The Truth About Fairy Tales by Annie Walker

evening, which just left the two of us.
                  “Why don’t I make some coffee and then we’ll talk.”
                  “About what?” This was the frightened Maggie talking and he knew it because he simply smiled at me.
                  “About you…about me…about us.”
                  I think he sensed I was ready to bolt at any moment and I’m sure I would have had he not taken my hand and almost dragged me to the kitchen.
                  He made the coffee because, well, frankly, I didn’t seem to be able to do much right then.
                  I did manage, however, to set out cream and sugar and a couple of mugs without screwing that up.
                  “You know two people can be together without having to give up their lives, don’t you?” I wasn’t sure which of us he was trying to convince the most that our lives wasn’t going to change if we went any further with this relationship.
                  I was so busy putting up barriers around my heart, reminding myself that whatever this guy felt didn’t matter to me because I had plans of my own that didn’t include him.
                  “Maggie, I’m not asking you to give up your dreams for me.” I glanced at him sitting there next to me looking almost vulnerable and wondered how many of the others he had said those words to.
                  Jackson spent the night with me, but he was gone before I awoke and I didn’t have a clue when he’d left or what it was that he’d been trying to tell me I wouldn’t be  giving up for him.
    ****
                  I’d managed to land my first full weekend away from work in months. It had been so long since I’d had this much free time on my hands that I wasn’t sure what to do with it all. I decided I’d start the day off by finishing off that steamy romance I’d been reading in secret for a while now.
                  That was the plan anyway.
                  Unfortunately, I spent most of the morning drinking too much coffee and going over every single word of what Jackson had said to me last night, looking for hidden meanings that I just knew had to be there.
                  He’d told me two people could be together without giving up pieces of themselves. I took that to mean he wouldn’t be giving up anything for me, especially not the other women in his week.
                  I’d probably just presented a little more of a challenge for him. I wasn’t like the others who’d gone willingly to their fate. I was stubborn, which had forced him to try harder with me.
                  He’d told me he wasn’t asking me to give up on my dreams. I believed he meant he didn’t want to give up his either. We wouldn’t be anything lasting or permanent. I was temporary. A moment of weakness for him.
                  So what were we doing here anyway? I mean, he knew I planned to leave Austin for good before Christmas, because I’d told him more times than I could remember. Were we just having fun? I didn’t much like that thought.
                  It reminded me too much of all the things I’d tried to hide. I decided I couldn’t stand to be reminded of my mother and I certainly didn’t want to be just another number in an endless line of women. I knew for my own protection, and for the safety of my future, I needed to end it with Jackson before things got any more desperate for me.
                  I did what I always do when I’m scared and need to think. When I can’t deal with life. I went to my secret hiding place.
                  Up on the roof of my apartment building, there’s this odd little storage room tucked away in one corner. It's little more than a small closet really. I’m not sure why this space was built in the first place because it