“It’s true. I am. In a week. And I need you here. I know it’s short notice but I’m hoping—”
“Back the trolley up a minute,” Maggie said. “In a week? A week? You’re getting married in a week?!?”
“Yes, Maggie. In a week.”
“But why so soon? What’s the rush? I haven’t even met this man of yours yet. I thought I made myself clear when I talked to him that day that you two aren’t official until my seal of approval has been stamped. What the hell?”
“Maggie,” I said, trying not to laugh, “I have so much to tell you. Will you say you’ll come? I need you here.”
“You don’t even have to ask that, Lily. Of course I’ll be there.”
“Good. Cooper is paying for your travel, and before you even try to argue that point, save it. It’s no use.” Maggie hated to have other people do things like that for her, especially where money was involved, but she would have to get over it this one time. “You’ll stay with me, of course, and I’ll do my best to fill you in on everything that’s happened.”
“Fine. Okay. But I better like this man of yours, otherwise…”
“Otherwise what?”
“I don’t know yet, but I have an entire plane ride to think about it.”
I laughed. “Okay, Mags. I’m not really worried though, so think away.”
That was yesterday. And now she was sitting with me at Sal’s Diner while I began filling her in on everything that had taken place these past few months since I last saw her. I think the only time she looked away from me was when she went to grab some more napkins off another table because we had used all the ones on ours. She had started crying first, so I blamed her for the waterworks today. I had resolved that I would not cry, but when I saw how upsetting it was for her to hear all of this it was automatic. I’d only seen her cry one other time, and that was at my daddy’s funeral.
Maggie didn’t know what to say so she didn’t say anything at first. I didn’t want her to feel like she needed to say anything so I reached across the table and patted the top of her hands.
“I’m okay, Mags. I am. And I’m happy, because I realized that I’m not broken. I have dents, bruises, scars, and cracks so deep that it’s a wonder I’m not in a million pieces, but I’m not – not anymore. I don’t know how, but Cooper put me back together.” I smiled. “Like a mosaic, taking all my broken pieces, he made something beautiful out of something ugly. The best part is he slowly began filling the cracks with himself. We aren’t two separate people anymore. Somewhere along the way we became one. He is a part of me, and I am a part of him. You asked me why so soon, why the rush to get married? Here’s my answer… because I’ve already waited my whole life for him. We’re not rushing. We should be the poster children for patience. There’s no reason to keep waiting, and a thousand and one reasons to leap with my heart and promise to love him forever and ever in front of our friends and family as quickly as possible, because I don’t want one more hour, minute, or second to go by where I’m not calling him my husband.”
Maggie’s eyes were filled with an unspoken understanding, and she gave me her undivided attention. When I was finished, I saw a side of her I’d never seen before. I saw her hard edges soften and the coolness in her green eyes warm to a slightly darker emerald shade. She looked down at the table and poked the ice in her glass with her straw.
“I love you, Lily. And I envy you.”
Maggie and I had spent the rest of the afternoon together talking and laughing. Now it was time to meet up with Cooper and let them get acquainted. I was happy that the two of them would finally meet and I also wanted Mags to meet Joe and Hayden. Beth was planning on meeting us too until she got called into work at the last minute. I’d quit working at the diner weeks ago, and they had hired someone to replace me. Apparently that hadn’t been working out too well, since the new girl who was originally requesting to work more hours than I did had a bad habit of calling in sick. Beth had said she would try to meet up with us later if it wasn’t too late.
“Where are we going, Lily? I’m not sure what I should wear.”
Maggie had an assortment of clothes spread out across my bed. I inventoried the options and chose for her a classic black dress that I’d seen her wear a million times and she always looked great in it.
“Here, wear this one. I’ve always liked this dress.”
I scanned my own wardrobe for something to wear and decided on the red dress; the same red dress that I knew Cooper loved because the last time I wore it he made a point to tell me how much he liked it a dozen times. I smiled inwardly knowing that it was going to drive him crazy.
Cooper suggested that we all meet up at the bar, but Joe had suggested we go to dinner instead; somewhere less noisy.
Maggie and I arrived at the restaurant early, because I wanted to have time for us to have a drink before the others got there. Plus I wanted to give Mags a chance to catch me up with her life. She was currently not dating anyone; at least not anyone serious. That was about as much as I got out of her before she looked over my shoulder and her mouth dropped open.
“Oh my God, that guy is totally checking you out.”
“What guy?” I started to turn my head to the direction of her stare.
“No! Don’t turn around!”
“Why?”
“Because…” She looked back at me, choosing not to elaborate.
I could feel something equivalent to little pinpricks on my skin now, and the only time I ever felt that was when Cooper was near me. “What’s he doing?” I asked, casually rubbing my arms to remove the chill bumps.
Maggie glanced back over toward him semi-discreetly. “He’s got his hands in his front pockets and he looks like he’s maybe waiting for someone. But he’s totally got you in his sights, chick.” She got quiet for a minute as she evaluated him. Her eyes ran the length of his body as if her retinas contained some sort of computer chip for the purpose of downloading and viewing later. She was being pretty brazen about the way she was looking at him.
“What are you doing Maggie?”
“Obviously I’m looking. He’s…”
“He’s what?”
“He’s freaking gorgeous! Dark hair and dark eyes. He’s got about a day’s worth of stubble and the way he’s rubbing his jaw right now like he’s thinking about something is totally hot.” Maggie leaned back further in her chair, tilting her head. “There’s something almost ethereal about him. The way he moves is just so…” Maggie shook her head like she was coming out of a trance then focused her attention back to me. “Anyway, when’s that fiancé of yours going to get here?”
Maggie didn’t know it but she was staring at Cooper, and trying to remain composed without laughing in her face was killing me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was him.
