Chapter Three
“You told her what?”
Mack shouted her question so loud that she startled a pair of teenagers jogging near them.
The one closest to Mack jumped, bumping into her friend and sending him tumbling into and eventually over a hurdle in the next lane of the track.
His yelp seemed to indicate that parts of his manhood had come into painful contact with either the aluminum hurdle or the coarse running surface.
While Kayla tried to hold back her giggles, Mack hurried over to offer her assistance and apologies.
The guy seemed too resentful to be cordial, but, like most women, no matter their age, the girl accepted her apology with a look of dreamy unconcern.
“Looks like you’ve charmed another one,” Kayla said as the pair jogged off, the girl shooting heart eyes over her shoulder every few paces.
“Don’t try changing the subject, LaLa. How could you do that?”
The nickname warmed Kayla all the way through her body.
Unlike her own universal nickname, which stemmed from her hatred of the overly feminine name, McKensie, Mack was the only one who called Kayla LaLa.
It went all the way back to the start of their friendship in high school when their school issued email addresses consisting of their first names and the first two letters of their last name.
The idea was to protect their privacy while also differentiating between students with matching first names.
But it also meant that Kayla Lamb’s email address ended with LaLa, and an inside joke was born.
Kayla feigned innocence. “Do what?”
“Do what?” Mack lowered her voice, realizing she had shouted again, though this one hadn’t caused any injuries. “How could you tell Skye we’re getting married? I am not marrying you!”
This earned a side eye from a trio of moms decked out in athletic wear that probably cost more than Kayla made in a month. At least one of the looks was pitying.
“Wow, you know how to hurt a girl,” Kayla said with a wink.
“This is not a joke.”
Unfortunately, Mack’s annoyed face was far too adorable for Kayla to take too seriously.
She’d always been the serious one, bordering on grumpy, even when they were kids.
She’d also always carried the masculine-of-center lesbian look better than anyone else, as evidenced by the continued attention from both the teenager and the rich housewives.
Mack was tall, a good six foot as she towered over Kayla now.
She also carried muscle well, with arms like tree trunks and thighs like a Greek statue, but with enough softness in both her body and personality to make her a perfectly drool-worthy butch.
Add in the flowing brunette hair with an undercut at the back, the green eyes so pale they could almost glow in the dark, and a wide jaw dominated by a toothy smile and she was nothing if not a heartstopper.
Then, of course, her perpetually single status and her C-suite job.
She had more admirers than she knew what to do with, and she barely noticed any of them.
Kayla said, “Of course it isn’t a joke. It’s my last chance. I have to throw caution to the wind.”
Mack started jogging again, dragging her steps until Kayla caught up with her. “Throw caution to the wind might as well be your middle name, but this is too much. How could pretending to marry me help you get Skye back? Won’t she think she missed her chance?”
“Of course she will. That’s the plan. You know how jealous she gets. If she sees us together, being a happy couple, she’ll remember how much she loves me.”
“Doesn’t it piss you off that she needs to be reminded that she loves you? I can’t see myself forgetting I’m in love with a beautiful, smart, funny woman.” Mack grumbled and picked up her pace. “Of course, Skye always was an idiot.”
Kayla’s spirits lifted a fraction to hear her best friend defending her. In truth, it did piss her off that she had to work so hard to get Skye back, but she’d never been afraid of a little hard work. “You only say she’s an idiot because you’ve always hated her.”
“I’ve always hated her because she’s always been an idiot. I never knew what you saw in her.”
Kayla said, “I love that you want to defend me so much, even if you are biased as hell.”
“I’m serious, LaLa. Why don’t you take this opportunity to find someone else who treats you with love and respect? Someone who can make you happy. I’ve lost count of the times you came to me crying because Skye had been insensitive or dismissive.”
“Everyone complains about their partner to their best friend, it doesn’t mean they don’t love them.”
Mack said, “There is a difference between complaining that she won’t stop cutting her toenails on the couch and being devastated because she wouldn’t come home early from a rock-climbing trip for your grandfather’s funeral.”
“It was a rock-climbing competition, and she jumped three spots in the national rankings because of it.”
“That would be a compelling argument if she hadn’t quit competitive rock-climbing six months later,” Mack said.
“She didn’t realize how close he and I were.”
