“Some can’t stay away no matter how hard they try,” Candace said with a smile.
“Some people aren’t able to envision any other future for themselves,” Bonnie said, her face unbearably honest and open. I felt my throat go tight.
“Some make a home for themselves with the family they choose,” Becca added, blue eyes wet with unshed tears.
“And none of it is right or wrong,” Joan concluded. “Sometimes, it’s just the way things work out. But don’t fall under the impression that those of us who stay aren’t living rich, fulfilled lives. We all have our own stories to tell, wisdom to impart, and a legacy to uphold. Even you, Mac.”
The things they shared reached deep inside me and tugged hard. I was so very fortunate to have these women in my life. To have a family who loved and supported me. Friends who accepted me. A community I belonged to.
“Are you happy?” Larry asked earnestly. “Would you be happier somewhere else? Because that’s okay if that’s the way you feel, Mac. You wouldn’t lose us or?—”
“No,” I interrupted, feeling the truth of it in my bones. “This is my home. It’s where I want to live my life, with the people I love.” And I knew who that included, whether I’d planned for him or not.
“Then give yourself permission to be happy here,” Candace said, smiling gently.
“I’d like to travel more,” I admitted.
“Then fucking travel more,” Larry said emphatically. “And take that Brady Judd with you.”
I met her challenging gaze. “He hates me.”
“We know. We know.” She rolled her eyes. “You guyshateeach other.”
“No,” I confessed. “Now he reallydoeshate me. We were ... seeing each other. Secretly, for months, but then I—I got scared. I broke his heart, I think.”Broke mine too, I didn’t add.
As I searched the faces of everyone in the room, it was telling that no one really seemed all that surprised.
“Then, maybe,” Larry said, “it’s time to say you’re sorry.”
Five other women nodded along before Becca piped up, “And a grand gesture couldn’t hurt.”
Brady
“Candace, I really don’t want to be here,” I said from the backseat of Mercer’s truck, where I’d been kidnapped and was being held against my will.
“Well, too bad, big brother. Nola and Junior invited our whole family, and we’re going.”
Mercer met my eyes in the rearview mirror. He winced and focused back on the road.
It was Memorial Day weekend, and the Clarks were throwing their annual party out on Lake Archer.
But I didn’t have it in me. I had no desire to play cornhole or ride Jet Skis. I didn’t want to grill hamburgers or eat Maggie Clark’s tortellini pasta salad, which was saying something. And I definitely didn’t want to see Mac.
It had been just over three weeks since we’d spoken. I didn’t know what was left to say. She’d wanted to break things off, so I needed to let her. Seeing her today would be torture.
You didn’t stop loving someone just because you were angry and hurt. I knew Mac was hurting, too, and that was, maybe, the worst part of all. Because I knew she loved me back.
Still, I couldn’t be the one who tried to fix this. She had to reach her own conclusions and, ultimately, live her own life, with or without me.
If you chased someone long enough, all you’d do was eventually wear them down. And where was the love in that?
So when Candace and Mercer had practically wrestled me into the truck today, I’d been quietly panicking and loudly protesting. I’d even tried the door handle at a stoplight and they’d put the damn child locks on.
“Stop pouting,” Candace called as she slipped her sunglasses on.
“I liked it better when you lived in a different state, butthead.”
She tossed a grin over her shoulder. “No, you didn’t, buttface.”
