She rubbed her face into his chest. “She won’t talk to me.”
Mack didn’t pull away. He didn’t dig deeper. He didn’t even offer any advice. All Mack did was listen. And that was what she needed most.
Funnyhow a simple vent session was all it took for Lacey to get her head in the right space again. She couldn’t believe she’d been so quick to shut Mack out. And he’d been a sweetheart from the very beginning.
Her relationship felt stronger than ever—even though Angela was still giving her the cold shoulder. Now that everything was out in the open, Mack had insisted that she bring Bridger around Sagebrush Ranch a lot more.
“The kid’s a natural!” Mack hollered from where he stood in the center of a corral. Lacey couldn’t get her heart to lower itself from its location lodged in her throat as she watched her son, clad in a new pair of jeans, a pair of real cowboy boots, and a hat—all courtesy of the man standing before her.
If this wasn’t heaven, she didn’t want anything to do with it.
Her eyes followed Bridger, her anxiety a little eased now that she’d watched him for a while. Mack was right. Her son was bornto be in a saddle. And by the looks of it, Mack was born to be a father.
A shiver crept up her spine as her thoughts ran away with themselves. For the first time in a long while, she could see a future with him—with both of them.
“You must be the boy’s mom.” A deep voice jolted her out of this particular fantasy.
Lacey twisted to find a familiar young man. She’d met him before, but she couldn’t recall his name. He belonged to Mack’s family—Sammie’s other brother-in-law. It had been a brief encounter, so it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t remember her. Offering him a small smile, she turned her attention back to Bridger’s riding lesson. “And you must be Mack’s baby brother.”
“I’m Noah,” he scoffed. “I heard you had a mouth on you.”
She lifted a brow, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “Oh? Who would have said such a hurtful thing?”
This time he chuckled, likely hearing the amused drawl of her voice. He leaned up against the bar that kept them separated from the interior of the corral and rested his folded arms atop it. “I never thought I’d see the day when Mack would willingly take responsibility over someone else. He’s always been…” His voice trailed off, and he shrugged.
Noah’s words scratched at something in the back of her mind. He could be referring to anything. Mack had said that he’d been a disappointment to his family. Angela had said that Mack wasn’t who he appeared to be. Why wouldn’t any of them just come out and tell her what they thought was so wrong about him?
Her gaze locked with Mack’s. His smile only grew. There was nothing wrong with him. He was finding his way in the world just like anyone else. And he was going to chase a dream no one thought he could handle.
Lacey didn’t bother asking Noah to clarify. She didn’t need any negativity right now. Between her concerns with Angela and the thread of control she had over her relationship with Mack, there was already too much taking place in her mind.
“Anyway,” Noah murmured, tossing her a smile. “It’s nice to see that he has something to fight for.”
Now that statement warmed her from the inside out. “You really think so?” She couldn’t help the question as it slipped between her lips.
“Definitely.” Noah nodded toward the duo still in the middle of their exercises. “You can’t tell me that you don’t see how much he loves your kid. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”
Lacey dragged her focus to Mack, and she smiled again. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”
“I guesswhat I’m trying to say is that I overreacted.”
Lacey chewed on her thumbnail as she paced the kitchen. Mack was reading Bridger a story, and when Lacey had seen who was calling in, she couldn’t ignore it. Her eyes kept flitting to the bedroom door, expecting Mack to make an appearance.
She didn’t know why she was nervous. It wasn’t as if Angela had expected Lacey to break up with Mack after their argument. Still, she didn’t want to rock the precarious position where she now found herself. Angela had finally called her back after three days. Those three days had been torture.
“It’s okay,” Lacey murmured. “I get it.”
“It’s not okay. I didn’t have a claim on him.” Angela sighed. “He’d even said right off the bat that he liked someone else. I should have known.” This time she groaned. “I was so stupid! Seriously. All the signs were there, Lacey. He’d said he liked someone else but was trying to convince her. And the fact that he was at your complex that day I arrived!”
Though Lacey couldn’t see her sister’s face, she could imagine that Angela was dealing with a flush of embarrassment. Her sister didn’t need to be embarrassed. “I should have mentioned he was really flirty.” Lacey grimaced. Mack was more than flirty. He’d openly tried to get her to go out with him from the beginning.
“No. You weren’t under any obligation. It does all make a little more sense. If there was one guy who could break down those walls you put up, it would be Mack.”
A smile threatened to cross Lacey’s face, but she bit it back. “Does this mean you’ll come back and stay here again?”
There was a pause, and Lacey’s stomach dropped. Already she knew what her sister would say to her before her voice came through the line. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?’ Lacey whispered, fighting to hold back the pain that lurked behind her cheerful tone.
