Recovering Maggie
Recovering Maggie, the last Maggie book, is now available ...
When Max took away her engagement ring he did it to hurt her. She knows she deserved it—she carelessly allowed their fun to seep over the embankment of their responsibility to one another, and it was Max who suffered in the flood.
Max took her ring to send a message that she had broken their circle of trust, demeaned their value; but it was himself he really sought to punish. There was much he had done that was wrong as well, and his Maggie had begun to suspect it.
Now all they had is scattered and as both of them try to find one another again in the jagged wasteland their destruction wrought on their relationship, other parties circle their perimeter, seeking to find value in their ruin …
DO NOT READ BELOW UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED THE BOOK!
SPOILERS BELOW!
Oh, and this was the song that was getting to me while I plotted this. The idea that you had two friends and they were off together without you, in love, the love that was yours, and you're separated by distance and some time and you want to call to tell them you're okay with it, but you're not and you hardly know how badly you're not, and it's not stated but there has to be a worry if they even think of you anymore or care whether you're over it. Fuck.
Well, I lied lol. Of course I checked one last time and of course it was published. I'm still wrapping my head around it. KT zigs when I think she will zag. Maggie and Cole? I admit I didn't see it as others did here, but now that I've read how it plays I see how they were right for each other. I just can't help but feel a little bittersweet for Max, as its clear he has not been able to completely let go yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy he's found a woman in Keely who understands him and loves him (and only him). Its clear she is doing things for him, and is only with Cole because she knows it excites him. This is not Maggie still figuring out what she wants, Keely knows what she wants.
As for Max and Maggie, like I said in an earlier post they are each other's first great love...you never forget that person and a part of you probably always loves them. But that doesn't mean you're right for each other, for forever, and I think they both see that.
But I can't help feeling a little sad because its clear Max has not let go as much as Maggie has. One thing I would have liked to see is just how Maggie and Cole ultimately made the decision that even if they still included Max, they wanted to be together as a couple. I guess we see that play out in their time at the cabin, but I would have liked to live through that pain a little more with Max. I still have something of a hard time believing Max could get to the point where he was comfortable and happy to stand as Cole's Best Man.
Though maybe its for the best we don't see it, as we leave Max in a good place, with a woman in Keely who he clearly does love, and who I think understands his bond with Maggie and is accepting of it. I just can't help shaking the feeling that Max is the runner-up here in a lot of ways. But life is like that sometimes, and maybe in being the runner-up to Maggie he won a better fit in Keely.
I'm sure I'll have more later tomorrow after everyone else comments on it. Once again, congrats to KT on another masterpiece, and for coming up with an ending I don't think many of us saw, and making it work.
So now I can’t sleep, much like Max, haunted by the shape of his lost love moving on with her life and away from him. I have to be up in three hours anyway so here I am back with some more thoughts and questions. Don’t have the answers to all of these so would love to hear others’ opinions.
ReplyDelete1) Did I miss it, or did we never find out what Max does for a living? Clearly he doesn’t work at Oxbow, but he’s successful enough to buy the SS Firecrotch for Keely.
2) Should we be a little sad for Maggie, excuse me Margaret, that she basically does become the perfect little daughter for Carol. She’s with Cole, and he clearly “does it for her” as Max puts it...she seems happy about the job at Google. Was the art, music and blue hair just a phase she’s happy to keep as a fond memory, or is she gonna wake up in 10 years and be resentful?
3) Is Keely just a little too perfectly understanding of Max’s feelings for Maggie? There is one moment where we see some trepidation, when Maggie asks to be alone with Max, but for the most part she seems to perfectly accept that her future husband has a not so insignificant piece of his heart tied up with another woman. If Max still feels that strongly for Maggie in 5 or 10 years, would she be so accepting then?
4) I think I kind of answered my own question about how Maggie and Cole end up being a couple. It’s probably never a conversation they exactly have with Max, but they probably just all sense it. Maggie and Cole are spending all their time together in law school bonding over shared experiences and mind blowing sex, with Max as an occasional participant. It likely just naturally evolved over time to a point when even Max knew the score. And maybe that, plus Keely’s presence, is what allows Max to accept it.
Really can’t wait to hear what others think. I’m still a little heartbroken for Max, especially in those little moments. Like when he asks Maggie to lie with him for a bit and she tells him she can’t. I worry a little for Max and Keely, I fear that the specter of Maggie might eventually come between them. But I’ll choose to believe over time that Max lets go of Maggie enough so it won’t be an issue.
I'm paying the price because I didn't sleep when I made the mistake of one more peek ... I didn't read very well at all as a consequence ...
DeleteCan't believe it's over!
Oh no! I wish it published yesterday afternoon ... would have been better for us all. I hardly slept as well.
DeleteTo answer some of JL23's questions:
Delete1. I didn't mention what Max's job was. Did that on purpose, just made sure it was clear that he'd been working while they went to law school, and that he was successful. It was hopefully clear that he wasn't at Winter-Oxbow, but I imagine he started at KKR and moved on from there. He would be working on Wall Street and while he's doing well, he's not super wealthy or anything. Just 26 years old—but shit, he has a place (rental) in NYC, a cottage upstate, and a boat. I wanted to allude to him having a sports car but figured it was enough already. I liked the vintage watch because it could be shared with Cole, showing they were still friends and in touch, and shows some of Cole's character too. Worked better than a Porsche. And the SS Firecrotch is no yacht or anything, just a fun lake boat.
2. Yeah, Maggie didn't have a perfect landing, just like Max. She really does love Cole and their relationship is a good one. I think the cello was something that she just did because she always did, and I think the art was something she was good at and had been there for her when she was confused. the more fulfilled she became the less value it had for her. But ... her husband has found himself under Martin's thumb and I don't think Cole minds it ...
Delete3. Thank you for catching that! Yes, I don't think it's all that easy for Keely. I think it's all right and fun for her now because she is 23. I think she laughs a little at Max's longing for Maggie because she understands heartbreak herself, but the longer it would continue the more hurtful it would become for her. Five, ten years from now should Maggie and Cole hit a rocky patch I think Keely's palms would sweat.
Delete4. Maybe I'll let some discussion bloom over this one first. I will say that I think in some ways the relationship with Max was over at the Schroon Lodge, he just didn't see it.
DeleteThanks KT for your thoughts as I sit here at breakfast. On 4 I did kind of get the sense that Max was at least coming to the realization that he was going to lose Maggie to Cole at the lodge. His "Don't take her from me..." was maybe more of a "Don't take all of her from me..."
DeleteKeely is wonderful and Max should hold on tight to her. I read the last passage on the balcony as him realizing that, and understanding fully that Maggie will never be his. But if Maggie ever had second thoughts and went for Max...eek, watch out Keeley.
As long as we're speculating on far down the road futures, there are some seeds of conflict for Cole and Maggie as well. Sure things are great now, but there have been a number of hints regarding Cole not being exactly thrilled about Maggie's attraction to other men. Minor and jokey now, maybe, but yeah what about in 10 years? No one stays the Most Attractive guy forever and we know Maggie's inclined to the wandering eye.
DeleteGlaucon - I would worry about both Maggie and Cole having a wandering eye. I think it’s clear he still likes a little variety too. Funny I was just thinking that while Max and Keeley have the biggest immediate hurdle in his feelings for Maggie, if he does get over that I think they may have an even better long term future than Maggie and Cole. I see plenty of potential conflicts with his working for her father and her complicated relationship with her mother and how it impacts her decisions. Max and Keeley seem to compliment each other better...each gives the other exactly what they need.
DeleteJL - you're ever so spot on with your perspectives and I thank you for providing them because it really helps. I think Keely is a bit too perfect of a fit for Max, I think she enjoys this new fun thing, but I don't think it has a future. I don't know that though, all of them are really smart, sophisticated sexually.
DeleteI do feel really sad for Max, it seems like he never really does enough to escape his feelings for Maggie and Maggie helps fascillitate that.
I finished reading it before you did, so maybe it's just because I've had more time to let it stew, but I don't feel sad for Max. I believe Max will escape his feelings for Maggie, with time, because of Keely. The fact that she comforted him at the wedding, knowing he was pining over his loss for Maggie, demonstrates to me that Keely is capable of far more advanced empathy than Maggie or Cole ever could hope to. A normal woman like Maggie would feel ashamed or jealous because of something like that and those emotions would rise to the surface and run the show. Keely is exactly what Max needs: someone as empathetic as he is. I don't think she's too perfect, I think she's just perfect.
DeleteYou're right about Maggie, she's a facilitator of Max's sadness.
I figured Max was working on Wall St. Even at 26 those guys make great money. Plus, with him in NYC and Maggie and Cole together in Boston, the outcome was inevitable.
ReplyDeleteSo Cole is basically living the life we thought was destined for Max, though we'll see how much he likes working for Martin in the long run.
On Carol, I always had the sense she didn't really care which one Maggie ended up with, as long as her daughter went down the right career path. The insertion of Cole made it happen, but if Maggie stayed with Max and went to law school she would have been fine as well.
Personally I think Max dodged a bullet there. I don't think he would have liked working at Oxbow in the long run, and dealing with the Beckers is no doubt more challenging than Keely's family.
Weird that I now kind of feel like everyone is with who they're supposed to be with. This is the only way they could have kept the relationship between the 3 intact. Cole never would have accepted being the bull in a Max/Maggie relationship.
↑↑↑ This guy gets it. Thank you!
DeleteOh, I should add: there was a passage in the final scene that alluded to his future with Keely and how it included Maggie and Cole. How they didn't live far apart in NYC. Maggie has been out of her JD for a year and a bit and interning at Google, whose offices are in Manhattan, and I imagine Oxbow would be in Manhattan as well. The passage misdirected the point of the last scene which was how he needed to drop this Maggie bullshit and focus on the amazing thing that was right in front of him, so I took the passage out.
DeleteBut it's almost better if they are in different cities ...
