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“Was hoping to catch you and see if you wanted to do dinner.” He thought he was being sneaky, but she knew exactly what he was doing.
“Thanks, but I’m headed home.”
“Want company?” She frowned, biting back her words and trying not to snap.
“I don’t need pity.”
“It isn’t pity, honey. You’d be doing me a favor. If I have to hear one more time from Pop that I need to be spending my nights with a girl to settle down with, I’m going to lose it. At least if I’m with you, he can’t harp on me.”
“I don’t understand why you still live with him.” She loved her father, but even she knew that space was the best thing for their relationship.
She needed her own life.
And Mac did too.
And it wasn’t as if he didn’t have the space. He owned several acres of bare land outside of town and his auto shop, and even had an apartment above it, for Pete’s sake.
“I’ve actually been thinking of redoing the apartment above the garage,” Mac muttered, picking up the cup of coffee that Tracey set down.
Even this late at night, Mac could drink a gallon of it, and then turn right around and pass out.
“Really? That could be cool.”
“Yeah. This year has been great, and I’ve got the capital. It would be nice to just wake up and walk downstairs.” She chuckled.
That was Mac.
Simple was best.
“I’m going to go. Love you.” He gave her a look, as if he wanted to say something more, but then thought better of it. Standing, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeezing hug.
“Love ya,” he whispered against her hair, and she nodded, fighting to keep her tears at bay as she grabbed her bag of food and headed out.
The road in front of her wavered, her tears threatening to blind her, as she drove out of town. By the time she reached the gravel road to the house, her chest was aching, and she was breathing heavily, trying to keep it together.
She reached up and wiped at her tears angrily. How was it that she had gotten herself into this situation? When she had been younger, she had never thought that her and James’s life would have been like this.
Looking forward to a future without him, that was the horrifying truth that she was going to have to admit.
That at this point, he might not be coming home.
“No!” she sobbed out. Slamming on the brakes, James’s truck jerked to a stop, and she pulled over to the side of the road and threw it in park before banging her hands on the steering wheel.
“NO! AHHH!” she screamed, her lungs burning, as heartache like nothing she had ever known filled her. Starting deep in her heart, and leeching out to every part of her soul till she thought she wasn’t going to be able to breathe.
Gasping for air, she sobbed uncontrollably, clenching the steering wheel till her knuckles were white.
God, please no!
She didn’t want this to be happening!
She wanted to be able to blink and when she opened her eyes, have James sitting next to her. His beautiful slate grey eyes smiling back at her.
But life wasn’t always what you wanted, and fate often proved that it wasn’t fair.
After a moment, she sighed and wiped at her cheeks again. Smearing away the tears as exhaustion took hold of her.
Then she pulled herself together the best she could, put the truck into drive, and headed home.
