12. Mac
I’m not sure what’s more humiliating, my deck being so unsafe I came pretty close to concussing myself or welcoming a beautiful woman to my home by losing all track of my towel. I can’t believe how bad the deck’s gotten. Until Shelby got here, we never used it. The formerly empty shed beside it only reminded me of losing Annie, which reminded me of losing Dad, and, of course, Mom.
That night, I lie in bed with an ice pack on my head and vacillate between agonizing over facing Shelby in the morning and coming up with a solution for how to make the deck less slippery. What if that had been her?
That only leads me to picturing Shelby on the deck naked.
The thought makes my dick swell. Not that I’d want her to fall, of course. I wouldn’t wish this kind of humiliation on anyone.
But then I think of what really happened. Shelby paused when she was checking me over. She stammered as her gaze lingered down there.
Heat thickens my cock even further.
If I could have seen her better, would she have been blushing? She looks so sexy when she blushes. It makes me think of other reasons she’d be flushed.
But as the blood rushes down low, it only exacerbates the throbbing in my head. And reminds me that I shouldn’t be thinking of her like this.
I groan, getting up to splash cold water on my face. I need to chill out. But then I see the little underwear set thing she gave me to cover myself on my dresser. Why the hell didn’t I leave it out there? I throw it on my chair and cover it with a pillow.
I decide on a cold shower instead, which at least helps get my appendage back to dormant. After I get back into bed, I notice a new text from Chris on my phone. She hit some semifinal in her race today, so she’s asking if she can have the next few nights off for training.
I’m so relieved at having an excuse not to be home for a few nights that I text her back right away without a word about tonight. I’m tempted to tell her I’ll cover her weekend shifts too just so I don’t have to face Shelby again until she moves back to the inn.
But Cal texts just then.
CAL: You up?
MAC: Unfortunately.
CAL: Everything okay over there?
For a moment, I have the absurd thought that he somehow knows what happened on the deck. Or he’s psychic or something.
MAC: What do you mean?
CAL: Moving Annie’s room today. It felt kind of…final.
I haven’t even had time to process my feelings over finally dealing with that room. But Cal’s right. Cleaning up the room that we made for her, the room she never visited, feels kind of like closing a door.
Cal knows I blame myself for her leaving. She loved this place as a kid; always talked about how she wanted to be a doctor because there was no doctor in town back then. We had to travel to Swan River when we needed to see one. Said she’d open her office right next to town hall so she could be close to Dad.
My chest hurts thinking about it.
MAC: I think we were all kind of delusional thinking she’d move back someday.
There’s no reply to that. Cal must be feeling some of what I’m feeling too. He was as good as part of the family. Spent time with Annie when I abandoned her.
He needs cheering up.
MAC: Shelby saw my dick tonight.
My phone buzzes a minute later.
“Mac, I don’t see you date a woman for literally years, and now you’re living with one? In the sinful sense?”
“It’s not like that.”
I explain exactly what happened, and Cal loses it. He can’t come back on the line for a full minute because he’s laughing so hard.
“You done?” I ask. I thought he’d have a little chuckle, not nearly pass out himself from laughing at me.
“Nope.” He laughs some more. Finally, he calms down and asks me if I checked on Shelby after the whole thing.
“Are you kidding? I’m avoiding her for the whole rest of the week. Hopefully by then we can both pretend it never happened.”
“Dude, she’s going to be just as embarrassed as you.”
“She wasn’t the one naked and afraid.”
Cal cracks up again. “Listen, just play it like you’re cool with it. Are you upset with her?”
“What? Why would I be?”
“Exactly. Don’t let her think that. Listen, how would you feel if I was the one this happened to?”
“If Shelby saw you naked? I’d probably knock you out.”
“I mean if it was someone else.”
I sigh. “I’d laugh my ass off at you.”
“Exactly. It’s funny. Just be chill.”
“I don’t know how to be chill around her.”
There’s a long pause.
“You’ll get there.”
I rub my eyes with my thumb and forefinger, reliving the night’s ludicrous events. Then, to my surprise, I find myself laughing softly.
“See? There you go.”
“Good night, fuckface.”
“Night-night dude. Try not to get naked in front of your hot houseguest again.”
“Call her hot again.”
“I’d rather keep my teeth. Women find them sexy.”
I grumble and hang up. But at least I feel good enough to sleep.