Well thanks...though I was way off on the Maggie Cole stuff. I just didn’t see it as real, even though others here did. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. But it hit me like a ton of bricks in the lodge scenes, and in Maggie’s talk with Ken. Then I knew who she was picking, and just hoping Max got something good for himself (which he did).
DeleteI always thought Oxbow would be in Boston, as I figured the Beckers were New Englanders through and through. They are quite few hedge funds in Boston, but obviously more in NY. I agree with you it’s better if there’s some distance between them. Where maybe they only hang out 2 or 3 times a year. Max needs to focus on the great life he is about to build with Keely.
The other question I had is how exactly did they explain all of this to people? Obviously Ken and Carol know, and Keeley knows, but what does Max’s family know in regards to how it came to be that Max’s fiancé became involved with his best friend, and that he’s ultimately OK with it. They don’t seem to hold any ill will towards Maggie or Cole, so clearly they explained something to them.
DeleteMaybe his brothers know, I think he may have told the one in Chicago. But how do you begin to explain that to Mom and Dad?
Agree with the happily ever after for max..it was the best outcome for him. Well for all was kinda thinking that way after the ring pull. Although i harbored a small amount of hope for a reunion with max and maggie. Mostly because i didnt want max burnt. I dont think Max needs to explain too much..i think maxs parents are just as keen as maggies and can figuire it all out maybe with some insight from conner.
DeleteAnother demonstration of KT's insanely detailed facility with nuanced and emotional relationships. It's exciting that these stories continue to show invention and originality. I regret that it only makes me eager to read more KT stories. Ungrateful fan, I know.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I sometimes struggle with commenting here because I'm afraid I might be peripheral to the target audience. The most powerful element in these stories, to me, is the initial transgression and what immediately follows. The extended and progressing transgressions afterwards drawn out in multiple installments feel like echoes that attempt to capture the original high by adding ever increasing layers, with varying but often somewhat weaker results. Uncomfortable analogy to drug use, maybe. Possibly apt. But then again maybe I'm just a heartless philistine without a sufficient appreciation for the emotional aspect of these characters when its removed from sex, who knows.
Having said that, who cares what I think. It's clear that KT finds inspiration in staying with and examining these relationships over time. And it continues to garner unique results that I fail to find peers for anywhere else in the genre. I sincerely believe that authors should pursue the stories they want to tell and ignore self-centred fans like me. Just wanted to get these thoughts off my chest. Recovering Maggie clearly shows nothing but improvement and I can't wait for the stories ahead.
Also wanted to note and appreciate how skillfully KT can establish the comfortable feeling of a longstanding relationship with casual intimacy and organic teasing/joking.
DeleteI agree with your approach and so do most of my readers!
DeleteI write the long series because I sometimes can't leave the characters, and I love, love, love romance. I love to turn these hotwife stories into sweeping romances where the wife has genuine feelings for the bull. But if I followed your preference I'd be more successful, ha ha.
Few are looking for the long stories I write, and behind-the-scenes the longer a series goes for me the worse it does. There is a drop-off from book to book. The first in series is the most popular, but there is a reduction of twenty-percent from book to book, so by the end there are few left to read it. I wrote Recovering Maggie for the half-dozen people who post here, ha ha, because I love them and I love the characters.
Seriously, nothing beats the engagement I feel here from the conversations on the blog—it keeps me going. That said, standalones are in my future but they will be long and engaging, and I hope will keep folks wrapt.
That's interesting, thank you for the peek behind the curtain.
DeleteI, for one, am very excited about these upcoming longer standalones. To be clear, I greatly enjoy the longer works you put out because it really lets your level of detail and complexity of relationships at play shine.
For me ita a much more sophisticated read. The shorter stories are awesome but more a hot stroke rather than a slow burn..
DeleteI like the tantalizing details that sneak past to become a major mile stone.
This story had me confused as to who maggie was gonna choose until the lodge and her discussion with Ken. The fact she was declaring so fervently her love for Max was a key.. Max pulling the ring was ineveitable. He didnt necessarily start this "bad romance" but he didnt stop it...who could when your in love. The heart knows what the heart knows. ..right?
Glaucon, I think you make some stellar points, and I am her target audience (for these books that is). I will say this though, I think it's the second transgression that is usually the hottest. The first can be rationalized away, too drunk, he just looked really hot, I was weak and vulnerable, etc. It's when they do it again after all of the emotions flood through of the wrongness that really takes things up a notch for me.
DeleteI couldn't help but fix on the character of Keely and Max's relationship with her. How was it for him to grow a bond and have feelings for this person he knew had already been with Cole (even infatuated with him), who already ended up with so much of what Max wanted? How did it feel that first time Keely was with Cole while she and Max were together? Did it feel in some part like losing someone to him again, at least sexually?
ReplyDeleteI think the potential of losing someone he loves is part of the thrill of the cuckold for Max. As Maggie correctly points out, it only means something to him if he loves the person, and clearly he does love Keeley.
DeleteI agree, Keeley was a great addition to the story. She’s really perfect for Max. She loves him and loves his kink, but is only into it because it makes him happy. She’s super understanding about his feelings for Maggie. Oh, and she’s a voluptuous redhead with a cute accent. A Irish Cristina Hendricks? Max should be saying “Maggie who?” Lol...glad he seemed to get there at the end,
Keely was a relief to me too, a character who can help Max, and I guess she might be good as a transition for him, but then again they're getting married and talking about kids. So maybe they live happily ever after?
DeleteI think maybe you're reading into the scenes between Max and Keely when the topic of Maggie is still on the table. We don't have much evidence of their interactions without that topic hanging in the air. Can be easily interpreted as Max not really caring about her, in a way, more fixated on his loss of Maggie, even while she presents herself to him and tells him to do whatever he wants. Those scenes definitely make Keely seem like more of a rebound than a long term partner, but the rest of the story about her demonstrates that she's so much more than that.
DeleteI think that's mostly just the timing of that wedding scene. It's timed for the reader right after Maggie and Max reunite and the big question of who Maggie chooses is presented. The loss is very raw for us (the readers) at that point.
No I'm not reading into those scenes, I'm reading the fact that Max thought that he viewed her as his savior from Maggie and Cole's clutches, not she was his soulmate, etc., that he was a hand-me down from the two of them (as in, he couldn't even find love himself without their help, Maggie and Cole), and that the last things we hear is themselves talking over their future just moments after Max again gets fellated by Maggie. I just don't know about them right now.
DeleteI see. Well, she kind of is a hand-me down and Max probably wouldn't have found love on his own for as long as Maggie was willing to allow him to participate in her relationship with Cole. Max would never leave until Maggie let him go. Keely wasn't just perfect for Max, she also enabled Maggie to see the light and let Max go. She was his savior, she's like the perfect puzzle piece that makes the universe right again. It fits very nicely, I guess I don't see why that should make it a bad thing.
DeleteAre you reading into my 'HEA' comment above? I never called Keely a bad anything, just not evidence of a long term future wife for Max, I listed my exhibits as to why. She seems more like a transitional figure right now then a future wife. Maybe they'll be fine, and maybe, when I finally get to reading all the comments that have been said it'll make sense to me.
DeleteNot sure what comment you're talking about. I think I'm reading too much into the word "transition". For some reason that word made me think you were discrediting Keely, my bad. She is a transition though, and I think Max has a stronger chance of a happier future because of this transition, even if they don't stay together forever. Because Maggie definitely isn't his ticket to happiness. But I suspect Keely will be more than that.
DeleteAnybody (kt, could you enlighten us) figure out whatever happened to the relationship between Carol and Cole. That could have been interesting to say the least. Maybe the Tahiti scene is repeated in the Becker's bedroom. Maybe Martin is like Max, brilliant, manipulative, poorly endowed. Just sayin' All that said, I am happy for Max. He probably could have kept his kink in check had he not come across Maggie's sketchbook. In that case she would have broken his heart into many pieces even more than kt showed us.
ReplyDeleteOne quibble, in Uncovering, we find Cole and Maggie mocking Max and Maggie thinking ill of him as a man. What happened in the few days leading up to the lake house for this dismissive attitude to change?
I believe in this chapter Cole jokes about Carol to Maggie and Max. Says he didn’t do anything with her but he knows he could have if he wanted to.
DeleteI think Maggie always felt bad about that, and she also understood the extent to which she hurt Max. For Cole, I think he was just angry with Max, and he also wanted Maggie to himself.
Once Maggie admits that she loves him at the lodge, I think Cole knew he won, and that softened his attitude to Max. Like he said, he wouldn’t steal Maggie but she would come to him eventually. After Max leaves (before coming back), and Maggie doesn’t understand why he’s upset, Cole tells her “He’s hurting...”. I think at that moment he is back to being a friend again to Max. Well, besides the whole stealing his girl thing lol.
JL (I'm Anon). Cole clearly had set out to take Maggie away from Max, once he got his foot in the door. That said, Cole's condign punishment is to spend his life as a puppet for the Beckers - good money, but Cole will be humiliated in ways that Max cannot imagine. If Carol cannot keep her legs closed at her age, neither will Maggie, Cole's not gonna like that.
ReplyDeleteYeah I do agree Max dodged a bullet not working at Oxbow or being under the thumb of the Beckers. It’s a tribute to KT’s writing that she can create a character like Keely who can completely change your perspective on things. I went into this chapter hoping Max ended up with Maggie and left it glad he wasn’t and was with Keely instead.
DeleteUnlike Nia and Jesse, Maggie has not yet paid a real price for her delusions, dishonesty, and lust. kt is perceptive enough to show us the difference. She does not deserve Max yet and he has not yet quenched the flame and the kink. That was a key to the other two books. Maybe the sequel will be called "Exhuming Maggie," after her mother and Cole confine her to the humidor.
