“Absolutely,” Mac said. She pulled her hand out of Gavin’s, knowing full well that if she was going to make a getaway, this was her chance.
She opened the driver’s side door and climbed into the Jeep. Gavin shook his head at her as if to let her know she was just putting off the inevitable. She flashed him a smile.
“Bye, boys,” she said. She started up the engine and drove off without looking back.
• • •
“Emma, I need to talk to you,” Mac said. Her conversation with Gavin had been grinding on her all morning and she wanted clarification before it drove her bonkers.
“Sure, what’s up?” Emma asked.
It was midday and they were in Emma’s bedroom, packing her suitcase for her honeymoon. Emma had laid out every possible outfit choice for her time in Europe and Mac was helping her with the final selection process.
Emma held up an adorable aqua lace chemise and Mac nodded. Then Emma held up a pair of ridiculously high-heeled sandals to go with it and Mac shook her head. Cobblestoned walkways in Old World cities were not kind to stilettos. Emma made a face and tossed the shoes back into the closet.
“I had a talk with Gavin about Jane,” Mac said.
“Oh?” Emma glanced up from her suitcase, which was half full. “What did he say?”
“He said he wasn’t that devastated about their breakup,” Mac said. “In fact, he seemed meh about it.”
“Well, of course, he did,” Emma said. “What guy likes to admit he’s crushed and devastated?”
“I really didn’t get crushed or devastated off of him,” Mac said.
“That’s because he’s saving face,” Emma said. She gave Mac a look. “You weren’t here right after it happened. You didn’t see him. He was a mess. But since you’ve been here, distracting him and making him happy again, he probably can’t remember how sad he was. See? I told you he needed the boost.”
“Hmm,” Mac hummed.
She wasn’t really sure what she’d wanted Emma to say, but it was definitely more along the lines of “Yeah, silly me, clearly Gavin couldn’t have been in love with Jane the Pain.”
Not that it was any of Mac’s business but she found she really didn’t like the thought of Gavin being in love—no, didn’t like was too mild. It was more like she detested the idea of Gavin being in love with anyone and his assurance that he hadn’t been had made her heart soar.
Okay, that was a little self-awareness she could live without. Why did she care who Gavin loved or didn’t love? In a matter of days, she was going back to Chicago, a city she loved, to a career she loved, to a relationship that she had parked like a car in long-term parking—it had to be retrieved sometime. Oh, that was a telling metaphor, wasn’t it?
She heard her phone chime in her purse. “Excuse me, I’d better take that.”
“No problem, but be thinking about black capris versus blue jeans while you’re gone,” Emma said.
“You’re going to Paris,” Mac said. “Black is always good in Paris.”
She grabbed her phone and left the room. She glanced at the display. It was Trevor. A spasm of guilt hit her low and deep. Images of her near naked self with Gavin flashed before her eyes like a fireworks display of oh, wow. There was no candy coating this. Whether anything more happened between her and Gavin, she had moved on from Trevor. Now how did she tell him?
“Hello,” she said.
“Mac, how are you?” he said. “Or should I say pip pip, cheerio, and all that?”
She forced what she hoped sounded like a laugh and not like someone stepping on a duck, which is what it felt like.
“So, the negotiations are going well?” she asked.
This led to a very detailed monologue about his own legal prowess in the corporate proceedings that his company was undertaking. It sounded very complicated and, frankly, really boring, but Trevor was clearly enjoying every bit of the contractual dodgeball game so she listened until he got it all out of his system.
“But enough about me,” he said. “Are you eager to be done with all of that wedding stuff? I imagine you are bored out of your skull in that tiny town with all of those provincial people.”
“Surprisingly, not that bored,” Mac said.
She thought about the orgasm she’d enjoyed at Gavin’s hands and knew that boring was never going to be a word she associated with him. Then she shook her head. Just because Trevor was not as skilled as Gavin and it was usually a one in ten chance that she’d get where she wanted to go with him that was no reason to have mean thoughts, right?
