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She turned, giving me a small smile. “I’m happy to help. Do you like the pieces? I was going to send you pictures, but Macy thought it was best to leave it as a surprise.”
I laughed. “I’m sure she did. The pillows?”
Her smile got bigger. “Macy’s idea.”
I nodded. “Right.”
“You can send them back, or shove them in a closet.”
I reached for her hand, but stopped myself, and planted both my hands firmly on the steering wheel. “I’ll just give them to her for Christmas.”
She nodded, turning her attention back to the window. How did I misjudge everything?
“I’m sorry.”
I glanced in her direction. “For what?”
Her knee continued to bounce. She turned her attention to me briefly before looking down at her lap. “For what I said.”
My hands momentarily tightened on the steering wheel. “You only told me the truth about how you feel. Nothing to be sorry for.”
“Malcolm—”
“Look, we can talk about this—I mean we probably should—but now is not the time.”
Her lips clamped shut. She didn’t say anything else.
Shit!
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just that conversation isn’t one that can be resolved in the next five minutes.”
“I understand,” she replied softly.
When we arrived at Macy’s house, I realized it was more than just some couples’ dinner; our parents were there. No way I’d be able to fend off both Macy and my mother, they were too much alike.
“Shit!”
“S’it,” Shawn giggled from the backseat.
Ginger frowned at me.
“Sorry. Let’s just get this over with.”
I started to get out of the truck, but stopped when she touched my arm. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
I looked back at her. Her eyes were pleading with me. Shawn started fussing, wanting out of his car seat. “I’m not,” I answered before getting out to tend to him.
Over the course of the evening, I watched Ginger with a new set of eyes. I saw her—the real her—clearly for the first time. She smiled, she laughed, she appeared okay. She gushed over Macy’s news that she was expecting again. But none of it was real. She wasn’t real. I didn’t know who she was, as much as I thought I did. The woman I watched was a mystery to me. When she thought no one was looking, her smile faded, and an exhausted look took over. She drank glass after glass of wine. Faking it the whole night. I thought back to our times together, and now questioned everything. Where there any times when she’d actually been happy to be with me, or was
it all one big act?
“So what are you two fighting about?” Macy asked as she followed me into the kitchen.
I closed the fridge, popped open the bottle of beer, and took a drink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah right. Lee has had like four glasses of wine, and she won’t look at you to save her life. So, spill it.”
I took another drink. “If anything is going on between us, it’s between us, Mace. You don’t get to weigh in.”
