Chapter 8
Eight
She didn’t say a word on the ride to North Harbor.
With Thomas in his car seat between them, Mac tried to engage her in conversation that went nowhere.
Instead, she stared out the passenger-side window, and he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake insisting she join him for dinner at his parents’ house.
She’d fretted for half an hour over what to wear and had finally settled on a pale pink T-shirt and a denim miniskirt that showed off her long, toned legs.
Libby must’ve painted her toes, because Mac didn’t recall seeing the sexy hot pink polish the day before—and he was fairly certain he’d noticed everything about her.
Half a mile from his parents’ house, Mac pulled the truck over to the side of the road.
“What’re you doing?”
“Do you really not want to go? We can go back to your place, get a pizza from Mario’s, rent a movie—”
She startled and amused him when she reached over to squish his lips shut. “After I went through all that to figure out what to wear, we’re going to your mother’s. Now drive.”
Mac smiled at her show of bravado. He had no doubt she’d much prefer the pizza and movie. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her bravado had faded again by the time they pulled up to the big white house. Mac freed Thomas from his car seat and carried him around to the other side of the car to help Maddie. “Take your time,” he said, moved by the flash of pain that crossed her face as she slid down from the cab.
She clutched his arm. “Stay close, okay?”
“I will.” Before they stepped into the light, he stopped her, tilted her chin up and kissed her. “You’re here because I want them to know you’re important to me. If anyone makes you feel uncomfortable, we’ll leave, okay?”
“I don’t want to cause trouble between you and your family.”
“You won’t.”
“If you say so,” she said as they stepped through the gate into the light.
“I say so.”
Big Mac met them at the door. “Come in, come in.”
He greeted Maddie with a kiss to her cheek and tickled the bottom of Thomas’s foot, drawing a deep chortle from the baby.
“Looks good on you, son,” Big Mac said with a nod to the baby on Mac’s hip.
“He’s a cool little dude.” Mac felt a surge of pride as he showed off the baby. “Always happy.”
“I didn’t know what you liked to drink, Maddie.” Big Mac ushered them into the formal living room Linda reserved for company. Mac and Maddie sat together on the sofa. “So I got three kinds of wine and three kinds of beer.” He ticked them off on his fingers.
Mac could tell Maddie was touched by his father’s attentiveness. And while it was odd to be treated as a guest in the house where he grew up, he appreciated the warm welcome his father had given her.
She turned those big caramel eyes on him, and his belly fluttered with awareness. “What’re you having?”
“A light beer.”
“That sounds good to me, too.”
“Two light beers, coming right up,” Big Mac said. “Is the baby all set?”
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”
When they were alone, Mac squeezed her hand. “So far so good?”
“Your father is very sweet. I haven’t really talked to him before. He’s never here when I clean.”
“He’s the best guy I know.”
Janey came bursting through the front door. “Hey! Sorry I’m late.” She stopped short when she saw Mac, Maddie and Thomas on the sofa. “Oh well. You’re front-room company now, big brother?”
“Apparently.” Mac rose to kiss his sister. “This is Thomas.”
“Wow, what a doll!” Janey extended a finger, and Thomas wrapped his hand around it while studying her with the serious expression he used to size up new people.
“I don’t think you know Maddie,” Mac said.
“We knew each other years ago in school,” Janey said. “Nice to see you.”
“You, too. Congratulations on your engagement.”
Janey flashed a grin. “Thanks. It’s the longest engagement in the history of the world.”
“The big day will be here before you know it, brat,” Mac said.
“Until then, I have to be satisfied with a monthly booty call,” she said with a long-suffering sigh.
Mac cringed. “I don’t know why you have to say that stuff to me.”
“Because it makes you nuts,” Janey said, laughing.
Mac glanced at Maddie, who sent him a sympathetic smile. “My baby sister,” he grumbled as he rejoined her on the sofa. “Horrifying.”
Big Mac came back into the room with three bottles of beer and handed two of them to Mac and Maddie. “Hi, honey,” he said, kissing Janey. “I suppose you’ll want my beer.”
She plucked it out of his hand. “But of course.”
Big Mac shook his head and glanced at Maddie. “See what I put up with?”
Maddie responded with a girlish giggle, and Mac could tell his father had already won her over.
Big Mac left the room muttering about a man not being able to get a beer in his own house and returned a minute later with Linda, who he seemed to propel ahead of him into the room.
“There you are,” Linda said, swooping in to kiss Mac. “And Maddie, hello, how’re you feeling?”
