Page 84 of The Gingerbread Bakery
‘Wait, wait, wait. You’re going to drive up to New Hampshire alone today?’
‘Of course I am.’
‘On the day of the wedding you’ve been helping to plan for months?’
‘Someone needs to go get them, and it can’t be Logan or Jeanie, obviously. So, I’ll do it. Estelle called me.’
‘I'll come with you.’
‘That’s unnecessary.’ She didn’t even pause, didn’t take one second to consider that she didn’t have to do this by herself, that she wasn’t single-handedly responsible for her friends’ happiness.
Mac stared her down. ‘You have too much to do today, Annie. And your car is presumably buried under snow right now with an empty gas tank, so you can let me drive you around to do all the things I'm sure you have on your wedding day to-do list, or you can go attempt to dig your car out of the snow and add a drive to New Hampshire into everything else you have to do.’
‘You can’t leave the kittens.’
‘The kittens will be fine. I’ll put them in the bathroom with their cozy box and some food and water. They won’t even miss us.’
Annie scowled, clearly dying to argue with him but he knew he had her. There was no way in hell he was letting her out of his sight now, not when they were so close to fixing things between them. He leaves Annie alone for a few hours, and she’s right back to assuming he’s plotting against her. No freaking way.
‘When do you have to be back here to get your hair done?’
‘Two o’clock,’ she said slowly like she was suspicious of why he wanted to know.
‘Okay, and what else is on your list for today?’
She was still looking at him like he was trying to get state secrets out of her, but she begrudgingly answered. ‘I need to check in at the bakery. George is feeling better and is opening it up this morning and I need to make sure the other wedding desserts are ready to go.’ Mac was sure George was capable of handling that himself or that a quick call would do the trick, but he knew Annie needed to see it for herself.
‘Okay, what else?’
‘I’m supposed to pick up the bouquets and boutonnières.’
‘Hazel can do it.’
Annie paused like she didn’t have a good reason to argue with him on that one. Good, he was making progress.
‘We’ll swing by your place for a change of clothes and then we’ll go check in at the bakery. We should be able to get to Estelle and back before your hair appointment if we hurry. Unless you want me to do your hair,’ he said with a wink, clearly joking, but Annie was staring at him like he'd grown another head.
‘Why are you looking at me like that? It was a joke. Hairdressing is one of the few skills I don’t have.’
‘I just…’ she shook her head, still not laughing, ‘I just… I don’t know. Didn’t expect the help, I guess.’
‘Well start expecting it. Tea or coffee?’ he said, leaving her standing there gaping while he went to the coffee maker.
‘Coffee,’ she said and when he turned back to look at her, she looked lost and a little confused like she was reworking who he was again. But this wasn't anything new for Mac. This was who he was now. He was a man. A man with a business and a house and a love for the woman standing in front of him that was too strong for him to ignore anymore.
He was done with the childish games he and Annie had been playing for years.
But he figured she’d need a minute to catch up.
He made the coffee and then came over to Annie, taking the clothes from her hands and replacing them with a mug.
‘You might as well stay in my clothes for now,’ he said, not able to resist the smirk on his face. ‘You can grab fresh ones when we stop at your apartment.’
Again, the blush crawled up her cheeks and Mac could think of a million other ways he'd rather spend the day than picking up Logan's missing grandmother, but he knew Annie would never let it go. If she wanted this day to be perfect for her friends, then so did he.
But Logan owed him so much for this. At this point, he was basically the best groomsman ever. What was ice fishing with the bride’s cousins compared with giving up sex with the woman of his dreams to go pick up two old ladies who’d gone rogue?
He was kicking Noah’s ass at this.