DeleteI agree with the others who said it, Maggie doesn't deserve Max. She's selfish as fuck and Keely seems perfect. Also happy to see that of the trio, Maggie had the worst outcome. Instead of escaping her parents control, she's become enfranchised by them by choosing Cole (who is a Martin slave now) and by being tricked into becoming a lawyer. And she's married to one of the most conniving, backstabbing pieces of shit I've ever read in literature, who, through indentured service, she has to watch have sex with another woman indefinitely. Meanwhile Max has found a much more deserving woman and is independently wealthy, free to do what he wants, whenever he wants. Like go on a week long vacation, randomly, with his fiancee, buy boats etc. Max got the happy ending, Maggie got the ending that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe first 70% of this book is setup to portray our two lovers separated and mourning their relationship and how they slowly find their way back together. Both of them reaching out for the other, desperate to fix their relationship that Max somehow broke. Can I point out the obvious? It was the 4 years at Harvard where Cole and Maggie decided to cut Max loose. That was going to happen with or without the Twilight hotel scene. The forced removal of that ring was never going to effect the outcome of this story and Maggie's claim that it delaying the wedding affected anything is bullshit.
The outcome was disappointing to me because none of the characters seemed to have changed. Except for Max, I guess. He goes from nice guy to Gandhi level patience. Like holy shit, the nerve of Maggie to invite him into this crazy vacation building under the pretense that they're going to make up and lock him there during a crazy snow storm. And then say SURPRISE COLE IS HERE!! And then sit there as she declares her love for Cole while simultaneously trying to get back together?? This man is a Buddhist. I wouldn't be surprised if he could stop his own heart and pump blood through his body through sheer willpower.
Pretty crazy, it's not often that I grow to hate one of the main characters of a story that I liked a lot at the beginning.
I see their continued relationship(Max, Maggie, Cole and Keely) as a constant reminder to Max of what he lost (or what a loser).
ReplyDeleteThe ending i thought was appropriate. Three out of four are blissfully happy.
Keely is good for max if they never have to be around cole and maggie again. I agree with others who think that it will wear on keely to keep having sex with cole to please max.
Also agree that max was permanently "friend zoned" at the lodge.
Max should attend a few sessions at the local sex and love addicts anon group. Help get over Maggie.
"Come on Max stick a fork in it ...its over".
As part of the nature of these stories someone is usually very selfish cole max and maggie all had that only i think Maggie had it the worst. I think their making fun of the amoire showed that Cole and Mags had less respect for max. Yea it may have been funny but if there had been real emotions for max than it wouldnt have come up.
If i was a fictional Max.
" Hey Cole come look at the shark swimming over here."
"Sorry Maggie i tried to catch him but he fell in and cut his foot on the decking. The shark was on him the minute he hit the water.."
So in the final equation. Cole an Maggie. Doesnt really bother me that they are. Just how they string Max along instead of making a clean break..Max too could have made the decision but opted to be strung along. Desperado.
Once again KT provided us a source of entertainment extrodinaire.
Yes! Except he owes his friend a debt of gratitude. At twenty-one some dudes would have stolen Maggie and burned the bridge. He cares about his friend's heart despite the terrible thing he did.
DeleteI would think stringing him along would have the opposite effect on his heart.
DeleteI think you're right if they were purposely stringing him along. I really think Maggie didn't realize it was over at the lodge, but Cole did. I think he knew he won but didn't want the ordeal of losing a friend--for his own sake, but also for max's. If they strung him along that would be bad, but if they just let it taper over many years while what was between Maggie and Cole built itself stronger then it was a thoughtful thing; righteous or not, right or wrong, they sought to preserve his feelings and his heart, and for that to be the case it would suggest they love him.
DeleteJudging by how Max reacted at the wedding, anything short of cutting him loose the moment she knew would be dragging him along. And that's assuming Max is okay with being in a polygamous relationship indefinitely while Maggie makes up her fucking mind, which is another form of dragging him along. I don't doubt that they love him, but their love is cruel and lazy. Thank God they found Keely for him or they would be completely unredeemable to me.
DeleteI think Cole could have easily forced Max out if he wanted to, and it’s not like he wouldn’t have justifiable reasons for doing it. He knows Max was still in love with Maggie, and that a part of Maggie probably was with Max. And that they share a bond independent of him. But he chose not to do that, probably partly because I do think he was comfortable in the fact that Maggie loved him, but also because he did care for Max and his feelings. I think they chose the best way they could to deal with this scenario.
DeleteAnd also, it’s to Max’s everlasting credit that despite being in a position to undermine the Cole/Maggie relationship, he chose not to. No doubt they came to him for advice...we saw some examples of it...and each time instead of trying to drive a wedge in he gave them the best advice he could, because he still cared for and loved both of them. He’s quite a guy.
Fair opinion but I disagree.
DeleteUnderstood, and I see where you’re coming from as well.
Deletejust to reiterate enjoyed the story and its ending. my views aren't Coles max or Maggie's.
DeleteI don't think I would thank Cole for stealing my Girl. But then again was Maggie ever really Max's. She had a thing for Cole from the get go. i get that they all wanted a big love fest and no pain max didn't want to hurt Maggie, she didn't want to hurt Max or Cole,\. Cole didn't care as much about not hurting someone as much as he cared about loving Maggie. Max asked Cole directly to his face "don't steal her from me". Did anyway. That is the nature of Max. we see time and again Max letting things slide when he should have stepped up and said something. yea he was young and stupid in love.. no excuse to not communicate. Until the lodge. Even then the 'don't steal her from me' sounded hollow like he already knew. ok so they strung him along to protect his feelings. I can see how that would feed Max's cuckold angst. I just get a sense 25 years from now Max will be slapping himself in the head thinking dam I what a weird 6 years of life with Maggie, yet grateful for without them he doesn't meet Keely.
@Jl23-
maybe max gave them the best advice because if he didn't cole would kick his ass to the curb or just plain kick his ass....that's just a maybe but i think in that scenario you'd see a max kind of co-dependent on some type of relationship with Maggie even if it meant cutting off toes and fingers.
Yeah, disappointed in that. They even played that truth game.
Deleteon the stringing thing- two pov
Deletea) keeping one on a leash for protection
b) keeping one on a leash for punishment
i can see both arguments for both and they both have their points for me it was obviously A but felt like B.
How's that for choosing sides. :)
I think Max was genuinely giving them his best advice, not out of fear. I guess I’m more on KT’s side on the stringing along...I don’t see them doing that to punish Max...I do think they were looking out for him, or trying their best in a imperfect situation. And they set him up with Keely not to get rid of him, but because they genuinely thought she was a good match for him.
DeleteFuture note:
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a hilarity as well as erotic if say at atlantic city or some other major attraction hub perhaps a carribean cruise. The charactors from all these stories (including lhw1.&2 , cayman, Natalie cheats reza, etc etc [pool party?]) land at the same hotel for the same weekend. Just thinking out loud.
Maybe all my books have been prequels to a 600,000-word sex-fest novel on a cruise ship. I've just been introducing you all to each of the cast members so the cruise-orgy seems 'real.'
Deletethe scene that comes to mind is toward the end of the "Pink Panther" when all the characters are in customes 2 gorillas, a horse, and peter sellers as a knight all chasing one another thru the hamlet with some innocent by-stander watching the parade...
DeleteAw, shit. I thought my ending for it was so original ...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@KT- Jim groce is awesome...as for me parts of this story read like Gordon lightfoot "wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald"
ReplyDeleteAt the wedding and especially during the "dance"
"Does anyone know,
where the love of God goes,
When the waves turn the minutes to hours."
At the ring pull:
"The captain wired in he had water,
comin in and the good ship and crew was in peril."
At the lodge:
"The lake it is said,
Never gives up her dead,
When the skies of november turn gloomy."
Also:
"The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealin'"
Subject change
Zingers:
"You should have seen the dress i choose for our our wedding" (dam bitch! dat hurt!)
"Just checking to see if my best man was in there" (no love lost there)
Its hard for me to feel too bad for Max..he should have left at the lodge. I unfortunately knowing first hand what blind love is like. God could come down and say "Dude move on shes got someone she loves more than you." But still you gotta try
The seconds(as in time ya perves) are delicious and all carry hope. Even then you gotta wake up eventually.
One pet peeve; as a leg man and admirer of the various leg wear.
"He snapped her garter" then her legs were bare. Sorry had to get that out of my system..
So mags loved Cole all along ...remember the tickling at the dorm during the xbox game..max bolted then too. Per her discussion with Ken she told him after they had sex but her internal review challenged that with the forbidden guy. Who always made her titter patted.
Down the road aways i wonder if Maggie will start thinking of swapping hubbys. Especially the more under the thumb of granny Carol she goes. Maybe granny starts to share cole. Isnt that weird.
On the zingers, I don’t think Maggie meant that to be harsh, but it did kind of come off that way to me too. On Cole, I don’t think he holds any ill will to Max...why would he at this point?
DeleteI do agree, Maggie made her choice at the lodge...and I think they all knew it but maybe just couldn’t admit it for a time. After sleeping on it, I still think it happens organically from there. Cole and Maggie are spending all their time together, of course they grow even closer.
I think it’s a mostly happy ending for everyone. Definitely for Cole, though I do agree being under the thumb of the Beckers will wear on him. I don’t think Cole is a bad guy...he wouldn’t have chased Maggie if Max didn’t dangle her in front of him. Once he did, he fell in love, and he couldn’t help himself. I think he genuinely wanted to rebuild his relationship with Max, and it seems as though he has.
Maggie is with the person she’s meant to be with, but it comes at the price of her freedom from her parents...I still see Carol as a real obstacle in their future. Cole seems to have a good relationship with both of them (though I don’t think anything has, or will, happen between him and Carol). Maggie still harbors resentments to them, especially her mother. And her mother will continue to attempt to exert her influences. I could see Maggie rebelling from that where Cole maybe accepts their influence. There are warning signs there for me, though I do agree with KT that they genuinely love each other.
Keely is with a good man who will treat her right. She’s going to be popping out little Maxies...as a good Irish girl I suspect she wants at least four. Upon reflection, I think a lot of her being so understanding about Max’s feelings for Maggie is because she truly believed she could help him get over it, and she knows he’s worth it. I think if Max continued to pine for Maggie she would begin to question him more on it. So there was a method to her madness so to speak. She helped Max get to the answers, but she let him find them rather than forcing him to make a choice, or to cut Maggie and Cole from his life. Smart cookie, that one.
