All Chapters of Collide: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

“Thanks, Sofia,” Levi said distractedly, not even looking up as his burger and fries were placed in front of him. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” Maggie said dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.Levi hunched almost imperceptibly and slowly turned to face Maggie. “Uh, hey, Maggie,” he said trying to use a friendly tone, “kept hearing such good things about this place, I couldn’t stay away.”“Glad you finally made it in,” Maggie motioned to the chair opposite him silently requesting an invitation to sit.Levi scrambled up halfway from his chair, remembering his manners at the last second, “Please, have a seat.”Maggie sat and crossed her legs. “JT told me you had moved back. Are you staying?”Levi nodded. “Yeah, it was time. I’ve started a new breeding program. Time to get out of beef cows. And the city was starting to wear on me.”When Maggie continued to watch him placidly without comment, he rushed to fill the silence. “Uh, and my mom wanted to move over to that new

She sat there staring out the screen door until the sun was on its last descent, casting long shadows from the trees onto the front porch, the cicadas’ song gaining volume. “What am I going to do?” she questioned out loud to her freshly painted walls, walking to the kitchen to find her cell.As she listened to Maggie’s phone ring, she retrieved a half empty bottle of pink Moscato from the fridge and a jelly glass from the cabinet. She hadn’t gotten around to unpacking her ‘kitchen’ box yet but had found a few old jelly jars she had washed and was using for glasses.Maggie finally answered just as Dani was preparing the message in her head that she wanted to leave on the voicemail. “Hey, girlfriend! Sorry, I was going over menus with JT and left my phone on the charger. What’s up?”Dani decided the direct approach was best. “Levi just left here. He kissed me.” Her voice sounded flat to her ears.“Whaaaaaat?” Maggie shrieked into the phone. “No, don’t say another word. I’m on the way o

Maggie lay on her blush pink silk chaise longue in her bedroom. Her mother had insisted that all Southern ladies needed a chaise longue in their bedrooms. Maggie had never really gotten a good answer as to why since she, herself, had never felt the need to swoon. Usually, it was just a place to lay her clothes while she was ironing or hanging up laundry but today, today she guessed she needed it. Her head was throbbing and her eyes were bloodshot after staying up through most of the night crunching numbers. They didn’t really need to be crunched, she knew, as she kept meticulous books, but her mind wouldn’t settle, and rogue tears kept escaping her eyes. She continued to work the numbers over and over until she was literally too tired to keep her eyes open. She had run into JT leaving the house to go get the kitchen set up for the breakfast rush at 4 AM. He could tell she had been crying, of course. “Maggie!” he’d cried out in surprise as he almost ran into her in the darkened kitchen

After her goodbyes to her family, Dani decided she’d better head to the store to at least get some staples to avoid getting herself into more problems just because she needed to eat. The HEB parking lot was relatively empty. She’d forgotten what a great time Sunday afternoon was to shop. Sunday after church was spent at home with family and then watching whatever game was on that afternoon, not shopping.“Great! I can get in and get out,” she thought as Pearl beeped when she hit the black fob.Once in the store, however, she realized she had no idea what she wanted to buy. Salad stuff, maybe? Lettuce, tomatoes and cheese could live in the fridge and didn’t need actual cooking. Salad fixings went in the cart. Packaged tuna? Oh look, flavors!As she was digging through the little boxes on the shelves that held the myriad of Charlie the Tuna’s selections, she heard a now familiar, deep voice behind her.“Well don’t you look pretty enough to break hearts today,” the voice said.She brief

Dani’s knees buckled and Levi had to hold her up as she heard her Uncle’s voice on the line and sirens loud in her ear. “Something’s happened to Lu. We’re in the ambulance. I need you baby girl.” “I’m on my way right now. I’ll meet you in the ER,” Dani told her uncle even as her feet were moving toward the door.“I’ve got to get to the hospital,” Dani told Levi, throwing open the door and digging for her keys. Tears started running down her face as she searched for the key ring without success.Levi grabbed her hands and held them still in his until she looked at him.“Come on, we’ll take my truck. I’m not letting you drive like this.” She just nodded as he towed her toward his Tundra and beeped open the cab. She threw herself into the passenger seat and Levi backed down the driveway taking off down the road as fast as possible.“Jesus, Dani, put on your seatbelt,” Levi commanded as she nearly hit her head on the roof after he hit one of the larger potholes he hadn’t gotten patched y