Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tess was looking for any distraction to get her through until Thursday night. When Hammer’s wife, Deena, called Tuesday morning to suggest a day at the community pool with whichever Blakely women and kids could make it, Tess jumped at the chance.
Deena, a freckle-faced brunette who had been one of Tess’s best friends in high school, was a teacher’s aide. She had summers off, which was a schedule she intended to keep until five-year-old Jason and four-year-old Kimberly were older.
Joan brought Sarah and Joe, and Cindy found somebody to work her shift at the auto-parts store so she could ease her pregnant self into the cool water. Only the newlywed Suzie, a bank teller, couldn’t get off.
“And wouldn’t you know, she’s the one who looks the best in a bathing suit,” Deena said as the group of women staked out a corner of the fenced pool area with lawn chairs, beach towels and a cooler containing sandwiches and juice.
“Oh, I don’t know that Suzie wins the bathing-suit competition,” Joan said. Like everyone else, she’d worn her suit under her T-shirt and shorts and was now stripping off her outer layer. “Tess is looking pretty buff in that red tank suit.”
Tess glanced down at herself, suddenly self-conscious. “Hey, it’s the same old me.”
“Maybe so,” Deena said. She grabbed Jason and swiped some sunscreen lotion on him. “But you’re looking real good, chick. Been working out or something?”
“Nope.” She hoped she wasn’t blushing. Surely the fact that she was no longer a virgin didn’t show somehow. Inside she felt like a changed woman, but outside she must look exactly the same. Mac wasn’t that much of a miracle worker.
“They’re right,” Cindy chimed in. ‘There’s a certain glow about you.” She laughed. “People say pregnant women get that, and I’m still waiting. Mostly I just feel fat.”
“I think you’re all seeing things.” Tess felt desperate to get out of the spotlight. “Come on, kids! Who’s ready to go for a swim with Aunt Tess?”
A chorus of me, me, me followed immediately.
Tess had helped teach all of them to swim, and consequently they were all fish, even four-year-old Kimberly.
Tess gazed down at their eager faces and felt a pang of regret.
They would grow so fast while she was gone She must remember to cherish days like today, and not count them as time-fillers until she could see Mac again.
“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” she called, and leaped into the pool.
Three hours later the women gathered their tired group together, put more sunscreen on pink noses and decided the perfect ending to the day would be treats all around at the Creamy Cone.
Tess pulled on her shorts and sandals, ran her fingers through her hair and decided not to bother with the T-shirt.
In the summertime, shorts worn over a bathing suit became almost a uniform for patrons at the Creamy Cone.
Everyone piled into Joan’s minivan for the four-block trip, and on the way Tess sat in the back with the kids and led then through “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “I’m a Little Teapot.”
“Carry me, Aunt Tess,” Kimberly begged when they arrived at the bustling ice-cream shop.
“Too many cannonballs into the pool for you,” Tess said, hoisting the little girl out of her seat and propping her on her hip.
“I like cannonballs,” Kimberly said, snuggling against Tess.
“Yeah, you sprayed me all the time,” added her brother, Jason.
Tess laughed. “Me, too. This girl’s a regular spray machine.”
“Hey, look!” shouted Joe, Joan’s six-year-old. “Uncle Mac’s here!”
Uncle Mac. Of course the kids had always called him that, considering that he was an honorary Blakely, but today, after she’d been hearing herself referred to as Aunt Tess for hours, the title struck her differently. Aunt Tess and Uncle Mac.
The idea hit her with more force than any cannonball jump of Kimberly’s.
Uh-oh. She hadn’t subconsciously been having that little fantasy, had she?
If so, she could forget it right now. Mac was only helping her out.
Sure, he might be having a good time in the bargain, but if he’d ever considered having a relationship with her, he would have spoken up long before this.
And he certainly could have spoken up on Sunday night, she thought as she watched him get out of his truck. Instead, he’d been more intent than she was on keeping their secret. Nope, he definitely didn’t have dreams of happily-ever-after with her.
“Hey, Uncle Mac!” Joan’s daughter, Sarah, called. She started to run across the parking lot.
“Sarah!” Joan yelled a warning and bolted after her as a low-slung car pulled quickly into the lot, apparently oblivious to the running girl. Sarah had a good head start on her mother.
Still holding Kimberly, Tess ran forward, too, knowing neither she nor Joan would make it in time.
At the last minute, when Tess was too horrified even to scream, Mac hurtled into the path of the car, snatched Sarah out of the way and leaped to safety.