As for Max, for me this chapter is mostly about him coming to terms with what he lost, and finally realizing that what he gained is actually better. Yes, he “lost” Maggie, and no doubt it’s been painful to have the constant reminder of seeing her happy with his best friend. He’s a better man than me for being able to stay friends with them. But he has Keely who’s a better match for him than Maggie in so many ways. He’s got a great job and will probably be a father in a few years. His family loves and supports him. And yes he still has a piece of Maggie he can take with him, and they will continue to be in each other’s lives.
He went through painful moments to get here. But the Max on the balcony, who chooses to just hang with Keely rather than forcing her to spend time doing something with his friends she doesn’t want to do, is a man who I think is finally content with where life has led him. As he should be.
I called it “bittersweet” and said I was a little “heartbroken” for Max at the end. Upon reflection, I still am a bit...but it’s a far happier ending for Max than I first realized. Maybe the happiest of the four, because if he is committed now to Keely I see no obstacles to their happiness.
@JL23 Ha ha, totally on point again!
DeleteHa right back at you...most of the time I don’t get things on the first read. It’s the second and third reads where I pick up on everything. I totally missed the significance of that final passage on the balcony when I first read it (it was late too in my defense). I didn’t at first see how it was Max fully committing himself to Keely. I focused more on how he describes his proposal as being more for his mother, and missed everything he says and does after that. So my initial reaction was fear and unease for him and Keely.
DeleteUpon the second and third reads, now I don’t have any fears for them and instead they have switched to Cole and Maggie. As Cole advances at Oxbow it may only get worse. Max may have gone to work there at first if he married Maggie, but his independent streak would never have kept him there. They would have built a life distinct from the Beckers. But Cole wants a life linked to the Beckers and their wealth and all the benefits that entails. Danger Will Robinson!
I see Cole as being stuck at Oxbow, only ever making it Attorney there. A great job, of course, but ... OH wait, no I do see advancement. Never mind. Martin will push him to the SEC or some gov committee that would benefit his holdings. You're right, he will get caught up in that ...
DeleteAlso, just realized that instead of calling this chapter “Recovering Maggie” it should have been called “Recovering Max.” I know it doesn’t fit with the theme of the titles, but it’s really Max that goes on the journey from heartbreak back to love here.
DeleteMartin wants a son-in-law he can groom and control. Probably thought he had that in Max (he didn’t)...but he probably does have that in Cole. I suspect Cole is going to advance up the ladder because of that (and also because he is smart and no doubt good at his job). I really do feel Cole is going need to break from it, but I don’t know how he will past a specific point. That’s where my fear for them comes from.
DeleteYeah, I think you're right. I didn't consider too much what Martin wanted, more about Carol. But of course ...
Delete@KT- Jim groce is awesome...as for me parts of this story read like Gordon lightfoot "wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald"
ReplyDeleteAt the wedding and especially during the "dance"
"Does anyone know,
where the love of God goes,
When the waves turn the minutes to hours."
At the ring pull:
"The captain wired in he had water,
comin in and the good ship and crew was in peril."
At the lodge:
"The lake it is said,
Never gives up her dead,
When the skies of november turn gloomy."
Also:
"The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealin'"
Subject change
Zingers:
"You should have seen the dress i choose for our our wedding" (dam bitch! dat hurt!)
"Just checking to see if my best man was in there" (no love lost there)
Its hard for me to feel too bad for Max..he should have left at the lodge. I unfortunately knowing first hand what blind love is like. God could come down and say "Dude move on shes got someone she loves more than you." But still you gotta try
The seconds(as in time ya perves) are delicious and all carry hope. Even then you gotta wake up eventually.
One pet peeve; as a leg man and admirer of the various leg wear.
"He snapped her garter" then her legs were bare. Sorry had to get that out of my system..
So mags loved Cole all along ...remember the tickling at the dorm during the xbox game..max bolted then too. Per her discussion with Ken she told him after they had sex but her internal review challenged that with the forbidden guy. Who always made her titter patted.
Down the road aways i wonder if Maggie will start thinking of swapping hubbys. Especially the more under the thumb of granny Carol she goes. Maybe granny starts to share cole. Isnt that weird.
Ha ha, I love Gordon Lightfoot, but I can't extract the boat from the song!
DeleteMax should have left at the lodge but instead he stayed with his best friends until he was healed. How fucking nice is that? They even helped him find someone new and perfect. If he left at the lodge that hole in his heart would have been ripped so wide i don't think he would ever recover. Ever. At least they gave him a chance.
I don't think Maggie will be into swapping hubbys. Don't think that's her kink. I don't think she likes Cole sleeping with Keely either but that was allowed for Max's sake. She wouldn't be comfortable with Cole and another woman together without her. If the need for another man in her bed comes along, she would pick max. It's easy and convenient and he does the other really dirty things that she likes. Finding someone new to add to the mix would be trouble and she's too smart not to see it. How is she going to find some guy hotter than Cole who's tuned into her sexuality? Cole is somewhere between her father and the hot guy at the train station. He's not perfect—perfect would be if he was more independent like max, and not so willing to fall into the Becker fold, but Cole does get off on the Becker wealth and is a part of his attraction to Maggie, as ugly as that may seem.
Shit, so sorry on that garter thing! I remember making a point to remember that she wore stocking and heels but I guess I let it slip. What did I say about bare legs? Was it the sprinkling? If it was just that I of course only meant her bare 'upper' legs. LOL
DeleteMaggie I feel may have been the last to realize it was over with Max at the lodge, or maybe she just didn’t want to admit it totally for fear of what it meant about her, and what it meant for Max. But she loves him too much to just cast him aside. It wouldn’t shock me if she was looking for someone like Keely for him for a while...
DeleteI also think she knows Keely is no threat to try and steal Cole, so it works for everyone. And the moments with Max in the suite in Tahiti may have been her way of pushing Max to see what he has as well. Telling him how wonderful Keely is and how perfect she is for him. Telling him they couldn’t sleep together and not lying in bed with him afterwards. She’s gentile about it, but the message is clear, “I’m Cole’s first and foremost now. But you have a great thing too.” I bet when Max tells her he just wants to spend the day with Keely, she’ll smile knowingly.
One thing tough...and this is something I know people say you can still do in moderation and not have it be a problem, but I was a little surprised Maggie was still drinking while pregnant. Guess I’m a little old fashioned.
Also Maggie breaking the news to Max about her pregnancy was another way she gently provided Max evidence he needed to completely move on.
DeleteMaggie drinking: First the bare legs and now the wine/pregnancy ...? I definitely have some editing to do. My apologies, that was an oversight on my part. Maggie would not be drinking.
DeleteEverything else you said: once again, spot on to what I intended--I'm so glad it came across!
I imagine when Cole and Maggie first began hanging around with Keely, there may have been a moment where they were idly mentioning her, and it leads to a "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" moment, instigated by Maggie. Also: since Maggie would know Keely had slept with Cole at Farmingham it would suggest Maggie and Cole are rock-solid and that there was no initial threat from Keely, either. An evident and pronounced lack of sparks between Keely and Cole. I'd like to think there was a friendship between Keely and Maggie first.
DeleteProbably exactly how it played out, and I agree Maggie was the one who saw it. Us males never pick up on those kind of things lol. Keely is the perfect partner in this arrangement for someone like Maggie. Maggie can see she’s totally in love with Max, plus she satisfies some bad girl urges within Maggie.
DeleteI think.if max and keely are really gonna fly than Maggie needed to rip the bandaid off like she did.
DeleteThe other assumption here is that max was incapable of finding a new love on his own. So to stop his pining they hook him up with a sure thing. I dont think they expected it to blossom. Again could have been solved by ripping off the bandaid. Yes there would be all that blubbering on Maxs part the realization that she inflicted devistating pain upon someone she loves. But it would kick start a healing process instead of dragging it out for 6 years. Two years of healing and max would be back in the game. But i have bias in this so with a agrain of salt please.
Fast forward say..10 years.
Maggie has 3 maybe 4 kids
Keely has a couple.. max and.keely had to move to west coast for the job. Cole and Maggie living near her home.
Maybe her looks suffer a bit with the kids while Keely looks better.
Max has finally gotten over Maggie and treats her more like a sister. No longer attracted to her sexually. Just as well since she made it clear what she got aint his anymore.
Does Maggie regret?
Does she glance at the ring on her necklace and wonder.....what if? (That dress was nicer)
@jl23 -On the zingers i agree that maggie didnt intend to hurt max with the dress but like coles comment about the amoire
It was made with out respect for his feelings. I think they both love max as a dear friend and dont intend him any ill will but their existence together as man and wife is nothing but a bittersweet after taste in Maxs mouth..(ok that one is for you perves)
What a great story lots of great comments and everyone explains their points well. I dont see any points i feel need push back. Maybe clarity.
Wonder if max had gone to harvard if things would have accelerated. Max would have seen his bbf stealing his girl right before his eyes.
@jl23- i agree i dont think maggie knew it was over with Max until he gave her back the wedding ring. Than i think she was forced to realize she couldnt go back. Maybe not fully but somewhere in there she thought wearing the ring again meant no cole. Still she was in regret and guilt enough to plead for max to go to school with them...i can imagine Cole thinking to himself when she asked
.."just say no, just say no, just say no..." than max says thats not the plan. Cole thinks. "YESSSSS ! SCOOOORE! " and does an internal happy dance.
I still think despite what maggie said. It was Coles idea for them less Max to go to harvard.
John I think she’s coming to terms with it at that moment when he gives her the ring back. I think deep down she knows she is not going to marry Max, but she can’t say that out loud (or even to herself in her head) just yet. But that ring, and Max, still mean an awful lot to her. So she does what she does.
DeleteI think her asking Max to go to Harvard with them is the last bit of her trying to convince herself that she hasn’t yet chose Cole. But Max knows at that point I think, and he’s not going to change his dreams in order to chase a girl he knows he’s already lost.
