Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Lacey was going stir crazy.
How could that happen when she had an entire city to spend her time in? How could she feel trapped when she still had access to fresh air, a car, and all the shops she wanted to go to?
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as she drove toward Billings. She needed to see Angela. She needed her sister to tell her that she wasn’t crazy for pushing Mack away, especially since he had that past that Angela had insisted on warning her about.
Her resolve was waning. She couldn’t keep telling him to leave—not when he was making declarations of love to her in the middle of the night in her apartment complex parking lot.
“Mom? Do you think Aunt Angela will let me watch that animal movie again?”
She shot a look at Bridger through the reflection of the rearview mirror. “I’m not sure she has that one, bud.”
Bridger frowned. “Oh.”
“But she probably has some cartoons about animals. You could watch those.”
Bridger shrugged, then he straightened and looked back at her. “Do you think we could visit Sammie and the baby and uncle Caleb again? I really want to watch that movie.”
She let out a laugh. “I’m sure we could work something out.”
He grinned and turned his attention out his window.
Ever since Bridger had bumped into Mack, he asked about him.
She got the feeling that the animal movie wasn’t the only reason her son wanted to pay Caleb and Sammie a visit.
The chances that Mack was nearby were pretty darn good, and Bridger had caught onto that fact.
Lacey would just have to enlist Sammie’s help in ensuring that Mack wasn’t around when they planned their visit.
Just thinking about making that plan made Lacey feel sick to her stomach.
It wasn’t even about Bridger missing out on seeing him now.
She hated how weak she’d become—that she didn’t want to stay away from him.
When Angela opened the door, all she had to do was give Lacey that look—the one only a sister could give, the one that said she knew more than she was letting on—for Lacey to throw herself into her sister’s arms.
Bridger gave them a strange look as he moved past them into Angela’s place and went straight for the television. Angela wrapped Lacey beneath her arm and tugged her toward the kitchen. “I have cinnamon rolls. Wanna talk about it?”
Lacey nodded, her throat already closing with emotion as she shot a quick look in Bridger’s direction and lowered her voice. “But maybe somewhere more private.”
Angela nodded. “Of course.”
They found themselves out on the balcony. A breeze tugged at Lacey’s hair, and she could hear the television playing some cartoon through the crack in the door. Angela sat across from her at the table for two.
“How much do you know?” Lacey asked.
Angela frowned. “Just what I saw at the salon. Mom doesn’t like Mack, and she wants you guys to stop seeing each other.”
“We’ve already stopped.”
Angela frowned. “What? Why? Mack is a great guy.”
Lacey gave her a pointed look. “Not according to you.”
This time, her sister had the gall to look confused. “When did I ever say that?” Then all at once, her expression shifted, and her mouth fell open. “Oh, Lacey. I totally forgot.” Her hand shot out and took Lacey’s. “I was jealous. I didn’t mean…” Her face flushed red.
Lacey tugged her hand free, her heart beating against the confines of her chest as the full weight of what was happening pressed down on her. “What are you talking about?”
Angela squirmed in her seat. “Well, it wasn’t entirely untrue.
Mack did have a past. He ran with some pretty bad people—so bad his parents sent him to Rocky Ridge to get him away from them for a little while.
But he never got in so much trouble that he was arrested or anything.
It was just the usual rebel teenage boy stuff. ”
Shaking her head, Lacey forced herself to mention what she’d heard in the salon. “I know about that stuff. Mack’s talked about it. But he’s never confessed anything about the pregnancy.”
This time, her sister’s confusion was even more obvious. “What pregnancy? You mean Kayla?”
The name sounded familiar. Lacey hadn’t connected it before now. She’d been younger and dealing with her own issues. But now that she’d heard the name, she recalled some story circulating town around that time about another girl who’d gotten pregnant.
Now she was really going to be sick. Lacey put her head in her hands. “Yeah, I guess the timeline matches up.”
“What about it?” Angela scoffed. “Kayla was a cheater and a liar.”
Lacey’s head snapped up. “What?”
“Yeah. She dated Mack for a little while that year. Then when she got pregnant, she claimed Mack was the father. By the time they could do any damage control, the rumor mills were in full swing. No one believed him. And Kayla knew she couldn’t go after him for child support or anything because they never…
” Her voice trailed off. “Anyway, he went back home shortly after that scandal, anyway.”
“So… he didn’t… he’s not… a father?” Lacey rasped.
A slew of emotions battered within her. Relief so potent that she thought she could float away right then and there.
