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And Mack . . . Mack can tear it all down in seconds flat.
He also walked out.
Something I can’t blame him for.
“There you are.” Sarah smiles at me and tucks her hand under my arm. “Mack left. But come and join us.”
“I . . .” I sigh. “He’s mad.”
“He’s a man. Tell me to fuck off if I’m crossing lines, but he’s also a good one, and by the way he’s acting, I’m thinking there’s something between the two of you.” She takes a sip from the drink in her other hand.
“There might have been . . .”
“I knew it.” Her smile morphs into a grin, then it fades. “Mack’s a big flirt, he’s easy to talk to and women love him.”
My heart constricts at her words, though I know they’re all true. But it’s like she’s pointing out there’s no me and Mack.
“But in the short time I’ve been here, the thing with him I’ve seen is he’s big-hearted, honest, and rough around the edges in the right way. He could be anything or do anything. He went to college, has a business degree—Dakota told me that’s what Lawson said—but he chooses to be here, do what he wants to do, which is work in the town, fixing cars, being a volunteer firefighter, using his hands and his mind.”
“Like that fisherman story? The one who fished enough to live, worked hard, became huge and made so much money and then retired to fish enough to live because he liked that? You’re saying that’s Mack?” I ask.
She squeezes my arm. “I’m saying Mack does what he chooses to do, what makes him happy. He could fuck about any day he wanted. He could have dozens of girlfriends. He doesn’t do that because he doesn’t want to. But he seems to have chosen you. Because that’s what he sees as making him happy.”
“But he’s wrong. I’m messed up, my . . .”
She releases my arm and motions for me to drink my drink. She orders two more—bourbon, by the looks of it—and presses one into my hand.
“Is this why he asked me not to say anything if someone asks?”
“Sort of. My family.”
I want to say more to her. Like tell her about what I saw, how it worries at me, how there’s no one to ask about who this man who came to town is. Because Gran won’t know and will probably get arrested or worse trying to find out. And my mother? If she hired him, then she knows where I am, and if she didn’t? Scandal.
I’m too old to let parental strangleholds affect me and yet . . .
“Dakota can tell you a thing or two about families,” she mutters. “I’m not going to push, but I’m here, Dakota’s here, we have a sheriff and a lawyer we know really well. And there’s Mack. You can talk to him. He’s solid. Real. Someone you can trust, and I think you know it.”
With that, she turns and leads me back to the table.
Feeling like I most definitely don’t belong but wishing I did, I follow.
* * *
It’s a good evening, and I know it would be better if Mack was here. The two women are great—they shut down any teasing questions thrown my way about it, just like they shut down questions to do with my life outside of the fact I work for myself and am passing through.
Vic would love them both and be best buddies with them in seconds. Vic would also flirt her socks off with the men and have a grand time.
These guys are something. All insanely hot, fit, and tall. And Sarah and Dakota are something else again. Amazing women I want as friends.
It should be disconcerting to have a man who looks exactly like Mack in my line of vision, but while Mack makes my heartbeat fast and pulse jump about, Lawson doesn’t. I see the differences too. Mack’s laid back and likes to give the impression life’s a big joke for him to roll around in. Lawson’s reserved, watching.
I’m sure he’s funny too. I hear it in the banter. But they’re different beasts, he and his twin. Mack lights up everything, and his running commentary makes things brighter.
Oh shit. I miss him in a physical way.
I want him, not a man who resembles him, but the thing that makes MackMack. The thing I see. The thing that separates him from the rest. The thing that says everything about him. His alpha personality that’s mixed with a sense of humor I enjoy.
They’re talking Alpine Energy now, about how things are seemingly quiet, and from what I pieced together, this company tried to steal Dakota’s land, and everyone here stepped up.