Cole and Maggie helped Max find someone with smaragdine eyes. Who else in the genre is going to make the reader look up words like that. Good going, kt.
DeleteHa ha. the kindle and the app have that touch feature so you can just touch the screen and it will tell you what the words mean, I can get crazy with words if I want now!
Deletealluvion and meladroit ...
DeleteSorry, I'm going to be terrible at adding to all of these amazing comments, I just remember those words distinctly like, "damn, that's nice" alluvion just feels warm to me.
DeleteOnce Carol sees the camera footage she knows that Max cannot protect Maggie from her darker desires, ones she shares with Carol. Cole is promoted even letting both Maggie and Max know he is Carol's fave because Carol believes that Cole can be Maggie's protector, or at least carry out the Becker's orders. Again, the kt moral code is that the straying girl doesn't get the good guy back until she suffers a lot. The good guy does not get the gorgeous girl back until he loses her and rids himself of, or at least softens his kink. Maggie has hardly suffered and Max still thinks he can eat his way into Maggie's cold heart (great sex scenes, kt, by the way).
ReplyDeleteCarol knows Maggie better than Maggie knows herself. In the prequel, "Rescuing Carol," Martin, a handsome Dutch naval officer on shore leave in Hong Kong, sweeps the young Carol out of the Wanchai (think Suzie Wong) bar where she is working as a "hostess." It wasn't all bad for Carol and paid for a lot of her education.
Ha ha—I absolutely love 'Rescuing Carol.' That is an awesome idea.
DeleteI think Maggie and Cole fell in love and they were quite kind in not letting their friend hurt over it, dragging on a threesome for years just so he wouldn't be left out. The alternative was Cole just taking her from Max and leaving him alone. Cole is still a good guy and Maggie got him—Max is also a good guy and she would have been happy with him, but she has dirty needs and Cole gets it. Got it from the beginning, even taking on the demeanor of her father to play with her, figuring she probably might have a bit of a Daddy thing. Cole gets her sexually.
Dragging him along by telling him "the three of them would be so happy" was just manipulation by Maggie to string him along until she chooses one or the other. She brought her boys to the lodge hoping to leave with both of them until she picked one for the long haul. Then dragged him around for years while he moped about and watched them from a distance. That's not a kindness at all, that's probably the cruelest thing that anyone did in this book.
DeleteI would respectfully disagree on Maggie with you. Not trying to change your mind, just the way I look at it I don’t think Maggie has fully admitted to herself at the lodge that she has chosen Cole. I think she’s trying to convince them, and herself, they can make it work.
DeleteWe don’t see how they interact in those 6 years, so I can’t dispute your thoughts with any evidence from the book. Just the way I see it is that they all just realized that Maggie and Cole were the couple, including Max. I don’t think they dragged him around, I think they did their best to watch out for him while he figured his life out.
Maybe he should have cut them out, I know I probably would have. But I agree with KT that would have been more painful for him, he wouldn’t just lose a fiancée but 2 best friends. He would have been stewing over it and not able to get over it.
I think seeing them together allowed him to recognize over time that they were the better match. And it led him to Keely, which led to him getting over it. Life can sometimes be painful.
Yes, very selfish for Maggie to do that. Her boys were willing participants however, and I'd also like to point out that Maggie isn't really even fully twenty-one in this story. She has a lot of growing up to do. She wanted a three way relationship and she got one. And in time it became the one Cole figured on: her and Cole. Whichever way Maggie ends up with Cole would be hard on Max, or cruel if you will. She chose Cole, and in the end they did it gradually and even facilitated him another girl that would be perfect for him. Not just any girl to get rid of him. One they carefully vetted and even brought in to their bedroom. That`s care--they care about Max and would never want to be cruel to him. But they`re going to be together, Maggie and Cole. That`s sad and tragic, but I feel like their actions were the opposite of cruel. True cruelty would be if they tricked him into bed and then they dumped a bucket of pig`s blood from the rafters and simultaneously mocked him (inarticulate Carrie reference). They did everything friends would do to support someone they loved through something tough. maybe it would be more righteous to confront him and just say it was over, but that`s no less cruel--and in my measure, more cruel. They want him to be a part of their life forever. Not to hurt and go away and suffer.
DeleteWanted to end there with...life can sometimes be painful, but going through that pain can also sometimes clear the way to future happiness and joy.
DeleteIt's sometimes said that apologizing and seeking forgiveness is ultimately more about making the person who did wrong feel better, moreso than the wronged. There are some things we do out of fear of hurting the other person or out of seeking reassurance that we're good people, because if we really hurt someone we supposedly cared so much about, why, that would make us bad people!
DeleteI think there's a legitimate perspective wherein Maggie and Cole's decision to keep Max in it is a somewhat selfish way to say they aren't hurting him and avoid confronting the sorta shitty thing they're doing by dressing it up with caring for Max and inclusion. Even if they do legitimately care about Max. Long, drawn out heartbreak is no less painful and possibly more damaging, especially considering the years Max would spend pining.
Just a perspective.
Maggie didn't know at the lodge yet, wasn't trying to say that.
DeleteAbsolutely she should have cut it off with him. You rip off the band-aid quickly, you don't open and close it 30 times, applying super glue each time while you decide who is the true love of your life. I suspect she knew it was Cole while they were at Harvard. Visit Max one weekend, tell him. Give him those 2 years (or however long) of his life back. There's a scenario where they remain friends anyway and they find Keely for him all the same. Max is literally Jesus Christ if Jesus Christ was in love with Maggie. He would forgive them in time and move on, become friends with them again.
I wouldn't say wasting someone's time is cruelty, but wasting sometimes time while also promising love and eternal happiness when the truth is you were just weighing your options is cruelty. So many years wasted on the wrong woman.
Also, I don't think Max's sweet mom deserved to die so you could tease us at the wedding.. She seemed nice..
kt, do you think turning Max into a cream pie cuckold as the price of (semi) inclusion is not cruel on the part of Maggie (especially) and Cole?
DeleteI don't think so. I don't think she turned him into that, I think he is that. It was important for me that Maggie enjoyed that--took great dirty sexual pleasure from the act. He 'is' that and they're all cool with it, and she even gets off on it. What if part of her getting off on it is her love for Max and the pleasure he gets when he is with her that way. Maggie always thought his kinkiest behaviors were hot--remember at the theater basement? Maggie genuinely got off on all of that--she just felt a little weird about Max wanting her to make jay fall in love with her.
DeleteSo I don't think it's cruel if there's an acknowledged mutual benefit they derive from the act.
I mean, he clearly wanted at least that aspect of things sexually. If you're having sex with someone and they ask you to slap them in the face, and then you slap them in the face, was that cruel?
DeleteIts not an eash question to answer. I think Max would have ultimately survived if say they just cut him out at the lodge. But he would have been incredibly jaded, and he would have lost two people who he loved and who would go on to help him through some incredibly difficult times.
DeleteDid Maggie and Cole keep him in their lives so they could feel good about their decision? I’m sure that played a role, we all want to feel good about the choices we make and we don’t want to be perceived as awful people. But I think it was a small part. Mostly, they were just worried about their friend and wanted to help him to his own happiness.
Yes, Max did pine for Maggie for a long time, but at the same time he was also falling in love with another incredible woman, a woman he wouldn’t have met if he had cut Maggie and Cole out. The ends don’t justify the means...but sometimes they do lol. Bottom line for me is that as painful as it probably was for Max, it was less painful than being completely cut off from them.
Yeah I don’t anyone is being forced to do things here. They are all getting enjoyment out of things they want, and enjoyment seeing the others get what they want. It would actually have a chance to be a pretty healthy relationship between the four of them, assuming they still play around with each other in the ensuing years.
DeleteNo doubt Maggie enjoyed Max's oral treats, but Max does not seem entirely convinced, at least at the lodge. Maybe they just had to break him in.
DeleteBTW, IIRC that Carol returned to HKG between law school and the bar exam and was one of the highest-paid dominatrixes in Wanchai. There's that room in the RI house that is always locked and that Maggie has never seen, but Cole has -;)
Max's need for convincing at the lodge is a result of two things that happened prior. He did it to maggie freely after she had been with jay and it was the two of them alone, but he backd away from it when he and Maggie and Cole were all togehjter in the regency, a little ashamed to do it in front of his friend. This time both Maggie and Cole let him know it was good, if he wanted to do that they were into it.
DeleteOh, I def think Martin and Carol have a secret room and do shocking things together.
That's right, forgot about Jay's Cream Pies. Well, now we know how Martin got his initial stake to buy into Oxbow.
Delete@JL
DeleteIt's the years when they are at Harvard before Max meets Keely that bother me. Obviously once he meets Keely, the ends justify the means in a matter of speaking, but those ends could have been achieved without pretending to be in love with him the way Max wanted her to be for literally years.
I would agree with you if that’s what she was doing, but I suspect, or at least the way I envision it, she wasn’t. While I don’t know whether they had a conversation with him, I think it was clear to all of them that Maggie was with Cole. So Max knew that pretty quickly...I don’t think he went years thinking Maggie would choose him only to be blindsided.
DeleteThe only thing that was clear to me was that she wanted to be with both of them. Neither wanted to share forever; Cole knew he could share temporarily and would win in the long run (from the very beginning he knew and used deception and his best friend's kinks to take her). I wouldn't let Cole sit in the back seat of my car much less be his best man.
DeleteMaybe Max knew at some point, later, likely when they were at Harvard. There was definitely a period of time where he lost her and continued to 'be with her' because that's the kind of person he is. He's a one girl type of guy. Keeping him in the loop for years isn't kind or loving. Breaking someone's heart is hard and the way I see it, her strategy that included keeping Max around like a puppy dog for years was the easy solution. I get that Maggie still has some kind of connection to him, but we all have connections to our past loves. But you don't selfishly hold on to those connections indefinitely, impeding their ability to one day find their true partner. Given how fiercely Max loves, you let him go, stop impeding his own human development. Whose to say they wouldn't have introduced Keely to him years earlier otherwise. Or that he finds another cute half-Asian girl at school.
