Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
“ M ommy!” Max cried and ran across the room to fling himself into Lorna’s arms when she and Mack walked into the house five minutes later. “Mack found you. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, planting kisses all over his face. “And I heard you were very brave and did a great job taking care of your sister.”
He pushed her hair away from her ear to whisper into it. “I was pretty scared, Mommy.”
She hugged him tighter. “I know you were, honey. I was, too. But we’re okay now, and we’re gonna be just fine.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” Gertie said, drying her hands on a dish towel as she walked in from the kitchen.
“It’s okay,” Lorna told her. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Gertie shrugged and jerked her thumb back to the kitchen. “I’m making your favorite—homemade chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes—to make up for it. It’ll be ready when you get home from work, and there will be enough to share.” She gave a not-so-subtle nod in Mack’s direction.
“That’s kind of you, Gertie, but not necessary. You do plenty of things to help me already.”
“I’d like to offer to help, too,” Mack said. “Why don’t you let me go into the shop so you can stay home and just be with the kids. You said Emily is coming in today. Between the two of us, we can take care of things.”
“That’s a good idea,” Gertie agreed. “And I’ll stick around to make lunch so you can take a nap, too.”
Lorna glanced from one to the other as Max took off to play with the dog. “I feel like you two are somehow in cahoots with this ‘let’s be nice to Lorna’ business.” She rolled her shoulders against the stiffness and pain in her back and ribs. “But I learned as a single mom, to never say no to someone’s offer of help. So, I will take you both up on it.”
Gertie gave her a hug, then jerked back as Lorna winced at the pain in her ribs. “Why don’t you head upstairs and run a hot bath, and I’ll bring you a cup of tea and an ice pack for that cheek.”
Mack’s expression hardened as Gertie headed into the kitchen. “I’d like to go find that little turd and beat the hell out of him for you.”
She laughed then winced again. “I’d like that too, but it won’t help anything.”
“All I want to do is help you,” he said, gently putting his arms around her. “What I really want to do is go all caveman and pack you and the kids and that scruffy little dog into my truck and take you back to the ranch where I know you’ll be safe. But I know you well enough by now to know that you probably wouldn’t go, and what you’d really appreciate the most is for me to march down to Mountain Brew and make macchiatos and serve up some warm cinnamon scones.”
She grinned up at him. “Which is almost as manly as that caveman idea.” She sighed and pressed her good cheek to his chest. “I’m tempted by the idea though. But I don’t think you need to worry about the ‘little turd’. He got what he wanted, so I don’t think I’ll see him again until we hear back from Judy that the paperwork went through, and he shows up for the keys to the building.”
Mack’s hands curled into fists. “Can’t I hurt him just a little bit?”
She hugged him tighter. “No, but thanks for wanting to.”
“You want me to call one of my brothers or Duke to come over, just to be a presence at the house?”
She shook her head. “No. Gertie will be here, and I really don’t expect him to come back today.”
“Any chance you have a gun in the house?”
“Hell no. What I do have is kids in the house. So, I don’t need or want a firearm. And I’m not good enough with one to be able to confidently use it anyway. I’m afraid if I tried to, someone would just take it away and use it on me.”
And by someone, she meant her ex-husband. She’d always been thankful he wasn’t much a gun guy. Things could have gone much worse for her if he had been.
Mack frowned. “I get your point. But you might be the only single woman in Colorado not to have a handgun and their concealed permit.”
“I’m fine with that distinction.” She gently pushed him toward the door. “Now, will you please go make some frappucinos. And don’t worry, Emily can practically run the shop on her own, so just do whatever she tells you to do. And please tell her thank you and that I’m sorry for sending a cowboy to make coffee, but you’re cute, so that should make up for it.”
Lorna jerked awake, the image of a broken and bloody Mack still in her mind’s eye. Bleary-eyed and disoriented, she tried to catch her breath as she untangled her legs from the sheets on her bed.
How long had she been out? She’d only meant to close her eyes for a few minutes.
She found her phone next to her pillow and was surprised to see she’d been asleep for almost two hours. The trauma of the morning must have gotten to her more than she’d thought, and her body had retreated into sleep. The sleep she could use, the nightmare of Lyle trying to kill Mack, not so much.
She tried to push the dream from her mind. Lyle had been a defensive end in high school, but he didn’t often pick fights with other men. Not when he had his own personal punching bag at home. So, she didn’t imagine he’d try to start something with Mack, but she also knew her ex-husband liked to fight dirty.
After taking a few minutes to wash her face and clean the smudges of mascara from under her eyes, she walked down the stairs to find Max and Mocha tucked into one corner of the sofa and Gertie and her latest knitting project in the other. Izzy was on a blanket in the middle of the floor, enclosed in a fort of pillows. An episode of Bluey was on the television, and they all appeared to be watching it.