The driver, a teenage boy, slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. “Oh, God! I didn’t see her!” he wailed. “Is she okay?”
Mac held a quaking Sarah tight in his arms. He was breathing hard. “I think so.” He leaned away from the child. “You okay, sweetheart?”
Her voice was muffled against his shirt. “I... think so.”
“Sarah!” Joan reached them and wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Did you get bumped? Does anything hurt?”
“N-no.” Sarah sounded close to tears.
Joan sagged with relief as Cindy and Deena came up and put comforting arms around her. Everyone started talking at once, exclaiming over the close call, while Joan took several deep breaths and the color seeped back into her face.
Finally Joan held up her hand for silence. “Put her down, please, Mac. She and I are going over to that tree and having a little talk about running in parking lots.”
“I don’t run,” Joe announced.
“Me, neither,” said Jason.
“Me, neither,” piped up Kimberly from her perch in Tess’s arms.
“And we’re going to hold you all to that,” Mac said, glancing at each of them with a stern expression.
The teenager stepped toward Joan. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Blakely. I shouldn’t have driven in so fast. I just got the car today, and I was all like, wow, I want to show my friends. But if anything bad had happened to her...”
Joan took Sarah’s hand and gave the teenager a weary smile. “Fortunately it didn’t. It’s Eddie, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. Eddie Durnett.”
“Well, we’re lucky, Eddie. Hopefully we’ve learned something without suffering a tragedy in the process. Sarah shouldn’t have been running without looking, and you should probably remember how dangerous parking lots can be around here, especially this one in the summer.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Eddie glanced at Mac. “Thanks, Mr. MacDougal. Thanks a lot.”
“I’m glad I still have some reflexes left,” Mac said.
“Yeah, no quarterback at CHS could run the option play like you. My dad still talks about it.”
Mac looked uncomfortable. “That was a long time ago. So, is everybody ready for some ice cream? My treat.”
“In that case, I’ll have the jumbo banana split,” Deena said with a grin. “I was going to settle for a small cone, but if the gentleman’s buying—”
“Okay, but I’m gonna tell Hammer you took advantage of me,” Mac retorted.
Deena laughed. “You’re lucky he’s not here. He’d order the Earthquake.”
“If he was here, I wouldn’t have offered to treat. Come on, everybody. Let’s see what kind of bill you can run up.”
“Sarah and I will be in shortly,” Joan said. “Joe, you go with the rest of them so I can talk privately with Sarah.”
“Come along, Joe,” said Cindy, holding out her hand.
Tess had always liked the way members of the family accepted responsibility for all the children, not just their own.
A Blakely grandchild had a host of adult role models, and from where Tess sat, they were all good ones.
Then if you added Uncle Mac, a true hero, a kid would have no excuse for not turning out well.
As for Sarah, she looked completely miserable for ruining the mood of the day. For a sensitive little girl, that was punishment enough,
“Come on, gang,” Tess said, adjusting Kimberly on her hip. “I’m in the mood for vanilla dipped in butterscotch.”
“That’s my favorite,” Mac said, falling in beside her. He reached over and tugged gently on Kimberly’s blonde curls. “How’s Kimmy today?”
“Uncle Mac! You’re messing up my hair!”
“It’s already messed up! You’ve been doing cannonballs in the pool, haven’t you?”
Kimberly laughed. “Yep.”
Tess wondered if Mac realized that in reaching over to tease Kimberly, his arm had brushed Tess’s breast. But if Mac didn’t realize it, Tess did.
All at once she became aware of her own unkempt hair, her pink nose and her wrinkled shorts.
Until a few days ago, she’d never thought about what she looked like when Mac was around.
Now she wished she’d at least taken time to comb her hair.
“We all got a little messed up today,” she said.
“That’s okay.” He reached over and tweaked Kimberly’s nose, getting a squeal in response. “I like my girls messed up.”
This time she was sure he was aware that he’d brushed against her.
The movement might have seemed accidental to someone else, but Tess felt the deliberate nature of it.
He held the door of the shop open for her, and as she walked by him, she registered the heady scent of a slightly sweaty, thoroughly masculine Mac.
He wore a T-shirt and jeans today and looked sexier than any man had a right to.
She fought her reaction to him, knowing that she couldn’t let any of her feelings show in front of her sisters-in-law.
“So you can take a break any old time and sashay into town for ice cream?” she asked, glancing at him. Oh, but he looked good, with his hat tilted at a rakish angle and a gleam in his eye. “Must be a cushy job you have, M?cDougal.”
