“Don’t look so shocked, Mac. ’Course I’d be askin’ folks to keep an eye on things while I’m gone. Can’t effectively run the town from a hospital bed if I don’t.”
“That’s the whole point, dear. Youdon’trun the town.Macdoes. And you said so yourself earlier today after your phone call—she’s doin’ a fine job of it. So, leave her to it.”
Mac thought her shocks for the day were over, but apparently not. As her parents continued bickering quietly, she could only sit there, the outward appearance of utter calm. Meanwhile, inside, she was going crazy.
She liked to pretend as if she didn’t give two shits about what people thought of her, but that just wasn’t true. And though years ago she’d stopped attempting to gain her parents’ approval, that didn’t mean she didn’t still desperately crave it. And they’d just handed it to her on a silver platter.
She couldn’t deny the feeling of accomplishment that had settled over her at their words. Which was ridiculous—it should’ve been the acts that made her feel accomplished and not a couple well-timed sentences from her parents. Especially since she was a fully grown woman who didn’t need her parents’ approval for anything. She knew that, and yet…
“How long are you gonna be stayin’ this afternoon?” Momma asked. “I know you must be so busy at town hall.” Her words were spoken with such pride, Mac couldn’t help but feel that swell in her chest.
She cleared her throat from the tightness that was suddenly there. A tightness that had nothing to do with her daddy being in a hospital. “I’ve got a while. I was in late last night and again early this mornin’.”
“Must’ve gotten that work ethic from your daddy,” he said.
Never mind that she’d seen him skipping work more than actually doing it, but that was beside the point. He was showing her the kind of approval he usually reserved for Rory or sometimes Will. Never Nat. Never Mac.
Now, she just had to figure out how tokeepit. If anything, the stakes were even higher now, because she’d been given a taste of something she couldn’t ever remember having, and it was as addictive as a drug.
It was time to buckle down as the acting mayor and make headway not waves. She’d sworn she was ready to sacrifice anything to prove her worth. And that included all the ideas she’d had for the town, like the entrepreneurial bonuses to entice newcomers to the area, or a dedicated search and rescue team for Havenbrook.
Now wasn’t the time to broach those ideas or fight for any of it. Not when she needed to hold it together for her family. Not when her daddy was counting on her to not fuck up.
So, for now, she could maintain the status quo. Besides, they’d gone without for this long—what was another couple months?
Maybe, after her daddy came back to his role, he’d see her contribution as valuable and seek her out for advice or input—ask about her ideas. Maybe then she could broach some of those things. It’d no doubt be better received by the good old boys if the orders came from a good old boy, right?
Until then, she just had to stay the course. Not rock the boat. And focus all of her attention on making sure she finally succeeded at something.
Mac followed Asher’s SUV as it turned down the path leading to their homes, honking twice when they turned off at the main house and she continued on to hers.
She’d wanted to go to town hall and get in a few more hours of work, but Avery must’ve put the word out, because Nat said she’d spill secrets to their momma—namely that the dent in their car when they’d been younger hadn’t been caused by a runaway cart but rather Mac running into a dumpster—if she so much as drove past there before tomorrow morning. And her sister was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them.
Despite the niggle in the back of her mind that she needed to be at work, she was looking forward to the time off to decompress. Finally allow herself the brainspace to think about what she’d been avoiding all day—namely Hudson and the handful of texts he’d sent her while she’d been at the hospital.
He hadn’t asked where she was or what she was doing. Hadn’t pestered her or demanded her attention. He’d simply let her know he was thinking of her. Texting random, hilarious observations of people milling around the Square, or a picture of a tiger’s-eye marble he must’ve found at the gift shop, or of CB rolling around in a pile of leaves.
She’d tried not to read too much into it. Mostly because she couldn’t. She didn’t have that luxury, because despite what shewanted, she knew she couldn’t make Hudson stay.
He was leaving, whether she liked it or not. And besides, now wasn’t the time to start a relationship. Not when Havenbrook was resting on her shoulders. Not when her parents were counting on her. Finallybelievingin her.
Two cars were parked in front of her house, and she froze, her Jeep coasting down the driveway without any instruction from her. Hudson’s old truck sat beside Lilah’s newer sedan. She was nowhere to be seen, but Hudson sat perched on the roof, cleaning out her gutters and tossing the dead leaves to the ground where Caleb was gathering them.
And no.No. Her stomach absolutely should not be fluttering, nor should her heart be soaring. Not like this. Not because of a man who might as well be a ghost in Havenbrook. But, dammit, both were true.
It was so easy to picture herself coming home to this. Something so utterly mundane, but she suddenly ached for it.
It’d been a long time since she’d allowed herself such fantasies of a life with Hudson, but sometime since he’d been home, they’d crept in and taken up residence in her heart. A heart that skipped a beat when Hudson lifted his head and his eyes locked on hers.
She parked her Jeep on the other side of his truck, gathered her things, and had one leg out her door when her phone went off. She’d been paranoid since the whole Ridge fiasco, so she pulled it out of her bag without a second thought and found a text from Edna.
Her momma could barely say hello via text, but she got messages from Gran and Edna almost daily. They were the most technologically savvy senior citizens she’d ever met.
You were the talk of the town today. Folks went on and on about what a great job you’ve been doing. Rumor has it your little friend Hudson had something to do with that…
And just as fast as her heart had soared, it plummeted as she read the last sentence. She frowned down at her phone and typed out a reply.
You’re sure it was Hudson’s doing?
