Page 9 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Nine

Now

M ac had insisted on driving them to the Y to look for Nana in his big, dumb vehicle that was some kind of half truck, half SUV monstrosity and older than both of them.

Vintage was what he called it when she’d commented on it.

A vintage Ford Bronco, he’d informed her like she was supposed to be impressed.

She was not.

And the only reason Annie allowed it was because she was out of gas. Again. She hadn’t had time in between everything else she was doing to stop and fill her tank, but she could have. She would have this morning, if Mac wasn’t being so pushy and insisting that he be the one to drive.

‘I still think it would have made more sense for us to split up,’ Annie grumbled, jumping down from the truck.

‘You asked for my help, so you’re getting it,’ Mac said with a sweep of his hands, like he was some kind of prize in a game show.

Annie scowled. ‘Whatever. Let’s just go in and find Estelle. She's probably at one of her classes and forgot to let everybody know.’

Annie strode across the parking lot to the front doors of the Dream Harbor YMCA with Mac trailing along behind her.

She really didn't know what had possessed her to include him in this little search. For the three years since he’d been back in town, she’d done everything in her power to avoid time alone with him.

She’d been busy, she’d been uninterested, she’d been down-right mean.

Anything to protect herself from him. And look at her now, spending the morning with Mac like it was fine, like they were friends .

But when she went out to her car and that damn gas light was on, she didn't have much of a choice. Right?

Right. She needed to find Logan's grandmother, and fast, because she had plenty of other things on her to-do list and no time to do them.

She rubbed the spot on the back of her neck that tightened up when she was stressed.

The last few weeks had put a giant baseball-sized knot there.

She dug her fingers in, trying in vain to loosen it up.

‘What’s the matter with your neck?’ Mac asked as they went through the automatic doors. The lobby of the Y smelled like sneakers and cleaning solution.

‘Nothing’s wrong with my neck and, if something was wrong with my neck, it would not be any of your business.’

‘My mistake,’ Mac said. ‘I thought you told Logan we would be friends for the weekend. And friends check in with each other.’

Annie bit back a scoff. ‘I told Logan I would be on my best behavior. I said absolutely nothing about being your friend.’

She ignored the flicker of hurt on Mac’s face and continued her power walk to the front desk. She didn’t have time for Mac’s feelings. Just like he had never had time for hers.

‘Hello,’ she said in her friendliest voice. ‘We are here for the seniors’ aerobics class.’

The woman behind the desk had a short-cropped haircut that Annie wished she could pull off and a look that said she was not in the mood to deal with anyone’s antics.

‘That class is for members sixty-five and older,’ she said, glancing over Annie's shoulder at where Mac was standing, not even trying to look elderly. So much for being helpful.

‘Oh, of course!’ Annie said, scrambling for another idea. She wasn’t expecting such high security at the Y. ‘We are actually here to?—’

‘We’re here for a membership,’ Mac interjected. ‘And maybe some information on classes that would be more age-appropriate for us.’ He flashed the woman behind the desk his most dazzling smile. It made Annie want to punch him in the face, but surprisingly it worked on the no-nonsense Y employee.

‘In that case,’ she said, no longer speaking to Annie, ‘let me get you some forms.’

She hustled into the back office to round up the paperwork and Annie turned to glare at Mac.

‘Now what are we going to do?’

Mac shrugged. ‘Apparently get a gym membership,’ he said.

‘That’s the last thing I want,’ Annie said, causing his mouth to tip into a smile.

‘How about you sneak off to the pool area and I will keep our new friend busy with plenty of membership questions,’ he whispered, giving Annie’s shoulder a gentle nudge.

She was about to argue but that was actually a good idea.

She hurried off to the pool before the woman returned with clipboards and pens, glancing only once over her shoulder at where Mac was now explaining that Annie had to take off but that he was very interested in the Platinum package.

Annie was dismayed to find a goofy smile on her face.

Why did he have to be so charming? She shook her head, getting rid of that thought and barreled her way into the pool area.

It was warm and muggy inside and smelled strongly of chlorine.

At the far end of the pool, a small group of older women were bouncing up and down in the water, an energetic playlist pumping through the speakers.

No one paid Annie any mind, so she hurried across the puddled tiles to where Iris was perched on the edge of the pool.