Anger that Mack hadn’t said anything. Granted, she hadn’t mentioned it either, and he probably didn’t want her knowing.
That story was one of the worst she’d heard. But most of all, she felt despair.
For the way she’d treated him. For the likelihood that her mother wouldn’t believe her if she told her the truth. For losing out on something wonderful because she’d made one mistake six years ago.
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and Angela lunged forward. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. But now that you know?—”
Lacey shook her head. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” Angela demanded. “What’s wrong?”
Lacey covered her face with her hands and let the tears fall. They were outside—away from Bridger. She didn’t have to worry about him seeing her like this. And by the time they went back inside, Lacey could compose herself.
“Lacey?” Angela whispered. “What’s going on? You can tell me. Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. Mack has been perfect. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Lacey knew none of this made sense. Her sister wouldn’t understand—not until everything was out in the open.
Dropping her hands, Lacey peered at her sister, wondering just how much she should tell her about their mother and the veiled threats she’d made. Would she ruin their relationship, or was it already destroyed by what had already happened in their past?
“Mom said that if I keep dating him, that she’d take Bridger away from me.” She blurted the secret, unable to hold back any longer.
The shock that was all over Angela’s face quickly turned into disgust. “You’re kidding,” she seethed. “Please tell me this is a joke. She didn’t say that.”
It was hard to tell if Angela was upset with Lacey or with their mother. She shot to her feet and fidgeted for a moment. “She did, didn’t she? She actually threatened you with Bridger’s custody?”
“Well, she didn’t say it outright… but she implied that she wasn’t against doing so if she thought Bridger’s wellbeing was in jeopardy,” Lacey murmured weakly.
“No,” Angela ground out. “She can’t.”
“In Montana?—”
Her sister whirled on her. “I don’t care what they think can happen in Montana.
There’s no way they would be able to take your son from you and drop him back in Mom’s lap without a great deal of evidence.
Any lawyer would be able to fight that case and win on your behalf.
It’s not like Mack is a criminal. For heaven’s sake. This is taking it too far.”
“It’s not like I have the money for a decent lawyer. What if Mom?—”
Angela shook her head. “I won’t let it happen.
I don’t care what it takes. You clawed yourself out from that mistake, even though Mom has held it over your head year after year.
” The fire in her eyes was next level. Lacey didn’t know what she did to deserve such a response, but she was happy to accept it.
Angela pointed at Lacey. “If you want to be with him, then be with him. Don’t let anything stand in your way. ”
Lacey gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Could she really do that? Could she defy her mother and give over that part of her heart that didn’t trust so easily to the man she couldn’t stop thinking about? “What if…” She blew out a breath. “What if we’re wrong?”
“Wrong about what?” she asked incredulously.
“About Mack. What if we’re wrong, and he’s not as good as we think he is?”
Angela’s bark of laughter sent birds flying from a nearby tree and Lacey startling in her seat.
“Not as good as we think? Lacey . Compared to your ex? Mack is a saint. I can almost guarantee that if he had gotten Kayla pregnant, he would have married her out of duty. He’s good with kids.
He’s got a job.” She shrugged. “Sure, he still lives with his parents, but that situation is a little different because of the work they all do together.” She settled down in her seat again.
“He’s perfect for you, Lacey. And I’m sorry I didn’t accept that sooner. ”
Lacey watched as her sister squeezed her eyes shut in a grimace and let out a sad sigh. Her sister didn’t show this side of herself very often—the vulnerable one where she admitted to her own flaws.
“I really shouldn’t have overreacted like I did. I guess I got swept up in the possibilities of finding someone like that.” Her eyes opened. “He really is a catch. And if you don’t marry him, then maybe I’ll take another crack at it.”
That statement had Lacey laughing, and her sister joined in. Boy, it felt good to laugh again.
Angela leaned back in her chair and quirked a grin at Lacey. “But seriously, you should go talk to Mom.”
Lacey’s heart leaped into her throat, and a dizzying sense of dread filled her stomach. “I can’t?—”
“We can do it together. I won’t make you do it alone.”
That sounded more reasonable, and Lacey gave her sister a tentative smile.
“Stay the night. We can go over bright and early in the morning—or as early as we can after we inevitably have too much wine and binge all the best episodes of that reality TV show you like so much.”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “You mean, the show you like.” Her sister’s plan sounded like a dream. She didn’t know what she would say to her mother, but if Angela was by her side, then maybe she had a chance at fixing what had been broken.