Chapter 14
Mackenzie
I’m trying really hard to keep my shit together, but not only are Harper and Rowan here behind my back, but Cal’s here too. And why else would he be here? Mom must’ve invited him after I told her not to do any more matchmaking with him! Or anyone!
Oh, wait, she didn’t know I’d be here. What the hell is Cal doing here?
I stand there, waiting for a break in the conversation.
The women and Cal sit in a circle in the center of the room, the tables pushed against the walls.
I glance around at the lively group, Mom and some of my favorite aunties, Mad, Lauren, Charlotte, and Carrie.
Aunt Ally isn’t here, still on her cruise around the world.
She’d be the one to make me feel better about not believing in romance.
She’s the one who discovered sologamy and married herself as part of her single-me, happy-me plan.
She always said romance was a fantasy. Of course, that was before she fell madly in love and married Uncle Ethan.
I blink back tears. I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s just a book. Why do I care if everyone is into romance except me?
Aunt Mad is fervently defending the heroine for hooking up with the hero again after their breakup. I don’t dare look at Cal. Don’t draw any comparisons, nothing like us.
“Obviously the breakup was temporary,” Harper says. “They’re locked in, so hooking up was fine by me. Also, hello? Steamy as hell.”
“Harper, what are you doing here?” I burst out.
All eyes turn to me. Cal brings a chair over for me next to Harper, and the women make room.
“Thank you.” I take a seat and turn to Harper. “You like this happy-ever-after stuff?” My voice drops to a whisper, my eyes stinging. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s no big deal. It’s fun like those black-and-white movies your mom turned me onto.”
Mom smiles. “They are fun. So nice to see you, sweetie, and your boyfriend too.”
Obviously she believes the fake-dating thing and thinks nothing of it. I spent all that time with Cal to prove a point, and then I was the one to fall in love. Me, Miss Practical. I try to smile but can’t manage it.
Mom continues, smiling at Cal, “We always find the male perspective on romance enlightening.”
The women snicker, giving each other significant looks. I wonder if they make their husbands read romance.
“It held my interest,” Cal says. “There was a lot of unexpected stuff in there. All good, though.”
My eyes widen. Seriously? Is he talking about sex with my female family and friends?
He continues in an amiable tone, “I already started book two in the series.”
The women applaud. I shrink into my seat, feeling like an outsider.
“The steam level was on point,” Aunt Mad says.
“Oh my God, the elevator scene,” Harper says.
“What did you think about the bathroom scene?” Mom asks the group.
“See, I don’t find that sexy anymore,” Aunt Charlotte says. “Germs.”
“Can we assume the fictional bathroom has been properly sanitized?” Aunt Carrie asks.
Everyone laughs. Cal launches into a serious discussion of the romance genre and what it means to women and how that reflects on men and our culture as a whole. Next thing you know, my cat is going to start walking on his hind legs and telling me he wants a forever love.
Seeing Cal take seriously what these women love gets to me. My anger fades, and warmth takes its place. Maybe one day we can be friends again. He’s a good person, just not good for me.
I zone out until people start gathering their coats and purses. Cal stands and holds out my coat to help me into it. It’s more trouble than it’s worth to avoid him, so I slide my arms into the sleeves, feeling Mom’s eyes on me.
A few moments later, we walk out the door, heading to Happy Endings across the street for drinks. Aunt Mad joins Cal, telling him he should meet her sons, who are big baseball fans. They start talking baseball.
I get a step behind, and Mom joins me. “I was surprised to see you and Cal here.”
I can’t take my eyes off Cal in profile as he speaks to Aunt Mad.
He’s so handsome and well spoken. I wish I didn’t notice everything about him.
“Yeah, uh…” Then I remember Aunt Mad invited us both last week.
Cal must’ve taken Aunt Mad’s invitation seriously, and how sweet is it that he wants to be part of things? “Aunt Mad invited us.”
Cal smiles at something Aunt Mad says, and my pulse skitters.
“So things are going well between you two?” Mom asks gently.
Is this the point where I confess we were fake dating, or do I say we broke up? Did we break up?
“Mmm. He’s good. So how’s work?”
“We’ve got our spring and summer fully booked.”
“That’s great.”
“Yeah. Oh! We’re planning a girls’ trip to New Orleans after the busy season,” Mom says. “Harper’s going. You’re welcome to join us.”
Yet another thing Harper never shared. She’s got new hobbies, a new outlook on love, and a girls’ trip in the works. What kind of best friend/sister/cousin leaves you out of so much of their life?
“Mackenzie, are you okay?” Mom asks.
“I’m fine. Sounds fun. Text me the dates, and I’ll see if I can make it work.”
Cal opens the door to Happy Endings for all of us, earning him many smiles and thank yous from the other women. I sigh. It’s maddening how he can be both sweet and distressing at the same time.
A few guys at the dark cherrywood bar watch basketball on the big-screen TV. They glance back at the din of women talking and laughing as they filter in and shift to the end of the bar. I hang back with Cal.
“Are you into romance novels now?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I was curious. I didn’t come to stalk you or anything. Do you want me to leave?”
“No, you don’t have to leave.”
“I was invited to your parents’ vow-renewal ceremony. Is that going to be a problem?”
I bite my lower lip. It’s not going to be easy to avoid Cal, though I’m starting to wonder why I want to. “No problem here.”
