92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber [107]
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it for me.”
“Well, for one thing, David Rhodes, Noelle’s birth father, is threatening to go for custody.”
“He wouldn’t dare.”
“He won’t now that I’m in the picture, that’s for sure.”
“Just a minute,” Linnette said in that irritating bigsister way. “You don’t need to marry her to keep David Rhodes out of her life. Obviously, there’s more to this story than meets the eye.”
Maybe informing Linnette that he was engaged hadn’t been such a good idea, after all.
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“But you aren’t a hundred percent convinced she returns your feelings?”
Apparently his sister possessed some form of psychic ability because she’d immediately homed in on the one subject Mack wanted to avoid.
“Uh…”
“You’re afraid she’s using you to keep Noelle’s father at bay?”
When he didn’t answer, she continued. “Mack…do you love her that much?”
Mack sat on a kitchen stool with his cell pressed tightly against his ear. He closed his eyes and whispered, “Yeah, I love her that much.” It would be a whole lot easier if he didn’t.
“Oh, Mack, you’ve got it bad.”
One thing Mack didn’t want was his sister’s sympathy. He regretted even telling her what was going on between him and Mary Jo. And yet…he felt at such a loss to explain this new tension between them. He’d hoped Linnette might offer him some insight. Some explanation.
Since their engagement, Mary Jo had barely looked at him. It used to be that she’d often invite him to dinner on the nights he wasn’t at the station. In the past two weeks he hadn’t been to her place even once.
That wasn’t all. Before they became engaged, they’d played UNO and other card games. They’d talked every day. They’d laughed together. From the moment they’d discussed marriage, she’d treated him as if he had some communicable disease.
“Okay, little brother, if you honestly feel that way, then why—”
“Can I say something?” he asked.
“No,” Linnette said. “Answer my question first.”
“All right. If you must know, Mary Jo agreed to marry me but she insisted on a six-month engagement.”
“Six months? Well, that’s not so bad.”
“She also insisted there be no…physical contact between us.”
“What?”
Mack was not repeating that information. “You heard me.” Just saying the words out loud convinced him Mary Jo didn’t care the way he did. He was a means to an end. He would protect her and Noelle so Rhodes couldn’t threaten her. And the worst of it was…he’d suggested it himself.
“Nothing…physical for six months?”
“Mary Jo felt that would give us time to get to know each other—or so she said,” he grumbled. That excuse seemed lame in light of the recent awkwardness between them.
“So you aren’t…you know—”
He groaned. “I don’t ask you about your love life, do I?”
“No, but maybe you should.”
Mack let her comment slide.
“Remember,” his sister said, “Mary Jo has some real trust issues. I can’t blame her for that.”
“You haven’t even met her,” Mack reminded Linnette. But what she’d said was true. Mary Jo did have trust issues; she’d admitted it and the reasons were obvious. That, however, didn’t explain the change in her attitude since she’d agreed to marry him.
“For someone who’s about to become a husband and father, you don’t sound very happy.”
“I’m not. The fact is, I’m not sure why I told you. No one else knows except Mary Jo’s brother.”
“You told me because I’m your big sister and you want advice—only you won’t come right out and ask for it.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“Afraid so.”
He sighed. All of this would be easier if he didn’t have such strong feelings for Mary Jo.
“Does she know your real name is Jerome?”
“She knows.” He’d insisted on being called Mack from the time he was in grade school. He’d been named for his paternal grandfather, and while Mack had loved his grandpa Jerry, he wasn’t fond of the name.
“Why don’t you want to tell Mom and Dad?” Linnette asked. “They’d be thrilled.”
Tentative as the situation between him and Mary Jo was, Mack didn’t feel he could involve his parents. He slouched against the kitchen counter and rested his elbows