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Of course he did.
“We’ll have to order, or I’ll need to grab some stuff. I haven’t been to the grocery store in a week or more.”
“Why, Macon?” I asked, quirking my brow. “Distracted?”
“Mmm,” was all he said, leaning down to kiss me once more.
When he walked away, I’d all but forgotten Molly and Millie were even there.
When I finally peeled my eyes away from him, I found both women just staring.
“Well, damn,” Millie said.
“That was…” Molly stuttered.
“What?” I asked, my eyes going wide. Was it something I’d said? “What?”
“I’m a happily married woman, with a sinfully sexy husband, but I’ve got to say…” Molly started.
“That was hot as fuck,” Millie finished, leaning back in her chair. She used her paper napkin to fan herself. “The way he looks at you.”
My cheeks instantly reddened.
“I felt like I was a voyeur, watching someone’s foreplay.” Millie laughed, and then she looked at me. “It’s like you tamed a wild beast.”
My brow shot up at those words. “I didn’t tame him. He didn’t need to be.”
“Okay, maybe a bad choice of words,” Molly interjected. “I think what Millie is trying to say is that Macon has always been, like we said, a bit rough around the edges. I guess we’re kind of wondering how you softened those edges. ’Cause that was not the Macon we’re used to.”
“He’s not an ogre.”
“We never said he was,” Molly said.
Millie made a sound like she wasn’t too sure, and I caught her sister giving her a stern look.
“What?” She shrugged. “You do remember how he was when Jake came back? I wasn’t here, but I haven’t forgotten what you told me.”
I winced.Do I even want to know?
“What was he like?” I asked, because despite my fear, I did want to know.
“He was mean. Cruel even.” It was Molly who spoke. “He went out of his way to humiliate Jake when we got back together, knowing it might hurt Dean and his family. And, well, you know they’ve never gotten along.”
I could hear the hurt in her voice, and I didn’t doubt her words. I knew there were things Macon had done that were unkind.
But I also knew there was no such thing as a saint.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said with sincerity. “I really am, and I know that doesn’t make up for it, but have you ever stopped and thought about what was going on in Macon’s life at that time?”
The two women knew as well as I did exactly what Macon had been going through then—the entire town couldn’t stop talking about it.
“I’m not saying his actions are excusable, and I’m definitely not apologizing on his behalf, but I just want you to ask yourself if it were you…could you maybe understand why he would lash out? Especially given the fact that he was pretty much alone.”
Molly’s eyes drifted to inside of the restaurant, where Macon had entered just moments earlier to place his order. She swallowed hard. “I wasn’t exactly nice to him, either. I was kind of petty.”
It was easy to forget that emotional pain wasn’t so cut and dry. And sometimes, those who lashed out and hurt us the most were just trying to ask us for the simplest thing of all—help.
“I didn’t change him,” I said. “He’s still the same person he’s always been. He’s just in less pain.”
