Page 76 of Finding You

“Avery’s running recon for me. I’m hoping to get a little more information so I can finalize my plan.”

“No,” Devin told him. “Just…no. You shouldn’t have people trying to pump her for information or spying or whatever it is you want to call it. MacKenzie has her reasons why she needs to leave, and we should respect them.”

All Will did was shrug, but there wasn’t a doubt in Devin’s mind that he was still going ahead with his plan.

“Look, we’ve got a lot of cars to handle today, and I’d like to get out of here a little early. As a matter of fact, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind opening the shop tomorrow. I have no idea what time she’s leaving, but…I want to be there.”

“No problem. There’s nothing big on the schedule. A lot of the same old, same old, so me and the guys can handle it. Take your time.”

“Thanks.”

“Lunch is here!” MacKenzie called out a few minutes later before she stepped out into the garage. “I put everything in the breakroom, the waiting area is empty, so close the bay doors and go eat while it’s hot!”

No one had to tell them twice, and five minutes later, he and his crew were sitting down to eat.

“Thanks for picking this up, Mac,” Eric said. “We really appreciate it.”

“No problem. It was my pleasure.” She leaned in the doorway, keeping an eye on the front door. “And I heard that the café may start doing deliveries! How sweet would that be for you?”

“Wow! How’d you hear about that?”

“While I was waiting for the order, Mary Gainey told me. She said with all the new businesses, they were looking into doing it. I told her you guys would love it if they offered that service.”

“I don’t mind picking lunch up most of the time,” Will said, “but on days like today, it’s nice to have options.”

They talked about the festival, the weather, and MacKenzie’s route across the country until they were done eating. That’s when she told them she was heading out for her own lunch. “I’ll be longer than an hour,” she said to no one in particular.

“Take your time,” Devin told her. “You’re not really on the clock anymore.”

All she did was shrug before going up on her toes and kissing him. “I’ll see you later.”

And then he watched her walk away and braced himself for when it was going to be for the last time.

“Surprise!”

MacKenzie’s eyes went wide as she looked at the balloons and streamers and the group of familiar and smiling faces staring at her. “What in the world…?”

“It’s a little going away party,” Billie said before walking over and hugging her. “A plain lunch would be boring, so we decided to jazz it up a bit with decorations!”

“I can’t believe you guys did this! I just thought we were going to have some sandwiches and cake and…you know…hang out.” Tears stung her eyes. “This is amazing. Thank you!”

Avery led her to the seat at the head of the table before sitting down beside her. “We were going to suggest going out to the Mexican restaurant, but we all agreed we’d be too tempted to drink all the margaritas and wouldn’t be able to go back to work.”

“I cut people’s hair for a living,” Ashlynn said. “So I really need to be sober.”

“Then we were going to order pizza,” Jade added. “But the smell of pizza and coffee is just…ick.”

“O-kay…” There was no food on the table, and she had to wonder if they were going to eat at all.

“After a lot of discussion, we decided on cake,” Billie announced. “Lots and lots of cake, with a couple of sandwiches thrown in. We hope you approve.”

“Cake for lunch! Are you kidding me? I more than approve, I love you guys!”

“Yay!”

That’s when all the food came out. There were brownies, muffins, cake pops, caramel crumb cake, lemon pound cake, cookies, and a platter of assorted sandwiches.

“I cannot believe you guys did all this on such short notice! This is amazing!”

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