Mack swung his eyes back to his brother. “Maybe I would like teaching more.”
He wasn’t surprised to see the knowing smile on his brother’s face. Caleb had known what he was doing when he mentioned the teaching as an option. It would be a decent career choice. Mack had always been good on a horse. Every summer they came here, he’d spent every waking moment in the saddle. It had been difficult to get him to spend time with the kids in town.
Except that one summer.
He pushed aside that memory and turned to Caleb with a different intention. “Can I ask you something?”
Caleb nodded, not pulling his gaze from Bridger. “Go for it.”
“Do you think… I mean, you got to know Lacey a little bit when she met Sammie.”
This time Caleb turned to face him, curiosity piqued.
Heat seared the back of Mack’s neck, and he glanced away, hating that he was even asking this. “Mom said something that made me wonder. Do you think it would be at all possible that Lacey would manipulate someone—like me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Never mind,” Mack blurted. It shouldn’t matter what anyone else thought or felt but him.
“Are you talking about Bridger? Like… Lacey would be using you to benefit her son?”
Mack shrugged, staring out at Bridger with squinted eyes.
“What do you think?” Caleb asked.
He whirled to look at his brother. “I think it was too dang hard to get her to trust me to watch him in the first place.”
Caleb nodded. “Me too.”
“How would you know?”
One side of his brother’s mouth quirked upward. “Sammie’s been going stir crazy at home with the baby. Your love life is all she seems to want to talk about.”
Mack grinned. He hadn’t known Lacey was confiding in Sammie as much as she was. But then, he’d never really asked. “Well, it’s only gonna get better.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A poundingat Lacey’s apartment door had her jumping as she stepped out of the shower. She’d taken a really late shift last night and had barely been able to get Bridger off to school before coming home to sleep the morning away.
She scrunched her hair with the towel and approached the door with more than a little trepidation. Through the spy hole, she found Angela fidgeting and glancing over her shoulder before she knocked again. “Come on, Lacey, let me in,” she called.
Lacey yanked the door open, and Angela burst inside before shutting the door and leaning against it.
Her eyes were wide and maybe a little apologetic. “I’msosorry.”
It was hard not to laugh at the way Angela was behaving. Lacey put a hand on her hip and smirked. “What’s going on? Did you do something so bad that you think I’m going to get mad? Because I can tell you, I’m still feeling guilty over that whole Mack thing.”
Angela stepped forward and took Lacey’s hands in her own. “I didn’t do anything. Not really. But she insisted.”
Brows furrowing, Lacey had only a few moments to compute what her sister had said before her eyes flew wide and shifted to the window. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
Her sister shook her head. “She’s on her way up right now.” As soon as Angela finished her sentence, Lacey saw her mother pass by the window, and her heart sank to her stomach. The doorknob rattled, then Angela gave Lacey an apologetic frown before she opened it.
“Mom! There you are. I thought you got lost.” Angela oozed with sweetness.
Their mother glanced between both of them. Always put together and the epitome of class, she wore cream-colored pants with a navy blouse and matching pumps. Her purse hung over her arm as her gaze shifted to the small apartment. She’d been here before, but each time she came, the disdain of seeing it again flooded her eyes.
Lacey offered her mother a smile. “I wasn’t expecting a visit.”
