Page 49 of Almost Always

Rafferty shot his new friend a look which made him chuckle. “I guess.”

“How about you approach this, whatever it is, like you’re just friends. I know it’s hard to separate the two when you’ve gotfeelings.”

“Why did you say it like that?”

Mack laughed and shrugged. “Because that’s what they are, right?Feelings. It’s this weird bubble in your chest whenever you think of her, or she’s around you. It’s fun and uncomfortable all at once.”

Tilting his head, Rafferty watched the other man for a moment. “Oh shit, you’ve gotfeelingsfor someone too.”

Mack shook his head, but he didn’t hide his smile fast enough. “I might be attracted to her, nothing else.”

“Who is she?”

“A realtor.”

“You moving?”

“You met Clementine, right? At Pretty Baked.” At Rafferty’s nod, Mack continued, “She’s my best friend and she’s looking for a new space for her bakery. So I met Jesse and she’s…”

“Everything.”

Mack chuckled, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Yeah. And she inspired me to paint again.”

Rafferty’s eyes widened. He remembered the conversation they had the first time they met about how Mack had been struggling for a few years. So if this woman had inspired him to get back into the thing he was passionate about, she had to be special.

“That’s amazing, Mack. Both that you’ve also caught feelings, so I’m not alone in this. But more importantly that you’re painting.”

Mack blew out a breath and nodded. “I’ve only been able to paint her, though.”

“It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, just that you are.”

They shared a smile, Boots snoring at his feet and the kids laughing as they played in the other room the only sounds. Mack got up and refilled their glasses.

“So we both just need to get our shit together and do something with the women we like, right?”

Rafferty chuckled. “At least you’re not in the doghouse yet. But I guess you’re not wrong.”

“I’m guessing that this isa lotfor both of you, so get out this weekend, finish your work and deal with everything when you’re back.”

Nodding at Mack’s words, he emptied his water and patted the counter top.

“Speaking of which, I should head out if I want to avoid the traffic. Thanks for this, Mack, seriously.”

“Looking after your kid or something else?”

Rolling his eyes, Rafferty slid off the stool and squatted to scrub Boots’s head. “My therapist told me to make friends and I was hesitant, but I’m glad our kids got us here.”

Mack chuckled. “They’re very determined. But my therapist will be happy to know that I have one more friend too.”

They shook hands and promised to catch up when Rafferty was back. He said bye to Cal, who was so busy playing the video game that he didn’t do more than let Rafferty kiss the top of his head. A few years ago, that would have made him cry. Now, he was just glad that his son had a friend he felt comfortable and safe with.

It took him almost four hours to reach the Ames brownstone, but got lucky with an empty spot in front of the house. Despite his best intentions, he got stuck in quite a bit of traffic. Given that it was a weekend, he shouldn’t have been too surprised. But once he was parked and grabbed his things from the back, Rafferty stood on the sidewalk and stared up at the row of brownstones. The lights were on in all of them and he was sure that his father was getting dinner together for them.

However, that wasn’t what he was staring at. The house next door also had their lights on and soft music floated out through an open window. His heart clenched as memories flooded him—the teenage versions of Daisy and himself sitting on those stairs, heads tipped back as they admired the stars.

He’d been off at college when a new family moved into the Matthew-Heroux brownstone. So when he’d come home one weekend to get his laundry done, he’d been so surprised by the kids running up the stairs. Over the years, he’d watched those children grow up and got to know the family well enough to be invited over for meals.

Shifting his bag to his other hand, he pulled out his phone. He took a picture of the two brownstones and started to compose a text when the front door to the Ames house opened and his father appeared. Putting his phone away, he hurried up the stairs and hugged his father, deciding to focus on the reason he was there.

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