Page 19 of Protecting Maggie
Instinctively, Preacher knew he was meant to be hers.
Shutting the door, he closed his eyes for a moment. The overwhelming thought of the journey he had ahead of him almost made him change his mind. But he’d never backed down from a challenge. From something that scared him. And Maggie Lionetti terrified the crap out of him. She might just be everything he’d ever wanted, and one wrong move could result in him losing her before he even had her.
Opening his eyes, he strode around his dark blue, sensible Chevy Malibu and hoped like hell everything with Julie would go all right today. Helping Maggie become more self-sufficient, shore up her self-esteem, was the firststep in helping her get back on her feet. He could wait to court her until she felt stronger on her own. Maybe.
Maggie shook Julie’s hand and returned her wide smile. This was happening. She’d been skeptical about the job…until she talked with the owner of the adorable boutique. From the front, the store looked high-end, fancy, like nowhere Maggie would ever want to work. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she’d pretty much already decided she had no other choice but to take the job.
Then Julie had taken her into the back of the store, and Maggie had gotten a look at the chaos back there…and she’d understood a little more about why Julie needed help. There were bags of clotheseverywhere. And still more were hung up on racks in every nook and cranny of the space. Even as Julie explained how things worked—incoming donations, requests for clothes from the Red Cross and other organizations, weekly donations to homeless shelters, and the visits to high schools with dresses for the girls to choose from—the bell over the front door tinkled regularly, and she had to go greet whoever had come in looking to browse or shop.
The womandefinitelyneeded help.
But the thing that impressed Maggie the most was how unruffled Julie seemed. She needed and wanted the help, but she also made it clear that working here wouldn’t be an all-consuming thing. She herself went home at five o’clockevery day. Spending time with her husband was more important than anything else. And from the little Maggie knew about the woman’s story, she wasn’t surprised. Like Remi, Wren, and Josie, Julie had been through her own trauma and had found out the hard way what was important in life. Friends and family. Not working a hundred hours a week.
By the time they were done talking, an hour and a half had gone by. It felt more like she’d just spent time with a good friend rather than being in an interview. Maggie found herself eager to start. The pay was quite a bit lower than what she’d been making before she’d been arrested, but definitely more than she’d been earning driving people around. And the good thing was, it was one hundred percent legal, which was a relief.
When Maggie had brought up the fact that she was a convicted felon, Julie hadn’t seemed concerned. She’d simply asked, “Are you going to steal from me?”
Maggie had answered with a firm no, and that was that.
It seemed too good to be true, but she tried to push that negative thought to the back of her mind.
“You want to text Preacher and tell him we’re done?” Julie asked when they walked back into the main part of the store after shaking hands and agreeing that Maggie would start work in a few days, when she’d gotten her car back and had reliable transportation.
“Oh, I don’t want to bother him at home. I can get an Uber.”
“He’s not at home,” Julie said, looking confused. “I’m pretty sure he’s down the street in the small bookstore.”
“I told him that he could leave though,” Maggie said.
Julie chuckled. “One thing you’ll learn about a Navy SEAL…they pretty much never do what you think they should. They’ll do what they think is right. Every time.”
Maggie couldn’t wrap her mind around that. Obviously she’d been around the wrong kind of people for way too long. She took her phone out of her purse and sent Shawn a text.
She and Julie made small talk and the next thing Maggie knew, Shawn was walking through the door, the tiny bell tinkling as he entered.
“So?” he asked, looking anxious.
“Preacher, meet the newest employee of My Sister’s Closet,” Julie said with a huge smile.
“Awesome!” he said, and Maggie could see his shoulders visibly relax.
Had he really been that worried? And was his concern that Julie wouldn’t want to hire her, or because of something else?
She didn’t have to wonder about that for long, because Julie said, “Jeez, do you look so relieved because I hired her or because she accepted?”
Shawn shrugged. “I had no doubt that Maggie would be an awesome interview or that you’d be happy for the help. But sometimes people don’t click.”
“We clicked,” Julie reassured him. “Right, Maggie?”
“Right,” she said. And she was surprised to find thatshe wasn’t lying. She liked Julie. She was no-nonsense, and what she was doing with her store to help others was inspiring.
“It’s late. You’re going to take her to get something to eat, right?” Julie asked.
She opened her mouth to protest, but Shawn beat her to it. “Of course.” Then he walked over and bent down to kiss the other woman on the cheek. “Thanks, Julie. You’re the best.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m the one who should be thankingyoufor bringing Maggie in.”
“And I think I’m the one who should be thanking both ofyou,” Maggie countered.
