I typically coasted at work. I went where I was needed and did what was asked of me. I never minded because I liked all of it. I could work with Mom in the refreshment stand. I could pass out u-pick buckets to the tourists. Or I could go work in the fields with Mercer and Joan, picking apples and tending crops. I was easily adaptable.
“Nah,” I finally answered. “It’ll be good in the long run, and I’m glad to have my sister home.”
“I guess it’s probably smart that Candace doesn’t have to close up alone. Especially since the vandal was never caught.”
I glanced at my friend. There was an amused edge to his tone like he was baiting me, but I just dipped my fourth hush puppy in an obnoxious amount of butter and agreed with him. “Yeah, she shouldn’t be there by herself at night.”
Abby raised a brow and made his move. “And you still think Mac had something to do with all that?”
I shoved the fried cornbread into my mouth and chewed slowly. I didn’t know what to think about Mac anymore.
She’d kissed me over two weeks ago. Kissed me. On the mouth. Like it was no big deal and then promptly flipped the fuck out and had been avoiding me ever since.
We had trivia the other night at Trailview Brewing, and she hadn’t even argued or started a fight. My team had won, and she’d calmly stood and gathered her things while the trivia host played the closing music. Totally out-of-character, unhinged behavior.
I’d watched her like a hawk all night, waiting for a glance of acknowledgement, a telltale blush, a screech of outrage—hell, anything.
But she’d sat stoic and aloof at a nearby picnic table with her back to me through eight rounds of trivia. That had never happened before.
Now I knew she’d been serious about pretending the kiss had never happened, and she was trying to avoid me as a result.
That was fine. I’d give her some time.
I needed to sort through my own screwed-up epiphany. Realizing you’d been secretly in love with your lifelong nemesis was not something I’d recommend. It would have helped if I’d had more than five minutes to think on it before Mac had popped up outside my window like a serial killer.
The timing could not have been worse. And then the kissing thing happened, and I’d been even more confused as a result.
The kiss had been ... a total surprise and a swift confirmation.
When Mac’s red lips had touched mine, I hadn’t even thought. I’d reacted. Instinct had taken over, and I would have done anything to get closer. My hands had reached for her before I’d given them permission. She’d smelled like cinnamon and woodsmoke, her cheeks cool beneath my palms.
If we hadn’t been interrupted, I wasn’t sure what would have happened. No part of me had wanted to stop, I knew that.
But her quick denial and refusal to discuss anything left me feeling heartsick.
I knew Mac, though, and the longer I thought about it, the more I realized she’d bolted because she was scared. I’d seen the flush on her cheeks and the way her hand trembled in her lap, how she’d slid unsteadily to the ground as she’d practically sprinted out of my truck. She’d been just as affected by that kiss as I was.
Mac was running scared.
And I’d let her go for now. She had a lead, but I had every intention of catching her.
“Hello. Earth to Brady.” Abby’s impatient words drew me out of my Mac-infused daydream.
“Sorry. Yeah. No. Maybe. I don’t know,” I finally settled on. “I don’t know if Mac had anything to do with the vandalism, but I still wouldn’t put it past her.” I paused and then murmured, “She’s probably looking to strike again right about now.”
Abby frowned. “Why do you say that? She was pretty chill at trivia night.”
I debated how much to say. While it would be nice to get someone’s perspective, I wasn’t ready to admit that my friend had been right all this time. Well, at leastright about me. He’d been bugging me about MacKenzie Clark since we were preteens, so smug and sure Mac and I were destined to be together.
I still needed to figure out what my feelings meant. There was a ton of history between us—most of itnotgood—and I didn’t know if pursuing her was even an option.
An image of her cherry-red, bee-stung lips flashed behind my eyes, and I thought I might not mind the challenge.
Either way, I knew Mac would be reluctant. She would ignore me and then lash out. It was likely she’d try to explain away what had happened between us as a freak accident that had no meaning to her.
She would basically move through the stages of grief as a result of kissing me. That did not instill confidence.
But, on the other hand, I could still hear the phantom groan of approval from when I’d sucked on her bottom lip.
