Page 6 of Fallen Ink

Chapter 3

It had been a week since Adrienne watched her best friend’s life change dramatically, and she still wasn’t sure either of them had found their footing. She still couldn’t quite believe that Jeaniene had left the country as quickly as she had, leaving behind not only most of her belongings to be packed and either stored or shipped later but also her daughter.

What kind of mother did that?

Sure, Mace had said the woman mentioned over and over again that it was for Daisy’s future, but that didn’t sit well with Adrienne, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to hold back laying into the woman if she ever saw her again. It wasn’t as if the two of them had been great friends when Jeaniene and Mace were together. The other woman had always been slightly jealous of Adrienne’s relationship with Mace, even though there was nothing more than platonic friendship between them. And Adrienne had hated the fact that there was tension because of something so silly and superficial. But it wasn’t as if Mace and Jeaniene had been serious—at least until Daisy came along. Then everything had imploded, and Adrienne had just done her best to stand by her best friend’s side and hold him up when things went from bad to worse.

Maybe if Adrienne had gotten to know Mace’s ex, she’d have liked her more, but from what she’d seen, she really had no evidence to support that probability. And that just sucked for everyone involved—most especially Daisy.

Now, it had been a week since Jeaniene left Daisy with Mace, and her best friend had been forced to figure out how to be a full-time dad without any notice or preparation, along with holding down a full-time job. Sure, Daisy had a room at his place and clothes and toys and things, but they had a rhythm for their weekends together, not anything close to what they needed now.

Thankfully, Mace lived in the same school district as Daisy’s former home; he’d made sure of that when he moved to his new place a couple of years ago. He hadn’t wanted to disrupt Daisy’s life at all, and there was no way Jeaniene would have moved for him. But it meant that Mace had moved even closer to Adrienne in the process, and she hadn’t minded one bit.

It also meant that Daisy didn’t have to change preschools and could stay with her friends when she moved into kindergarten and beyond. Unless everything changed dramatically again. But then they’d just have to come up with a new plan.

While Mace and his parents were holding most of the baggage, Adrienne was doing her best to help, as well. The Knights watched Daisy during the day when Mace needed to work, and the girl wasn’t in her half-days of school. Mace needed the hours, and Adrienne needed him working as well since they’d just started the business. But Ryan and Shep had agreed to allow Mace to have whatever hours he needed for the time being. And in the evenings, when she wasn’t working, Adrienne headed over to Mace’s place and made sure they had a good meal on the table. It wasn’t that she was a better cook than Mace—in fact, she thought he was far better—but she’d known that figuring out the timing of meals, bath time, and when to go to bed in the middle of the week, all while trying to keep from making anything too straining on a little girl wouldn’t be easy.

So she did what she could to help, and tried her best to stay out of the way. She loved Daisy and would do anything to make sure Mace could be the best dad he could be. And if that meant stressing out over things out of her control like usual, well, that was something she was just going to have to do.

“You’re woolgathering in the corner over there again,” Mace said, startling her.

She hadn’t realized he was back from picking up food for them over at the deli a couple of doors down. They used to bring in their lunch every day at their old job since finances were always an issue, but since they’d all been a little too busy thinking about anything except work and Daisy lately, things like packing up lunches had gone to the wayside far too easily.

She turned to see Mace holding out a bottle of water and her wrapped sandwich, and she let out a breath. “You scared the crap out of me.”

He raised a brow. “If I had, you’d have screamed like you did that one time we went to that corn maze.”

She glared but didn’t take her food since she didn’t want it in her booth. “I did not scream that loudly. And if I had, no one would have blamed me. There was a clown. With a chainsaw. Chasing me.”

Mace just grinned and leaned against the half-wall that made up her booth. “I’ve never actually seen you run that quickly or jump that high over that hole in the ground that was supposed to slow you down. It was like you were doing hurdles or something.”

“Clown. Chainsaw. Chasing.” The held up her hand, pointing up her fingers as she ticked off her list. “The three C’s of doom.”

“I’m sure there are other C’s out there that could make it better.”

And for some reason, the way his voice growled just that certain way he did to make her laugh, she blushed. Her cheeks heated to the point where she knew he probably saw it but, hopefully, he’d think it was anger. She was not going to be embarrassed—or worse, turned on—because of the man in front of her.

There were lines she didn’t cross, and that was one of them.

And, recently, she’d had to be extra cautious what direction her thoughts traveled when it came to Mace. Apparently, opening up her own business while dealing with a slew of other things had made her lose sight of what was important.

“Whatever you say, Knight.” She swallowed hard and moved back a bit so she could have some breathing room. Mace was just so big that he ended up taking up more space than anyone else she knew. And considering how big her brothers and cousins were, that was saying something.

He winked and went back to the side table where he’d left his sandwich. Ryan was at his station working and would close up once Adrienne and Mace left, and neither of them wanted to bother the man since he was focusing. Sure, all of them were good at working while the place was busy, but she’d let him work in peace if she could.

She and Mace dug into their food while keeping an eye out for any walk-ins. Since it was the middle of the week and raining, she didn’t think they’d get any, but she had to stay vigilant. It had been a full day of family already. Shep was home for the evening with his family, and Shae had already been by with Roxie since the two of them were the shop’s accountants. Soon, Adrienne and Mace would head home and leave Ryan to handle any last-minute things, but she trusted the man. After all, she couldn’t open and close every day.

Just most days it seemed since she was the one without connections or anyone to come home to after a long day of work and stress. That hadn’t bothered her before as she’d always been focused on her dreams and might have kept an eye out for a man who could be the one, but it hadn’t been a priority. Now, though, for some reason, things weren’t like they had been before. Maybe because she’d accomplished her dream of owning a shop, and even though she had to work even harder to maintain it, that part of her checklist was done? Not to mention the fact that Shep was back in town with his perfect family, and Roxie was already married. She hadn’t felt left behind before, but the more she thought about it now, the more those creeping feelings kept coming back.

Mace had Daisy at home now, and Thea…well, Thea was a workaholic at her bakery much like Adrienne was at the shop, so maybe the two of them were their own peas in a pod.

“Again with the woolgathering,” Mace said, brushing his shoulder against hers as they sat on the couch in the front of the shop.

“What does woolgathering even mean?” she asked, quickly pushing her earlier odd thoughts from her mind.

Mace frowned. “You know, I don’t really know, and that makes me feel like kind of an idiot.” He pulled out his phone and started scrolling. “Let’s look it up.”

She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile as he looked up the definition and taught them something new for the day. Well, at least she’d never be bored with him by her side.

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