Page 88 of Daddy's Little Mama Bear

MAC

“What are we going to do while your mama is out?” Mac asked ashe walked back into the kitchen. “Do you want to help me make chocolate chip cookies?”

A squeal of delight came out of Eleanor’s mouth. “Yes!”

Mac chuckled and sat her down on the counter. “I want you to stay sitting on the counter. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded her head.

“If you don’t, you could fall and hurt yourself. I don’t want that to happen to you. If you need to get down, you let me know.”

“Cookies!”

“Let me go put this out so it can start cooling. Then we’ll make cookies.”

Mac pulled the lasagna out of the oven and placed it on a cooling rack. He wanted the air to slowly start to cool it on every spot.

“Macie!” Eleanor yelled. “Uppies!”

He turned around and grabbed Ellie. She immediately put her head on his shoulder and snuggled into him.

“Such a precious girl,” he whispered. “I’ll hold you as long as you want me to.”

And that was what he did. He held her and rocked slowly back and forth. Mac cherished this moment, loving every second of it. He hadn’t watched over his sister's kids in a while which meant he didn’t have anyone to hug. Maybe he should just give Janie a hug when she comes back.

“Are you okay, Ellie?” he asked as she tightened her grip around his neck.

She peaked her head up and poked his cheek. “Mama.”

“Your mama will be back soon.”

He didn’t know how she was going to react to Janie being gone. He figured it would be okay since she came to the club once or twice a week, but he was a different person than Eleanor’s babysitter.

“Crying,” she poked at his cheek again.

“Mama was crying?” he asked.

Ellie nodded her head before placing it back on his shoulder. He just held her as he was left alone to his thoughts. Was Janie crying? Was something wrong? He wanted to ask her when she got back, but he didn’t want to overstep. Maybe it was just her time of the month or a really sad part in a book she was editing.

Mac didn’t want to jump to conclusions but at the same time he wanted to ask in case something was wrong. Maybe it was the person that was outside her driveway the other day. They weren’t there when he left, but he didn’t get a good feeling about that.

He had looked through the camera feed to see if they had arrived any other time but they hadn’t. It was the first time and they were there for a good thirty minutes. Janie was sure it wasn’t her husband in the car, but he wasn’t so sure. He had met him a handful of times and Mac didn’t like Donald.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Mac said. “I’ll take care of you both.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

JANIE

Knocking brought Janie out of her thoughts as she was making a sandwich for Eleanor and her. It was lunch time and she was starving. Who knew editing could make her so hungry. Or maybe it was the fact that she had forgotten to eat breakfast that morning.

It was a recurring theme. She just wasn’t a breakfast person. It made her feel nauseous when she ate it. Unless it was buttered toast. She could eat that any time and not be sick. But it wasn’t nutritious or kept her full for long.

Mac would throw a fit or give her a lecture if he found out. He had wanted her to eat enough each meal and so did Michael. Did they know how hard that was? Sure, she had the food Mac had prepared for both of them. And it was delicious. Oh, so good. But it wasn’t breakfast food.

Knocking sounded on the door again and she furrowed her eyebrows. Mac had the rest of the week off of work and told her he would be home, but she wasn’t expecting him. He normally sent her a text before he came over.

Janie slowly made her way over to the window and peaked out. The black car was sitting at the end of her driveway again. Shit. Her heart started to beat faster as everything came crashingdown on her. What was the car doing back? She jogged over to the kitchen counter and grabbed her phone. She needed to text Mac.

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