“A little better, Mrs. McCarthy. Thank you for having me.”
Linda’s smile was brittle, but Mac was certain only her family would know it as less than genuine. “It’s my pleasure. This must be Thomas, who I’ve heard so much about.”
As he thrust the baby up and into his mother’s arms, Mac hoped she wasn’t referring to the speculation around town about the baby’s father.
“Oh,” Linda sputtered. “My. Well. You’re a cute little fella, aren’t you?”
Thomas picked that moment to loudly fill his diaper.
Janey howled with laughter.
Maddie gasped, tried to get up quickly and grimaced when her injured limbs refused to cooperate.
Mac eased her back down. “I’ve got it.”
“You don’t want to deal with that.”
“Believe me, it’s the least of what I’ve dealt with today.
” He took the baby from his mother and grabbed the diaper bag.
“Come on, pal. Let’s get you cleaned up.
” Before he left the room, he noticed his father and sister watching him with nothing but amusement while his mother fumed.
Mac was torn between needing to tend to the baby and not wanting to leave Maddie.
“We’ll take good care of Maddie,” Big Mac said.
“Thanks, Dad.” On the way up the stairs, Mac caught Maddie’s eye and winked at her. “I’ll be quick.”
She sent him a grateful smile that warmed him all the way through.
Over the pot roast dinner Mac had requested, Maddie stayed quiet and listened to their banter.
Mac clearly adored his father and sister, as well as his three brothers.
Maddie found it interesting that he tended to give Linda one-word answers but engaged more naturally with his father and sister.
He kept Thomas on his lap and managed to eat with one hand in a manner that was more common after months—rather than days—of practice.
Maddie wondered if anyone else noticed that Linda completely ignored her as she managed to work a list of the island’s most eligible women into the conversation.
Maddie could definitely see Mac with someone like Doro Chase or one of the other prominent women Linda mentioned.
At least with Doro he’d be on an equal social footing and wouldn’t be fodder for the gossip mill the way he would with her.
The idea of him with someone else saddened her, which was ridiculous, really.
It wasn’t like he belonged to her or anything.
What was she even doing here, eating at this table in the house where she was hired help?
Mac’s hand landed on her thigh.
Stirred by his touch—as always—she glanced over at him.
“Everything all right?”
“Of course,” she managed to say, but she could tell he didn’t believe her.
“Mom,” Janey said, “maybe you should can the social register for tonight. Mac’s here with a date. He doesn’t want to hear about other women.”
Mac sent his sister a grateful smile.
“No one told me they were on a date.” Linda’s frosty eyes skipped over Maddie and landed on her son. “I thought we were just having dinner.”
“I believe I was quite clear about that when we spoke earlier,” he said, apparently capable of the frosty stare himself.
Maddie’s stomach began to hurt.
“What’d you make for dessert, Lin?” Big Mac asked, with a warm smile for Maddie.
“Chocolate cake for Mac.”
“Thomas is getting tired,” Mac said. “We aren’t staying for dessert.”
Thomas was fine, but Maddie appreciated that somehow Mac sensed she wasn’t.
“You can’t go yet!” Linda said. “You just got here.”
“We need to get the baby home, and Maddie’s still recovering from her injuries.”
“She looks fine to me.”
Mac got up and helped her out of her chair. “She’s not fine. I probably shouldn’t have dragged her out tonight.” To his sister, Mac said, “You’ll help Mom clean up?”
“Yep.” Janey got up to kiss him good-bye. To Maddie, she said, “If you ever need a babysitter for that cute little guy, call me.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” Maddie said as Janey and her father started clearing the table.
Mac escorted Maddie to the front hall. “I just realized I forgot the diaper bag upstairs. I’ll be right back.” Still holding Thomas, he dashed up the stairs. As she watched him go, Maddie noticed the bruise on his leg from the bike crash had gotten dark and angry-looking overnight.
“You’re fooling yourself,” Linda said in an exaggerated whisper.
Startled, Maddie turned to her. “Excuse me?”
“He might be having fun playing house for now, but you’ll never get him to stay.”
Shocked, Maddie had no idea what to say and was relieved to hear Mac’s heavy footsteps on the stairs. She needed to get out of there. Right now. Even though she desperately needed the money, she decided she’d never clean this house again.
“Ready?” Mac said, his hand on the small of her back.
“Thank you for dinner,” Maddie said on her way out the door.
Mac gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”