Page 49 of Told You So
I shrug. “What can I say? The ladies love me.”
“Clearly,” Colton says, shaking his head. “She never hugs me like that.” He lifts a dark eyebrow.
“Lies,” she tells him with a playful shush. Not for the first time, I realize how much I like them together.
“Hmm.” His mouth quirks in an almost imperceptible smile. Colton’s dry, reserved humor is an equal match to her lively banter. He’s patient and thoughtful, while she’s a pistol, to say the least. Then again, everything Mac is and does is fierce, making Colton one of the luckiest men alive to have her undying love and loyalty.
“Well, Iampretty irresistible,” I tell him.
Mac bats my shoulder. “Don’t get a big head, now. You’ll make me look bad.” Shetakes a step back, all seriousness now with squinty eyes as she studies me. “Now, Nicholas Turner, you rarely come visit me at work, especially lately...Is everything okay?” She asks it hesitantly.
“Yeah, fine-ish.”
“Uh-oh,” she says, hands on her hips.
“That’s my cue.”Colton salutes me. “See ya, Nick.”
“Wait!” Mac hurries back to her desk for a sheet of paper. “You didn’t think I’d forgotten, did you?” She holds it up with a smirk. “Chop. Chop.”
He takes the paper with a sigh. “You owe me big,” he grumbles.
With a shoulder lift, Mac winks at him. A grin pulls at his lips again as he heads back into the shop, leaving Mac and I alone in the office with the mechanical, high-pitched sounds of the warehouse echoing into the room.
“So, I take it life is good?” I ask her, unable to resist a smile.
She shuts the door to the shop, closing us inside.
Though it’s been four months or so, it seems like it was yesterday that Mac’s dad told her to do some soul searching. I’ve missed her living on my couch, and the pure entertainment in watching her and Colton trying to decide if they even liked each other.
“Yes, lifeisgood, actually. Who knew my dad was such a sage, old man?”
“It’s not weird being with Colton and working together?”
“No, it’s nice, actually.” She points to the chair by the window for me to sit. “I get to see him every day, but he still gets ‘Casey time’ when he has her at his place. Things are pretty perfect, for now.” She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against her desk. “But you didn’t come here to talk to me about Colton. So, spill. What’s brought you onto my turf?” She puts her palm up. “And before you ask me, I will not move back in with you. I can’t handle your snoring.”
“I don’t snore. You do.”
Mac laughs. “Fine, a soft, dainty snore,sometimes. I’ll grant you that. But still, I know you miss me, and as much as I love you, I’m happy to be on my own, thank you very much.”
I shake my head with a mock sigh. “You really are a dream crusher.”
“That’s what’s on my name tag,” she mutters and nods to the two chairs again in the pseudo-waiting area by the large window. “Now, sit.”
Frowning, I glance from her to the chair. “That feels too much like a therapy session. I have my mom for that.”
Mac chuckles softly. “And given your new project partner, a session or two would be a bad thing?”
“Sam told you, huh?”
“And Colton told me Bethany was at your house,” she adds.
“Damn this town,” I grumble and take a seat. Something tells me this won’t be a quick in and out, so I might as well get comfortable.
Mac plops down in the other wingback chair with a euphoric groan. The leather creaks as she settles in. “Fine, suit yourself, but I’ve been running around like a madwoman all day. These heels are killing me.” She toes them off, and I recognize what she’s doing—giving me time to gather my thoughts and muster up the nerve to tell her whatever it is I’ve come to say. That’s what comes with twenty years of friendship, and I appreciate the hell out of her for it.
“I need help with her,” I blurt out. “With Bethany. I need help thinking this through.”
Mac leans back in her seat. “Hey, no judgement from me.” She eyes me, though, waiting for me to continue.
