Page 43 of Maggie’s Match

“You read my mind.” Maggie laughed.

“What about the flooring? Currently, the building only has plywood floors,” Becca said as Rick parked at the bank.

“Your father has been saving stacks of old reclaimed wood flooring in the garage,” Bridget said as they all climbed out. “You girls are welcome to it. I’m tired of not being able to park in there because of it.”

“That’s perfect,” Becca gasped. She hugged her mother. “It will give it an old-time feel, and if we lacquer it, it should be easy to keep clean.”

“Then it’s settled,” Maggie said, hugging her cousin. “Now, let’s go get our lot.”

Surprisingly, the closing went off without a hitch. The bank manager had already gotten all of the funds she’d wired from her bank in Fairplay, and all that had needed to be done was to sign her name a few dozen times.

Since they were all on a high, they decided to stop off and have lunch at the burger place right by the highway.

The sun was shining and it wasn’t too hot, so they found a picnic table in the shade and ate as they plotted out their next move.

Rick had his uncle officially submit for the permits to move the building and for the utilities to be hooked up. Since they would be installing it on cinder blocks again, any utilities could be hooked up after it was moved into place.

They were enjoying their time creating a list when Maggie heard a loud truck pull up. Her entire body tensed as Rick’s arm wrapped around her body.

“Let’s go,” he said softly.

Everyone at the table jumped up and shielded her from Royce as he stepped out of the truck.

Bridget gathered up the rest of the food while Rick rushed Maggie to his truck.

“Yeah, you’d better run, you lying slut,” Royce yelled across the entire parking lot. “You and your spic family need to go back where you came from. All of you. Give us back our land you stole.”

Maggie felt Rick still beside her. Every muscle in his body was tense, but then he looked at her and smiled.

“He doesn’t matter,” he said softly to her.

She held onto his arm, unwilling to let him go. “No, he doesn’t.”

Rick nodded and then shut the truck door and moved to get behind the wheel while her cousin and aunt climbed in the back seat.

This was the first time Maggie had seen Royce since that night. She was shocked at how bruised his face was. He still had a fat lip and eye almost two weeks later. She could see where he’d gotten stitches just above his left eye and couldn’t help but smile.

He deserved it. Deserved worse.

She knew in her heart that he’d been the one to drug her. He’d planned to take advantage of her probably from the moment that he’d met her.

When they pulled up at the lot, her lot, Maggie forgot all about Royce. She jumped out of the truck, and she and Becca walked every inch of the land.

Rick handed them each some little orange flags on metal sticks and suggested they plot out where they wanted the building to go while he removed the For Sale sign.

For the next hour or two, she and Becca walked out the size of the building in multiple locations on the lot. Then they plotted out the parking area and where the front porch would be.

Rick was on the phone when they returned to his truck. Bridget was sitting in the front seat of the truck, listening to the radio, and looking at her phone.

Maggie waited until Rick got off his phone to ask him, “How does that look?”

He glanced over the lot then nodded. “Practical. You’ll have plenty of space for parking and still have room to grow if you want in the future.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this all for me. Creating a business just so I can run it,” Becca said as they all climbed in the truck to head back to the ranch.

“Believe it. Soon enough, you’ll be cursing me,” Maggie joked. “Early mornings, trouble when employees don’t show up or call in sick, you won’t have any real time off…”

Becca laughed. “Payroll. Bookkeeping.”