Chapter 4
Four
Scott
We're just two old friends sharing a lunch.
After taking it slow for years I was now careening down the road with all gas, no brakes. A few hours ago this exact situation would have had me second guessing everything, but now I was enjoying the ride.
Generally speaking, I was a laid-back guy. I let other people do the talking. I listened and observed. I didn't overreact or jump to conclusions. And because of that some people thought I didn't know what I wanted or didn't care.
That was, in fact, not the case at all.
At. All.
I cared a great deal and I knew exactly what I wanted. And in this particular case, I wanted Mackenzie. Now that I knew there was a better than decent chance the feeling was mutual, I wasn't holding back.
"Where have you traveled?" The quickest way to her teenage heart was to talk about all the places she wanted to visit.
She looked a little lost sitting at my prep table with nothing to do. Her fingers moved over the smooth surface and her gaze pinged from the coolers to the pantry to the counters. "Oh, most of the cities on my list. A few I didn't expect."
"Did you do that overseas program in Rome?"
"Yep. And interned in London, then New York City. My first job was in Chicago and they sent me to France, Portugal, and Germany." She kept rattling off the cities and countries in the loose order she visited. Mostly for work, a couple for fun, like her two weeks in New Zealand with her dad and a girls' trip she took to Costa Rica.
I couldn't tear my gaze away. She was so happy . The tentative curiosity of high school had transformed into experiences, happy memories of all the things she'd wanted to do...and did.
"Where will you fly off to next?" I kept my hands busy with the salad prep, creating six for my guests and two for us. I held my breath and waited to hear Singapore or Tokyo. Far flung places that would take her away from Lost Creek.
"No plans."
I jolted with surprise. She shrugged and a frown pulled at her lips. "This is home. It's always been home...I just had other places to be, to see, you know?"
"I know."
"And I've seen them. I'm not saying I'm done traveling. I love it, but I also love this town and all the things I left behind. I'm ready to be here again."
God damn that was great to hear. "We're glad to have you back."
"Are you? I mean the town?" She made a circle with her index finger. "I either get pity or told they thought I was too good for them."
"Fuck them." I drizzled dressing over our salads and packaged the rest, then set ours on the prep table. "I mean it. Fuck 'em. Everyone in this town is a gossip. Your aunt is the actual worst of them and she's ecstatic to have you back." I swallowed down my nerves. " I'm ecstatic to have you back."
Her eyes flew to mine and even though I didn't know how to flirt to save my life, I let my emotions show. No scowl, no frown. Just the hopeful attraction I felt for her and the need for some form of our old friendship to resurface.
"Oh." She glanced at the salad I made for her and then back up at me. "Oh." A whisper this time.
"Why did you stop messaging me?" I pushed away from the table to give her some time and space to process. Sandwiches needed prepping next. I grabbed my homemade pimento cheese and got to work, shooting glances at her from the corner of my eye.
She twisted her fingers and worried her lip. "I, uh, I'm not sure, really."
I shot her a look. I wasn't buying it.
Her shoulders sagged. "Fine, I...I guess I got caught up in college and figured you didn't need the sad girl nagging you and eating up your inbox."
"You never nag, Mackenzie. I looked forward to your stories." As the chicken cooked I found the hot honey. "I kept messaging you even after you stopped replying."
"I know." She stared at the table and I couldn't take it.
I went to her, cupped her chin and tipped her face up to me. The urge to swipe my thumb over her lower lip was strong. "I missed you."
"You mean that, don't you?"
I grabbed the other stool and sat without letting her go. I slid my palm over her cheek, my fingers brushing her hair. "Our friendship is important to me." I made sure to use the present tense. It may have lain dormant for a few years, but it never died. Not on my end.
Her lips twitched like she was fighting a frown. "I wasn't just the lonely kid you let hang around?"
"Why do you think I let you nap all over me, Mackenzie?"
"Because you felt sorry for me."
My heart fell. Yes, she was the kid who lost her mom in high school, and yes, a lot of people felt sorry for her, but I was never one of them. She was just Mackenzie. My Mackenzie. "I was a teenage boy."
Her frown deepened. "That doesn't make a good case for you, Scott."