“Oh, you’re up,” Gertie said, setting down her knitting. “How was your nap? I checked on you once, and you were out cold.”
“A bit groggy, if I’m honest. I’m all about the fifteen-minute power nap, but I’m not sure passing out for two hours in the middle of the afternoon is a great idea for me.”
“I made a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, and there’s some iced tea in the fridge,” Gertie said. “Do you want me to make you a glass?”
Lorna shook her head. “No, you’ve done enough for today. Why don’t you go home?”
Gertie raised an eyebrow. “And miss this episode of Bluey? I think not. Plus, I was hoping you’d invite me to stick around for supper.”
“Yes, of course you can stay, if you want to. I just don’t want to overstep.”
“No such thing when it comes to family. And that’s how I’ve come to think of you and these sweet babies.”
“In that case, please don’t ever leave us.”
She and Gertie laughed as Max waved his hand in their direction.
“Shh. You’re missing the show,” he said, not taking his attention from the screen.
Lorna squeezed in between him and Gertie, pulling her son into her lap and cuddling him and the puppy as they all finished watching the show together.
Mack showed up around five, just in time to help set the table. He and Max both had second helpings, and he couldn’t stop telling Gertie her chicken and noodles were the best he’d ever had.
He helped clear the table and load the dishwasher, and Lorna noticed that Max had started doing the same after watching Mack’s actions the last few times he’d been there for a meal.
“You got a few minutes to talk?” Mack asked her after the dishes were done and Gertie had gone home. They were sitting in the swing together on the back porch watching Max run around the yard with the little dog.
“Sure.” There was something she wanted to talk to him about too. She’d been thinking about it all afternoon. The nightmare had really shaken her, and she would never forgive herself if Mack got hurt because of something her idiot ex did.
The only thing that made sense to her was for them to back off and stop acting like they were a couple. Especially, if it only antagonized Lyle.
Mack was so protective of her and the kids, and there was part of her that loved that, but another part of her knew he didn’t understand her willingness to give up the shop and that she needed to handle this Lyle business on her own.
But she’d let Mack talk first, before she brought up the idea that she expected she’d be getting some resistance to.
“I want to talk to you, too,” she said. “But you go first.”
He gave her a questioning look but then forged on. “So, I took a liberty and did something this afternoon, and I wanted to tell you about it.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Did it involve beating up my ex-husband?”
“I wish,” Mack said. “But no, it’s nothing that sinister.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“I noticed a burnt-out light bulb in your office at the shop, so I stopped at the hardware store on my way in to pick up a new package of them. And I saw they had one of those security camera setups on sale—the kind you hook to an app on your phone—so I picked it up for you.” He held his hand up to her protest. “I’m pretty sure I can counter all your objections, and also, I already set it up this afternoon. There were only four cameras that came with it, and I strategically placed three of them in the lobby and one in your office.”
She let out a sigh. “I appreciate the thought, but one, you shouldn’t have spent that kind of money on me, and two, the shop might belong to Lyle after this weekend.”
“Count it as an early birthday present. And even if The Turd, which, by the way, is what I’ve decided to call him from now on, does get his hands on the shop, it might not be for weeks, and I’d just feel better knowing the cameras are there.”
“I’ve looked into security cameras before but decided against them because this is Woodland Hills and everyone watches out for each other, and because they all needed some kind of paid subscription for them to be online.”
“Oh…well…this one came with a free introductory period,” he said with a shrug, but didn’t meet her eye, which made her wonder if he hadn’t footed the bill for that expense too. “Just let me show you how it works. Please?”
She guessed it couldn’t hurt. And he’d already spent the money, so might as well take advantage of the service, even if it was short-lived. Maybe Mack could move the system out to the ranch to watch the cows after the shop was gone.
“Fine.”
“I set it up on my phone this afternoon,” he told her. “Just to make sure it worked, and to accept the terms of the…um…introductory period…but once we get it all set up on your phone, I can disable it on mine.”
He showed her how to find the app on her phone and set the notifications to alert her if someone was in the store. “It’s motion-sensored,” he said. “So, hopefully you won’t get any notifications when the shop is closed. But you can also open the app and take a live look around at any time.”
She had to admit, it was a pretty neat system. She didn’t deem herself very technologically savvy, but it seemed easy enough that even she could understand how to work it.
“Thank you,” she told him. “This was really thoughtful. And it would be a great idea if I were keeping the shop.”
“There’s something else.”
“Ohhh-kay.”
“These aren’t the only cameras I set up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got the idea from Dodge the other night when he was showing us the moo monitors. We had an extra wildlife camera, so I set it up in the alley behind your shop the next morning.”
It took her a minute, but then she realized what he was saying. “Did it catch Lyle on camera setting the fire?”