“What about that dog situation?” he asked. “Did you manage to unload it?”
“More like she was taken from me,” she said.
“I’m not following,” he said. “I thought you wanted to be rid of it.”
“It is a she,” Mac said. Was Trevor always this obtuse and irritating or was she just being sensitive because of her fondness for Tulip? “And, yes, I did want her to be reunited with her loving family but that isn’t what happened.”
“No? Well, don’t fret. I’m sure it’s all for the best,” Trevor said. “At least now she’s off your hands and you don’t have to worry about her anymore.”
“Of course I’m worried about her,” Mac said. She wanted to rail and wail and whine, but Trevor cut her off.
“Listen, I’m sorry, but I have to go,” he said. “Big dinner with the board of directors tonight.”
“Okay, um, I did have something I wanted to talk to you about,” she said. She knew it was bad form to have a relationship discussion over the phone, but she really felt she needed to broach the topic of making their hiatus a permanent one.
“No can do,” he said. “I really need to get ready for dinner. I’m hoping to grease the wheels for a promotion.”
“Sure, I understand,” Mac said.
But she didn’t, not really. If the person you were involved with was upset about something, shouldn’t that matter more than greasing wheels? Ah, but this was why she and Trevor had been together for the past few years. They never had to compromise what was important to them for the other person. They never had to put the other person first. That was what she’d wanted after her disastrous breakup with Seth and it had been perfect. But now it wasn’t enough, not even close.
• • •
It was early afternoon when Mac drove back to Jillian’s bakery from Emma’s house and she was trying to decide which flavor of whoopie pie she was going to stuff in her cakehole first. They had managed to get Emma packed for her honeymoon. The wedding plans were on schedule and Emma was beginning to glow with a radiance Mac had never seen in her before.
With the windows down, the radio up, the warm sun on her skin, and a cool breeze blowing into the Jeep, tossing her hair about her face, Mac felt as carefree as she had as a child.
Despite her worry over Tulip, her disappointment in Trevor, and her anxiety about the situation with Gavin, Mac felt her heart lift up. She was truly happy for Emma and Brad. It was an extraordinary thing to see two people so perfect for each other planning a life together. It gave her hope and the beautiful day made her feel as if anything was possible.
She was zipping along a side road when she saw a woman walking on the narrow shoulder. It wasn’t unusual, except the woman wasn’t dressed for a stroll on a Maine back road. She was in a tailored dress more suited to a garden party, carrying her high heels in one hand while she gingerly picked her way along the rocky side of the road.
Her blonde hair was mussed and as Mac slowed down she saw the woman raise her hand to her face and wipe away tears. Without overthinking it, Mac pulled over.
She leaned across the console and called out the passenger side window, “Hey, can I give you a lift?”
The red, blotchy face that met hers made Mac start. Staring back at her was Jessie Peeler Connelly.
C
hapter 28
“What do you want?” Jessie snapped.
Mac pressed her lips together to keep from shouting a mean retort at the woman, who, like it or not, was obviously distressed.
“Just what I said,” Mac said. “Do you want a lift?”
Jessie looked at her like she’d rather take a ride on a garbage truck. She glared at Mac, and Mac was about to shrug and tell her to suit herself, but she didn’t.
She remembered seeing Seth staring at the bartender’s hooters the other night—the pig—and she remembered that Jessie, with cruel intention or not, had saved her from marrying that loser. Maybe in the grand scheme of things, she owed Jessie one.
“Did Seth make you cry?” she asked.
Jessie paled and her eyes looked haunted. She glanced away and her voice was vicious when she asked, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like to see me suffer the same humiliation you suffered with everyone laughing at you behind your back.”
Ouch! It was a direct hit and normally Mac would have stomped on the gas and let Jessie eat gravel, but she didn’t. Hurt people hurt people, and it didn’t take more than a teaspoonful of empathy to see that Jessie was hurting mightily.
