Her mother had been offended by Maggie’s interest in science and discouraged it at every turn. In her opinion a woman should not aspire to be a doctor, she should aspire to marry one, but only a very wealthy and well-renowned doctor of course. Maggie quietly disagreed.
She eventually learned to stop trying to talk to her mother about her true passions and instead participated in the superficial socialite chatter that she preferred. She attended cotillions and debutant balls. She paraded around in the beautiful dresses that her mother bought for her and took lessons in proper etiquette for high society. She jumped through every hoop her mother put in front of her and did it with quiet grace. But she never gave up on her dreams, secretly applying to universities in Boston and planning the future she really wanted.
Perhaps that was where she’d gone wrong. Maybe if she’d stood up to her mother from the beginning and insisted that she understand what she really wanted, then she might not have been so shocked by the revelation that Maggie had been accepted into Harvard University’s pre-med program. For most parents learning that your child would be attending Harvard would have been a moment of great pride. For Corrine Overton it was a slap in the face. Every plan she’d ever had for her daughter had shattered in that moment and she had been irate.
It was the first time Maggie had ever seen her mother lose her composure. Maggie had taken the berating with silent grace as her father sat helplessly to the side rubbing his temples. He’d never really participated much in his daughter’s life and now would not be the time for him to step in. Maggie allowed her mother to speak her piece, and then quietly and efficiently had packed her few belongings into Old Betty and drove away. It had been over six years since she’d last spoken to her mother.
Letting go of Old Betty was both painful and liberating. That car had carried Maggie from her childhood home to Boston, where she’d once believed all her dreams would come true. That same car had also carried her away from Boston when those dreams had been shattered. Maggie’s instinct was to hold onto the car no matter the cost, to hold onto the security that it represented.
So for that reason Maggie let the car go. She decided it was time to step out of her comfort zone. Coming to Georgia had definitely been completely out of her comfort zone and so far Maggie felt like it was one of the best choices she’d ever made. She had already begun to feel like a different person, which was exactly what she needed.
Old Betty was the last remnant of her old life and she was ready to say goodbye. For the first time Maggie had no plan for the future. It was absolutely terrifying, so she refused to let herself dwell on it. Instead she was going to live completely in the moment. One day at a time.
When Tuesday arrived Maggie realized just how much she’d been anticipating this day. She tried to deny that it had anything to do with the Aaron Miles, but even she couldn’t deny the extra skip in her step as she took her morning coffee to the balcony. It had been exactly one week since she first saw him, surely he was due back today.
She’d woken early and had already showered and dressed for the day. Her long white dress ruffled in the morning breeze as she looked out over the peach orchards. She tried to pretend that she hadn’t dressed up for any particular reason today, but as she sipped her morning coffee her ears were tuned in for any sound: a car door, a lawn mower. She was waiting for him and she knew it.
When the sound of a lawn mower rang through the air her heart skipped a beat. She jumped up from the rocker and leaned over the banister. She told herself it was the boredom and the solitude that had her acting like a lovesick teenager. Not that she really knew how a lovesick teenager acted. She’d never been one of those girls. She’d always had her nose buried in a book.
She reasoned with herself that it was pure curiosity causing her to seek him out this way. He couldn’t possibly be as handsome as she remembered from that first brief encounter. She just needed to get another look.
And then he was below her, navigating the large mower in even rows across the backyard. The sun glinted off his blonde hair. She could see the muscles in his arms working as he maneuvered the levers. She leaned her elbows on the banister, crossed her ankles behind her, and just watched. There was something very exciting about watching him this way. She felt very brazen and little wicked. In short, she felt nothing like her boring old self which was completely exhilarating.