Mack sighed. “Not as well as I’d hoped it would. You can see someone back there, and it looks like they are pouring something on the ground. But the person is wearing a hoodie pulled up over their head, and the picture is pretty grainy. I wanted you to look at it and see if you could see anything distinguishing that could tie it to Lyle, then we could give it to Knox.”
She pulled in a breath. “Okay, so I love the way you were trying to catch the culprit behind the break-in, and the footage could help prove it wasn’t me if Lyle decides to pursue this idea that I’m a bad mom…”
“Which is garbage.”
“Thank you. But my point is, Lyle is already pissed off about me talking to the cops…”
“That’s his problem.”
She sighed. “But that’s the thing. He has a way of making his problems, my problems.” She sighed again, this one even heavier than the first. “Which leads me to what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“So, first I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me the past week. You have been there for me like no one, other than my sister, ever has. And I love seeing you and hanging out with you—honestly, I never get tired of being with you—but still, I think we need to cool things off.”
Mack cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not sure how the first things you said—about me being there for you and how you love hanging out with me—correlate with that last thing you just said.”
“I know. I’m doing a bad job of explaining it, but I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
And she didn’t want herself to get hurt.
She was starting to like this guy, and to depend on him, too much . If…when…he left—which they always left—she, and her kids, would be devastated.
“Hurt? You mean by The Turd? I’m not afraid of him. I’m waiting, no, begging , for him to come at me. I can’t wait to show him the way a backhand to the face, then a roundhouse to the head, feels.”
“This is what I’m talking about. I don’t want you to have to fight Lyle for me.”
“Not have to… get to.”
“I’m serious. He’s dangerous, and I won’t have you putting yourself at risk for me. I don’t need you to be my hero.”
His expression clouded. “I already told you that just because I ride a white horse, to not expect me to be a conquering hero. I’m not hero material, and I’ve never been anyone’s knight in shining armor. That’s not what I was trying to do. I’ve told you before how amazing and brave I think you are, and I’ve always tried to encourage you to be your own hero.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. And I want to be. But I can’t if you’re always stepping in and trying to save me. I know you don’t understand my decision to give up the shop, and I just can’t keep defending that decision to you. I have to do what I think is right for me and my kids. You said above all else we were friends, so I need you to be my friend now, and give me some space to deal with my ex-husband. On my own.”
“Are you serious?” The light banter was gone, replaced with confusion and hurt. “Lorna, we were friends, are friends, but I thought we…”
He wasn’t getting it.
“No, you thought wrong. This is not what I want. Or what I need. I got carried away. I let things get too intimate. I crossed the line, and I’m sorry.” She could see the pain in his eyes, the way he kept flinching, as if her words were cutting him to the quick. She felt like an inept surgeon, slicing off pieces of this sweet man’s heart.
And that was the problem too. Mack was sweet and kind and thoughtful. He was someone she could really fall for.
Who was she kidding? She’d already fallen. Hard.
But she couldn’t afford to fall for someone. Not now. Maybe not ever. She had her kids to focus on. Her business. Or getting a job, now that her business was gone.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” he said. “I was there too.”
“Yes, well, spending a few nights in bed together doesn’t mean you get to decide things in my life.”
“I was trying to help.”
“I don’t want your help. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You’re acting like we’re a real couple, and we’re not .”
Those were the words that finally did it, that shut the light completely down in his eyes.
His shoulders sagged, and she could almost see the defensive walls go shooting up around him.
“No, I guess not.” He pushed up from the swing. “I’ll get out of your way then.” He turned and strode away, cutting through the yard between her house and her neighbor’s.
She wanted to call his name, to tell him she didn’t mean it, and to have him come back and put his arms around her again. Because in his arms had been the only place that had felt right the past several days. The only place she felt like she could breathe. Or laugh. Or cry.
The only place she could truly feel safe to just be herself.
And now she had pushed him away.
She knew she was doing it to protect him. The dream she’d had that afternoon had felt like a premonition, and she couldn’t allow it to come true—couldn’t forgive herself if she let Lyle do anything to harm Mack.
But in her heart, she knew she was breaking it off now, before they got even closer, to protect herself, too.
It was almost nine that night when Lorna went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. She’d gotten both kids to bed almost an hour ago, then put on her most comfy pajama pants and a soft faded T-shirt and tried to read then watch some television. But she couldn’t focus on her book or pay attention to a show.
Her heart was aching, and she kept second-guessing her decision to push Mack away. She knew it was the right thing to do, to protect him, and to keep her from getting too close then having another man in her life leave her. And her kids. But it still hurt.
A knock sounded at the front door, and she let out a small yelp as she jumped. She heard the doorknob jiggle.
Someone was trying to get into her house.