Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A pounding at Lacey’s apartment door had her jumping as she stepped out of the shower. She’d taken a really late shift last night and had barely been able to get Bridger off to school before coming home to sleep the morning away.
She scrunched her hair with the towel and approached the door with more than a little trepidation. Through the spy hole, she found Angela fidgeting and glancing over her shoulder before she knocked again. “Come on, Lacey, let me in,” she called.
Lacey yanked the door open, and Angela burst inside before shutting the door and leaning against it.
Her eyes were wide and maybe a little apologetic. “I’m so sorry.”
It was hard not to laugh at the way Angela was behaving. Lacey put a hand on her hip and smirked. “What’s going on? Did you do something so bad that you think I’m going to get mad? Because I can tell you, I’m still feeling guilty over that whole Mack thing.”
Angela stepped forward and took Lacey’s hands in her own. “I didn’t do anything. Not really. But she insisted.”
Brows furrowing, Lacey had only a few moments to compute what her sister had said before her eyes flew wide and shifted to the window. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Her sister shook her head. “She’s on her way up right now.” As soon as Angela finished her sentence, Lacey saw her mother pass by the window, and her heart sank to her stomach. The doorknob rattled, then Angela gave Lacey an apologetic frown before she opened it.
“Mom! There you are. I thought you got lost.” Angela oozed with sweetness.
Their mother glanced between both of them.
Always put together and the epitome of class, she wore cream-colored pants with a navy blouse and matching pumps.
Her purse hung over her arm as her gaze shifted to the small apartment.
She’d been here before, but each time she came, the disdain of seeing it again flooded her eyes.
Lacey offered her mother a smile. “I wasn’t expecting a visit.”
“That’s because Mom wanted to surprise us with a girls’ day. We’re going to get our nails done at that cute little place in the middle of town,” Angela offered.
A groan nearly spilled from Lacey’s chest. That place was the worst. Okay, it wasn’t—but sometimes the women there got a little too chatty.
Either you walked away with more information than you bargained for, or you left after being sucked dry of all the secrets you knew. There was no middle ground.
Her mother looked her up and down. “I suppose since you’ve just washed your hair, we’ll get you a trim and style, too.”
Lacey knew she shouldn’t be reading into the way her mother looked her over.
She shouldn’t be feeling judged for being less than put together.
But there was just something about standing before her perfect mother while in her bargain clothes and in her tiny apartment that brought back all her insecurities.
She could just see her mother picking apart the life Lacey had chosen for herself and deciding whether or not it was acceptable for her only grandchild.
Jumping forward, Lacey smiled. “I’d love that. Let me just get my purse?—”
“And where’s Bridger?” Her mother glanced around once more. “I would have thought I’d be seeing him today.”
“He’s at school, Mom. He doesn’t get out for two hours.”
Her mother frowned. “Well, our outing will take longer than that. How are you going to?—”
Lacey held up her phone. “I can have Mack pick him up.” The second the words flew from her lips, she grimaced. She hadn’t planned on telling her mother about her boyfriend for several months yet, and here she was bearing her soul in the first five minutes. How could she be so stupid?
One perfectly manicured brow arched. “Mack? Is he your babysitter?”
Before Lacey could respond, Angela jumped in. “Mack is her boyfriend. And he’s really good with Bridger.”
Was that hurt that flickered across her mother’s expression? Did she actually feel left out not knowing about the man in Lacey’s life? Well, what could she expect? Especially with the next words that left her mother’s mouth.
“You know, dear, you need to be careful about who you let into Bridger’s life. Not all men are interested in sticking around. Your heart might be able to take him leaving, but I doubt Bridger would understand.”
“Mom!” Angela gasped.
Lacey glanced at her sister in surprise—not expecting her to come to her aid so quickly.
But then she waved her off, knowing full well that her mother wouldn’t simply take Angela’s word for it.
“I know, Mom.” She nearly told her mother that she hadn’t let Mack meet Bridger until she knew that he was going to be around for the long haul, but that wasn’t exactly the truth.
He’d slingshot himself into her life without any care for her concerns.
Lucky for them both, letting him stick around had been a good choice.