“No,” Mac said. “I wouldn’t like that, but I would like to help you if you’ll let me.”
As if her kindness was the knife point that cut through Jessie’s anger more effectively than any harsh words ever could, Jessie collapsed, falling to the ground in a heap.
“Oh, shit!” Mac muttered.
She quickly shut off the engine and leapt out of the car to run around the front and check on Jessie. The woman was curled up in a heap in the dirt and leaves on the side of the road. A low keening came from Jessie’s mouth as she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth.
“Do you need me to call someone?” Mac asked. “If not Seth, someone else?”
“I don’t have anyone else,” Jessie cried. “He’s made sure of that.”
The agony in her voice made the marrow in Mac’s bones freeze. Would Seth have done that to her, alienated her from all of her friends? She couldn’t see that happening, and Jessie had been popular in school with loads of friends, so Mac had a hard time believing she had no one now. Maybe she was just being her usual diva self.
“Come on, there has to be someone,” she said.
“Not when your letch of a husband tries to bang every woman who walks into your house,” she said. “Makes it hard to keep any friends.”
“Oh,” Mac said.
She didn’t know what else to say. The last time she’d run into Jessie had been at the winery in Portland and Jessie had been, well, frankly, a bitch. But then, Mac had a curious thought. What if Jessie had been sincere?
Mac had been looking a bit rough, mostly in an effort to keep Gavin at bay, but maybe Jessie’s offer of money had been genuine.
“Did you mean it when you offered me money to treat myself at the winery in Portland?” she asked.
Jessie lifted her head up and met Mac’s gaze. She was the picture of misery. “Yeah, I really thought I’d ruined your life and you were down on your luck. I know it’s horrible but as guilty as I felt, I was relieved that someone else had a crappier life than mine.”
“Well, that’s honest.”
“Then I saw Gavin kiss you and realized that what he’d said was true.” Jessie wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She gave Mac a bewildered once-over. “He really has the hots for you. You know you might want to up your game if you’re trying to land him.”
“And you were doing so well,” Mac said.
“A comb or a brush,” Jessie said. “That’s all I’m saying; okay, and maybe some lipstick.”
Mac rubbed her eyes and tried not to laugh. She figured if Jessie was back to critiquing her, she was going to be fine.
“Okay, enough about me, I’m not the one crying by the side of the road,” Mac said. Jessie looked stricken and Mac felt bad. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant was what are you going to do about you and Seth?”
“There’s nothing I can do. I’m trapped,” Jessie said. She started to cry again and Mac sat helplessly beside her, not knowing what to say. She let her cry it out.
“I’m sorry,” Jessie said.
“Oh, it’s fine,” Mac said. “Take your time.”
“No, I mean I’m sorry about before,” Jessie said. Her voice was so soft Mac had to strain to hear her.
“Excuse me?” Mac said. It wasn’t so much that she needed to hear it again—okay, maybe she did—but she also wanted to be sure that she’d heard what she thought she’d heard.
“I’m sorry that I ruined your wedding,” Jessie said. “I’m sorry I was always mean to you.”
Mac shifted on the ground beside her. “Why were you always so mean?”
“I don’t know,” Jessie said. “You just seemed so confident all the time, and everyone always liked you. I always felt like I had to work for it, and let’s face it, most of my friends only liked me for my money. Your friends adored you just for being you. I hated you.”
“I got that,” Mac said. “If it evens it out, I hated you, too, especially after my wedding fiasco, but, wow, you really saved me.”
They were silent for a while. No cars passed by and the stillness in the trees around them made Mac feel as if time had slowed. She wondered if it was mostly because the last fifteen minutes of conversation had blown her mind.
“He’s been cheating on me from the first day we were married,” Jessie said. She looked sickened by the admission and then she started to cry again. “Even on our honeymoon, he had a quickie with a cocktail waitress in the coatroom of our hotel. I found out when I got chlamydia but by then I was already pregnant with Gracie.”
