The pangs that I’d been able to suppress with Rhys’s helpful distractions surged up at his words. It kept growing the more I looked down at sleeping Maeve and her little pouty lips.
I was tempted to hand her off to Jury, but it wouldn’t help.
And it was unnecessary.
Because as soon as Mac came from the kitchen with a plastic container in her hands, her focus zeroed in on her baby. Her baby, who wasnotbeing held by her husband.
I was a stranger.
She knew I was a detective, but that didn’t automatically instill trust. It also didn’t automatically mean someonedeservedsaid trust.
I got that, but I still didn’t expect the way she rushed across the crowded room like I was the kind of monster who would kidnap someone.
The quick movement caught Ophelia’s attention, and she perked up from her place on her husband’s lap to see what was happening. When she saw me, she stood a lot faster than I thought she was capable of.
Uh-oh.
What’d I do?
By the time Mac got to me, her expression was nowhere near as alarmed as it’d been initially, but it wasn’t as soft as it was when she was at ease. It was a forced neutral.
A convincing one, too.
I wouldn’t playGo Fishagainst her, much less poker.
If I ever need two recruits to join me for aCharlie’s Angelstrio, O and Mac would be top of the list.
Except Mac would likely stab me in the back since I’m beginning to suspect she hates me.
Her voice held the faintest terse thread, but I might’ve missed it if I wasn’t listening for it. “Sorry about that, Lo.” She put the container under her arm before plucking Maeve from my hold. “Hollywood shouldn’t have included you in baby hot potato. You’re a guest.”
“It’s no problem,” I said, even if it had created an emotional one. I broke the rule I’d just internally reestablished on the car ride there and shared to reassure her. “I have two nieces and a nephew. I miss when they were little like this, and not too cool to call meAuntie.”
She smiled, and like at the bakery, it was friendly enough.
But also… not.
Ophelia tugged her phone from her pocket, and her thumbs moved quickly around the screen as she asked, “Did you get your waffles?”
“Like I would forget,” Mac scoffed, and the difference in her tone was glaringly obvious.
Yup.
Hates me.
Ophelia pocketed her phone, and I expected to see Judge check his.
A beep came from right next to me.
I looked over to see Hollywood move all up into Mac’s space—a common habit of the men, it seemed. Payback must’ve been the theme of the day because he swiped Maeve from her just like she’d done with me.
Without the alarm, of course.
It was just shining love on his face. “Ready, neighbor?”
I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but I didn’t expect it to be his wife who answered. “I told you, we can stay longer.”
Her focus was on him, so she missed the wide eyes Ophelia was giving Hollywood.
