Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Why won’t you talk to me?” Mack hissed, following Lacey from the house and into the backyard.
Caleb was showing Bridger a documentary about the African Safari and the animals who called it home.
The kid would be distracted for the next little while, and Lacey had chosen this moment to slip outside for some air.
She whirled around, angry tears in her eyes. “You weren’t supposed to do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, exasperated.
Lacey threw her hands into the air and stormed farther into the yard, but if she thought that would stop him from going after her, she was sorely mistaken. “Forget it,” she muttered, emotion lacing her words.
His hand shot out, and he wrapped his fingers around her upper arm to force her to face him. “No. You can’t just say something like that and expect me to accept it.”
Once upon a time, her scowl would have seared him from the inside out. But now? He’d gotten so used to it that he’d managed to shield himself. They needed to work this out. If they could just do that, then maybe she would allow herself to trust him enough to accept him back into her life.
Lacey folded her arms, her jaw clamped tight.
He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Would that have stopped you from being here?” she demanded.
Mack stared at her, and the look on his face must have been enough of an answer.
She groaned again, pinching the bridge of her nose before shaking her head. “Mack,” she said, exhausted. “This has to stop. You can’t keep calling, messaging, or trying to get back into my life.”
“Why not?” he demanded. “I get that you’re scared, but you can trust me.”
Her head snapped up, and that sharp glare speared him with ferocity. “Can I? Because from what I can remember, you led a very different life as a teenager, and you neglected to warn me about any of it. How am I supposed to stick up for you when I didn’t even know there was a reason to?”
He flinched, but he wasn’t going to stand down.
Mack just needed to get past her defenses and make her see that she needed him as much as he needed her.
“You’re right,” he whispered, catching her off guard.
“I should have let you get to know me a little better. But the truth of the matter is that we can’t change the past. No matter how hard we want to, there is no way.
That goes for the dumb choices I made as a teen and the dumber choices I made just a few weeks ago. ”
For a moment, he thought he saw her expression soften toward him. Good. He was breaking down those walls.
“Just… let me help.”
She watched him for a moment, as if considering for the first time that he might be able to do just that. But then her eyes hardened with pain and disappointment. “I can’t.” The two words came out in a raspy whisper. “I need to think about Bridger. He’s my whole world.”
You’re my whole world. Both of you are.
Those words rang through his head, dancing on the tip of his tongue, threatening to burst from him if he wasn’t careful.
But he refrained from saying them. Now wasn’t the time. She needed to be more open to the possibility of a future with him.
Mack swallowed hard and found his hands balling into fists at his sides.
“You can ignore me all you want. You can run from me. You can tell me to leave you alone, but I’m not going to listen.
You and me? We’re meant to be together, whether you like it or not.
And I’m going to wait for however long it takes.
” Without waiting for her response, he stormed back to the house.
He didn’t give Caleb a second glance, nor did he utter a word to Sammie, who was swaying with the new baby in the kitchen. He needed to clear his head.
His resolve was cracking. Each and every time she pushed him away, he felt like he was losing a part of himself. He couldn’t allow her to slip through his fingers, and that might just happen if he had to listen to her tell him to leave her alone one more time today.
Mack lost track of time sitting on the front porch of his parents’ house. After dinner, he’d slipped out here to just… think. He needed to clear all thoughts of losing Lacey from his mind so he could start next week fresh.
He had zero plans of breaking the promise he’d given her at Caleb’s house. Even if it killed him, Mack would show up at her work, her apartment, and anywhere else he knew she would be. He’d support her and Bridger in whatever ways he could. And he’d win her back.
The only thing that stood in his way was her parents.
An itch in the back of his mind had him chasing a ghost of a plan to get rid of that roadblock, but before he could solidify it, he heard his mother’s voice.
“Mack?”
He glanced up lazily as his mother and father left the comfort of the house to take a seat on one of the chairs they had on the porch.
Even in the dim light, they looked concerned.
But what else was new? They were always concerned about him.
Disappointed with him. Wishing he’d just move on with his life and show that he wanted something more than the dull existence he currently led.
“Caleb told us what happened today,” his mother murmured.
He frowned. He and his brothers had chosen a long time ago to steer clear of airing their personal business to their parents. Nothing good came of that sort of meddling. If Mack wanted his folks to know what was going on, then he would have told them.
Sitting forward, he leaned his forearms on his knees and stared at his parents with a degree of distrust. “And what? You’ve decided to come out here and tell me that I need to give up on getting her back?”
They exchanged looks that he couldn’t read, then his father heaved a sigh. “Son, only you get to choose how you want to live your life. That’s why we never pushed you to attending college with that money we had set aside for you.”
Mack huffed a breath. “Yeah, but you made it perfectly clear that I’ve been a disappointment since the moment I chose to stick it out at home.”
His parents frowned in unison.
“See? Even you can’t deny that.”
“We’ve only ever wanted the best for you.
We’ve wanted you to find a passion in your life that you could chase after and make your own.
And when the time came, we wanted you to fall in love with a wonderful woman who could make you happy.
” His mother sounded almost weary, as if this conversation was taking too much out of her already.
He shot out of his seat and scowled down at them.
