Chapter 13
After Joe left, Janey resisted the urge to go back to bed and instead took a shower and got dressed. She was out in the yard enjoying the warm sun and playing with the dogs when Maddie arrived.
“Hey,” Maddie said as she came through the house to the backyard. “The door was open, so I let myself in. Hope that’s okay.”
Janey smiled at her. They were still working out the boundaries of their new friendship. “Of course it is. You don’t have to knock here.”
“Oh, I’ll still knock. I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything.”
Janey felt heat creep into her cheeks when she thought of waking up with Joe.
Maddie laughed. “Your face gives away your every thought.”
“I know! I hate that.”
“Do I take that to mean you had a friend over last night?”
“Perhaps.”
Maddie lowered herself to the grass next to Janey. “Do tell.”
Janey fell back onto the lawn, which the dogs took as an open invite to lie on top of her. Running her fingers through Muttley’s soft fur, she tried to find the words. “Everything with him is so easy, you know?”
“That’s the way it should be. It wasn’t like that with David?”
“I thought it was, but it wasn’t like this. Joe is just so. . .”
“Perfect for you?”
“In many ways, yes.”
“Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming here?”
“Everything that’s happened with David has me questioning my judgment. If you’d asked me last week if I ever imagined he’d cheat, I’d say not in a million years. I was that sure of him. And look at what he was doing.”
“Janey, you can’t let what he did cause you to doubt yourself. You loved him. You thought he loved you. Why in the world would you think he’d cheat on you? The failing is in him, not you.”
“And I know that, but I can’t get past the idea that I must’ve missed something. There had to have been signs, right?”
“You guys have lived apart a long time. It’s not as easy to see the signs when you aren’t with him every day.”
Janey stroked Muttley’s ears. “Still. . . When I look back now, I can see there were things I either chose not to see or chose not to question. Like why it took him days sometimes to call me back or how plans would get canceled at the last minute. I always chalked that up to his job and didn’t think a thing of it. But now. . .”
“Now you’re questioning everything.”
Janey nodded. “It’s making me nuts.”
“I don’t want to say the wrong thing or overstep,” Maddie said tentatively.
Janey smiled at her. “It’s not possible for you to say the wrong thing to me. I want us to be the best of friends. You should feel free to speak your mind.”
Maddie’s eyes flooded with tears, which made her laugh. “I’m like an emotional disaster area these days. Everything makes me cry.”
“They’re happy tears.”
“Absolutely. Not only did I get Mac, but you and all your family. I feel so incredibly lucky.”
“Wait till our other brothers get here. Lucky might not be the word you’re using when you see how crazy Mac gets with them.”
“Don’t try to scare me off. Nothing could keep me from marrying him.”
Janey grinned at her. “What were you going to say? Before?”
“Just that I hope you won’t hold what David did against Joe. That wouldn’t be fair to Joe.”
“No, it wouldn’t, but let’s face it, none of this is fair to Joe.
He’s in love with me, and I’m a mess. I know I shouldn’t be encouraging what’s happening between us, especially right now, and I have all these good intentions to stay away from him.
But then he walks in the room and all my good intentions disappear. I can’t keep my hands off him.”
“You’re in major lust—and I can see why. He’s adorable and sexy.”
“Definitely major lust, but what if that’s all it is? That would crush him. He hasn’t said anything, but I know where he’s hoping this is heading.”
“How do you feel about him?”
“It’s hard to tell. Everything is so jumbled. If you’re asking if I love him, of course I do. I’ve always loved him.”
“But as a friend.”
“Right and that’s the problem. It’s hard to tell if I suddenly love him as more than that, or if I’m under the influence of great sex.”
“If you start to feel like it’s only a rebound, you need to end it. Immediately.”
“I know,” Janey said. “I’m so afraid I’m going to hurt him.”
“He’s a big boy, and his eyes are wide open. You can’t take responsibility for him. You have to think about yourself and what you want.”
“I’m trying, but it’s hard.”
“Just take it a day at a time and don’t feel that you have to figure anything out right away.”
“That’s good advice, and you should know after all you went through with Mac.”
“When I think about how close I came to losing him. . .” Maddie shuddered.
“You two are meant to be. You would’ve ended up together one way or the other.”
“I agree, but my mother won’t. I’m picking her up in the morning, and I can only imagine what she’ll have to say when she finds out I’m marrying Mac McCarthy next week.”