He leans close to whisper, “Your mom and friends think we’re still together from our fake dating. How do you want to play this?”
I look to the ceiling, considering. I’ve been miserable all week.
On the other hand, how am I ever going to move on if I keep pretending we’re a couple? I turn to him, my shoe somehow scuffing on the floor, sending me off balance. He reaches out to steady me. We’re close, the heat spiking between us.
I swallow hard. “You don’t have to play my boyfriend anymore.”
He brushes a lock of hair behind my ear, his dark eyes warm on mine. My heart thumps harder. “What if I like it?” He tips my chin up and kisses me. A tender kiss that’s over before I can blink. It shakes the foundation of all my firm principles meant to protect my heart.
I’m in trouble.
“I love when you look at me like that,” he says, his lips curving up in a smile that can only be described as sexy beyond belief, tender, and affectionate all rolled into one.
I look away, taking a breath. Sex is what got me into this mess. I need to slow it down.
The women get louder. I turn to find Aunt Mad high-fiving her friends. Harper’s in the middle of it all. She waves me over. I walk over with Cal just as Rowan comes up behind me. Was Harper calling Rowan over and not me? Why do I feel left behind again?
“Hey, ladies!” Rowan says, giving Harper and then me a hug. “Are we all joining the Happy Endings Book Club? Mackenzie, you in?”
“You read romance now?” I ask.
“Not yet, but I do read historical fiction, and Harper told me the next book is historical.”
“Scottish Highlander romance,” Harper says. “You should see the cover. The kilt on this guy.”
Rowan laughs. I glance sideways at Cal to see how he’s taking all this talk about guys. He kisses my temple. It’s so easy to fall for him.
“Want anything to drink?” he asks.
“I’ll take a mojito,” I say. He looks to my friends.
“Sparkling water, please,” Rowan says.
“Merlot for me, thanks,” Harper says.
Cal makes his way to bartender Cooper while Harper, Rowan, and I shift over to a high-top table. “So…” I say, unsure how to proceed. Is everyone having romance fun without me?
“Are you pregnant?” Harper asks Rowan at the same time as Rowan asks me, “Are you and Cal a couple?”
“What?” Rowan and I say at the same time.
“Wait,” Harper says. “Rowan, what’s up with the sparkling water?”
She lifts one shoulder. “Cooper and I are doing this seventy-day challenge for clean eating, exercise, and meditation. If I don’t make it the seventy days, I have to do laundry duty for the next seventy days, and if he doesn’t make it the seventy days, he has to meal plan, grocery shop, cook, and clean up the dishes for the next seventy days. ”
My jaw drops. “Whoa, you guys are hard-core.”
“His loss sounds much harder than yours,” Harper says.
Rowan shrugs. “That’s how much he wants me to do this with him. He gave me incredible motivation.”
“And if you both make it the seventy days, what do you win?” I ask.
“We win at life,” she says with a straight face.
Harper and I laugh. “No, really,” Harper says.
Rowan smiles. “Really. Okay, Cooper came up with that, but I’m on board. Plus we’ll be looking good for our honeymoon in St. Bart’s.” She turns to me. “So you and Cal, huh?”
“I knew you weren’t just friends,” Harper says. “Movies and cuddling is relationship territory.”
“Aww,” Rowan says. “That’s so sweet. What movie?”
“Back up. Why are you two suddenly into romance?” I ask.
“Cooper made me believe,” Rowan says with a dreamy smile.
Harper shrugs. “It’s fun. And I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be all judgy.”
I huff. “Because we made fun of this club. We agreed it was all fake and gave women high expectations that could never be met.”
“Maybe my expectations were too low,” Harper says. “You have high expectations even without those books, but I never did.”
“You did all this behind my back,” I say, unable to keep the hurt from my voice.
“You did all this Cal stuff behind my back,” she says.
“I told you what was up,” I say between my teeth.
“Right. You left out some important stuff.”
“Like what?”
Rowan wrinkles her nose. “Didn’t your mom warn you away from him since he’s a player?”
“What does that even mean?” Harper asks. “The man had a live-in relationship.”
“What’s the deal with him?” Rowan asks.
A rush of emotions bombards me at once—his soulful eyes, the way he talks to me and really listens, the fun we have together. How I’m falling for him, and he’s still just having fun. Casual.
What the hell am I doing kissing him and letting him do all his gallant stuff like we’re right back where we were?
We can never be there again because I have feelings and he doesn’t.
He made that clear when I asked him if he wanted a relationship.
His silence was damning. And then he accused me of being the one to initiate, which, let’s face it, I did. I have to stop. Why can’t I stop?
I speak in a rush, trying to outrun the panic. “He’s fun, but I’d never want to be in a relationship with someone like him.”
Harper and Rowan stare over my shoulder with twin looks of horror. The hair on the back of my neck rises. I wince. He’s behind me, isn’t he?
I turn. Cal avoids eye contact, setting our drinks down on the table without a word. He definitely heard that.
I swallow hard. “Cal, I—”
“I’m going to get a beer.” His voice is flat, devoid of all emotion.
He leaves. My stomach drops. What do I say? He told me he wasn’t good at relationships, so it’s true I wouldn’t want to push for that.
Harper gives me a look filled with pity. “You know, I think you could learn a lot from reading romance.”
I drop my head in my hands and groan. “Not helpful.”