Chapter 11
Eleven
Mackenzie
Don't regret chasing your dreams. Cherish what you've come home to.
Joanne cackled when I told her the news and congratulated herself on playing a role in getting us together. Scott moved an impressive amount of my stuff into his home—our home—in a few short days, leaving me with the difficult task of sifting through a family home that had been through too much.
But it was hard to feel the aches when I had a table full of family and friends. Everyone came to our first family dinner. Scott made lasagna and I made a chocolate cake. Sharon brought cheese, Digger brought wine, and I learned Travis brewed his own beer. There was laughter and stories and so much love I almost cried twice.
"Why do you look sad?" Aunt Sharon asked, brushing my cheek.
"I'm not sad. I'm happy."
"You are, but you're also sad. Trust me, I know what that looks and feels like."
There was a burning ache in my chest as I watched Scott shake his head at his friends. "No video games if you can't promise to keep it civil."
I rubbed at the ache, realizing what it was. "I didn't come home for so long because it hurt."
"True. But you were also living your life. Traveling, seeing the world, it's all you could talk about growing up. Your mother would be so proud of the way you chased your dreams. And I know your father was. We talked about it all the time."
He said as much to me over the years. He loved planning our next adventure and the quality time we got on those trips. "But I missed out on so much."
Joanne squealed when Travis tickled her, Maeve was giving Digger advice on sex toys of all things, and Scott was watching me very carefully from across the room. Paris was magical, but a room full of this was priceless.
"You can't experience everything. Not at the same time," my aunt said sagely. "Did you meet your person at a tender age? Yes. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes those people are together from that day until forever. It doesn't mean they were happy. Growing up together, in love, is a hard, hard thing to do."
Aunt Sharon was divorced. My Uncle Augustus was a good man, but I remembered how unhappy they were before their marriage ended. They were high school sweethearts who got married at twenty and had their first kid at twenty-two.
I tried to picture what it would have been like to move back home after college or even a year or two after that. I was still finding myself, learning all the ways my grief still affected my choices. I made mistakes but finally got my feet under me.
I was sure Scott had his own missteps. He was always the mature, fatherly figure, and I could only imagine that dynamic would have shaped our relationship if we'd tried to form one before we each grew up on our own.
Aunt Sharon squeezed my hand. "I saw the way you two were together. He took care of you and you looked to him for comfort. But the way you are now? He's a grouchy bar owner who knows when to step in and when to let people figure things out for themselves. You're my wonderful, strong, resilient niece who knows what she wants and that she can weather whatever life throws at her next. The way the two of you have come together, so confident and sure in what you have, that's the stuff that lasts, Mackenzie. Don't regret chasing your dreams. Cherish what you've come home to."
She pressed a kiss to my temple and squeezed me in a tight hug. "Can we grab lunch this week? Wednesday?"
"I'll put it on my calendar."
No one stayed late since everyone had work the next day. We locked the doors and turned off the lights before heading upstairs.
"You okay? You looked upset with Sharon earlier." Scott closed our bedroom door and took me in his arms.
"Not upset. I got emotional and she talked me through it."
"Oh yeah? Anything I can help with?"
I shook my head. "You've already done it."
He arched an eyebrow but didn't push it. Instead, he informed me it was time to read.
"Oh really?"
"You remember the things I said I wanted? One of them was reading in bed naked together. Naked Reading Time. It will be a nightly ritual." He started undressing me.
"I don't get a vote?"
He cocked his head to the side. "Okay. What's your vote, Mackenzie?"
I lifted my hands in the air so he could peel off my shirt. "All in favor of Naked Reading Time being a nightly ritual say aye."
"Aye," he said roughly.
"The ayes have it, Scott. Your motion has passed."
He gave my backside a playful smack as I crawled into bed and flipped open my book. I only had a few chapters left and I had been waiting all day long to find out how it ended.
"Yes, this is the perfect way to end the day." He cracked open his own book, but his eyes were on my exposed breasts.
Then the book caught my eye. "Wait...what are you reading Scott Shaw?" I pushed at the cover and sure enough, it was this month's TBCIMA selection.
"Mind your business." He tried to turn away from me.
Silly man. "Is this our first secret? Are you lying to me?" I teased.
His shoulders sagged. "Okay fine. I've been reading along for months."
Which was adorable. "Why don't you participate?"
His face twisted and his eye twitched. "I have no desire to act out a murder or share my thoughts on the plot." He shrugged. "But I enjoy listening. It's easier to follow along if I know what they're talking about."
Oh my goodness this was the cutest, most adorable revelation about Scott I could have imagined. "I knew you liked them. You act like you don't, but you really, really do."