“You need to take your own advice and do what’s best for you. I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to see their daughter married to my fabulous brother. But if she gives you grief about it, just let her know if she forces you to choose, you won’t choose her.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do.”
“Just remember what’s waiting for you in a week’s time, and you’ll find the courage you need to deal with her.”
“I can’t wait to be married to him, but I just keep worrying that something’s going to happen to mess it up before we say I do.”
“Nothing’s going to happen.”
Right on cue, Mac walked into the yard with Thomas on his shoulders. Talk about meant to be. . . Janey couldn’t get over how easily her stubbornly single brother had slipped into life as a family man.
“There’re my guys,” Maddie said, glowing at the sight of them.
“I got your text that you’d be here, so we’re making the transfer.” He hugged and kissed Thomas and lowered him to his mother. “See you later, buddy.”
Thomas let out a wail of protest.
“It’s so not fair,” Maddie said with a pout. “You carry him for nine months, you practically kill yourself giving birth to him and then he picks his new daddy over you every time.”
Thomas squealed with delight when the dogs sniffed and licked his outstretched hands.
Mac squatted down to kiss the pout off Maddie’s lips. “Daddy picks Mommy every time.”
“Well, I guess that’s something,” Maddie said with a teasing glint in her eye.
Chuckling, Mac kissed her again before he stood. “Got any coffee, brat?”
“Sure. Help yourself.”
“I need a travel mug.”
“Oh, I, um, left mine at work.”
Mac studied her for a long moment before he said, “Never mind, then. I’ll get some more at the marina. Oh, by way, Mom was powwowing with Kay Lawrence at the diner just now. I think they’re conspiring to get you and David back together.”
“Fabulous.”
“I reminded Mom that the guy cheated on you, and you’re better off without him.”
“Thanks.”
“Still, watch out for them. They’re up to something. And, oh, man, is Kay pissed at Joe! If looks could kill!”
“Joe was there, too?” Janey asked, making a supreme effort to sound casual and unconcerned.
Mac gave her a knowing look that set her nerves on edge. “Uh-huh. Well, I’d better get to work. You ladies have a nice day.”
“Love you,” Maddie said.
“You, too, babe.” He waggled his fingers at Thomas and walked around the side of the house to the street.
“What was that all about with the coffee?” Maddie asked.
“He might be on to me and Joe. I gave Joe my cow mug this morning, and I’ll bet my mother said something about it.”
“You might want to tell Mac the truth now rather than letting him find out later.”
“Not until after the wedding. We all know Mac is going to be pissed with Joe over this, so let’s get through the wedding before we go there.”
“If he finds out I kept this from him, there might not be a wedding.”
“Oh, there’ll be a wedding. Neither lying sisters nor disapproving mothers nor wild horses nor randy best men could keep my brother from marrying you.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
Janey decided to call on Doc Potter to take care of the animals, rather than give Maddie anything more to keep from Mac.
She did, however, let her future sister-in-law know where she’d be in case of emergency.
As she packed for her night with Joe, Janey’s hands trembled with excitement and anticipation.
She might not be certain how she felt about him, but she was damned sure she couldn’t wait to see him again.
Her conversation with Maddie kept running through her mind.
Was she in love with Joe? Had she ever really loved David?
Did she even know what it meant to be in love?
It worried her that she’d gotten over David so quickly.
She knew that was probably due to the shock of seeing him with someone else, but still.
. . Thirteen years was a long time, and whatever love she’d felt for him had died a quick and sudden death.
She spent a last minute with each of her beloved pets, grabbed her bag and skipped out of the house.
“Going somewhere?”
Janey about jumped out of her skin. “Jesus, David. You scared the heck out of me.”
“You’re looking awfully excited for a woman who just called off her engagement.”
“I’m in a hurry. I can’t talk right now.”
“Where’re you going?”
“That’s none of your business. You lost the right to ask me things like that when I saw you in bed with another woman.”
He winced. “I wish you’d believe me when I tell you how sorry I am about that.”
“You’re just sorry you got caught.”
“That’s not true! If you’d just talk to me—”
“I have nothing to say. Now, I’ve got a boat to catch. Please let me by.”
“Why are you going to the mainland?”
Janey decided she had to humor him if she was going to make the boat. “To get my car. It broke down after I saw you in bed with another woman.”
“Where are you staying tonight?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“With a friend.”
“What friend?”
“I’m not telling you that!”
He grabbed her arm and held it tighter than he should have. “Have you got someone else, Janey? This whole time you’re making me feel like shit, and you’re probably doing the same thing. Who is it?”