This is the same guy that bolted from the hotel room because he saw them making love without him, the same guy that nearly left the lodge at just the sight of Cole. He wouldn't stick around for years knowing she already picked Cole just because the sex was good. He needs love, not mercy sex.
In my estimation, they would engage in the threesome for three years, and it would have been a gradual building of Cole's imprtance and a shrinking of Max's. It would be evident but unstated. In RM, Max has been with Keely for two years and I would guess he'd been seeing her for a little before that. I think his new relationship with Keely must have been so exciting. I'd love to explore that period in their lives and how it came to be they all agreed to be in bed. How did that happen? And how was Maggie receptive to same-sex action?
Delete@WA I won't disagree with that entirely. the language might be a little colorful--I don't think Maggie had a strategy to string him along like a puppy dog. It's not wrong per se, but the language gives it too strong a flavor. One could correctly interpret her action that way, but it negates the joy I think she felt having him in her life, and it would be reciprocal too, because he enjoys being with her. I don't think it was malicious, or at least not intentionally so. I do get your point that he might have been better off having that bandaid yanked. But I think Maggie wasn't even sure what she wanted beyond having both of them. I don't think it was in her to make the right decision.
DeleteI think moralistic thought is cloudy in a situation where you have three sexual partners because so much of what we have ingrained is about monogamy. But if three people are willing participants in such a relationship and they are truthful with one another as was determined in the truth pow wow at the lodge then they each have agency to act according to whatever morals mores or rules they might articulate for themselves at any given time as the years progressed. Meaning, if max at any point said Hey when the fuck did I become the third wheel?! It would be upon him to make a decision on his own future and not have it dictated in any way by the other two. No one made him leave, no one made him stay. Maggie and Cole found something shiny they thought might feed his heart and gave him Keely. That was when he was ready for love. Not before. Maybe had she jilted him in the lodge (why would she, she still wanted him!) he might hate women with a passion and become embittered and difficult to deal with and had he met Keely under those circumstances she might think Who the fuck is this asshole? Take that chip off your shoulder and shove it up your ass. It might be possible that by at least intending to do the best for their friend that they cradled his heart and brought it in for a safe landing.
It's impossible to determine what the right choice would be in this situation since there are no rules or laws governing their behavior that would be the greater determiner, only the things they themselves agreed to. No one set out to harm him, only care for him. Outside perception can see a multitude of badness in the actions, but to those engaging in them only the best was intended.
But yes, despite how Cole may have later been good to his friend he did at some point make the decision to steal his girl. His rationalisation would be that it was for maggie's benefit because he is the better match. they were friends, great lovers ... Cole did take advantage, and like he said to Max: I'm so lucky you don't hate me.
didn't Max also bolt after witnessing Jay and Maggie then caught up with Maggie and Cole playing xbox then getting into a tickling fight.
Delete@KT-if Maggie jilted him at the lodge and caused him hate woman than maybe a trip to san diego would be warranted again..." hey ken buddy I'm a free man now and i do mean F R E E". of course he would have to kick brian to the curb and you'd have an entirely new cuckold situation.....
DeleteI don't doubt for a second that while they were in their threesome stage for three years, their love had to me mowed weekly to keep it from infesting other yards. The thing is, polygamy was never truly on the table, ever, except for with Maggie for a time. Her boys never wanted it, they just really loved Maggie. It was an inevitability that one of them would be in the doghouse. The fact that his love was reciprocated only makes that time of his life even more confusing to try to understand when you evaluate it with the time that he ultimately wasted. Wasted in a sense that it was time he could have spent finding his true partner. If the lodge was a band-aid, then Keely was the divine healer. If she never shows up, does Maggie just continue to tag him along forever? Of course not, eventually she would marry Cole and said band-aid would be ripped off anyway, except now the wound has gone so long untreated that it destroys him. It's that period of time where she knows it's Cole but doesn't have the balls to let Max go. Her only strategy during this period of time is to try not to break his heart and then ultimately doing just that anyway. What's the point in waiting? I compared Max to a puppy because he kind of is a puppy..of course he's going to be at her side for as long as she lets him. Stop wasting his time!
DeleteUltimately, that's not what happened and I'm okay with that. These characters are very human and selfishness, fear, and laziness are paramount. I just have a problem with what she did being interpreted as a kindness.
Also, that period of time I talked about..Where was it?? That's the juicy, angsty stuff we read these stories for!
its hard to get into their heads to Maggie she thinks shes doing a good thing, Cole too or hes just trying to avoid pissing on Maggies parade. I believe KT created Cole to have a heart so gotta go with that. But if he pushes Maggie to oust Max she could turn on him that early someone said somewhere else that he'd already won so why keep fighting.
DeleteKT I would love to read a short story where we see Keely introduced to Max and the excitement of that new relationship they both must have felt. I would really like to see Keely’s reaction to Max...was she immediately into him or did it take time?
DeleteJohn, I think I’ve said it elsewhere here but the moment Maggie confirms her love for Cole in front of Max at the lodge, Cole knows he’s won her. That I think allows to stop thinking of Max as a competitor for Maggie, and instead as his good friend who he loves a great deal.
DeleteIn the previous chapter, I think he was dealing with his newfound realization that Maggie was his “one” and it blinded him to any friendship concerns with Max. Hence why he was a pretty big dick (no pun intended) to Max in my opinion in that chapter.
He’s OK with the gradual nature of the threesome after the lodge because he’ll eventually have her to himself, and he cares about his friend and wants to see him happy. Yes, there are also selfish reasons and it was crappy to take his best friend’s girl, but life comes at ya fast sometimes.
↑↑↑ This x100
Delete*nods*
DeleteGod I am missing out on so much right now, it's killing me more than not being able to really read the actual story!
ReplyDeleteLOL, I was literally typing a message to you to see if you were cool or not. I had a worry that you hated it so much you burned all your KT books.
DeleteWe'll still be here when you get the time!
DeleteTake your time, we’ll be here when you’re able to comment. We might be in part 2 pretty quickly at the rate we’re going, but we’ll still be here.
DeleteYou got the makings of a couple of good spin offs.
DeleteRescuing carol..
Mine would be a post-quel
Rescuing cole (from tiger mom)
Picture it, it’s 10 years later. The two couples are still together and now living close to each other in Connecticut. Max and Keely have four kids and Maggie and Cole have two. The families do everything together, but the couples haven’t “played” with each other in years. Til one drunken weekend away from the kids at Max and Keely’s beach house in the Hamptons. Suddenly, old feelings that were once thought to be buried resurface for Max and Maggie.....
Delete....NOOO! STOP IT! EVERYONE IS HAPPY NOW! DON’T RUIN IT!....
...sorry just me screaming at myself...lol.
@2b2h lol, I can't believe we cracked 100 without you!
DeleteI'm dying! lol
DeleteI'm trying sooo hard not to read what comes across my email from here ...
I'm so behind ...
DeleteNobody's mentioned this yet, so I was wondering if I could get a show of hands ...?
ReplyDeleteBy the end of Recovering Maggie who remembered that Keely appeared in the first book, Tempting Maggie, and had a speaking line and everything?
She doesn't seem to appear by name... but was she the girl at the restaurant that flirted with Cole?
DeleteYes going back and taking a look again it must have been her. Was it hard for Max knowing that even the person he's growing a new bond with was ravished by Cole too and that he can't really completely step out of that shadow and how at one time or another Cole got everything Max wanted? I mean even in the discussion of Keely being a screamer the implication appeared to be that Cole was better in bed for her too. Or is that just a plus for him haha.
DeleteI didn’t remember, but I was going to ask if she appeared previously. I figured she was at least alluded to at some point. Did you know when writing that first chapter that Keely was going to be the one you put with Max at the end, or did it come to you as you writing this final chapter?
DeleteGlaucon I believe Maggie mentions in her narration there that Keely also screams with Max although the way it’s said (“Even Max could get those reactions out of her...”) indicates a level of surprise on Maggie’s part. More evidence she wasn’t right for Max.
DeleteI just don’t think Max thinks like that. He loves seeing the woman he loves with someone he perceives as a “better lover”...so the fact that he’s better in bed than Max is a plus.
And if we ask Keely her opinion on who the better lover is, I think she would say Max. It definitely came across to me that having sex with Cole wasn’t a big deal for her...it didn’t rock her world. Yeah, she had a big O, but she has big O’s with Max too. I think she prefers the loving connection she has with Max to that.
Yes, she was the screamer Cole alluded to in Tempting Maggie. She drunkenly leans over to their table and says Hi-ii table. Maggie has some thoughts on where she was mentally when she first arrived to Farmingham. Maggie and Max get frisky in the hall to the bathroom and have to get out of there, leaving Cole chatting the redhead up. Next we see Cole he's in the Oren Glen and shows Max he did fine without them, going on Pussy Patrol. Show's Keely's photos she sent him, one tasteful, one lewd.
DeleteAnd yes, when I wrote that scene I put a pin in her and had ideas for her later. Initially for something else.
Maggie's comment was purposely phrased that way to make it sound bad but ultimately what she meant was that you didn't have to be a stud like Cole to make her scream. I remember many times Max did the trick with Maggie. She doesn't think he's not good in bed. But he's no Cole.
DeleteOh I agree...I just think Maggie’s perception of Cole and Max is different from Keely’s perception of them, as it should be.
DeleteYes, I agree. Or would like to think that--Keely in my opinion is in love with who Max is. Maggie and Cole did right by setting them up for many reasons. Thye could see she was a perfect match for him; sexually adventurous, smart, loving, and supportive. With Max I like to think she is truly in love and that in bed with him is something special. When he is upset after the wedding she offers herself to him selflessly, to do whatever he needs, and they make love (as opposed to getting freaky). Cole can make her come but I think Keely knows it about way more than that.
DeleteExactly what I was going for. When Keely has sex with Cole it’s just sex. When she has sex with Max it’s special. I thought that scene with them after the wedding was beautiful...that’s when I knew they were perfect for each other.
