Page 35 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Thirty

Now

M ac flinched when she said it, like her words physically hurt him, like he couldn’t bear the idea of Annie forgetting him.

‘Did it work?’ he asked, his voice choked. ‘Did fucking that random guy at that party help you forget me?’

Annie’s hand cracked across Mac’s cheek so fast it surprised both of them. They stood there in shocked silence, her hand stinging from the impact, both of them breathless, like they’d just run a marathon.

She’d hit him. She’d never hit another person in her entire life. Yet one more example of Mac making her do things she would never ordinarily do.

‘First of all,’ she said, trying to regain her composure.

‘He wasn’t random. His name was Ryan and we had class together and he was nice to me.

And second of all, it is none of your business who I fuck .

’ She tossed the blanket she’d wrapped around herself aside, her anger enough to keep her warm now.

How dare he? How dare he try and make her feel bad for that night? He had no right.

Mac stared at her, a hand on his cheek. His eyes were dark, hurt. ‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ he ground out. ‘But it sure didn’t take you long to move on.’

Annie crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Ha! I waited a year for you, Mac! And then you didn’t show. How long exactly should I have waited? Should I have forsaken all other men until you came back? Did you think you had some kinda claim on me because you took my virginity?’

He stepped closer, grabbing her arms in case she might hit him again. ‘Of course I don’t think that. Christ, Annie. I didn’t take anything. But I thought you’d give me more than one chance. It felt like I made one mistake, and you bailed.’

‘You could have called! You could have texted! But you didn’t. I couldn’t wait around for you any longer.’ She pulled out of his grasp. Maybe she would hit him again. Maybe he deserved it.

Mac slumped, the anger seeping out of him. ‘You’re right. I know you’re right. But it still felt shitty seeing you with that guy.’

‘Kinda like how it feels when you bring random women to Christmas at Estelle’s?’

Mac grumbled. ‘Don’t think I’ve forgotten about Trent from Friendsgiving.’

‘Trent was nice.’

‘Fuck Trent.’

Annie’s laugh burst out unexpectedly, and Mac smiled.

‘It’s been a long time, Mac. We both know we’ve been with other people.’

‘I know. Talking about all this just brought back all those feelings, you know?’

‘Yeah, I know. I probably shouldn’t have hit you.’

Mac shrugged, a small smirk lifting the side of his mouth. ‘I deserved it.’

Annie sighed, slouching back down onto the bed, the fight going out of her too. ‘Anyway, it didn’t work,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t forget you.’

Mac dropped to the floor in front of her wedging his body between her thighs. She put a hand gently on the cheek she had smacked.

‘I tried,’ she said. ‘I wanted to, but I couldn’t do it.’ She shook her head, biting back tears. ‘And then you show up here and work your way into my life. What am I supposed to do?’

‘I tried to forget you, too,’ he whispered, leaning toward her.

‘Why didn't you come talk to me that night at the party?’

Mac shook his head with a laugh. ‘That would have gone a lot worse than this,’ he said. ‘I have a feeling I would have won the fight against Ryan, but you definitely would have kicked my ass.’

Annie’s laugh mixed with the tears falling down her cheeks. Mac wiped them away with his thumb, cupping her face in his hands.

‘I’m sorry I stood you up that day. I shouldn’t have left like that.

But in my defense, I was young and stupid, and I ran away.

I bartended in Maine, and I painted houses in Tulsa, and I mucked stalls on a ranch in Texas and none of those places felt like home and no other woman I met felt like you.

It’s one of the biggest regrets of my life, leaving the way I did.

I needed time away from this place, Annie, but I never should have left without talking to you. ’

‘I was young, too. I’m not sure that’s a very good defense,’ Annie whispered, leaning toward him until their foreheads touched.

Mac smirked and Annie was close enough she could kiss him if she were braver.

‘You were young, but not stupid. Standing you up was just one of the many stupid things I was up to that year.’

‘Really? What else you got?’ she said, smiling again. She couldn't seem to help it around Mac anymore.

‘Well,’ he said, his smile growing to match hers. ‘I got frostbite on my pinky because I was still refusing to wear warm gloves.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’

‘I know. Then there was the time I drove a hitchhiker from Philly to DC, and I was only about seventy-five percent sure he wasn’t going to murder me.’

Annie gasped. ‘That is seriously dangerous.’

‘That’s kind of my point. Don’t tell my mom. And then there’s the tattoo I got.’

Annie raised an eyebrow. She’d never seen a tattoo on Mac before. ‘What tattoo?’

‘It's on my rib cage,’ he said.

‘Okay, so what is it? Plenty of people get tattoos.’

‘But do plenty of people get tattoos of the name of the person they had just unceremoniously ditched and were pretty sure hated them?’

‘You didn't.’

Mac leaned away from her and lifted his shirt. In tiny script on his left ribs was her name. It was so small she hadn't seen it last night when he undressed but there it was plain as day. Annie in black ink under his heart.

‘You did,’ she whispered, running a finger over the tattoo. Mac squirmed under her touch.

‘I did. See, young and stupid. I wanted to keep you close even when I knew I didn’t deserve to.’

She leaned forward and pressed her forehead into his chest. ‘Oh, Mac,’ she whispered. ‘Why is this so hard?’

‘It doesn’t have to be. The first year I was away I was scared and lonely.

The second year I did a lot of stupid shit to forget you.

But after that, I really did figure some things out.

I studied while I was out there, Annie. I worked at a lot of places, always thinking about what I could bring back here.

What would make my dad’s place even better. ’

‘That’s great, Mac. Really, but?—’

He shook his head like he didn’t want to hear what came after that but.

‘I know what I want now, Annie?—’

Her phone rang, cutting him off.

‘Shit,’ she said. ‘The only way someone’s calling me this early is for some kind of emergency.’

‘Maybe not,’ Mac said, running his hands through her hair. Annie moaned. His fingers felt so damn good, being near him felt so damn good. ‘Maybe don’t answer it. Maybe whoever it is can figure it out themselves.’

He held her gaze, his breath warm on her face. He’d dropped his shirt, but her hands remained under it, roving over the expanse of his skin.

‘Maybe it doesn’t have to be hard for us anymore, Annie,’ he said, and she wanted to believe him. He traced his nose along her cheek.

The phone stopped and then started up again. She was sure something catastrophic was happening with either the wedding or the bakery or one of her nieces or nephews.

‘I really have to answer that,’ she said.

Mac sighed, leaning his forehead against hers for one more breath before he pulled away. He looked like he wanted to say more or maybe just to lean forward and kiss her and God, Annie wanted him to but…

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and Mac nodded as she scrambled for her phone because he knew her. He knew she couldn’t not answer. He knew she had to help. And that meant more to her than his apology.

She mouthed sorry one more time and Mac gave her a slow smile, and Annie briefly reconsidered her stance on answering the phone, before picking up.

She was who she was.

‘Hello?’ she said, not recognizing the number.

It was Estelle.