Rough and Rugged: A Meet Me In Milwaukee Charity Anthology

Chapter One

Mac

Malachai “Mac” Mackenzie crossed the wooden plank creek bridge in his vintage pickup as he headed down the mountain and into Green Springs for his weekly shopping trip and excursion into civilization. Ever since his wife had left him, he’d lived a mostly solitary and celibate lifestyle in a remote cabin on Black Mountain. He hadn’t always been a loner, but he’d needed some time to sober up and evaluate what he wanted in life after everything had gone to hell, so had retreated to the old family cabin. Now, almost ten years later, he was still there. Most of the people in town thought he was a crazy recluse, and he supposed with his shaggy beard and long dark hair, he looked the part; but in reality, he’d become a successful artist and owned his own business. Only a select few knew, as he preferred to stay out of the spotlight, letting his agent and accountant handle his business career. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he thought about the irony of his situation. Thanks to the ever increasing popularity of wood carving and chain saw art, he now had more money than he’d ever dreamed of, but no one to spend it on or with. He could barely keep up with the demand for his pieces from the Chicago gallery, and his business advisors were constantly pitching the idea of opening another store in the south.

He’d always been a private person, so another well-kept secret was the incident that had precipitated the break-up of his marriage. He and Marissa had lost their baby due to a miscarriage early on in the pregnancy.

Marissa. He couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been a part of his previous life. Childhood playmates, high school sweethearts, college-age lovers, and married best friends. Until they weren’t. He still wasn’t quite sure how the split had happened. They’d both been reeling over the loss, and instead of getting through it together, or talking about it, they became strangers living under the same roof. They drifted apart, neither able to comfort the other. He’d found solace in a bottle, but she’d found none, drifting aimlessly. She’d seemed so unhappy. And lost. He hadn’t been able to stay sober enough to figure out what to do to make it better. It would have been easier if she’d been angry, he could have dealt with that. But the silence? It was deafening. And then she was gone.

A few days ago, his cousin, Jacob Mackenzie, had messaged him for a meetup. It was his chance to catch up on all of the family gossip, as well as making sure that his parents were really okay, since he knew his mother never wanted to give him any unpleasant news whenever they spoke. The only exception to that was her occasionally lamenting about the evil Marissa who had broken her son’s heart. Their breakup had also ended the long-time friendship between both sets of parents. If only they’d known the reason, perhaps they’d have all bonded further in their grief, rather than pointing fingers regarding their children.

After collecting his mail at the post office and picking up some supplies at the hardware store, he headed over to the Blackened Skillet to meet his cousin. He entered the diner and scanned the interior, spotting him in a corner booth. With Jacob’s lean frame and height, as well as his signature Irish ginger color hair, he wasn’t difficult to find. Mac, who’d inherited his mother’s darker hair, slid into the worn, slick vinyl bench seat across from his cousin.

“Hey, man, how’s it goin’?”

Jacob, a math teacher and baseball coach at Green Springs High School, responded, “it’s goin’.”

“What’d you want to talk about? Mom and Dad okay?”

“Yeah, they’re cool. Mom and Aunt Sheela went shoppin’ in Tupelo the other day.”

“Is there ever a day when they don’t shop?”

Jacob laughed, then grimaced, changing the subject. “So… I need to tell you something.”

Mac had no idea what he would need to tell him that warranted such a serious expression. “Go ahead.”

His cousin removed his baseball cap and rubbed his hand over his short hair. “Marissa called me.”

Mac felt like he’d been sucker-punched. “What the hell?”

“Yeah. She’s lookin’ for you. Said she needs to talk to you.”

“Did she say why?”

“No, and I didn’t ask. Not gettin’ in the middle of any drama between you two.”

“There is no drama. I haven’t seen or heard from her in almost ten years. You know that.”

“Well, apparently she’s been askin’ around about how to reach you and no one could or would tell her. You don’t do social media, and she sure as hell wasn’t gonna call your parents or ask her parents to get involved. So she sent me a dm on my school account.”

Mac had no words, and wasn’t about to reveal why they broke up, so he simply nodded at his cousin to continue.

“I told her you didn’t respond to phone messages or texts, so it was pointless to give her your number. But I did tell her she could probably find you up at the cabin.”

As Mac made his way back up the mountain, his lunch sat in his belly like a lead weight and his thoughts raced. Why after all this time was Marissa looking for him? And what the hell did she want?