“I don’t know? Ten? Eleven? How long have you been here?” Not that she cared.
“Since nine, I think? I really wanted to see you tonight, so I came over here, but your lights were off. I figured I’d wait until you got home.”
Anger surged through her veins. How did he have the nerve to attend a wedding with his wife and then come here afterward? Her intention to forget about Mac had been shattered by his presence at her house. Maybe she should take Laney’s advice and confront him about his lies. It might make her feel better about the whole thing if she could watch him squirm a little.
In a level voice, she asked, “Where’s your wife?”
He managed to look bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
She sighed. He didn’t even have the good grace to act apologetic.
“I was at your hotel this morning.” She hastily added, “To drop off some brochures in the hotel lobby.” She stared directly into his eyes. There didn’t appear to be any guile in them. Mac was good at lying. “I saw you with your wife and daughter.”
Recognition dawned on his face and he smiled.
“Oh, that. I can explain.”
She stuck her key in the lock. The tumblers clicked into placed and she pushed the door open. “I don’t want to hear it. And I don’t want to ever see you again, got it?”
His smile faded and he started to speak, but she slammed the door in his face.
She made it to the sofa before tears streamed down her face. Telling him off hadn’t been nearly as satisfying as she’d expected. How had things gone so wrong? Last night, she’d sat here and dreamed of a future with Mac. Was it really only a day later that she was here hoping she’d never see him again?
She heard the gate squeak as he closed it. At least he was gone now. With any luck, she’d be able to avoid him for the rest of his stay in Fortune’s Bay.
* * *
The next day was the official start of Winterfest, and Becki’s alarm went off at five o’clock to ensure she’d be in to work early. She stumbled out of bed and threw on some clothes before heading out. Luckily, the bakery was open and she snagged a cup of coffee to jolt her awake. She sipped the coffee as soon as she had the cup in her hands, not caring that the hot liquid slightly burned her tongue.
She was the first to arrive at the Chamber of Commerce offices, but her coworkers weren’t far behind. The office buzzed with chatter about the day’s events. She spent the first few hours making sure everyone she’d lined up to man the different booths and events was present and ready to work. At five minutes to the official start time for Winterfest—nine o’clock—she sent everyone out to their stations.
From years of experience in event planning, she knew things would invariably go wrong. This event wasn’t any different. Dealing with missing prizes, a lack of extension cords, and plugged toilets, among other things, took up most of her day. Before she knew it, it was after five and the main attractions for Winterfest were winding down for the night. A few booths would stay open and they’d show a family movie on an inflatable screen in the park, but she’d delegated that task to someone else. All she wanted to do was get home and rest her aching feet.
As she walked through the park on the way back to her cottage, she checked out the Winterfest booths to ensure they’d been properly closed up for the evening. Everything looked secure and although the event had physically and emotionally drained her, she knew it had been successful. Even though her love life was in the doldrums, her organizational skills and attention to detail had paid off, demonstrating she was the right candidate for the town’s event planning position. She knew some people hadn’t been pleased that an outsider had been hired for the job, but she hoped she’d proved them wrong.
A small piece of white paper, tucked into the roots of a tree, caught her eye. The maintenance crew had scoured the park for litter several times throughout the day, but they must have missed it. She picked up the object, which turned out to be a seed packet from the wedding the night before. She turned it over, revealing a photo of the bride and groom, smiling happily out at her. The bride had long dark hair and seemed familiar although she couldn’t quite place her at first. Then, it hit her.
The bride was Mac’s wife. She examined the photo more carefully. That wasn’t Mac smiling next to the woman. What was going on here? Had she been wrong about what she’d seen at the hotel? The little girl had called him Daddy and he’d come out of the woman’s room. What other explanation could there be?
She pulled out her phone and dialed the Parks Department director.
“Hey, Lee, it’s Becki. Sorry to bother you, but I had a quick question.”
“Sure, no problem. What’s up?”
“You know the wedding in the park last night?”
“Of course. I stopped by to check in with the happy couple to make sure everything was okay with the venue. Is something wrong?”
“No, no. Do you happen to remember the name of the bride and groom?”
“I do. Alison Macintosh and Jason Reles. From what I overheard, I think it was a second marriage for her. Her daughter and ex-husband were talking to them when I arrived.”
“Oh, great. Thanks.”
“Anything else? Is there something you need me to do tonight?”
“Nope, that’s all.” She hung up before he could ask any more questions.
Now she was even more unsure about Mac. Was the little girl’s mother his ex? But why hadn’t he mentioned his daughter or said something about his ex-wife when she’d told him about the wedding scheduled for the park’s gazebo?
She found herself in front of her cottage before she knew it. Part of her hoped that Mac would magically be waiting on her porch when she got there. Although she knew that would be highly unlikely, it still hurt to remember how his face had fallen when she shut the door on him as he tried to explain. Maybe if she’d let him talk, he would have told her about his daughter and ex-wife.
This relationship failure was all on her. She’d made him out to be a cheater like the other tourists she’d dated, but that didn’t appear to be true. She knew he’d planned to stay in town tonight because that was when they were supposed to have their second date, but who knew if he’d be around tomorrow? The thought of going to his hotel to apologize flashed through her mind, but at this point, she didn’t know if he’d give her a second chance.