“Son of a bitch,” Mac said. She didn’t know what to do, so she put her hand on Jessie’s back and just kept it there as a constant pressure point of compassion.
“I threatened, I begged, I pleaded,” Jessie sobbed. “But he told me that my fat pregnant body disgusted him and he had needs. God help me, I believed him. After Gracie was born, I thought it’d be okay, I was so stupid, but he didn’t stop cheating and then I got pregnant with Maddie.”
Mac felt nauseated. All this time, all these years, she had been licking her wounds thinking Jessie Peeler had humiliated her and stolen the life that was supposed to be hers and she’d despised her for it. And all along, Jessie had unwittingly saved her.
“Why haven’t you left him?” Mac asked, knowing full well that things were often more complicated than simply packing a bag and going.
“He told me if I ever tried to leave him, he’d take the girls away,” Jessie said. “Besides, what would I do? I graduated with a business degree but never worked a day in my life. Seth blew through my inheritance within the first five years of our marriage. I have nothing. I have no one. He owns me, literally.”
This was unacceptable. There had been a time when Mac would have happily seen Jessie suffer for the rest of her days, but looking at the woman now, she couldn’t wish any worse upon her than she’d already suffered.
“Business major, huh?” Mac asked.
“Yeah, what a joke,” Jessie said.
“Not necessarily,” Mac said. “Where are your girls right now?”
“At a playdate,” Jessie said. “They’re getting dropped off at the house at five. Seth and I were on a lunch date but when I got mad at him for trying to pick up our waitress, he dumped me on the side of the road.”
“What an asshole,” Mac cursed and Jessie gave her a watery smile. “Get in the car. We need to get you cleaned up.”
“What for?” Jessie asked.
“Job interview,” Mac said.
“Huh?”
Jessie looked at her like she was crazy, but Mac had never been more sure of anything in her life. She grabbed Je
ssie’s hand and pulled her to her feet. She opened the passenger door and then grabbed her big bag from the back of the Jeep and dumped it in Jessie’s lap.
“I have no idea what’s in there exactly, but I’m sure you’ll find a brush somewhere,” Mac said.
She hurried around to the driver’s side door and climbed into the car. She turned on the engine and put it into drive.
“How are you not a hunchback, carrying around a bag this heavy?” Jessie asked.
“It has everything I need,” Mac said.
Jessie held up her pink bra. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Listen, are you interested in getting a job or not?” Mac asked. She felt her face get warm but she refused to be embarrassed at having Jessie find her bra in her bag. There were bigger things happening here.
“Yes,” Jessie said. But then she averted her face and glanced out the window. “But who is going to hire a thirty-two-year-old woman who has never held a job before?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Mac said. “Worry about making yourself presentable in the next five minutes.”
Jessie shot her an alarmed look and dove back into Mac’s bag.
When Mac parked the Jeep in front of Gavin’s clinic, she got out and gestured for Jessie to follow her. Together they approached the building with Mac looking confident and Jessie looking terrified.
“But I don’t know anything about animals,” Jessie protested.
“You don’t need to,” Mac said. “You’re here to do the books.”
“I am?” Jessie asked.
“If you think you want to,” Mac said.
She stepped on the mat and the door opened. The two women froze in their tracks as an absolute barking, hissing, screeching, howling cacophony of chaos greeted them.
“Oh, my god,” Jessie said. She looked like she was debating running away.
“You want a job?” Mac asked.
“Yes,” Jessie said.
“Then let’s show them what you’re made of,” Mac said.
Gavin was behind the counter, trying to take a payment while listening to another pet owner talk his ear off. Two dogs were snarling at each other in the corner while a cat had gotten loose and climbed on top of the shelf that housed the pet food and was hissing at anything that moved toward her.
About a Dog Page 22