It wasn’t long before I heard an engine coming down the path between my parents’ house and the orchard. Glancing up, I did a double take when I saw a bright yellow Jeep.
Mac hopped out and made her way over to me. She was in worn jeans and a fleecy pullover. Her messy bun was still in place, but the faded lipstick had been replaced with a fresh layer that drew my attention to her mouth. She looked so fucking pretty walking toward me in the cloudy January morning that I had to force a rough swallow before I could speak.
“Hey,” I said, confusion evident in my tone.
She gave me a small smile. “I figured you’d been here, cleaning up. Thought I’d come help.” I opened my mouth to object, but she shook her head. “It’s my day off. I can spend it however I want.”
I watched her for a long moment, wondering if she knew that secret hookups who were only in it for the sex didn’t really offer to help someone clean up a mess at the crack of dawn. I tried not to read too much into the fact that she was here when she could have been warm in bed without me. But there was a traitorous tightness in my chest that said I wasn’t managing it all that well.
“Thank you,” I said roughly as she reached into my back pocket for the roll of trash bags I’d stashed there.
She pulled a couple off for herself and then returned the remainder of the roll to my jeans, smacking my ass and grinning on her way to where Chad littered the ground.
When I got to work near her, Mac asked, “So what did Rhonda say? Did y’all decide on a punishment?”
I crouched and grabbed a handful of blue nylon. “Amos is going to help me here after school two days a week for six weeks.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to your family?”
“Yeah, I came out here early and had coffee with Mom and Dad, then caught Candy and Joan when they started their run. Everyone was okay with it. Mercer too. Mom insists on feeding Amos an afternoon snack before he starts work, though.” I rolled my eyes.
Mac laughed. “Oh, Amy. She’s a good one.”
Smiling, I agreed, “Yep.” My mother was pretty great. She’d put up with me being an overactive pain in the ass often enough; a sullen teenager would probably be a walk in the park.
I still worried I’d taken advantage of my family’s generosity. Amos had been young and dumb and reckless, but he’d also snuck onto our property multiple times and caused some destruction—albeit minor. Between the paintballing and the inflatable tube men, it was damage, nonetheless. What if his second attempt hadn’t been thwarted by Mac and me? What if he’d smashed all the pumpkins on the farm or burned down apple trees because his idiot friends in the getaway car thought it would be fun to watch our livelihoods go up in flames?
Part of me worried I should have just called the sheriff and let them handle it. That the right path for that boy would be some tough love instead of a second chance to hurt my family again.
“Do you think I made the right decision?” I asked Mac without looking at her. “Handling it myself like that? It was the heat of the moment last night, and maybe I acted without thinking. Too impulsive or?—”
“Brady,” Mac said quietly, stilling the rambling thoughts pouring directly out of my mouth. Her gray eyes were soft with understanding. “I think you gave that kid and his mother a gift. Amos just doesn’t know it yet.”
I nodded, still unsure but happy to have Mac’s support.
When the scraps of the two inflatable tube men had been picked up, Mac and I stood side by side watching Jeff wave sadly in the cold morning air.
“Brad and Chad Junior will be here by Friday,” I offered.
“Oh, thank God,” she replied genuinely. “Jeff looked so lonely and pitiful.”
We shared a smile.
“Did you think it was hot when I did that flying tackle last night?” I asked, my eyebrows bouncing.
Mac tapped her chin. “You mean when you carelessly launched yourself at an intruder?”
“Well, it sounds less hot when you say it like?—”
“Or did you mean when you tackled a fourteen-year-old child to the muddy ground?”
“Okay, never mind.” I pressed a hand to my side. “I think I pulled something anyway.”
Mac laughed. An honest-to-God giggle that had me swaying closer to her, ready to plant a kiss on her grinning lips.
But then a bright “Hey, y’all!” sounded from behind us, and we stepped away from one another.
We turned to find my sister Candace approaching cheerfully, still in her running gear with her long brown hair in a sweaty ponytail.
