Page 138 of Here & There

Angus talks at length about how everything about this place, from the menu to the theme of “everyone belongs” is because of me. All the locals, who know what the bar looked like before, cheer at a volume.

“Isn’t she a dynamo?” he asks.

They cheer again, but I look at Mac when I say, “This place was perfect just as it was, and it didn’t need a makeover. All it needed was all of you.”

They all whoop at that, some people shouting my name, and I allow myself a wide grin.

I think I’ve done a pretty good job. I am, actually, very good at this job simply because I love it.

Angus’s just reaching the end of his speech, the part where he cries “Welcome to Oysterfest!” when he glances toward the door at the sound of it opening again, and he falters.

I tense.

“I—I—” Angus stutters, and I have the terrible thought that he’s having a stroke.

I go to make my way to the stage, but Michelle’s already there. Where’s Mac? The Mac I know would be there first. But Mac is staring at the door.

And as Angus grips the podium on the stage, shrugging off Michelle, I see he is too.

Then he utters two syllables that sound more like strangled cry. “Annie!”

I glance to the space just inside the door, where a woman who looks like a petite, female version of Mac stands in jeans and a blazer. She’s beautiful, with thick dark hair and long lashes.

She looks like she wants to slip right back out the door.

But she glances at the other woman beside her, a beautiful tall woman in a black tank top and jeans with a pixie cut, big eyes, and tattoos in sleeves up her bare arms. Her face looks familiar somehow, but I don’t think I’ve ever met her.

I glance to Mac, questioning.

But his back is to me, his eyes on the women. His whole body is stiff.

And for the first time in a very long time, a spike of jealousy and pain twists my stomach. I didn’t feel that when all thewomen flocked Mac as the restaurant filled up today. I didn’t feel it when one of them asked for his autograph and Cal jumped in before Lana or Chris or I could, telling them he didn’t do that anymore.

No, that dark, ugly feeling spikes because I suddenly understand who the other woman is. I know it because Nate appears beside her, looking scared but so much like her in the cheekbones and lanky frame.

I know it because for the first time in a long time, Mac’s not looking at me.

He’s looking at the woman as she grips Nate’s hand and looks at Mac like a hero.

The woman is Nate’s mother.

Chapter 33

Mac

I’m out on the back deck when I hear the hum of the engine coming down my road over the dull wash of the ocean. Dinner’s made, the outside table set.

All that’s missing is Shelby.

It’s been two weeks since Oysterfest.

Two weeks since Nadine came crashing back into our lives.

Two weeks since Shelby left.

It’s been, frankly, two weeks of hell.

I stand up, perking my ears to see if the car is pulling into my driveway or just passing by. It’s a ways off, still.

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