Page 48 of Finding You

“Come on,” he said, his hand resting on her lower back, guiding her over to the register. “Let’s pay for our books and go grab all the ingredients for enchiladas.”

At the counter, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “This is going to be a great night.”

And he had to agree.

For as busy as the shop had been for the last week, Tuesday was oddly quiet. Devin didn’t seem the least bit worried about it, so MacKenzie figured she shouldn’t be either.

Still, it left her with some time on her hands.

Time that she spent looking at her mother’s Facebook page again and that ultimately led her to composing a message to send.

Hey, Mom. It’s me. MacKenzie. Long time no see, right? It’s been a while and I wanted to reach out and let you know that Dad passed away a few years ago. So I’m basically on my own and alone.

“Ugh…how pathetic does that sound?” she mumbled, but kept writing.

Anyway, I finally decided to leave Syracuse and am currently driving across the country. My car broke down in the mountains of Virginia and I’m waiting for the repairs to be done before I hit the road again. I was thinking of maybe coming to Oregon. Like I said, I know it’s been a long time, but I thought it might be nice to see each other. If all goes as planned, I’ll be leaving Virginia on Sunday–Monday the latest–and plan to start heading west. I’m going to be smart about it and it should take five days, so realistically, I could be to you by the weekend.

“Now I’m coming off as needy. Great.”

Obviously, I don’t have a current address for you, but hopefully you’ll see this and get back to me and we can make some plans to get together. Anyway, hope you’re doing well and I look forward to hearing from you. Love, M.

She stared at the message for a long time and agonized over hitting send or not.

Fear of rejection–again–was strong, and this time if it happened, her father wasn’t going to be there to dry her tears or to make excuses. This time, she’d have to handle it all by herself.

You could talk to Devin about it…

She could, but…she wouldn’t. It was too embarrassing. From all the conversations they’d had about their lives, it sounded like Devin’s parents were practically saints. Even now they were over in Africa giving medical care to underprivileged children.

That was a far cry from having your mother abandon you and starting a whole new life thousands of miles away.

So yeah, she’d have to keep this one to herself.

“Hey, Mac!” Will said as he strolled into the office. “I’m going on a coffee and muffin run.” He grinned. “No offense, but you took too long yesterday.” Then he chuckled. “I’m kidding. Sort of. Anyway, can I get you anything?” He stepped in a little closer and looked at the computer screen. “Facebook, huh? I’m more of an Instagram guy myself.”

Quickly closing the browser, she shrugged. “I go on both because I like to follow some of my favorite authors.” Another shrug. “And since it was quiet in here today, I guess I was just looking for a way to kill some time.”

“That’s why I’m going over to Books & Beans. And if it’s cool with you, we’re thinking of just ordering pizza for lunch. We’re all pretty flexible on toppings, so…”

Smiling at him, she nodded. “That sounds great. Do they deliver?”

“Totally unnecessary. They’re only a couple of doors down. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed them.” Then he paused. “Although, you and Devin come and go in the opposite direction…”

“I guess.”

“Anyway, either someone runs it down or one of us walks over to grab it. It just depends on who’s not busy, you know?”

“When we’re ready to order, I can call it in or…”

“Nah. Don’t worry about it. I can handle it. You’ll just have to tell me what you like on your pizza and I’ll call it in.” Then he leaned in a little closer and whispered loudly, “I kind of have the hots for Cindy Blake. She works the register there so…”

That made her laugh. “Say no more. Lunch is totally your deal. No worries.”

“Okay, cool. And where did we land on coffee and muffins? You want anything?”

“Um…a chocolate chip muffin if they have them–or anything with chocolate, please,” she said with a twinge of embarrassment. “It’s my weakness.”

“I totally get it. Any coffee?”

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