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“Stay, Pix. Have pizza with us,” he says quietly.
I glance back at Trent and see him eyeing me with trepidation. I don’t blame him. He doesn’t know much about me, and I’m sure he doesn’t trust me because of that. Hell, if I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t trust me either.
When I look back at Mac, he’s standing there watching me. I can see he really wants me to stay. I just don’t know if I should. Would it lead him to believe I wanted to try again?
No, I am a long way off from that. I understand now why and how it happened, but I’m not ready to get involved with him again. My anger may have shifted from Mac to Tessa, but it’s still there. The one thing I do know is that I would like to stay for dinner. Yes, it hurts to be around Trent, but I can’t help but want to know more about him. Yes, part of him is Tessa, but the other part is Mac and Mac used to be such a big part of my life.
Making my decision, I tell him, “I’d love to stay.”
The smile he aims my way brings those long-forgotten butterflies to the surface again.
10
Mac
Her charm…
WE’RE ALL SITTING AROUND the table eating pizza. No one is talking and tension fills the air. I know Mia isn’t really comfortable in this situation. I know it’s hard on her, being around T. It’s a big slap in the face reminder of what happened.
I’m sure Trent isn’t real happy with the situation either. He doesn’t know much about Mia, as he’s not here very often, but he does know Mia is part of the reason why his mom and I never worked out. He doesn’t know why, but I’m sure he’s heard her name a time or two. I can only imagine what his mom has told him. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with him lately, but he’s developed an attitude. I plan to talk to him this week to find out what’s going on. We’ve always been close, but he’s closed himself off lately. I don’t like it. I want my easygoing boy back.
It’s hard to keep my eyes off Mia. She hasn’t been here since before her eighteenth birthday. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing her here until now. She used to be so comfortable here. Itwas her second home. It hurts to see the tension on her face. I don’t know why she agreed to stay, but I’m glad she did. Everything I laid on her tonight can’t be easy. I know it was a real shock. I can only imagine what she is thinking and feeling right now.
Out the corner of my eye, I see a furry head peeking around the door that leads to the kitchen. I drop my pizza crust on the plate and swivel in my chair.
“Come here, Loafer,” I say, and hold out my hand.
Mia whips her head around. Loafer hasn’t been out of my room since she showed up. You can see the surprise on Mia’s face when she sees Loafer peeking around the corner.
Mia looks back at me. “I didn’t know you had a dog.”
I break a piece of the crust off and hold it down to try to entice Loafer to come to me. She takes a couple steps closer. I look over at Mia when I answer.
“She’s skittish, doesn’t like strangers. I adopted her when she was a pup. The shelter said she had been beaten.” I click my teeth at Loafer and we watch in silence as she slowly makes her way over to me. She eyes Mia the whole time, but I’m still surprised she came to me. Normally, she won’t enter a room if there’s someone in there she doesn’t know. She’s fine with kids, took to T right from the start, but not adults.
She gently takes the crust from me and flops down on her butt to eat it. Mia watches her with a sad expression on her face. When we were kids, she loved animals. She slowly reaches out toward Loafer’s back. Loafer tenses and stops eating, but doesn’t scurry away, which also surprises me. I sit stunned when Loafer lets Mia rub her hand along her back. Is it normal for me to be jealous of a dog? I want those soft hands rubbing me.
“She normally doesn’t let anyone touch her, except T and me,” I tell her, as she continues to pet Loafer. She looks up with a small smile. Mia reaches up, grabs a piece of her own crust, and offers it to Loafer. Again, she gently takes it and commences eating it, seemingly no longer fazed that Mia is touching her.
“Why the name Loafer? It’s not a traditional dog name.”
I chuckle. “No, I guess it’s not. When I got her, all she would eat was bread. Wouldn’t touch dog food or any scraps I tried giving her.”
After a few more minutes of petting Loafer, Mia sits back in her chair.
We lapse into more silence. Just before I open my mouth to say something, Mia speaks up.
“What grade will you be in when school starts back up?” she asks, looking at T.
He pauses in stuffing his face and eyes Mia suspiciously before mumbling, “Fifth.”
Mia looks at me, and I smile at her in encouragement. I like that she’s curious about T. She turns back to him and asks another question.
“Are you excited?”
Rolling his eyes, he says, “It’s school. Why would I be excited about school?”
I’m just about to get on to him for rolling his eyes when I hear Mia chuckle. The sound is music to my ears. I’ve always loved her laugh, with its soft sound. It’s just one of the thousands of things I’ve missed about her.