I laughed. Just a little. "I mean yes, as a boy I really liked having a girl touching me, but specifically, I liked you touching me."
She blinked. "You never said anything. When? When did this happen?"
I let my thumb brush her cheek. "My junior year this girl came into my physics class to give Mrs. Hopkins a piece of equipment."
She gave her head a little shake. "You remember that?"
But I just kept talking. "And time stopped for a second, you know? She had this incredible hair."
"You noticed my hair?" She looked at me incredulously
I grinned like the horny teenager I'd been. "I did. And your ass, if I'm being honest."
Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.
"And I just thought...who is that? How do I not know her? And then you turned around and it was you. The girl I'd always thought was the nicest, smartest kid with the biggest dreams...but you weren't a kid anymore."
"Why didn't you say anything? You never flirted with me. Not once!"
"You were a freshman and you were grieving. I thought it was an infatuation that would pass." It was the one time I wished I hadn't taken my mother's advice.
"It didn't?"
"No. It got worse. I told my mom and she was pretty shocked. She said I shouldn't be dating girls two years younger than me. And I don't think she was necessarily wrong. Or right. High school is a tricky time." Especially for Mackenzie. "I thought if I still had the hots for you when you came back from college, then I'd give it a go."
"But I never came home," she whispered.
"It took a little longer than I expected to see if this crush of mine was real." But now that she was right here and my hand was on her skin and I was more than a little high on her scent, I knew it wasn't a crush at all. "This is more than infatuation."
The timer went off and while I was very sure of every word out of my mouth, Mackenzie was in shock. So I flexed my fingers in her hair and stood up. She tracked me as I washed my hands and moved around the kitchen assembling our sandwiches. I would make the rest later.
When I set her dish in front of her she looked up. "Is this a date?"
I cupped her thigh as I sat down beside her. "More like a warmup than an actual date."
"I...do you want to go on an actual date?"
"With you? Absolutely."
She was flailing now. "I don't understand!"
"What do you find confusing? Ask me anything. Let's get this all cleared up." I took a nice large bite of my sandwich because I was pretty sure it would take her a minute to form a coherent thought. The hot honey, pimento cheese, and chicken combined for a flavorful punch, and I hummed.
Her eyes zeroed in on me. "You find me attractive."
I let my gaze slide over her. I still wanted to feel that hair in my hands and I loved her eyes and smile, her body made me hard, and all I wanted was to touch her everywhere. "Yes Mackenzie, I am very, very attracted to you."
"You like me."
"Very much." I set the sandwich aside since we were actually talking. "I was attracted to you in high school, as I've mentioned, and I'm very attracted to you as a full-grown-assed adult. I liked you then. You were funny and sarcastic and touchy and we talked about anything and everything. It was always easy with us, wasn't it?"
She nodded, melting in front of me.
"And so far, it seems to me like nothing has changed in that department. Why is this so hard for you to believe?"
She pursed those very kissable lips to hold back a laugh. "Two hours ago I thought you'd forgotten me entirely. Give a girl a second to catch up."
"You can have all the time you need. I think I've proven I'm very good at waiting for you."
Her eyes rounded.
I jutted my chin at her food. "Eat."
"Demanding."
And she liked it. I could tell. "Right now we're just two old friends sharing a lunch."
"That you made for me." She picked up the sandwich and examined it thoroughly. After she selected the perfect bite she sank her teeth into it and moaned.
My dick noticed. It wanted to hear that over and over again. Not now.
"When did you learn to cook?" She looked at me with wonder. "This is delicious!"
I shrugged but inside I was soaring. I loved making food that people enjoyed. That they craved. One of my favorite things in the whole world was finding the perfect dish for my friends and family and being the one to deliver it to them. Sometimes it was a flavor that just made them happy, or a dish that reminded them of home, whatever it was, I found it and created it.
Finding Mackenzie's perfect dish was my next Everest.
"After a couple of years of watching Uncle Jerry run the bar into the ground, I realized I was going nowhere and was bored out of my mind. If I was really going to take over one day I needed to find something about it to love. So I went to culinary school and took some business classes on the side."