Maggie’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, Lily, I think he’s coming over here.” She looked down at her menu and pretended to read it. I, however, was fighting the laughter bubbling inside of me.
“Hi,” Cooper said as he approached our table.
“Hi,” I said back politely.
“I couldn’t help noticing you when I came in.” Cooper looked at me and winked but didn’t let Maggie see him do it. She was still pretending to be interested in the salad choices. I could only assume that Cooper noticed Maggie’s reaction to him and he wanted to play. “Has anyone ever told you how absolutely stunningly beautiful you are?” Cooper didn’t wait for me to answer. “You should be told that every day.” He bent down so that his breath was in my ear. “So beautiful.”
Maggie had finally looked up from her menu and it was the first time she’d gone without saying words this long that I could recall.
“Thank you. That’s…um…very sweet of you to say, but I’m waiting for my fiancé. So…”
“If you were mine I would never keep you waiting.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
Maggie was looking at me with her big eyes, trying to communicate with me telepathically.
Cooper turned to acknowledge her. “Hello.”
With a small wave of her hand she responded, “Hi.” Her eyes darted quickly back to her menu.
Cooper turned back toward me and pinned me with his eyes. “I really love your dress.” His lips barely grazed the skin behind my ear when he leaned down to speak low enough to be sinfully enticing. “I’ll make you a deal. If this fiancé of yours doesn’t get here in the next two minutes, you are going home with me.”
I think I was supposed to pretend not to enjoy having Cooper talk sexy to me right then, but I’d kind of lost my bearings. I couldn’t think to string two words together.
Maggie’s mouth dropped to the floor, then she huffed and snapped her menu shut purposefully. “I don’t think you understand, mister whoever you are. My friend here is taken. You see that rock on her left finger? Yeah, that means you need to move along.” The coolness in her green eyes was back with a vengeance, but the confidence in her voice was barely convincing.
Cooper sat down next to me, moving closer and draped his arm over my shoulder. He gave her a smooth, devilish grin. “You must be Maggie.”
For the second time in less than five minutes, Cooper had managed to render her speechless.
Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re…you’re Cooper?”
“I am.” He reached across the table for her hand. “It’s nice to meet you finally.”
Maggie’s face now matched her hair color. “I’m an idiot. I don’t know why I didn’t think that…you….ah, I’m such an idiot. I wasn’t expecting someone who looks like you. I mean, oh God. I’m going to shut up now.”
Well this was a first. I had never seen Maggie flustered before. Ever.
Cooper let out a loud laugh. “Tell you what; since you were defending me in a way, I promise to not embarrass you anymore if you promise to keep the butter knives on the table where I can see them.”
Maggie was the one to laugh next. “Deal.”
“Making deals already? Y’all just met,” Joe said, slapping Cooper on the back, smiling at Maggie. Joe extended his hand, “Hi, I’m Joe, the good looking one.” Turning to face me he winked. “Right, Lily?”
“Right, Joe.” I grinned. “Joe, meet Maggie Malone. Maggie, this is Joe Carlisle.”
Maggie graciously extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Taking a seat next to Maggie, Joe asked curiously, “So why are we making deals so early in the evening already?”
Maggie stammered, not knowing exactly how to answer that, but Cooper stepped in and saved her from further embarrassment.
“Allow me to explain. Maggie here has promised not to remove my testicles with a butter knife if I promise to take care of Lily. We shook on it and everything. I think I made a friend.” Cooper winked. “Right, Maggie?”
Sitting up straighter, Maggie agreed. “Right.”
“I have a knack for walking in on the tail end of conversations,” Hayden grumped. “Hi,” he said to Maggie, greeting her with a gentle handshake. “I’m Hayden McCoy.” Hayden never waited to be introduced. He greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. “Always nice to see you, Lily.” He looked around the table. “Am I late?”
Patting Hayden on the hand, I said, “Nope, just in time actually.” I gestured toward Maggie. “This is my friend, Maggie Malone.”
“Nice to meet you, Hayden,” Maggie beamed.
“Likewise.”
The rest of the evening flew by. Maggie was her old self again and Joe was in rare form.
“Tell us something about Maggie,” Joe asked her enthusiastically.
“Um, like what?” Maggie asked cautiously.
“Anything. This is get to know you night. So, let’s get to know you. Here, I’ll help you out. What is one of your pet peeves?”
Maggie made a face. “I guess people who expect instant gratification.” She raised an eyebrow to Joe, “You’re not one of those people are you?”
“Oh God no. Instant gratification takes too long.”
Maggie laughed. “You’re a wise guy aren’t ya?”
“It’s not that hard to be wise, Maggie. Think of something stupid to say, and then don’t say it,” Joe smirked.
“The answer to your question, Maggie, is yes. He’s a wise guy,” Cooper said.
“Yes, but we love him.” I smiled at Joe across the table.
The guys would razz each other and Maggie and I would find ourselves listening to their back and forth banter. I think they got Maggie broken in fairly quickly and she was having a great time, as I had known she would.
We finally left the restaurant and Maggie and I went back to my house. Saying goodbye to Cooper was hard. A lot harder than I thought it would be. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I was going to miss sleeping in the same house and knowing he was close to me, but we were getting married in a few days and I could tough it out that long. I told myself I was being silly and when he kissed me outside the restaurant I ignored the ache that rapidly formed in my chest. I climbed into bed and turned off my light and then I heard a light tapping on my door.
“Come in.”
“Lily?”
“Yeah, Mags, what’s up?”
‘Nothing. Good night, Lily.”
“Good night.”
“Lily?”
“Yeah?”
She looked up at me and began to smile as one single tear fell down her cheek. “Consider your relationship with your man stamped and sealed.”
A rush of warmth flowed through my veins, and I smiled at my friend. “Thanks, Mags.”