"They're murderous and they meddle, but fuck." He tossed the book onto the bed. "Full confession?"
"Of course." This night just kept getting better.
He turned towards me, watching me very carefully as he spoke slowly and deliberately. "When Willow kicked them out of the store...I volunteered the saloon because I hoped you'd eventually join in."
This adorable, grouchy man was all mine. "I'm sorry I avoided you for so long."
He gave my fingers a gentle tug. "Yeah, about that...I get that we didn't get a chance to talk that particular day, but why go out of your way to avoid me afterward?"
It was an extreme reaction and while I was embarrassed at first, now I simply regretted being so selfish. "I was an emotional mess. I was trying so hard to not let any of it show and hold it all together and...and underneath it all I had a completely different current of emotions boiling over. I didn't want to be your younger friend who needed protection anymore. I wanted you to see me all grown up and have your eyes fall out of your head and realize you had to have me." I blurted it all out in a rush of words. "But instead you ignored me and left. I was crushed and embarrassed and that tiny hope I'd had that your sudden need for me would blur out all the bad was destroyed. I handled it poorly and I'm sorry."
He reached over and brushed his thumb across my cheek before taking my chin. "There's nothing to apologize for. It was a misunderstanding. That time was always going to be hard and messy, but now I have all the pieces and I get it." He nodded to the book in my hands. "Naked Reading Time."
Peace settled over me as we laid there side by side reading. We didn't have to have drama in our lives. Misunderstandings were just that. There was no need to complicate things when we were happy. So I got lost in the final chapters of my book and snapped it closed. "Damn. I hate cliffhangers but I also love them. Because damn. " The Rebels Revenge series was extremely popular. It felt like everyone had read the books and everyone was waiting with bated breath for the final book. Which was why I knew it had been delayed twice already and to not expect the conclusion any time soon.
"Good?" Scott licked his finger and turned the page.
"So good." I traced the cover and the author's name. Wait a second... "A.M. Quill." It couldn't be...could it?
Joanne was going to lose it when she found out.
If I was right.
"Everything okay?"
"My guest. The one staying all summer. Her name is Marley Tranquill."
Scott put his book down, glancing from where my fingers traced the author's name, to my face. "And?"
"I made a copy of her license when she checked in. Her first name is Aurora. Marley is her middle name. A.M. Quill." I held the book out to Scott.
He took it and flipped it open, looking at the author bio. "Does this look like her?"
The black and white photo was of a woman in heavy makeup, styled hair, and designer clothes. She didn't look much like the woman with wild hair, no makeup and comfortable clothes who checked in, but she also resembled her quite a bit. "I'm almost positive it's her." Which...was beyond wild.
Scott shrugged and handed the book back to me. "So she's an author. I'm sure she'll autograph your book."
He didn't understand. "The whole world is waiting for the next book in this series. They've been waiting years . She's one of the most famous authors on the planet. I think she came here to disappear and finish the book."
"So let the poor woman finish her book."
He still didn't get it. "Do you know who George R. R. Martin is?"
He sighed. "Yes."
"Nora Roberts? Karin Slaughter?"
"Of course. Are you going to keep quizzing me on famous authors?"
I hopped out of bed and went to the bookshelf that held the books we were currently reading, about to read, or had just read, and found the first book in the trilogy. "Here. Read this next."
"You know I'll read anything. What's your point?"
I nodded for him to take the book from my hand. "A.M. Quill is just as famous as any of them and she currently has an entire fanbase out for blood if she doesn't get that book written. Read it and catch up."
"If they want blood maybe it's good to keep her identity as hidden as possible."
"Good point." I picked up the romance for the RWYL book club. "It's just cool to know."
Scott grunted. "My lips are sealed and so are yours."
"Joanne invited her to book club. Maybe she'll come. How cool would that be?" I held up my hands when Scott shot me a glare. "I won't out her. But I'll know and that will be a bucket list item I can cross off, you know?" I didn't normally fangirl over celebrities, but I'd also never had one of my favorite authors living in one of my cabins for the summer.
Luckily she was pretty much a hermit and hadn't come into town at all. I had time to get a grip before I delivered her next order of groceries.
I started the romance for Read What You Love and was immediately sucked away from real life and into a new fictional world. After a while the words in my new book started to blur together and Scott reached over to squeeze my knee. "I'm ready to hit the sack and you look like you're about to fall over."
I followed him into the bathroom to brush my teeth and then snuggled up against his side when he pulled the covers up and over us. As I felt his breaths evening out I let myself drift. My life used to be exciting but lonely. Now it was Naked Reading Time, Sunday dinners, book clubs, and falling asleep in Scott's arms.
Life in Lost Creek was turning out to be pretty damn good.