Still Standing was a Lost Creek institution. It had existed for as long as the town had. And the Shaw family had always owned and operated it, passing it down from generation to generation. It was originally just called The Still since it started as a moonshine still. After a couple of generations we got to be pretty proud of the fact that we'd stuck it out through thick and thin and updated the name to Still Standing. Tourists sometimes took it a step farther and bragged that they were "still standing" after a few drinks. The last thing I wanted to do was have it fall apart on my watch.
"You made it yours. I'm impressed." She set the sandwich down and dipped a fry into my special sauce. "Are you and Annie like town rivals now?"
Annie owned the Green Door Cafe. "Not at all. We're more partners than anything. She closes up early on Fridays so I can serve my special weekend menu. We try to not overlap specialty dishes. I mostly serve basic bar food except for the weekends and when I have bourbon tastings scheduled. If you want to cast someone as the villain it's Thomas DeGroot, mostly because he keeps stealing my ideas."
"Who is Thomas DeGroot?" she asked around a bite of salad.
"The new head chef at the Lodge at Lost Lake. He's a pretentious prick with no imagination."
"And I imagine it's not great for business if you're serving the same things."
"They run a full restaurant and have a lot more customers than I do. This is just a side hustle. So even though I come up with everything first, it looks like I'm the copycat."
"And that just pisses you off even more."
"You know it." Ever since the new owners renovated the Lodge it was one controversy after another. "Sometimes I wish the Wallaces never sold it off." Sure it was rundown and needed attention, but it was owned and operated by a local family that loved it. The new owners weren’t from here and weren’t interested in being part of the community. To them, the lodge was just a business.
"I've heard that more than a few times around town."
I ate another fry and tried to brush it off. "I think it's the way they act like they're the saviors of every business in the area."
"Yeah, they called my cabins a 'cute little venture' like we haven't been in business for twenty-seven years."
Well that sealed it. "The Lodge is officially on my shit list." I pushed my empty plate away and turned to face Mackenzie. "Any other enemies I should know about?"
"What will you do with them?" She teased.
Now we were really getting somewhere. "I'll vanquish them, obviously."
"Well, luckily for the town of Lost Creek, I don't have any enemies. I'm not sure this strip of buildings would survive your wrath."
I captured her hand in mine and squeezed. "Come hang out tonight. Like we used to."
"Don't you work?"
"Not tonight. I get things opened up for Heartbreaker and Dan. You don't think I live here, do you?"
She shrugged. "My vague memory is that your Uncle Jerry was always here, but since I wasn't exactly of drinking age, it wasn't something I paid much attention to."
"I try to stay scarce during the week, let them run the show. I'm here mostly on the weekends when we're busy and serving more than snack food."
"That makes sense," she murmured as she watched our fingers twine. "I'm not sure about tonight."
I didn't want to push her too hard, but I refused to let this continue open-ended. "I don't know if this is comforting or sad, but nothing has really changed. Everyone still hangs at my place; the boys are in and out all the time and so is Piggy."
She wrinkled her nose at my big brother's nickname. "I can't believe you still call him that."
"Like this town lets anyone shake their nicknames." At least mine was my name, just cute-ified. "Come over. We'll watch a movie or listen to music. We'll pick up where we left off and go from there. No obligations."
She worried her lip some more.
"I live on Creekside. Second house on the left."
"That's where Joanne lives." Her head popped up. "You're the blue house?"
I nodded. "And Joanne is the red house up the street." And Travis was the green house at the bottom and Piggy occupied the white house next door. Which was why everyone was always in and out of my house. To be fair, I was also in theirs, but mine was the hangout spot. At least during the week.
"That does sound like old times."
I wanted her in my house. I wanted her in my bed, but I was willing to take the house to start. "You used to like the controlled chaos." It drew her out of her shell in a safe space.
"You're sure?"
Her reluctance would be cute if it wasn't so damned frustrating. "I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't. I reached for her face again but stopped and picked up a strand of her hair, letting it coil around my finger. "I would really like to spend more time with you, Mackenzie. Please?"
I held my breath as her eyes drank me in, searching for clues or secrets. Or maybe she just needed to see that I was the same guy in a slightly older package.
She gave me a soft smile that made my heart soar. "What time?"