“Like Angela said, he’s great with Bridger, and they’ve really hit it off. ”
Her mother pressed her lips into a thin line then nodded. “I’d like to meet him.”
Angela snorted.
Lacey gave her best patient smile and spoke through her teeth. “I’m sure we could arrange that.”
They didn’t immediately go to the salon. Ironically, Lacey’s mother wasn’t thrilled about getting lunch with her daughter’s appearance such as it was, but they had a reservation that they couldn’t change.
Lunch wasn’t so bad. Angela played referee throughout most of it, and filled the conversation with how the new location of her business was doing. Lacey was happy to let her sister take the limelight.
She’d immediately messaged Mack the second her mother had left the apartment to ask him to pick up Bridger from school and was relieved to find out he’d already planned on doing so.
Lacey had a shift later today, and with her mother’s last-minute plans, she wasn’t going to get a chance to see Bridger before he went to bed.
It was hard not to get annoyed at the whole ridiculous situation. Her mother was the one who judged Lacey on every little thing—especially how much or little time she spent with Bridger. And now she was the one taking away the time Lacey would have with her son.
At least Bridger would have some fun. Mack had promised her as much.
“Will you stop looking at that phone?”
Lacey’s head snapped up as she looked over at her mother, who was currently getting her nails done.
The woman at Lacey’s back tugged on her hair with the comb before trimming some uneven edges.
Lacey wanted to shrink down in her seat, hating the way her mother’s judgmental stare could still affect her. “Sorry.”
Angela shot her an empathetic smile.
It wasn’t like they could really talk to each other from where they were seated. They’d have to call out to one another over the other voices and the sounds of blow-dryers in the room. Still, Lacey tucked her phone beneath her leg and tried to pay attention to the nearest conversation.
The woman who was doing her mother’s nails chattered on about another member of their community, and Lacey rolled her eyes. Of course they’d start gossiping. Angela and their mother were visitors, and any old gossip could be refreshed around new ears.
“Oh, I heard that they were only getting married because it was convenient.”
The hairstylist at Lacey’s back jumped in. “No, you got it wrong. She loved him, but he didn’t know.”
“See? A marriage of convenience.”
Lacey’s phone pinged, and Lacey ignored the dark look her mother sent her way when she pulled it out.
Mack : We’re outside. Want us to visit? I’d love to meet the woman who raised the girl of my dreams.
Her fingers typed as quickly as she could.
Lacey : Don’t you dare.
Lacey’s head snapped up to see Mack and Bridger strolling toward the salon.
She prayed he’d get the message before they actually entered.
He paused, then looked at his phone with a smirk.
His eyes lifted, and she could have sworn he saw her through the glass.
Then he turned to his phone and typed out a response.
Mack : Okay, but you owe me.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, my goodness. Don’t look now, but isn’t that Mack Reese?”
Just like that, Lacey’s whole body grew taut. She didn’t dare lift her eyes to the window. She didn’t want to draw any more attention to the fact that her boyfriend was outside with her son.
“And he’s got that adorable little boy with him again.”
The voices swirled around her, making her dizzy.
She prayed her mother wouldn’t say anything. She already knew Angela wouldn’t.
Please ignore them. Don’t talk about him. Gossip about someone else.
For the life of her, she didn’t know why they hadn’t connected the dots that the little boy in Mack’s care was her own.
Granted, no one seemed to know much about Lacey besides what they saw at the restaurant.
She was a private person, and she preferred her life to remain as such.
Apparently, these women had nothing better to do than to gossip about the bachelors in this town.
And just like that, these women started up again.
“It’s so nice to see that he isn’t a lost cause.”
“What do you mean?” That question came from a woman who must not have grown up in this area. Lacey herself hadn’t known Mack when she was younger, and her eyes drifted to Angela, who had moved to the other side of the room to get her hair dried beneath one of those blowers.
But Lacey’s mother? Her gaze was a searing, hot stare that drilled right into the side of Lacey’s face. She’d seen Bridger. She’d likely put two and two together. The man Bridger had been in the company of could be none other than Lacey’s new boyfriend.
Lacey didn’t bother glancing in her mother’s direction. She was intent on hearing what it was that hairdresser thought she knew about Mack.