DeleteI remember Cole showing max the pictures but i don't remember
Deletehim saying what her name was. With out going back to re-read that i don't recall her.
its one of the things I like about your stories. I mentioned it prior too about that little detail that becomes a pivot point.
You're correct--there was no name to remember, she was nameless. Her identifiers: red hair, screamer, went to Farmigham, and when Max said Magge used to have ice cream on her brownies after pizza and beer, Keely sighs, Altieri's which I hpoed would jog people's memories wondering how she would know their old pizza joint.
DeleteI figured she had appeared somewhere when that reference came up, but I was too lazy to go look...so I’m glad you confirmed it lol.
DeleteIn this hypothetical flashback to their first meeting, I wouldn’t mind a flashback to that scene in Altieri’s from Keely’s perspective, especially her thoughts on the other boy sitting with Cole. Or was she too deep in her fascination with him to even observe Max?
I had Keely targeting Cole in that scene. She'd got herself nice and hazy-eyed back at the dorm, then when she's out at Altieri's she sees Cole. She knows who he is, uses his last name and everything. She knows she wants to sleep with him. In that scene I don't think she would even have noticed Max. Also: Max and Maggie look attached, so she wouldn't be interested anyway. I picture max as a cute guy, but one who next to Cole would shrink in handsomeness. Max on his own would do quite well. Remember Andie called him a cutie and hooked him up with Marta. But Cole is the kind of guy who draws ALL the girls' attention.
DeleteSounds about right. Keely was still in her “sowing wild oats” phase and I doubt she would have even seen Max there. Still, it would be fun to see that first moment 3 or 4 years later and her reaction to him then.
DeleteI didn't recognize Keely's character until they were talking about the freshman hottie that Cole hooked up with, then I was like "Oh yeah I remember that" total bro moment in tempting maggie.
DeleteIf Cole was struck by lightening. Would max and Maggie live happily ever after?
ReplyDeleteor would some other alpha come by and steal her away?
just provoking thought.
Hmm, good question. I really feel like Max is her second best. A guy like Cole is a one in a million shot though. He was her good friend first and for a long time, got her sexual kinks. Like, max was into her stuff too, but way way way more his own stuff. Maggie had curiosities and he fed them to feed himself. Cole was her good friend and he spent one day with her at her family home and thought Oh, she has a Daddy thing. He was able to feed it. Max couldn't be like that, and I don't think some other guy is going to be such a good match so quickly, just walk in and be awesome. It's actually hard to do. Max would stand a really good shot. Buuuuuut he has Keely. How's that for your fantasies? Cole hit by lightning, now it's Maggie who needs consoling and nurturing and tender care taken with her heart. She moves in with her two best friends max and Keely. Soon she's in their bed and it's just Maxs harem 24-7? I sense another epilogue coming ...
Deleteworks for me.. but i bet Reza could help fill the void...lol
DeleteYeah write that epilogue. Make sure it's lightening too.
DeleteAugust 6th, Saturday
Maggie is devastated over her loss of Cole who, tragically, was struck by lightening and died instantly. She is at Max and Keely's house, etcetc.
Just the one sentence about Cole would be fine..
I think the good friend part was key...she knew that behind the womanizing Cole was a good guy who cared for her. So I think that helped her trust him and eventually give her heart to him. I don’t think a random guy could ever meet that.
DeleteI would definitely read Max’s harem...lol.
This has been very entertaining thanks KT for being here for us in our time of need' Appreciate the insights and where the characters heads were at different times.
ReplyDelete...@2B2H
HURRY UP DUDE! jk
120 comments...we’ll be ready for part 2 by Sunday the way it’s going.
ReplyDeletefinal thought for today:
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning they were all selfish and looking out for their own needs. Max to perv on Maggie, Maggie to get some before the wedding, and Cole to get Maggie each morphed into something nasty and thus the ring pull....
after the ring pull and the truth pow wow they all had each others back and did things for each other and became a trio of good friends again(I still think Max owes Cole a gut check) even though the destruction had already been wrought, the reconstruction phase is always a bit painful. Except for Cole he's the only one knew what he wanted and what he was going to get. The decision to go to Harvard by Maggie may have been her own but it was at a subconscious level (or not )to be with Cole. Wonder if Cole enticed her at all. My guess is yup in a sublime way dropping hints and reminding her about it. "Best sex yet Maggie too bad it'll not be very often when I'm at Harvard.." Maybe it was a dick move but at that time they were all being selfish anyway.
In the end it was a happily ever after for all Keely definitely got the better deal (a frigging boat dam). Max came out good too I think the operative word he used for Keely was loyal. Maggie and Cole got what they wanted, each other but like the saying goes be careful what you wish for.
Interesting that they made a vow of celibacy three months before the wedding. Was it practice for the post birth months?
Still a great tale thanks again KT for the work you did on it.
I thought the celibacy thing was interesting too...I wouldn’t think Cole could last. But sounds like they’re doing it like rabbits in Tahiti...5 times a day? Cole is a stud machine.
DeleteI'm trying to catch up, and god damn it's good you guys. Only thought I could conceivably divulge at this time is: when you were reading who Keith and June Milton were, did you picture Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara?
ReplyDeleteLol...Good one ...my initial was more archaic ralph and alice kramden..
DeleteEL and CO are practically spot on. :)
DeleteLittle bit corny...but a lot loving. Think those two characters are the perfect description of Keith and June so that’s how I’ll see them how. Hopefully they kept the Apple pies away from Max when he was in high school.
DeleteCouple of other things that popped up reading parts again this morning:
ReplyDelete1) Connor definitely knows the details of what happened between Max, Maggie and Cole, as he immediately understands why his brother is upset in that moment and begins to console him.
2) Someone like Connor would understand it probably, but there ain’t no way Keith and June know what happened. Likely, Max just told him the distance was too much and he and Maggie broke up...then some point later they found out Maggie and Cole started dating. They love Maggie, they love Cole...Max would put on his bravest face and tell them he was good with it. That would be enough for them.
3) I can’t help but try and get in Carol’s head in perceiving Keith and June...she probably feels a sense of relief that she doesn’t have to deal with these weird people from Michigan on a regular basis...but it’s her loss. I also don’t think we know anything about Cole’s family other than I don’t think they’re super rich either, so she probably feels the same way about them.
4) Now that someone mentioned it, I can’t get kinky Martin and Carol out of my head. I picture the main couple in the TV show “Billions”...Martin likes to be tied up and humiliated by Carol. Lots of those high powered Wall St types are into that. And Carol LOVES being in control. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much after that thought got in there. I don’t think Cole could handle Carol lol.
5) Oh, and “The Ring Fuck-Up” is a great title for some story, just not sure what. More proof that Keely is the best, most other women would have just castrated Connor for that; she realizes that casually torturing him about it for about 40 years is much more fun, so she’s going to do that.
DeleteWell she is Irish.
DeletePerhaps it would help to see a picture of Carol preparing for the bar exam:
Deletehttps://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/468585536213000980/
And her study group: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/468585536212873485/
DeleteHa ha. Does Chanel do BDSM?
DeleteLook at this, kt, tied up with pink tights. Guess it runs in the family.
Deletehttps://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/649714683712781443/
Pink is in this season for the fetish crowd.
DeleteI loved Keely's interaction with Connor so much. KT does such great comic relief in her stories, I could make a 'best of' list ... lol
Delete@KT which charactor was the hardest to write?
ReplyDeleteIm a guessin Maggie as she really struggled. But max couldnt have been very easy either.
Did Cole really maintain his celibacy for three months (he strugged with ten days)?
If so must have been a good three months for kleenex.
Btw i think that would make an excellent short. Trying to remain celibate when the love of her life is teasing her periodically.
Max was the hardest to write for some reason. Maggie flowed. Max seemed really gray to me sometimes. Cole would have been easier if I spent some time in his head, but he ended up being a device many times, something to pivot Max and Maggie. Writing struggle is easy because it is present; in the foreground. Her struggles were very much like many of my friends in school, and her character is very real to me. Shit, max is very real too, though. For some reason, though, I'm not sure why, he is the least visible to me of the Geoff/Pete/Max troika. There were many times I wished he sang to me better; like Geoff was 'in' my head. In the end though I'm still close with max, but he did seem hazy during parts of Maggie.
DeleteAnd Cole's abstinence included staying away from any solo sessions. Just like Maggie. No boon for the tissue companies.
Max is a little more devious than the other two, and a little less open about his desires (or maybe that’s just my perception)...maybe that made him harder to write. Geoff is still the best of the three...probably because you were so in sync with him. I still like Max a great deal too and I love him with Keely, so he’s right behind. Pete...he’s nice enough and a good dad...that’s all I got.
DeleteMaybe thats why i had such a tough time figuiring this one out. Didnt see enough of max to warrant maggies devotion yet maggie was devoted..
DeletePerhaps because max waffled on the whole cuckold thing. Liked it at first than sensed the danger with cole and then didnt like it but did but didnt i can see the fuzzy in that.
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DeleteMakes sense that it's Max.. He's terrified at the idea of Cole and Maggie, repulsive to it even, while also getting his rocks off to the idea. Makes him freeze up in the scenes where almost anybody else would be more direct..more human..in their interactions. It's easy to say what you want..difficult to write a character that can't seem to do that. In a way his actions, like flying to visit Ken alone, suggest cold, calculated logic..almost sociopathic behavior. Like something broke him or has always been broken.
DeleteI don't think he is a sociopath -- any guy competing with the likes of Cole will be pushed to feel like one -- but he is definitely the least 'normal'. I suspect that it was just the situation that pushed him to be like that, but usually that's not the case. It's hard to tell for Max. He's definitely complicated; he's got those tendencies while also exhibiting traits of the purest love and kindness a person can have.. Unusual combination..
KT -- am I onto anything here? Is Max, maybe just a little bit, 'on the spectrum'? Or did the situation just push him to act out of character?
