1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [73]
He’d been upset with Mary Jo after their confrontation with David on the waterfront two weeks earlier. Twice since then he’d tried to talk to her about the situation, and both times she’d abruptly changed the subject. The only thing she wanted to talk about was their search for Jacob and Joan. And that interested him, too, but it wasn’t about their lives. Clearly she wasn’t comfortable discussing David. Not with him, anyway. And that hurt. He felt he had as much at stake as she did. Not to the same degree, perhaps, but he loved Noelle, too.
Their dinner with his parents hadn’t helped. His mother—and even his father—thought they’d come to announce their engagement.
He wished.
Mary Jo wasn’t ready, and frankly, Mack was growing frustrated. He’d recognized long ago that she was afraid. He understood that. But for the past six months he’d bent himself into a pretzel trying to prove how trustworthy he was. Okay, he’d stumbled once, when Mary Jo discovered he’d misled her regarding the ownership of the duplex. Even then he’d had her best interests at heart. If he had to do it over again, hindsight being what it was, he’d tell her the truth. How much that error in judgment had cost him remained to be seen.
He was tired of the brush-off she’d been giving him lately, and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. Running helped him clear his mind, so he’d pounded the pavement for five miles while he mulled over the events of the past few weeks.
He loved her and Noelle, but it felt as though with every step forward, he immediately took two steps back. After six months he was beginning to think she might never feel as strongly about him as he did about her.
After his run, Mack showered, changed clothes, did a few errands and returned home midafternoon. As he brought groceries into the house, Mary Jo came out of her place.
“Hi,” she said, sounding uncertain.
Good. He hoped she enjoyed the feeling because he’d been experiencing it for the past half year.
“Hi,” he said back, and reached for another bag of groceries.
“I didn’t see you this morning.” He usually made himself available to Mary Jo and Noelle in case they needed anything. Maybe that was his problem—being too helpful, too eager to show he cared.
He brought the second load into the house and left the door open. A couple of minutes later, he was back to get his dry cleaning.
Mary Jo came farther into the yard, watching him. Mack pretended not to notice.
“Are you upset?” she asked.
He stopped and met her look head-on. “As a matter of fact, I am.”
She blinked as though his honesty had taken her by surprise. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’ve tried twice, and Noelle and her future obviously isn’t something you want to discuss with me.”
“You’re not her father,” Mary Jo snapped.
She couldn’t have said anything that would have wounded him more. He considered himself Noelle’s protector. He loved that baby as if he were her father. He’d brought her into this world and been the first to hold her in his arms. From that moment forward, Mack had felt a special bond with Noelle, warranted or not.
“Right,” he said stiffly, and walked past her. Once inside, he closed the door. He hung up his clothes, put away his groceries and swallowed a groan of sheer frustration.
Not more than five minutes later, his doorbell rang. Assuming it was Mary Jo, Mack toyed with the idea of not answering. Instead, he walked to the front door and threw it open. He wanted to make sure she understood that he resented the intrusion.
Staring at him intently, she stood on the other side with Noelle in her arms. “I hate it when you’re upset with me.”
He left the screen door shut and waited for his heart to stop pounding. “Are you ready to talk?” he asked.
She nodded.
Mack held open the screen and let her in. He motioned for her to sit down on the sofa and went into the kitchen to make them coffee. He brought out two cups. She ignored hers. He ignored his. Mary Jo set Noelle on the rug, and the six-month-old immediately