He let out a long breath. “Please look at me. I’m just asking for you to be honest with me.”
She scowled at him, and if he didn’t know any better, he might have thought she was about to cry.
Lacey still wouldn’t look at him. “The problem isn’t that I hate you,” she said. “The problem is that Idon’thate you.” She adjusted the strap of her purse and pushed past him hard enough to knock him off balance as she headed for her car.
Confusion ripped through his chest. Should he go after her? He might still have a chance to catch her before she got into her car. But his legs wouldn’t move. His feet felt as though they’d been plastered to the asphalt beneath him.
What did she mean?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lacey pulledoff the side of the road the second she knew Mack hadn’t followed her. Breathing had gotten too difficult to risk driving the rest of the couple of miles to her apartment. A wave of dizziness only made things worse, and all she could do was rest her forehead against the steering wheel.
Yes, she was overreacting, but her heart didn’t seem to think so.
Angela was the only member of her family that treated her with any modicum of respect. She cheered Lacey on when she’d finally got custody of Bridger. She’d probably drop everything if Lacey needed her.
While her sister hadn’t exactly stopped her parents from taking Bridger after he was born, she had made it clear she didn’t agree with their decision to do so. That was a long time ago, and Lacey had forgiven her for it. They’d both been young.
Lacey gulped in air and closed her eyes. She couldn’t afford to have Angela mad at her. Did she think that Angela would do anything if Lacey chose to start dating Mack?
No.
There was no fear that Angela woulddoanything. The anxiety that ripped Lacey’s body apart was the thought of losing her sister—that fragile friendship they’d finally found with each other.
If Angela got hurt—if she got upset over Mack being interested in Lacey—then she could complain to their parents. Who knew what would come of that? Would their folks scrutinize Mack and judge Lacey for bringing a stranger into Bridger’s life?
Her hands trembled. The paranoia was still there even after having Bridger under her roof for the last year. Every decision she made was done with a calculated thought process. She couldn’t allow even one thread of her hard-earned life to unravel. No weaknesses for her parents to tug at.
Bridger was her son, and he would be raised by his mother.
After a few more minutes, she’d calmed herself enough to put the car into drive and head home. She’d had an earlier shift today because she had to work late tomorrow. The dinner shift wasn’t bad, but it was busy. Then the late-night crowd came in. They were the best tippers and more easy-going.
Angela glanced up from where she sat on the couch watching a cartoon with Bridger. She smiled warmly. “Have a good shift?”
Lacey shrugged out of her jacket and nodded. “You still okay to babysit tomorrow? It’s okay if you’re not.” She’d have to check around for a last-minute sitter if Angela had forgotten. It’d be annoying, but Lacey wasn’t about to make her sister upset. She’d already been moping about Mack turning her down when she’d texted him.
There were no signs that she’d had a bad afternoon. Maybe she’d given up on chasing Mack. It wouldn’t mean that he was free todate, but at least Lacey could breathe easier knowing that her sister wasn’t still pining for the guy.
Angela’s focus was on the table again. “Yeah, sure. It’s not like I have anything better to do.” The tone of her voice said it all. She still wanted that date with Mack. She hadn’t given up. Her resignation would be short-lived if Lacey knew her sister as well as she believed she did.
Lacey frowned and moved to the couch to sit beside her sister. What could she say? Nothing. She definitely couldn’t tell her that Mack was practically stalking her and had shown up at her work—again. And she absolutely wouldn’t let Angela know that Mack was wearing her down.
She’d all but admitted to him that she liked him.
Her heart twisted as she forced herself to look at the television. They could both stew in their separate and yet similar frustrations.
Lacey pulleda stack of plastic cups from the dish drying rack and flipped them onto a tray one at a time. With deft fingers, she scooped ice into the glasses and then worked at filling them with water.
A table of five. Even if their tips were average, it would be a nice chunk to add to the tally she had going.
“A guy requested your section. Thought you should know.” The hostess for the evening swept past Lacey breezily, not bothering to stick around and answer the question burning on Lacey’s tongue.
Then again, she likely didn’t have to even ask who it was.
She already knew.
Lacey stifled a groan and returned to filling the final cup with water. If Mack was out there sitting in her section alone, he was going to be taking up valuable space. She needed the tips. What was his problem?
