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There on the front page of the Tallahassee Daily was Duke’s picture at the precise moment he was ushering Kristina off into the bedroom. Considering he’d done basically the same thing to her this morning, it wasn’t a good look.
“Macy, I explained that...”
“Kids talk, Duke. How do I explain this to Gia? What do I say to MJ when his friends ask him about you being in a relationship with me, while this woman is claiming you’re the father of her child on national TV?”
He scratched his head. “But I already told you I’m not.”
Macy shook the paper at him. “Which means nothing when this is plastered in the news. Jesus, Duke! What am I supposed to do now?”
“Nothing,” Duke said, trying to control his irritation at Kristina. Damn her for coming back. “It will blow over.”
“It will blow over with the two of you reporting the news together?”
“Now wait a minute...”
“No,” Macy cut him off. “I’m not going to wait a minute while you figure everything out.”
“Hold on now, Macy... I dropped the whole issue with Lawrence being in here so early in the morning.”
“What?” She gasped with laughter. “You can’t be serious about throwing that in my face when you have a pregnant girlfriend who you have to work with...”
“Ex!” he interjected. She shook the paper again at him as if that made a difference. He couldn’t help what the paper wrote. He couldn’t control it. “Okay, I think I see what’s going on here, Macy.”
The room grew quiet while Macy stood there, waiting for him to explain.
“You don’t like the idea of me and Kristina working together. I understand that. But I think what it is, is that you’re just afraid.”
“Afraid?” she choked out.
“Yes,” Duke replied matter-of-factly. “This morning you saw how good things could be for us, and you’re just trying to push me away.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know why, but you’ve been pushing me away since we met. And you know what I think?”
“What?” she asked drily, with a sigh.
“I think you’re afraid of a challenge.”
Scoffing at him, Macy tossed the paper on the table. “What?”
“You’re afraid of a challenge. Just think about the homes you did, homes you’ve won awards for. You don’t like dealing with difficult people. You didn’t like dealing with the Wainwrights. You didn’t like their new ways of doing things and figured you would lose the contest if you worked with them. You don’t want to work with me because you’re afraid you’ll lose me. Think about it, Macy...you’re a sore loser.”
“Are you calling me a loser?”
He sighed with deeply felt frustration. Counting to ten backward in Spanish, he shook his head. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Well, you’re wrong about the contest. It’s not about winning. It’s about what I won. And it doesn’t really matter because I did not win this year.” With that, Macy snatched the paper back up and held it in his face. Her fingers pointed toward the small article at the bottom of the page. Duke could clearly see that the winning house was not hers. Instead, there was a proud middle-aged couple standing in front of a uniquely decorated home. He could only assume they were the Wainwrights. Macy set the paper back down and brushed past him. She stopped at the doorway. “But you’re right about one thing—I don’t like dealing with difficult people. You can show yourself out.”
“Macy.” Duke pleaded, “Don’t be like this. We still have work to do together.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll still do your party on Christmas Eve. But I don’t want to look at your face until then.”
Duke stood in the kitchen. He cringed when he heard a door slam and cursed when he realized it was the front door. Had she really left? Baffled, Duke turned around. Serena was now back at the doorway, shaking her head.
“What just happened here?” he asked her. If anyone should know, it had to be Serena.
“It seems as though the two of you had a fight.”