‘Annie’s here!’ Carol called as she jumped up and down in the water. ‘Did you bring us after-class snacks?’

The women turned to Annie, looking up at her with hopeful eyes. ‘Sorry, ladies, not today. I’ve come on bridesmaid business, not bakery business.’

While the women looked disappointed at her lack of baked goods, they perked up at the mention of bridesmaid duties.

‘How is the wedding preparation going?’ Janet asked. ‘Have you seen the dress? What does the barn look like? Isit actually ready? Are we going to be freezing our butts off tomorrow?’

Annie shook her head. ‘You won't freeze. The barn looks amazing. The dress is beautiful but… Have any of you seen Estelle this morning?’

The women looked at each other with varying degrees of shock and dismay on their faces.

‘Estelle! You’re looking for Estelle?’

‘I just… we aren't sure exactly where she is…’

The women stared up at her from the pool with their eyes wide.

‘I’m sure she's fine,’ Iris assured them. ‘It’s Estelle we're talking about. She wouldn't have just wandered off.’

Annie redirected her attention to Iris, who sat on the edge of the pool, hand over her growing baby bump.

‘Right. Iris is right. Estelle wouldn't have just wandered off for no reason. I’m sure she'll turn up. I wanted to check here and see if maybe she came to her class, but clearly, she didn’t so I will continue looking.’

‘What if you don't find her? She can’t miss the wedding!’

‘She won’t miss the wedding. I will find her.’ Annie put her hands on her hips in her most confident pose, but the women still looked somewhat horrified. Annie sighed. ‘Can you all keep this to yourselves, please? I really don't want to worry the bride and groom.’

The group nodded in agreement as though they would never even think of spreading this news all over town.

‘I’m serious, ladies. I’m counting on you now to keep this to yourselves, and if you see Estelle anywhere give me a call. Okay?’

‘You got it, Annie. We want this wedding to be perfect,’ Marissa said with a smile.

Annie ignored the tightening knot in her neck at the mention of the wedding being perfect. Of course it would be perfect. She’d make sure of it; stiff neck be damned.

‘Okay, back to your workout,’ she said as she nodded to Iris to turn the music back up.

‘Come on, ladies! Let's see those jumps. You can go higher than that,’ Iris called to them as Annie hurried out of the pool area.

By the time she’d made her way back to the desk, Mac was still talking to the stern employee, except now she had a giant smile on her face and was finding Mac to be quite hilarious.

‘There you are,’ Mac said, looking up as Annie approached the desk. The employee shot her a disapproving look. Apparently, she wasn’t thrilled that Annie had taken her own private tour.

‘We should really be going now,’ Annie said with an apologetic smile.

The woman’s glare deepened. ‘Make sure you take your paperwork and bring it back when you’re done,’ she said to Mac, pushing a stack of forms that Annie was positive could be filled out online across the desk to him.

‘Thanks, Tina. You’ve been super helpful,’ he said, that damn smile aimed in her direction again.

Annie groaned and grabbed him by the bicep that certainly didn’t need any more time at the gym, tugging him away before he could invite Tina from the Y to the wedding.

‘Yeah, thanks, Tina!’ Annie called, dragging Mac toward the door.

‘Did you find out any info?’ Mac asked when they were back in the parking lot.

Annie blew out a long breath, the air clouding in front of her. The sky was gray and cold. She was glad most of Jeanie’s out-of-town relatives had arrived this morning, because they were predicting snow later and having half the guest list stuck in a snowstorm didn’t make for a perfect wedding.

‘No, nobody has heard from her today.’

Mac frowned as he climbed up into the truck. Annie met him inside.

‘Where should we look next?’ he asked.

Annie tipped her head back on the seat, eyes closed, trying to breathe out some of the tension that was creeping into her skull.

The last thing she needed was a headache.

She opened her eyes at a strange but familiar sound to find Mac shaking a small bottle of painkillers.

He popped the top, raising his eyebrows in question.

Annie was too tired to argue. She held out her hand and Mac tapped two small pills into her palm.

‘Thank you,’ she grumbled, reluctantly accepting the Advil as a peace offering.

‘What was that? I didn't quite hear you,’ Mac said with a teasing grin.

‘I said. Thank. You.’ Annie enunciated each word clearly and loudly until Mac laughed.

‘You are welcome. Now where to next?’

