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“I wanted to talk to you.” He looked around, as if just noticing the electronic chaos surrounding me. “But we can talk later if now isn’t a good time.”
“No, now is fine.” I kicked off the miscellaneous extension cord partially wrapped around my shoe. “I should probably take a break anyway.”
“What are you doing?” Macon led the way to the two faded chairs sitting in the little waiting area at the front of the office. I grabbed my latte and followed.
“My dad’s office computer was in desperate need of an upgrade, so I’m attempting to get a new one set up for him.” I sat in the empty seat, wincing at the stiff, uncomfortable chair. “I was not expecting to find every single cord he’s ever used in the past twenty years tangled underneath the desk.”
Macon smiled, giving the office a quick once-over.
“I get the feeling that keeping old things is kind of a theme around here. Your dad doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who enjoys spending a lot of time in the office.”
“Definitely not,” I confirmed, attempting to take a sip of latte without grimacing. “I think he’d work out of his truck if he could get away with it. He used to have an office administrator who did all the office tasks he hates, but she retired, and he never got around to hiring a replacement.”
“Madge, right?”
“That’s right,” I said, surprised he would have even noticed the office administrator, let alone remembered her name.
He must have caught my surprise, because he added, “I stopped by the office a few times with Holden to look at some blueprints. She was terrifying.” He shuddered. “Madge is...unforgettable.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his fear of Madge. She was tough as nails with a heart of gold and the ability to strike fear into the heart of people four times her size.
“We were afraid of her as kids, but she managed to keep all the guys who worked for Daddy in line, and always had a full candy dish on her desk. She grew on all of us.”
We sat in silence for a few moments, looking at each other and taking sips of our respective beverages. It wasn’t exactly a tense silence, but it wasn’t a comfortable one either.
“What did you want to talk about?” I finally asked, just to avoid having to take another drink of my bitter latte. I was definitely not a fan of chai tea lattes.
“I wanted to check in with you.” He paused, recrossing his legs and adjusting his position in the unforgiving chair. “I know it’s not necessarily my place, but wearegoing to be siblings soon, so I’d like to think we can talk about things.”
My heart was beating so fast I almost couldn’t hear him over the rhythmic pounding echoing in my ears. I had absolutely no idea where this conversation was going, but I imagined this was what a suspect in a police interrogation felt when the good cop was up.
“Sure.” The vague word of encouragement was all I could manage at that moment whilewhat the fuck is happeningplayed on repeat in my brain.
“You seemed...” He hesitated. “Well, a little tense at dinner the other night and I — actually,we — were worried that you might not be totally comfortable with Sissy and me. Our relationship, I mean.”
The chai tea turned to battery acid in my stomach. I had a very,verybad feeling about where this conversation was going.
“Huh. I did?” I scrambled to think of a way to reassure him, hoping I could put an end to the topic before it went any further. “I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind recently, between work and helping my parents. I’m sorry if I worried you.”
There was no doubt in my mind that Sissy had barely even registered my presence at dinner, any more than she would have noticed a handbag or a napkin. If Macon wanted to pretend Sissy was the caring, loving older sister, he would be existing in that imaginary world alone. There was no heat behind my words though, because I truly believed Macon’s concern was sincere.
“I can understand how that would be a lot.” Macon glanced down, watching his fingers slide up and down the plastic side of his cup. “There’s something else I wanted to mention while I’m here. High school was a long time ago. Lots of things — and people — change. I don’t want things to be weird between us, because you had a crush on me in high school and now I’m engaged to your sister. I was worried some of the tension might be about the past.”
I don’t know if I have ever wanted the earth to crack open and swallow me up more than I did in that moment. I fought desperately to try to keep the blush from exploding across my face, but I could feel the heat scorching up my neck toward my hairline anyway. The humiliation was making it difficult to form coherent thoughts, let alone a polite answer.
Even though it wasn’t fair, I didn’t think I could possibly resent Sissy any more than I did right now. She could have saved me this embarrassment by talking to me herself. Instead, she’d let Macon handle it, despite my feelings.
“Nope, nothing to worry about there either.” I stumbled through an explanation, trying to center myself by concentrating on the feel of the plastic cup in my hands. “I’m very happy for you both, and I’m sorry if my behavior at dinner gave you anything to worry about.”
Macon’s face broke into a relieved smile. At least one of us was going to leave this office feeling happy this evening.
“Holden even asked if we knew why you seemed off at dinner. He’s really good at reading people like that, makes him a great lawyer. And Sissy said you might be feeling awkward about everything because you had a crush on me back in the day.”
Freaking Holden St. James meddling in other people’s freaking lives again, of freaking course.Heshould be the one marrying Sissy. They deserved each other.
“Like you said, that was a very long time ago. I promise, I’m nothing but happy for you and Sissy.” This felt like a situation where God could look past a lie. A big, fat lie.
“Great. I know your support means a lot to your sister.” Bless this sweet, clueless man. “And to me too, of course. I hope we can have more sibling dinners in the future when things calm down for everyone.”
