Chapter 16

When Maggie kissed me, I thought I was having one of my nutty wet-dreams, but after she jumped off me and ran toward the barn, I came back to earth in a hurry. She was crying.

I pushed myself up to follow her and saw Leldon walking toward the fence.

"Did I hear Maggie crying?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "She went in the barn."

"Do I want to know why she's crying?"

"I doubt it."

"Oh, great."

"What's going on?"

"Nothin', Dad," we said in unison as he came up beside Leldon.

He's snorted. "Where's Maggie?"

"In the barn," I said.

"Why is she in there?"

"She didn't say."

"Robert!"

I waved him off and went toward the barn. I wasn't sure Maggie wanted to speak to me, but I couldn't leave her upset.

"Maggie?" I called when I stepped inside the door. I could see the glow of her flashlight coming from the stacked hay-bales. She was sitting on the bottom row. Her knees were bent and her face was buried in her arms.

"Go away."

I ignored her and joined her on the hay. I said, "If I do, Leldon or Dad will come in."

"Ya'll are driving me crazy."

"You can always go live with Aunt Prudie and Elvis."

Whether she wanted to or not, she giggled.

The desire to hug her like I always do when she's troubled was hard to resist, but I managed to keep my arm from going around her. I said, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Not really." She sniffed, still not looking at me.

"That's okay. We'll talk when you're ready."

"What if I'm never ready?"

"Maggie, Maggie."

"What?"

"I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?"

"Nope."

"Uncle Bob?"

She only calls me "Uncle" when she's teasing me, and, of course, I knew this wasn't a teasing situation. I felt like she was depending on me to protect her or something. Using a tone I hoped sounded on the Guardian Angel level I said, "What is it, Sweetie?"

"I'm sorry; and I won't ever do it again."

I wanted to tell her she could do it as often as she wanted for the rest of our lives, but didn't want to freak her out anymore than she was already and settled for, "It's okay, Maggie."

She rewarded me with a hug before she jumped up and ran out the door.

Pondering over Maggie kissing me, I followed her at a slower pace and found Dad and Leldon still standing by the gate.

Dad wanted to know what I'd done to upset her and when I wouldn't tell him, he popped off and I was going to give him what-for, but Leldon hollered, "Whoa! You two go home and get some sleep. You're cranky as a couple of old Tom cats."

The drive home was as silent as any silent ride home had ever been -- loud. I didn't dare say anything, afraid I would say something I couldn't take back.

Around two in the morning, I was still awake and went in the kitchen for a glass of milk.

Dad was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Would you like to talk about what happened between you and Maggie?"

"Dad thanks for caring, but it's between the two of us."

He nodded. "So, who's the next lucky girl?"

"Dunno. Let me go get the can."

When I got back to my chair, I drew a name and unfolded the paper. I said, "Guess, I'll go live with Aunt Prudie, too."

"Huh?"

"It's Tammy Sue."

He started laughing first; and we both ended up rolling on the floor like a couple of kids.