‘Well, if I were Estelle out on some top-secret wedding errand, the first place I’d go would be the café. Because how does anyone run top-secret errands without caffeine?’

‘Great,’ Mac said, backing out of the parking space, his arm draped over the back of Annie's seat.

‘Did she give you her number?’ she asked incredulously, glancing at the membership papers he’d tossed on her lap when she climbed in.

‘Maybe. Why, are you jealous, Annabelle?

Annie scoffed. ‘Why would I be jealous?’

Mac shrugged and Annie did her best to ignore the way his broad shoulders tugged at his coat.

‘I'm surprised you didn’t ask her to the wedding,’ she said half joking, half fishing for information.

‘How do you know I didn’t?’

‘Did you?’

‘Would it bother you if I did?’

‘Nope, not a bit. You are free to date whomever you please, Macaulay.’ She was glad she didn’t have to look him in the face when she said it.

‘That's very generous of you,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t ask her.’

Annie was not proud of the immediate relief that flooded her body.

It was one thing to deal with Mac bringing dates to Christmas and other get-togethers, but she really didn’t think she could handle watching him with a date at something as romantic as a wedding.

Watching him hold another woman in his arms while they danced together.

She might have to topple her secret wedding dessert just to cause a distraction and get the hell out of there.

‘Well, that’s your business,’ she said, slumping in her seat. She caught Mac’s lopsided grin from the corner of her eye.

‘Why did you come back, anyway?’ she asked, needing to change the subject from exactly how jealous she got when she saw Mac with other women.

After enough years had gone by, she’d given up on the idea that Mac was ever coming back.

Of course, she knew he visited his parents every once in a while, and she very deliberately avoided him when he did.

She’d even planned an impromptu girls’ weekend with Hazel one year, just to make sure she was out of town on Mac’s mother’s birthday.

And then, when he had returned for good, she hadn’t given him the chance to explain anything. It had been nearly three years now and they hadn’t done much more than snipe at each other, and she was perfectly aware that was primarily her fault. But it didn't mean she wasn't curious.

Mac looked over at her like he was surprised by the question, because of course he was. Annie rarely asked him anything that wasn’t, why the hell are you here? Which basically, she still was asking, but nicer.

‘My dad was ready to retire, and I figured I’d been gone long enough.’

He’d been gone for eight years.

Not that she’d kept count.

‘And is it torture?’ she asked.

‘Is what torture? Running the pub?’

‘Being back here in Dream Harbor. I thought you never wanted that to happen.’

‘You remember more about that December than you let on,’ he said with a chuckle. And Annie was immediately transported back to that night so many years ago. Lying face to face with Mac in his bed and pouring out their fears to each other. She hadn’t done anything like that since.

She ignored his comment, not wanting to discuss that time any more than she wanted to discuss Mac’s dating life or her reaction to it.

‘So, do you hate it?’ she asked and for some reason that question felt like the most important one.

When Mac left, he'd abandoned not only her but the town she loved. It pissed her off that he was able to simply walk back in and everyone embraced him like some sort of prodigal son. Annie wasn’t that forgiving.

‘No, I don’t hate it. I’m not nineteen anymore, Annie. I want different things than I did then.’ He had parked in front of The Pumpkin Spice Café and turned to look at her. She wanted to ask what he wanted now but she was afraid of the answer.

‘Well, I’m glad you don’t hate it here,’ she said. Her gaze flicked to his, and he was looking at her with such tenderness she wished she had never gotten in this truck in the first place; because if Mac kept looking at her like that, she didn’t know how much longer she could pretend to hate him.

‘How's your head?’ he asked.

‘It’s fine. Just a tension headache, that’s all.’

He was still looking at her like he wanted to lean across the center console and make all sorts of bad decisions. Annie was left to be the reasonable one.

‘Anyway, I’m feeling much better now. Let’s go get some coffee and see if we can find Nana,’ she said in a rush, opening her door and tumbling out into the cold air.

Shebreathed deep in a vain attempt to clear her head, but there wasn't enough cold air in the world to purge Mac from her system. Especially when he came up beside her and pressed his large warm hand into the small of her back, guiding her into the café. She didn’t even have the strength to push him away.

Or maybe it was the desire she lacked because that hand felt damn good.

And she couldn’t always be the reasonable one.