Getting back to work was cathartic. Ms. Brandy was happy to have Maggie back in the shop and Maggie was happy to be there. Dusting shelves and conversing with customers was far better than lying in bed and wallowing. She still had an empty ache in her heart that she suspected would never go away, and questions that she was resigned to never having answers for, but life must go on.
Maggie began seeing the black car on her road on a fairly regular basis. She decided it must belong to someone who lived farther down the lane and after a while she stopped paying attention.
She still drank her coffee on the veranda in the mornings, looking out over the orchards and gauging the progress of the harvesting crew. It was almost over and soon she would be leaving. She actually longed for that day to arrive. Too many things at Devereaux Manor reminded her of Aaron.
After the cleaning crew came through and changed the bed linens his scent was no longer with her when she went to sleep which brought on another wave of heartbreak. He was slowly slipping away from her, being erased from her life a little more each day. She hoped it would be easier when she was in a new place, a place that held no memories.
She still looked for him every morning as she watched the harvesting crew arrive. She suspected he was out there in the fields directing the crew, but she never saw him. If he did still care for the property he managed to do it only while she was at work. Eventually she began to wonder if he’d brought in someone else to handle the task to avoid seeing her all together.
Her days off work were the hardest. There was too much time to think about what could have been. On those days she tried to lose herself in books because it was much easier to read about someone else’s heartbreak than to face her own.
She was systematically reading through the vast selection of novels in the library, but when her system led her to grab a copy of Great Expectations she decided she’d had enough reading for one day. She left the library feeling betrayed. The one place that had become her refuge from her pain had now pulled it into sharp focus.
Reading the title of that book had brought back a flood of memories from the night when she and Aaron had stood in the barn together discussing its merits, watching fireflies, making love, sharing their pasts, and promising their futures. It had been one of the best nights of her life and one she did not care to remember.
As she crossed into the foyer she wondered what time it was. She was hoping Andi would be off work soon so they could go to a movie, anything to distract her from the memories that wouldn’t stay at bay. The sound of the doorbell surprised her, perhaps it was later than she’d realized and it was Andi answering her silent prayer. She happily opened the door wide expecting to find her friend.
“Mr. Branson?” she asked, taking a step back in surprise.
“Good afternoon, Maggie, isn’t it?” he asked, stepping forward. She glanced over his shoulder and noted a very familiar looking black car parked in the driveway. Her heart began to race.
“W…what are you doing here?” she stuttered feeling very anxious under his penetrating ice-cold stare.
“Where’s Aaron?” he asked as he took another step forward, forcing Maggie to take a step back. She realized with alarm that he was now inside the house. His tone was friendly but something in his expression was not.
“Aaron’s not here.” Maggie answered with a strength in her voice that she did not feel.
“Are you sure? I thought I saw his truck.” He looked around the room as he spoke, taking in their surroundings. Maggie took another step back to put some space between them.
“Aaron’s not here. I thought he was in Savannah working for you,” Maggie said weakly. His eyes zeroed back in on her with the gaze of a predator spotting its prey.
“Savannah? So he did take that job,” he said, taking another step toward her and closing the distance between them. Maggie could feel the panic gripping her.
“You aren’t Mr. Branson are you?” she asked, taking a large step away from him.
He reached out and grabbed her wrist in a firm grip. “I never said that I was.”
“What do you want?” Maggie asked, trying to pull her hand away. He clenched her wrist tighter making her wince.
“I was really hoping Aaron would be here so that I could deal with both of you at the same time.” All pretense of kindness was gone. His eyes flashed with anger as he wrenched her wrist until she cried out in pain.