“Not as cushy as yours,” he said. “Frolicking in the water with this bunch all day while I’m out there busting my butt repairing fence.”
Kimberly leaned over Tess’s shoulder to peer behind Mac. Then she giggled. “Your butt’s not busted, Uncle Mac.”
That’s for sure. Tess remembered the muscled firmness she’d gripped when they’d... whoops. Dangerous territory. Thoughts like that would make her blush, and blushing wasn’t something she normally did when Mac showed up.
She stepped into line at the counter behind Cindy and Joe. Mac stood behind her, and she could feel his presence as clearly as if he’d pressed his body up against hers.
Kimberly peered over Tess’s shoulder at Mac. “When I grow up, I’m gonna marry you.”
“That makes me one lucky guy,” Mac said.
Tess shivered, remembering Mac’s words in a far different context than playful banter with a little girl.
“Unless I marry Buddy in my Sunday school instead,” Kimberly added solemnly. “He’s always trying to kiss me.”
Tess jiggled her and spoke with mock sternness. “Hey, you little heartbreaker. You can’t propose to one guy and then announce you’re marrying somebody else the next minute. You have to make up your mind.”
“Okay. Then I choose Uncle Mac.”
“Thanks, Kimmy. Can I give you a kiss?”
“Oh, sure. Just don’t slobber like Buddy.”
“I’ll try not to.” Mac leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “There, it’s official.”
They were all just kidding around, Tess told herself.
There was no reason for this tightness in her chest, no reason for her to feel suddenly grief-stricken at the thought that Mac would have a real engagement one of these days.
No doubt he’d even ask Tess to be in the wedding. After all, they were best friends.
Her turn came to order, and she got a butterscotch-dipped cone for herself and a chocolate-dipped one for Kimberly.
“That’s all?” Mac said as she stepped aside so he could order. “No triple banana split or Earthquake for either of you?”
“I like chocolate-dipped the best. I always get that,” Kimberly said with authority.
“Tess? You’re going to let me get away with just a butterscotch cone?”
“Yep.” She set Kimberly down and handed her the chocolate cone before taking the freshly dipped butterscotch one from the counter clerk, a young woman named Evie Jenkins. “Thanks, Evie.”
As Kimberly walked over to the table where the rest of the group had gathered, Tess turned back to Mac, who looked more tempting than any ice-cream cone.
She realized that her sisters-in-law were engrossed in eating their ice cream and keeping their children from becoming sticky disaster areas.
They wouldn’t pay any attention to her and Mac, especially considering they were used to seeing the two of them tease and joke with each other.
A devil took temporary possession of her, and she gave Mac a sultry glance. “As much as I’d like to take advantage of you, this is my all-time favorite.” Then she swirled her tongue around the top of the cone.
Mac stared at her.
“Then if you nip off the top—” she bit through the butterscotch coating “—you can suck the ice cream right out.” As she demonstrated her technique, she glanced up at Mac.
He continued to stare at her while gripping the counter so hard his knuckles showed white against his tan.
“Mr. MacDougal? Are you ready to order?” Evie asked.
Mac didn’t take his gaze from Tess. “Uh, yeah.” His voice was gravelly. “I’ll have... what she’s having.”
“Coming up.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing that,” he murmured to Tess.
“Eating ice cream?” She smiled innocently. ‘That’s what everyone does at the Creamy Cone.”
“Not like that.”
“Exactly like that. I’ve eaten one of these like this a million times.”
“But not after we’ve just...”
She took a quick inventory of the area below his belt and was gratified with the slight bulge there. “I can’t imagine what you’re talking about.”
“Oh yes you can,” he said in a low voice. “Imagination is your long suit. You love to torture me, don’t you?”
“What’s good for the gander is good for the goose. You were playing games with me as we walked in here, while you were pretending to fool with Kimberly.”
“That was only—”
“Mr. MacDougal? Here’s your cone. Oh, and the other ladies said you were paying for everyone."
"That's right.” It seemed to take great effort for him to turn away from Tess and focus on the task of paying the bill.
Tess moved a little closer. “I’ll see you over at the table,” she said softly. “And thanks for the dipped cone.”
He slipped his wallet back in his pocket. “If I’d known what you were going to do with it, I never would have agreed to buy you one,” he muttered without turning around.
“Fair is fair.” Feeling much better than she had when she’d been mired in thoughts of his eventual marriage, Tess walked over to join the others.