“No one should have to tell her that. You’d been dating for six years when he died. Of course she should have gone to the funeral.”
Kayla’s pulse was pounding and not from running.
No matter how much she defended Skye to Mack, she could still feel her shame and disappointment of having to deal with her grief alone.
Pops had meant everything to her. He was the one who had taught Kayla how to kick a soccer ball, and he had attended nearly every game she’d played, even getting his passport for the first time to watch her play in Portugal.
Skye had met him a dozen times, and Kayla talked about Pops the way she thought of him—like a mixture of Zeus, Santa, and Mr. Rodgers, all wrapped into one.
Going to that funeral alone had been one of the lowest moments of her life.
Of course, one of the highest moments had been when Mack had settled down in the next seat and wrapped one arm around her in a tight hug.
Kayla sped up to get in front of Mack, then stopped in her path, forcing her to stop so they could really talk. “Remember how you rescued me that day?”
“Which day? I’m constantly rescuing you. You do a lot of dumb stuff.” Kayla crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. As expected, Mack crumbled under the weight of her stare. She sighed and looked at the clouds racing overhead. “Yes. I remember.”
Kayla couldn’t hide a little grin at her best friend’s adorable pouting. “You hugged me and said you were there for me.”
“Yeah, and you wouldn’t give me my arm back. You made me hold it wrapped around your shoulders the whole service. I still have circulation problems from that.”
Kayla gave her a playful slap on the shoulder, and Mack’s smile warmed her from the very center of her chest. “Liar.” Mack shrugged, but her reluctant smile was just as cute as her pouting.
“I needed you that day. The weight of your arm around my shoulders grounded me. It reminded me how much I still had on the day it felt like I’d lost everything.
You did that for me when Skye left, too. ”
Mack wasn’t smiling anymore but staring at Kayla with an intensity that made her shiver. “Yeah, well, I owe you.”
Now it was Kayla’s turn to burn with anger.
If there was anyone in the world she truly hated, it was Mr. and Mrs. Bristol.
How could they ever have abandoned their own child, especially a child like Mack?
Good, kind, caring Mack, who would give anyone the shirt off her back.
It boggled her mind. A sliver of uncertainty ran through Kayla.
Was she taking advantage of Mack’s selfless nature?
She shook the thought off. If she were, she would make it up to her.
She would find a way to repay Mack for everything after she and Skye were married.
Kayla said, “You don’t owe me. You support me. You always have. I needed you that day and didn’t know how to ask. I’ve learned how to ask. I need you now, Mack. Please, I’m begging you.”
Mack ran a hand through her hair, inadvertently tugging a few long chunks loose from her ponytail. “Ah shit. That’s not fair, LaLa.”
Kayla walked into her space and wrapped her arms around Mack’s sweaty middle.
Kayla squeezed tight, but Mack didn’t move.
For a moment, she worried that she had finally asked too much.
Mack’s fists stayed perched on her hips instead of relaxing and pulling her into one of her famous Mack hugs. Time for those drastic measures again.
Kayla released Mack and dropped onto her knees.
The rough surface of the track cut into her skin, and her right knee screamed in protest. These days she was pretty good at managing her injury, but abrupt movements and severe bends were difficult at the very least. As she winced at the pain, she wished she had thought through her actions.
She really didn’t have to beg from her knees, but since she was down here, looking up into Mack’s wide eyes, she might as well give it a shot.
“Please, Mack. I need you. Please marry me?” Kayla said.
The gaggle of yoga pants moms gasped as they jogged by. Mack seemed equally horrified by Kayla kneeling in front of her and the moms thinking this was a real proposal. Her head kept whipping back between the moms and Kayla, her mouth now open as wide as her eyes.
“No, no. It’s not that,” Mack said to the moms. When they started shooting more pitying looks at Kayla, she stumbled over her words again. “I mean yes. It’s not… This isn’t… Christ, LaLa, stand up, would you?”
Kayla was pretty sure she heard one of the moms bemoan the fact that she wasn’t the one on her knees in front of Mack. She forced her words out between giggles. “Not until you give me an answer.”
Mack’s stricken look was almost worth the pain. She yanked on Kayla’s hands and said, “This isn’t good for your knee. Come on, stand up.”