The woman lowered her voice as if she thought that would do her any good at keeping anyone else from overhearing. “When he was in high school, he had to spend a year here. Apparently, he got in with the wrong crowd back home.”
Once again, Lacey glanced to Angela. Was this what her sister had been keeping from her?
The second woman lifted her brows. “It must have been pretty bad for his parents to send him away for a year.”
Nodding, the woman continued. “I heard it directly from the Reeses’ neighbor.
Turns out he started dating…” Her features scrunched, and she bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes before continuing.
“Now I can’t remember her name.” Then she waved a dismissive hand.
“It doesn’t matter. She moved away after she got pregnant. ”
A gasp tore from the second woman’s throat. “Was it his?”
The look that passed between them made it clear that was what had been assumed.
“What happened?”
Lacey’s blood ran cold. This couldn’t be the same Mack that she knew. Obviously, accidents happened. She was proof of that. But he hadn’t said a single thing. Did he have some child out in the world that he’d refused to take care of? Had he abandoned that girl to raise her child on her own?
Her skin flushed hot and uncomfortable as she felt her mother’s searing gaze even more than before. This couldn’t be happening. If Mack was capable of abandoning his own child… then what would that mean for Lacey and Bridger?
She was going to be sick. And now it felt like she couldn’t suck in enough breath. Her heart was breaking, cracking, and crumbling until it was dust in her hands. Why wouldn’t he have told her?
“Anyway, he didn’t come back to Rocky Ridge after that.
And the girl moved away. I don’t know what became of them.
” The woman glanced out the window, even though Mack and Bridger weren’t there anymore.
“It’s so nice that he’s finally figured things out, don’t you think?
Do you think perhaps that little boy is his? ”
Lacey didn’t wait to hear the rest of their conversation. She shot out of her seat, not caring that her hair was still wet and not yet styled. “I need to get some air.”
“Lacey—” Angela called after her, apparently noticing that Lacey was distressed.
Waving a hand in the air, Lacey strode toward the door.
There was too much going on in her head and her chest. She felt like she was going to pass out.
All the memories of when she’d found out she was pregnant and her boyfriend telling her to ‘take care of it’ came rushing back.
When she’d refused, he’d argued. There was no way he was going to let an unplanned pregnancy get in the way of his future.
So, she never sought him out. Not for child support, not to notify him of the birth. Not even when she’d fought to get custody from her parents. She was on her own.
Lacey lost track of time outside as she waited for her mother and sister to finish up. Angela looked worried, but she didn’t say anything.
Her mother was a different story. She immediately jumped down Lacey’s throat with her concerns. “I take it that Mack is the young man you’re seeing?”
“Mom—” Angela started, her tone warning.
Their mother didn’t heed her at all. “Did you hear what they said about him?”
Angela stiffened and glanced between the two of them, not understanding what this conversation was about.
Lacey flinched. She was trying not to overreact. Mack deserved to tell his side of the story. Right? But then again, men like that—when they were pushed up against a wall—they made excuses.
Her stomach dropped even lower, and she couldn’t find her voice so all she did was nod.
“Are you sure you want to keep seeing him? I shouldn’t have to remind you that this isn’t about your happiness. This is about Bridger’s safety.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Lacey snapped. “Bridger is the most important thing in my life. I’m not going to let him get hurt.”
“But you can’t control that, can you? Not if you’re letting the wrong people into his life.”
Lacey bristled under her mother’s judgmental tone. Questioning Lacey’s decisions had been something her mother was known for. But to judge Mack when she hadn’t even met him yet? Lacey was seething. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “You’re wrong, Mom.”
She expected her mother to argue back—maybe even threaten to have CPS look into Bridger’s living situation. But she didn’t. All she did was shrug and walk away as if none of this was worth her time.
A gentle hand landed on Lacey’s arm. “It’s going to be okay,” Angela insisted. “What happened in there?”
Lacey shook her head. Her sister had warned her about this, and the last thing she wanted was to be told as much. “It doesn’t matter. Gossip is just gossip, right?”
“Lacey—”
Pulling away from her sister’s touch, Lacey followed after their mother. As much as she wanted to believe what her head was trying to tell her heart, she couldn’t deny just how defeated she felt.