Agree with John and JL. Correct me if I am wrong, kt, but Max was difficult to write because there is a fine line between being a total perv cuckold and agreeing to be cuckolded as the only way he could see to hold on to Maggie, given her own kink. There is also the matter of Max enjoying both his and Maggie's kinks, but not understanding initially that it creates trouble down the road; when that understanding dawns on Max he realizes he is in trouble (visit to Ken, the ring pull, the lake house) but each time he manages to convince himself that he will come up with something, staying in the game is all that matters to him at many points.
DeleteThe devious part comes because he figured he could always improvise some stunt in the future that would get rid of Cole, sending him into the Jay-zone. However, he underestimated Cole's seriousness as rival for too long.
For Maggie, Max represents a degree of independence from the Beckers that she will not have with Cole, even though Cole "gets" her. Thus her constant professions of love for Max. Besides, when you're 21, sexually and intellectually gifted, immature even for a 21-year old, and gorgeous, why wouldn't you think you could keep two excellent catches on the line at the same time.
WA did not see your comment until now and generally agree. I think Max might have been pushed over the edge when he stayed in Maggie's closet and saw her with Jay. The whole package - shirt, sketchbook, pink tights bondage, helping Jay get his rocks off with implicit escalation next time - convinced Max that he had caught someone that was too much for him to handle and that his only chance of holding on to her was to give her some lead and hope that she would finally tire of it. All this at the same time that actually seeing what turned out to be his kink both turned him on and terrified him. All of this is a lot to process and freezes Max' OODA loop.
DeleteYeah, maybe you are. I would never describe him as on the spectrum, like he wouldn't get a diagnosis or anything. Remember he does have strong emotions and a good connection with people. Love is important to him. But I think what you might see is a real comfort in introversion. He is speculative and inward and keeps a certain part of himself well-insulated. His brothers think of him as secretive and prone to over-reacting when he was younger. I also get the sense he was the youngest and that despite the love in his family his brothers and even sister were a little mean to Max who was the apple of June's eye.
DeleteThat last comment of mine was an answer to Worlds Apart, I was sniped while I was typing my long answer!
DeleteWe're all on the spectrum somewhere. Typically those who are inward are easier to spot. You can be those things and also be fiercely loyal and have powerful emotions. If anything, the introverted nature of those people make those powerful emotions even more pronounced, burying it deep in their psyche, in their beliefs. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. I'm like that, and I see myself in Max. Not his inability to feel resentment, but everything else. I've never been diagnosed with autism and people wouldn't suspect it either, but it's hard for me to not see the parallels in myself and what I read about it.
DeleteI even have a thing for half-Asian girls. Honestly this story was a gift. I grew to hate Maggie, and I know you didn't want her to be hated, but thank you so much for writing this.
Ha ha, I wish you didn't hate her! But I didn't hate Jess when I first wrote LHW, but when I re-read it a year later, I saw all the bad everyone else saw. In time, I might see all the bad in Maggie.
DeleteUltimately, I loved writing this and I`m so glad to write books that have an impact. I want to write the erotica that people will recall ten years later. Thank you for saying it was a gift.
The funadamental problem with all three is they didn’t recognize truths about themselves until they were too far down the road to do anything about it. Max realized he was losing Maggie to Cole, and Cole and Maggie realized they were falling for each other. At that point, it’s a mess no matter what they decide: someone is going to be hurt. You just have to do your best to complete repairs after the car crash.
DeleteI wouldnt use rhe word hate for Maggie. I would say she was misguided. I hated what it did to max and hers relationship. Being monday morning and a quarterback id say max was the better choice long term if shes gotta live under the parents thumb until they retire or expire.
DeleteCole is just as good but for the whole working for martin thing.
As far as max issues as an introvert hes always gonna be in the closet watching..
He may have had an idea to take it further with pushing for the emotional connection. Than decided he didnt like it. Also maggie knew what hurt him but did things with cole anyway. Even tho she tried to include him.
Im actually coming to appreciate this story more and more as we discuss it.
The fact that maybe maggie would have been better off socially, romantically, emotionally and not as good as cole but not bad sexually.
And still went with Cole because of his attractiveness and awareness of her inner sexual beast. Not that this outcome was unexpected after all we had a 40/40/10 percent chance (ok i was holding 10% out for prof Carmichael).
But who thought it was a sure thing that it would be Max and Maggie at the alter before recovering maggie? I couldnt commit because maggie just didnt give me enough to know which way she leaned. Good job on that KT.
This will keep us guessing in future stories.
My opinion on Maggie will change with time, I think. I don't think I'll like her very much as a person, but it's easy to forgive people for human mistakes. I don't like selfishness, especially intentional selfishness (@JL23), and Maggie's was not intentional. But the wreckage it left behind is still so menacing to me and my cave man brain isn't capable of processing everything that quickly..
DeleteI don't hate Maggie, even though I think she was wrong to string out a relationship that tied emotions and feelings of love and attachment with sex, in that way I agree with WA. I don't hate her or even dislike her for what she did though. I just feel really sad about the situation and wish that they were wiser and maybe tried to hook him up with someone else like any other friends would do, but honestly it could just be the lack of understanding their relationship.
DeleteJohn I really thought going in she was going to be with Max. But despite my misgivings about their future, I think she picked the right guy for her in the end. She doesn’t just pick Cole cause he rocks her world in bed (though it’s a big plus)...he’s also kind and considerate to her (when he’s not dominating her in bed). They have fun together and she knows him well. It’s just the one thing I don’t think he can give her has the potential to be a big problem down the road.
DeleteI honestly don’t hate any of the main female protagonists in these stories. They are all flawed and make bad decisions, but I don’t see any malice in any of them. The closest was Jess, because I thought she was purposely selfish in blowing up her family to chase her lost youth. Nia makes a ton of mistakes, but she’s doing her best to hold it together, and Maggie is just a kid who doesn’t know any better. I can’t fault her for discovering at 21 that the guy she thought she’d marry wasn’t exactly right for her.
ReplyDeleteI should have looked down and saw once again thoughts that were better than my own. I just posted something similar.
DeleteI also wouldn’t classify Max on the spectrum. I envision he’s a lot like me, someone who’s shy and introverted around people he doesn’t know, but he comes out of his shell around people he’s comfortable with. Hence his very playful relationships with Cole, Maggie, Keely, even his brothers at times. He couldn’t give that speech at the wedding if he was autistic in any way.
ReplyDeleteSpeech-Max is the transformed Max. One who's been around the block and seen some shit, but is also supported by friends and family and gone off to have some life success. Content but still got that squeeze on his heart.
DeleteInteresting, is Max introverted? I saw him as very outspoken and engaging, but he doesn't have much of an ego so he'll keep his mouth shut and listen if he feels he has to.
DeleteThe external with max is engaging, but it’s the tip of the iceberg. There is much he keeps hidden, and prefers to keep hidden.
Delete...fundamentally too, I mean that story about almost freezing to death as a child because he didn't want to bother his father (I think that's who he was with) is heartbreaking!
DeleteI mean it's Eugene Levy he's such a nice guy!
Exactly. Anyone remember he was on a snowmobile that time with his father? Then he was showing off with Maggie and Cole on the arctic cat at the lodge. There was some meaning there ....
DeleteOhhh, like "if only the me then could just see me now?"
DeleteYes, like enduring hardship forged useful character that would apply in his future
DeleteDid I miss where we talked about who really got rid of the security tapes? Was it really Carol or was it Ken? I still think Ken.
ReplyDeleteKen seemed like he didn't know what Max was talking about when he brought up the tapes and their conversations at the lodge would suggest Carol. I don't think Ken would lie (indirectly) to Maggie..so I'm gonna say Carol.
DeleteI forgot what the real discussion is, whether or not Carol saw them, not who deleted them. I still vote she didn't see them. WA after that moment your talking about Ken talks to Maggie and she asks him 'did you delete thank he says 'what do you think?' and she thanks him because he obviously did.
Delete'did you delete them' then he says 'what do you think?"*
DeleteCarol has them in the mysterious room.
DeleteKen told her that so she wouldn’t worry...I believe he confessed to Max he never saw the tapes, or that when he went to destroy them they were already deleted. Max told Maggie that at the lodge. So Maggie is convinced her mother saw them.
ReplyDeleteRight, so you think Carol saw them too? That's really fucking creepy, I've been hoping Carol never saw them and feel comforted by that, it gives me the heeby geebies otherwise.
DeleteIt's also suggested that she would use that knowledge to allow her to sculpt Maggie into the person she wanted her to be. Definitely not motherly.
DeleteIt’s up to interpretation I suppose...but Maggie is convinced her mother saw the tapes. Personally, I have no idea...it could just be Carol is intuitive enough to know she was involved with both of them.
DeleteI felt like what Maggie was reacting to with her mom 'just knowing' was because her mom picked up on
DeleteA) Max didn't come with her for the wedding stuff they talked about, not Max-like.
B) No ring ... like Carol said, why would Max take your ring too if it is just a postponed wedding.
C) They literally just talked the other day and argued about having the wedding despite her going to Harvard, Maggie changes her mind using the very line of reason her mother did on the phone in UM. Seemed unlikely to me.
That's what I'm choosing to believe to feel better about the situation, lalala.
The alternative is a whole other level of depraved manipulation I prevented myself from thinking on, because, holy shit.
I’m kind of with you on that TBTH...Carol is a really perceptive woman, there was enough evidence for her to figure things out without knowing the gory details. And Maggie is naturally quick to assume the absolute worst out of her mother.
DeleteI’ve tried not to focus on the Carol stuff because I don’t personally think she manipulated Maggie to choose Cole. She was choosing Cole anyway. The unfortunate side effect to that down the road is that it increases her mother’s influence in her life, because Cole is much more interested in being part of the Beckers than Max. He won’t take Carol on for her, whereas Max would have. How she feels about down the road is a matter of discussion.
Maybe its just me but when my 23 yo daughter lied to me i knew every time and it pissed her off now if she feels the need to not tell the truth i let it slide a parent knows so did Maxs parents but after the older siblings they learned what i learned theres no need to himiliate your 20 something kid by outing their lie. So they just love there son and loved maggie as well just because ...and there wasnt alot of cole in there either it was max and family for the bride side. Not the grooms.
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