“Where is she?”
“She, Gran, and Asher went to grab something to eat.” She held out the hand that wasn’t encased in her husband’s and beckoned Mac closer. “Did you get some lunch?”
No, she hadn’t—who could eat when she had all this shit weighing on her mind?—but she nodded anyway. Her momma didn’t need another thing to worry about, and Mac was perfectly capable of feeding herself.
“Why don’t you come sit with me?” Momma patted the chair next to her—the space Gran had no doubt been perched in all morning, while Nat and Asher hung out in the waiting room in case they were needed.
Mac did as she was asked. Although, the last thing she wanted was to sit down. If she sat in this room, with the incessant beeping and her daddy looking too close to death’s door for her liking, then it’d all be real. Everything that had happened would be real, and she wasn’t sure she could take that.
After several long moments where her tongue felt like a lead balloon in her mouth, intrusive and unmoving, she finally swallowed back her fears to ask the question she’d been unable to bring herself to until now. “How’s Daddy doin’?”
“At least have the decency to ask me instead of your momma,” Daddy said, his voice low and so unlike the usual bark, she startled. “I’m right here.”
“Daddy.” Mac swallowed down her unease and leaned closer to her father, her eyes tracking over every inch of his face. “How’re you doin’?”
“I’d be doin’ a lot better if I wasn’t so damn hungry all the time…” he grumbled.
“Richard, we’ve talked about this.” Momma’s tone was firm, brooking no argument. “You’ve got a lot of food still left over from lunch.”
“You call that food?” He gestured to the plate on his tray, filled with a mostly untouched meal of chicken and vegetables. It looked like the only thing he actually ate was the Jell-O. “Maybe if you’re a rabbit. Which, in case you weren’t aware, I’m not.”
“Not a rabbit, no, but definitely a jackass.”
Mac couldn’t keep in her startled laugh, and she stared at her momma, slack-jawed. She’d never, in all her life, heard her momma talk to her daddy like that. She’d often wondered how someone so strong and opinionated could be married to a man like her daddy and not say a word to challenge him.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” Momma waved a hand toward Mac. “It’s not as if you haven’t thought the same thing.”
“It’s not that,” Mac said. “It’s just…you know. Um…a whole new side of you.”
“A whole new side of me in your eyes, but not altogether. After this man’s fool-headed actions, I’ve decided I’m not waitin’ until we’re in private to call him out on his idiot behavior. No time for that anymore, because I intend to have him at my side for many years to come. So, if he wants to act like a jackass, I’m gonna tell him so. Regardless of who’s in earshot.”
“You’re not gonna do that while any of the fellas are around, are you?”
“Try me.”
“Sweetheart,” her dad said, in a tone that could only be described as a whine.
What in the hell was going on?
“Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me. You’ll have nothing to worry about if you follow the doctor’s orders and do as you’re told.”
“But they have me—” Daddy cut off at a sharp look from Momma, and Mac had to stifle another laugh.
They were in uncharted territory now. As far as Mac knew, none of the Haven girls had ever been witness to anything like this. No wonder Nat had been able to stay at the hospital all morning. This was better entertainment than skydiving. Especially with Gran there giving Daddy the what for, too.
“How’re things goin’ at town hall, honey?” Momma asked as she stroked Daddy’s hand.
“They’re—I’m…figurin’ things out.”
“Figurin’ things out at all hours, apparently. Spendin’ an awful lot of time there, if talk around town is to be believed.”
Of course, her dad would take the extra hours she’d spent there learning the ropes and turn it into a negative. Because Mac was so dumb, she’d flunked out of college, so ofcourse,she’d need extra time to do his work.
“Not that much…” Mac mumbled, but her fire from earlier had all but evaporated.
“That’s not what Gleaves told me. Said you’ve been gettin’ there before the sun comes up and not leavin’ until well after it’s set. That’s—” Daddy cut off and pressed his lips together, nodding to her. It took all her strength not to cringe in anticipation of what was coming. “Real impressive. I’m proud that you’re puttin’ in this work and not lettin’ town hall go to hell while I’m out.”
Wait…what? Had she stepped into the freakin’ twilight zone? You could knock her over with a feather, she was so stunned at those words coming out of her daddy’s mouth. Though she was fairly certain praise from him had happened at least once in all her years, she couldn’t remember a single time.
