Page 73 of Finding You

Unless whatever Will was cooking up worked.

And unfortunately, he had his doubts. Mainly because he had no idea what his great plan was.

When the time comes, you need to follow my lead and not question it.

How was he supposed to know when the time was and what he wasn’t supposed to question?

They walked into the house and he watched as MacKenzie stood in the hallway, looking uncertain. If she went to the left, she’d be heading to his room; to the right, the guest room. He saw the hesitation before she went to the right. Hanging his head, he sighed and was about to follow her when she came walking back out. Her entire demeanor changed; it was like she was bristly with energy.

“Okay, here’s the thing–I have literally zero family left. Nothing. No one. If I have cousins anywhere, I don’t know about them. All I have is my mother and I feel like I absolutely have to try to reconnect with her,” she blurted, while barely taking a breath. “I had no idea what was going to happen when I reached out to her, but so far, it hasn’t sucked. But you know what does suck?”

“Um…”

“This!” she yelled. “The timing! I cannot believe that I have finally found someplace that I actually like and friends with people who are awesome, and then there’s you!” She waved her finger at him. “I mean, what are the damn odds of my car breaking down and you being the one to find me? And that you’re this amazing person who is practically too good to be true, and you actually like me! And you know what, Devin? I’m not that likable! Ask anyone back in Syracuse!”

“MacKenzie…”

“No! It’s true! I was miserable all the damn time, and then I show up here and it’s like when Dorothy got to Oz! Everything was in color and everyone was so damn nice and…and…you have no idea how much I both love and hate it!”

“Why would you hate it?” he asked, afraid to move closer to her.

“Because it makes it harder to leave!” she cried, her shoulders sagged.

He was about to say that she didn’t have to leave, but…

“And I have to leave, Devin. If there’s even a tiny chance of me reconnecting with my mother, then I have to do it,” she said miserably. “It would be easy to just keep things as a phone call only relationship, but that’s not the right thing to do. Apparently I have half-siblings, so…I should meet them.” Then she paused, nibbling her lip. “Shouldn’t I?”

Shit.

He was definitelynotthe person she should be asking.

“Only you can answer that, MacKenzie,” he gruffly replied. “I…I don’t have any idea how it feels to have a family that you’ve never met, so…”

Her eyes went wide and her jaw sort of hung open, like she couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Um…”

Now she was the one hanging her head. “Wow, uh…I guess I didn’t expect you to say that.” Looking up at him, she took a step back and then another. “I’m going to do some laundry and some packing. If I’m going to leave on Tuesday, I really should…”

“You can do all of that tomorrow. You obviously don’t have to come to the garage. No one expects you to do that.”

“So now you don’t even want me to work with you?” And when she looked at him, her eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

She was killing him.

Moving in close–until they were toe to toe–Devin reached up and gently cupped her face. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m just trying to make things easier on you.”

For a moment, neither spoke. MacKenzie reached up and covered his hands with hers. “What doyouwant?”

For you to stay…

But he didn’t say that. He didn’t want to put that pressure on her, and there was still whatever plan Will was working on.

“I wantyou, MacKenzie,” he replied, his voice low and a little rough. “I want us to go back to our original plan earlier to enjoy today. We were going to put a pin in all the real world stuff that was going to bum us out and focus on having a great time.” His thumbs caressed her cheek. “And what I’d really like is to take you to bed and make love to you.”

It wasn’t solving anything, but it was all he had right now.

With a sad smile, she nodded. And together, they walked to his room, where he loved her all night long.

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