“Well, I know my dreams. You know them. We’ve had this same argument several times over the course of the last couple of years.
I wanted to become a rodeo star. And after I met Lacey, I’ve wanted nothing more than to make her mine.
” Though now, his dreams were shifting again.
Teaching children had taken a front seat in his desires along with his growing love of the woman who was the source of his current happiness.
He’d kept that part of his dream quiet, not wanting his parents to shoot down the idea like they had his others.
His mother smiled sadly at him. “We haven’t really supported you the way you’ve deserved, have we?”
Her words brought him up short. He practically gaped at her.
Was this the same woman who had told him that nothing would come of a rodeo dream?
Was she the same person who had warned him about getting too close to Lacey because she was a single mother?
“Why?” he demanded. At her utterly confused expression, he slowly dropped back into his seat. “Why are you suddenly okay with it?”
Once again, his parents shared a look, and he found he would give nearly anything to know what it meant. Then his father leaned forward and clapped him on the back. “We haven’t seen you happier than you’ve been when you were with her. Even when you were working at Sagebrush, we could tell.”
His mother nodded. “I thought that maybe you’d lose interest in her or this rodeo fascination, but I was wrong.”
He wanted to yell at her for being so blind. Of course he wasn’t going to lose interest in Lacey. She was his… everything. She was his reason for getting up in the morning. When she looked at him like he could light up her whole day, he could believe it.
A smile pulled at his lips—one he hadn’t noticed until he felt his mother’s hand taking his and squeezing. “We’ve missed that smile, Mack. And it appears that it only comes around when you’re with her.”
All at once, it faded. “But I’m not with her—not anymore.”
She nodded sadly. “Well, we wanted to let you know that we’ll support you. Whether you patch things up with this girl or not. And if you run off to join the rodeo or if you stick around. We love you. Always have.”
Warmth spread a soothing sense of contentment throughout his chest, and he offered his mother one of the first legitimate smiles he had in a long while.
“Thanks, Mom.” He was tempted to tell her of his additional plans.
Would they be just as supportive about his career choices?
Or would they be skeptical like they’d always been? There was only one way to find out.
She returned the smile with one of her own and squeezed his hand again.
“But honestly? I think I want to marry her.”
They looked surprised but only briefly before they smiled, as if that idea pleased them.
“And I might have found a different career path.”
His father’s brows lifted further, and his mother tilted her head with curiosity. “Oh?” she murmured.
Mack nodded. “Caleb pointed out that I’m good with kids.
” His smile broadened as he thought back to Bridger and the time he’d been able to spend with him.
“He said I was good at teaching Bridger how to ride. Maybe I could look into starting up a business. Horse riding lessons for kids or something.”
Both of his parents were beaming now, and for the first time since he was a teenager, he felt like he was on the right track. Saying his idea aloud held a lot of power to it. And it just felt right.
Mack lost track of how many times Lacey had looked at him, frowned, and gotten into her car only to leave him hanging.
In his defense, he wasn’t following her around town.
As fate would have it, he’d bumped into her in town more times than he could count.
It was like a higher power was toying with him.
Then there were the times he’d shown up at her work with a clear intention of talking to her.
The restaurant owner hadn’t turned him away, but they were refusing to seat him in Lacey’s section every single time he came.
So now he’d wait for her at the end of her shift in hopes that she’d stop by his truck and talk to him.
She still wasn’t answering his messages, and he hated seeing that she’d read them without a response.
A man could only take so much of this sort of thing.
Thankfully, his chat with his parents had done enough to keep him going.
He sighed as he watched her drive away, his frustration growing. He needed to talk to her. If he let her keep pulling away, then he’d end up losing her entirely. That was why he didn’t feel completely terrible about following her home.
She got out of her car and slammed her door before she marched over to his truck.
Mack rolled down his window and grinned at her. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Mack—” she warned.
“Let me say something first,” he hurried to say, praying it would be enough to open up a decent conversation. “Then you can tell me to leave.”
She frowned but gave him a nod to indicate he could continue.
He traced his fingers along the leather of his steering wheel then heaved out a breath. “I spoke to my folks. About my future.”
Lacey lifted a brow.
“I stood up to them. Told them what I wanted, and…” Mack blew out a breath. “They said they wanted me to be happy, and they would support me.”
Her expression softened. “That’s wonderful, Mack. I’m happy for you.”
He nodded, shifting his focus to her face. “I told them I wanted to marry you.”
Lacey froze. “You didn’t,” she whispered.
“I did, and I meant every single word of it, Lacey. I love you.”
“You can’t love me,” she argued. “You don’t know me.”
“I know you enough,” he insisted. “And even if I didn’t, I fully intend on spending the rest of my life getting to know you better than you know yourself.
I meant what I said. I’m not going anywhere.
I’ve spent my whole life floating along, not committing to anything.
But I’m done with that. One day, I’m going to ask for your hand, and you’re going to say yes. ”
Her lips thinned, and her eyes shadowed over, but she didn’t voice the argument he knew was probably on the tip of her tongue. “Good night, Mack.” Then she turned and headed for her apartment.
Well, it wasn’t a no.