Will laughed. “I forgot you haven’t seen her in action since…”
“Since I lost my mind?” Rory asked dryly.
“No, sugar,” Gran said. “Since you finally grew a set of lady balls.”
Mac chuckled along with everyone else as Hudson leaned close, whispering in her ear, “Your gran is the best.”
The tickle of his breath sent shivers through her, and she turned her head to meet his gaze, her eyes dropping to his lips. He traced tiny circles at the base of her neck with his thumb, reminding her of when he made that same motion on a very different body part. My God, how could she be so terrified and still want him this much?
“I don’t think I could love you more, Gran,” Asher said, his deep, rumbling voice snapping Mac out of her trance.
She whipped her head to him along with everyone else, as if they’d all just remembered he was there. His hand was in the pocket of his battered jeans, his old Rugrats T-shirt stretching across his chest. It was too short for him, the hem barely hitting the waistband of his jeans, and the screen print on the front was cracked and faded. She was pretty sure he used to wear that in his early high school years, and he’d grown a hell of a lot since then. He’d very obviously grabbed the closest pieces of clothing and jumped in his car without giving another thought to anything but being there with Nat.
“Yet you never come see me,” Gran said, admonishment in her tone. “And you haven’t even given me a hug.”
Without another word, Asher strode to her and swept her up into his arms, and then it was a hug-fest where everyone got their turn welcoming him home. As Mac watched her loved ones talk and laugh, the center of her chest tightened with longing.
She wanted that. Wanted desperately to be the person her friends and family called when they needed someone. Wanted, even, just to be a person someone thought of.
All her life, she’d been nothing more than an afterthought. She loved her sisters beyond measure, but they outshone her in all things. Because of that, she’d never truly been seen.
Except by Hudson.
But then he’d gone away without a backward glance, his duty to himself outshining anything they’d had.
And even Will—the person who was the other half of her heart—practically ignored her both times she’d fallen for Finn, as her world had begun to orbit around him. Mac knew Will hadn’t done it maliciously. It was simply because she didn’t need Mac anymore. Her sister had found, and then reconnected with, her person.
Nash was that for Rory. Asher, though platonically, was that for Nat. Who did Mac have? And who hadher?
The thought made her stomach twist and her throat tighten. It made her want to shrink in her seat until she couldn’t be seen. Hide herself away like she’d been doing her whole life.
Because if she pulled away first, if she avoided and hid from the world, it wouldn’t hurt so badly when no one needed or noticed her.
But was it really hiding if no one saw you anyway?
Somewhere around late afternoon, Mac had lost track of time. She was exhausted, and she’d only been there for half a day. She couldn’t even imagine how tired the rest of her family must have been. They’d managed brief snippets of sleep between the commotion around them, the announcements over the speakers, and the well-meaning but near-constant phone calls from friends checking in, but it wasn’t enough and certainly wasn’t sustainable.
She sat, slumped against Hudson’s side, his arm draped over her shoulders as she rested her head on his chest. His phone was propped on his knee, turned toward her, and a comedy special streamed on the device.
She’d never have guessed what she’d needed was to watch an inappropriate and crass comedienne while in the ICU waiting room, and yet there she was. Though, to be fair, she’d had absolutely no idea what she’d needed since the moment they’d walked through the doors.
But Hudson had. All day, he’d been fulfilling her needs without her uttering a word—first with some much-needed coffee, then with the cookie he’d brought back with lunch. And then there were the baby llama videos and the bloopers fromThe Officeand a video that was just five straight minutes of puppies playing.
Honestly, she sort of wished he’d cut it out, because he was only proving to her just how perfect he was and how well hegother.
Now, if only he’d choose her and stay…
“Mrs. Haven?” a voice called. A Black man wearing light blue scrubs stood in front of the doors that led to the ICU patient rooms.
“Yes?” Momma sprang to her feet, wringing her hands in front of her as she strode toward the surgeon.
Mac jumped up, along with her sisters and gran, until they surrounded her mom. The six of them huddled together, their hands clasped as they waited for the news they’d been simultaneously hopeful for and dreading all day.
She eyed the surgeon critically. Since she hadn’t been there when her daddy had been brought in, she had no idea who’d been performing this life-saving surgery on him or their level of competency. And Mac had no idea how to gauge such a thing.
The doctor was short and stocky, standing only a few inches taller than her. He could’ve been anywhere between thirty-five and fifty-five, but she’d guess he was closer to the latter. His rich, brown skin showed only a few laugh lines, but he was bald and his short-trimmed beard was almost completely white. Kind eyes met hers behind his round, tortoiseshell glasses, and she felt herself relaxing. Surely he wouldn’t look at her like that if something had happened, right?
“Good news,” he said, and the entire room seemed to expand with a collective exhale. “The surgery went very well, though we did run into a few complications that held things up a bit. After we took Richard off bypass, the graft began leaking, so we had to go back on bypass to do further repairs.”
