Between Hope & the Highway (22 page)

“But I like you,
boss
.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m ordering you to leave me the heck alone.”

The way she diluted swear words made me grin. “Don’t try to act tough. It doesn’t become you.” A lie, if ever I’d told one. Truthfully, I found her very appealing right then even with the librarian-bun thing she had going on.

“I don’t care what becomes me. I’m not trying to impress you.”

With my ego hanging in tatters, I launched words in defense. “Obviously, or you’d wear a more form-fitting shirt once in a while.”

Her crestfallen expression lasted only a fraction of a second. If I hadn’t been watching her carefully, I would’ve missed it. Feeling like a heel, I took her hand and rubbed her fingers.

She yanked her hand away. “Stop fooling around. I’m dating Mackay, and this doesn’t look right.”

I shook my head. “What doesn’t look right is you and Mack-y.”

“We’re not in a beauty contest. And I’ll have you know he’s the kindest man ever, so stop picking on him.”

“Kindness only goes so far in a relationship, Stockholm. You need passion too.”

“We have passion.” She shoved me. “Now get on your side.”

I ran my hand through my hair as I moved onto the bench across from her.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, little liar.”

She shoved fries into her mouth.

“The day you and Mack-y have passion is the day the Pope starts wearing a Speedo in public.”

We both focused on our meal until we finished. As I led her to my truck and opened her door, I spotted Mackay pulling into the parking lot. When he looked over and noticed us, I pulled Liz close.

“What’s in your hair?” As she squirmed to escape, I said, “Hold still. I think it’s a spider.”

She tensed as I ran my hands through her gorgeous curls, but to her credit, she didn’t squeal.

“Damnation. It’s tangled in your hair. Hold still.” I took advantage of her ignorance to pull her nearer. “There’s another bugger,” I whispered. “You must have ran into a nest of webbies.”

She shuddered, and I felt her heart pounding into mine. “Almost have it,” I muttered as I lowered my head and inhaled the smell of her shampoo. Tropical, with a hint of coconut. I allowed my fingers to explore her wild curls, hoping Mackay would misconstrue the whole scene.

When I heard a door slam, I knew I’d kept her preoccupied enough that Vanilla had received my message loud and clear. She would thank me someday.

“Got it.” I flicked my fingers in the air so she’d think I was getting rid of a nonexistent arachnid.

“Thanks,” she said breathlessly into my chest, revealing how my closeness had affected her. Why was she fighting this so hard? Most girls would have had me in a prone position in the backseat by now.

I kissed her brow, smoothing the stress lines there. “You’re welcome, Little Miss Muffet.” I pulled back to look at her and knew she was crazy about me. The truth was evident in her golden brown eyes. If I could get her to let down her hair more often and date other guys, she’d probably be crazy for them too. “Let’s get you home.”

As I released her, her eyebrows turned down in confusion, which was good. She confused the hell out of me. Turnabout was fair play.

Chapter 35

Liz

Men will send me to my grave. I came to Montana to escape them, but between Rawson Law and Mackay Benson, I’ve had more trouble than I ever did in Vegas. After the uncomfortable drive to Levanson’s yesterday, I looked forward to going out with Mackay to get my head back in whack. Rawson had thrown me for a loop when he kissed me. Now I could hardly look him in the eye without my body betraying me. Dang his smile. It should be illegal.

As Mackay helped me into his car, I thanked him. I didn’t care what Rawson said. Mackay was the purest vanilla bean ice cream ever created. So what if he was predictable. Who wanted to build a house on an unstable foundation? Not me. I needed someone steady and reliable.

After he pulled out of the driveway, I began listing all of Mackay’s positive traits.

He volunteered at the Food Bank each week. Rawson never did anything selfless like that.

Faithful church man. Rawson scoffed at religion.

Smart. Rawson was brilliant, but didn’t always use that gift for good.

Mackay was kind to a fault. Rawson teased me unmercifully.

Thoughtful. Rawson never considered my feelings. I mean, who calls a girl a heifer?

Good listener. Mackay had listened to me even when I brought up horrid subjects or tried to bore him in the early days of our relationship. Rawson just made fun of me.

Blind to my faults. Rawson loved pointing out my flaws, although he did try to make up for it by forcing me to do that stupid
Love Triangle
game. Dumb man.

Honest. Mackay would go back to a store if they undercharged him a penny. Rawson broke promises like a karate master shattered wood.

Dutiful son. Mackay’s parents thought the world of him. Rawson’s dad wanted to strangle him on a daily basis.

Hard worker. Mackay worked long hours at the hardware store. Rawson seemed to work when it suited his mood.

When we reached the junction to turn, I realized Mackay hadn’t spoken. I’d been so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even asked how his day had gone.

“How was work?”

“Fine.”

I glanced over at him and noticed that his hands clenched the wheel. Maybe he was stressed about his father. This past Sunday when we visited, he could hardly speak due to pain. Cancer sucked.

“How’s your dad?”

“Each day’s different.”

Silence occupied the space between us, which seemed odd since Mackay usually filled it with friendly chatter. I tried a few more times to draw him out, but gave up after his fourth one word response.

Mackay drove to the same diner Rawson had chosen last night. What were the odds? When he pulled into the parking lot, he raised a brow.

“Have you eaten here recently?”

I nodded. “Last night. But I can order something different. I don’t mind.”

“Who were you with?”

I stared at him. Was he interrogating me? “I stopped here with Rawson last night after a work call.”

His nose wrinkled. “He’s very charming when he wants to be.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a big tease.”

“Was he teasing when he kissed you?”