All night, she tossed and turned, wondering what she should do. By morning, she’d decided it best to not pursue things with Mac. He was a visitor and wouldn’t be here much longer. What was the point in trying to make things up with him?
As she dressed, pangs of doubt twisted through her chest. Their day together had been special and she’d really hoped things would go somewhere. Was she a naive romantic to believe that fairy-tale romances could actually happen in real life? She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked awful. Worrying about her mistakes with Mac had really messed her up. She applied cream under her eyes to hide the lack of sleep and left for another long day at work.
* * *
Her work kept her tied to the phone all morning, so by lunchtime, she itched to go outside and get some fresh air. She grabbed a salad from a grab-and-go place and took it down to the beach. Watching the waves crash upon the shore always helped to bring her peace and clarity.
She set her empty plastic salad bowl on the bench next to her and hugged her knees to her chest. Although she’d tried to not think of Mac, it wasn’t working. He’d been so nice, so sweet, and one of the handsomest men she’d ever met. She closed her eyes and remembered the magical kiss they’d shared on her front porch. She had a feeling she’d be comparing all other men to him for a long time.
“Bet you can’t catch me,” a little girl’s voice cried out. Becki’s eyes popped open. A blonde girl, about eight years old, ran full speed toward the water and the bench Becki sat on. As she neared the bench, the girl tripped and fell splat on the concrete sidewalk. Instantly, the girl started crying. On insti
nct, Becki rushed over to console her. She knelt next to the girl and patted her back. “It’s okay, you’ll be fine.”
“Molly,” a man’s voice shouted. “Are you okay?”
“Daddy, it hurts.” Tears streamed down the girl’s face and she hugged her knee in to her body.
When she said ‘Daddy’, Becki recognized the girl as Mac’s daughter. She was about to stand when she saw the blood dripping down Molly’s leg. She tried to back away toward the bench.
It’s just a little blood. Nothing to freak out about, she told herself.
Her vision started to haze over.
“Are you okay?” Molly stared wide-eyed at her.
She tried to reassure the girl, but the world was spinning. The last thing she heard was Mac’s voice. “She’s going down.”
She awoke to see Mac and Molly peering down at her. A quick glance at Molly showed the girl’s leg patched up with a bandage. Thank goodness.
“Are you alright?” Mac asked. “I managed to catch you before you hit your head, but you were out for a couple minutes.”
She pushed herself up to a sitting position. “I’m fine.” She looked at Mac. “Thanks.”
He held out his hand, pulling her up to standing. “Thanks for helping Molly. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Sorry about having to catch me again.” Her pulse raced. Was this her chance to talk to him? Should she tell him she’d made a big mistake?
“Don’t even worry about it. Well, Molly and I should be going now. We’ve got sandcastles to build.” He and his daughter started to walk away.
“Mac, wait,” Becki called out. She jogged over to them.
He raised his eyebrows. “Did I forget something?”
“No. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about accusing you of, uh…” She cast a glance at Molly, who was listening attentively.
Mac put his hand on Molly’s shoulder and pointed to the beach. “Go ahead and play in the sand right over there. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
Molly scampered off, leaving the two of them staring awkwardly at each other.
Becki took a deep breath. “I know it was your ex-wife who got married in the park. I saw the two of you together with Molly at your hotel on Friday morning, and I made a wrong assumption.”
“That’s what I tried to tell you.” He sighed. “My ex wanted her wedding in Fortune’s Bay and I got here a day earlier than them. That’s when I met you. I never lied to you.”
“But you didn’t say anything about your ex and Molly being here. Or anything at all about Molly.”
He looked over at his daughter playing happily in the sand. “I’d only met you that day. I didn’t think it was time yet to tell you I had a child. It tends to scare some women off. Molly is very important to me, and I wanted to find out if we had a connection before I introduced her to the mix.”
She felt his eyes on her face.
“Are you still mad?”
“No.” She sighed. “I get why you didn’t tell me about her. Honestly, I’ve never dated anyone with a child before, but she seems like a great kid.” She put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry I was so rude to you.”
He nodded. “You’re forgiven. Do you want to hang out with us today? We could use a third person to help make a giant sandcastle. Molly has big plans.”
“I can’t.” She stared wistfully at the beach. “It’s the second day of Winterfest and I have a ton to do.”
“Maybe tomorrow?”
“Are you still going to be here?”
“Molly and I are staying at the hotel for the whole week. When her mom gets home from her honeymoon next weekend, I’ll take her back to Tampa.”
“So you’ll only be here another week,” she said slowly. He’d be gone soon. Was it worth trying to salvage their budding relationship?
He cocked his head to the side and a smile formed on his lips. “I was thinking about staying a little longer. My job’s pretty flexible and I’m starting to really like this town.” He moved closer to her and brushed strands of her hair back from her face. “And there are certain people I’d like to get to know better here.”
His touch sent a delicious shiver throughout her body.
“I think I’d like that.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and tilted her head up. Their lips met and joy flooded through her.
She’d finally met an honest tourist. Laney would never believe it.
* * *
A Map To Destiny Page 10