“I’ve never kissed Rawson Law,” I snapped, but blushed as I recalled the truth. But he’d forced that on me unawares. Mackay couldn’t blame me since I’d pushed him away. My pesky conscience reminded me that I hadn’t wanted to stop him. Even though it’d been the shortest kiss of my life, it had also been the best, and I’d relived that moment dozens of time in my dreams. But I
had
stopped him. How did Mackay know about that kiss in the truck though?

“But you like him.”

“No!” When he gave me a hard stare, I lowered my eyes.
Maybe a little,
I admitted to myself.

Mackay took a deep breath and looked out his window. “I was here last night and saw you two kissing.”

“What?” I certainly hadn’t kissed Rawson here.

“He doesn’t care about you, Liz. I know you work with him, and it’s probably easy to get caught up in the moment, but you don’t know him like I do. The man’s a womanizer. I saw him do this in high school—move in and get some girl to like him, then use her all up and cast her aside. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

I hadn’t thought Mackay possessed a mean bone in his body, but he must have ingested calcium-fortified fury recently.

“He’s not like that.” I don’t know why I defended him. Mackay was right. I didn’t know Rawson that well.

“You’re naive and gullible, just like all the other girls who had their hearts broken by him.”

“Now wait just a confounded minute. I resent being compared to some high school cheerleaders who wanted the big guy on campus.” Which I’m sure Rawson was. I mean, all I had to do was look at him to know he’d been Mr. Popular.

“You’re nothing like them,” he said adamantly. “If you were, I wouldn’t care. But I like you, Liz. A lot! I don’t want you to get hurt.”

His concern touched me. Even though Mackay thought I’d cheated on him, he still cared. That was pretty sweet. I reached out and squeezed his hand. “What you saw last night wasn’t what you think.”

“Liz, I’m not mad, but I—”

I placed my finger against his lips. “He didn’t kiss me. Rawson was trying to get a spider—two spiders, actually—out of my hair.” I shuddered thinking about creepy crawlies invading my personal space. Thank goodness, Rawson had extracted them.

“I saw him kiss your forehead.” He sounded sullen.

“That was just a friendly kiss.”
Like ours
, I wanted to add. “It meant nothing.”

“I don’t like you hanging out with him.”

“We work together. We have to hang out. But we’re friends. Nothing more.”

“You said you like him.”

My eyes widened. Had I voiced my feelings aloud? “It’s the kind of
like
I feel for Matt Damon. He doesn’t like me back, I assure you. In fact, he’s always trying to convince me to go out with a couple of other hands at the ranch.”

Mackay tapped his steering wheel. “That’s because he hates me.” He took both my hands in his. “You have to stay away from him. He’ll do anything to hurt me, and probably just seeing you with me at church made you a target. He bullied me in high school, and now he’s trying to steal you away to make some macho point.”

“Really, Mackay. If Rawson wanted to steal me away, he would’ve tried a little harder. He mostly pokes fun of how bad I look. How’s that charming?”

“You’ve never looked bad a day in your life.”

“You haven’t seen me mucking stalls at four a.m.”

“You’re the prettiest girl I know. And the nicest. Rawson would be a fool not to make a play for you.”

“Well, he’s not. I promise.”

He hit the steering wheel, making me jump. “Mark my words. He’ll hurt you.”

“Look. I’m sorry he bullied you in high school, but more than four years have passed. He’s different now.”

“He’s an actor. He shows you what you want to see. He did this with every pretty girl in high school—acting like Prince Charming until he had them wrapped around his finger, then throwing them off with his middle finger a week later when he was onto the next flavor of the week.”

I flinched as he brought up flavors. Did Rawson tease and kiss me yesterday because I was a new flavor? Would he toss me aside and ignore me once he got a taste of how boring and truly plain I was? He compared Mackay to vanilla, but if anyone resembled that flavor, it was me. Besides horses, I didn’t have any cool hobbies. I liked to read and cut things out with a scroll saw. I could whistle, change the oil in a truck, and take gadgets apart, but no man wanted a girl who was better than him at
guy
things. Men wanted feminine beauties who were helpless and made them feel manly. That wasn’t me. I knew I wasn’t ugly, but I wasn’t anything special either. To guys, I was a pal, not a gal.

He heaved a weary sigh. “Maybe we should take a break from seeing each other.”

Was Mackay breaking up with me?

“It’s not that I don’t like you. I think the world of you, Liz. But I can tell your heart’s not in this relationship.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued in a rush.

“With everything going on—Dad’s health and Mom worrying about medical bills—I can’t do this. Not with how things stand between us. We’ve been going out for four months. I’d like to take things to the next level, but I don’t think you’re ready. Maybe if I give you space, you can decide whether you’re all in…or not.”

I twisted my hands in my lap, feeling like the worst girlfriend ever.

He tipped my chin. “Promise to be careful. I know how charming that jerk can be. But no matter how funny or handsome or whatever you think he is, don’t let down your guard. He’s not a good man.”

I managed to nod and turn away before he noticed my tears.

He blew out a deep breath. “I guess we better go inside and order.”

“Can we just go through the Wendy’s drive-thru instead?” I couldn’t fake happy right now, and wanted this breakup date over sooner rather than later.

He started his car and drove down the road to my take-out Mecca, where I ordered a chili to warm up my cold, dead heart.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything else?”

“No.” I didn’t want him to waste any more money on me, and he was too old-fashioned to let me pay.

The hour drive home seemed to take twice as long as normal. It was an unwritten law of physics that awkward tension drew out the distance between any two points. When I spotted the log entrance to the ranch, I almost cheered; not because I hated Mackay and wanted away from him, but because I felt unworthy of such a decent man. God had given me a second chance to have what I wanted—a solid husband and marriage—and I’d thrown it away by being the worst girlfriend ever and only thinking about myself. Who did that to such a nice guy?