MacKenzie Fire

by Elle Casey

  “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” he says. He reaches up and takes his beer back, placing the top of it at his mouth. He hesitates with it like that for a couple seconds looking at me. Just before he pushes it harder against his mouth for another sip, the tip of his tongue comes out and hits the glass rim.

  I know he didn’t mean it to be sexy, but whoa. Now my brain is going a little haywire. I look around the room to see if anyone else noticed. Several girls are giving me looks that make me think they want to harm me physically.

  I back away a half-step, not because I’m afraid of anyone but because this feels wrong. I know Ian’s not really interested in me, but I did come here with him and I’m not in the mood to complicate things more than they already are, even though it’s a little tempting with this guy Tate.

  If I hadn’t met Ian, I’d definitely be all over this opportunity, but now that Ian’s gotten into my brain, Baker City is ruined for me as far as men are concerned. If I can’t do Ian, I won’t do anyone. Decision made. Sorry, Tate.

  “You worried about something?” he asks me, following my gaze.

  “Oh, no, not really. Just some of the girls here look like they want to scratch my eyes out.”

  He laughs and moves closer, putting his hand on my hip. “Don’t worry about them. It’s just small-town bullshit. Same as everywhere else.”

  I don’t move away from him immediately because I want to get more information from him. “So, what are they saying? About Andie, I mean.”

  He sighs. “You’re going to make me tell you, aren’t you?”

  I grin, seeing the defeat in his eyes. This was way easier than I thought it would be. “Yes. Don’t try to defy me. I can be very stubborn when I want to be.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” he says, a twinkle in his dark eyes. He leans down closer. “You agree to go out with me one time, and I’ll agree to tell you what I know. How’s that sound?”

  I chew on the inside of my cheek for a few seconds considering his offer, acting like him being this close is no big deal. “Lunch or dinner?” I’m stalling, trying to decide how this might play out with Ian. Will he be jealous? Mad? And what do I care what he’ll be about it? He’s just playing around with me to get back at Ginny. Maybe he even wants to get back together with her. He denied it, but guys do that crap all the time.

  “Your choice,” Tate says. “Any meal, any place, any time, my treat.”

  My eyebrows go up. He’s eager and somehow available at all hours of the day and night. Maybe he’s a rancher too. I find I’m kind of partial to that breed right now.

  Since I have no other plans and the idea of hanging out with Ian anymore just feels like a recipe for heartbreak, I decide to go full speed ahead with my plan to solve the Andie-has-no-friends mystery.

  “Breakfast,” I say. “Tomorrow morning at nine, the diner in town where Hannah Banana works.” I have no idea why I picked that place other than the fact that I don’t know any other spot in town besides the gun range and the hospital. Somehow neither of those venues seems to have the right atmosphere for giving him the third degree. Plus, at the diner I can mess with The Banana, which has proven to be pretty fun. That wench, trying to deny my pregnant BFF her herbal tea. Grrrr.

  He narrows his eyes. “You look like pure trouble right now, you know that?”

  I hold my hand out for him to shake it. “Good. Because that’s what I am if you don’t keep your end of the deal.”

  He takes my hand but then leans down and gives me a soft kiss on the cheek. “It’s a deal. Sealed with a kiss.”

  I’m about to smile and answer him, but he’s suddenly yanked from my grip.

  “What the hell are you doing, man?!” an angry guy yells.

  It takes me a split second before I realize it’s Ian, and he’s got Tate by his shirt at his shoulder.

  “What the hell?!” Tate stumbles but then quickly rights himself. Glaring at Ian, he jerks his arm really hard to pull himself out of Ian’s grip. “Get off me, man!”

  I back away until my legs hit the edge of a couch behind me. Boog is striding down the hallway from the kitchen in my direction.

  “How ‘bout you get off my girl?” Ian says in a deadly calm voice. His face is beet red.

  Tate stands up straight and fixes his shirt. Then he looks at me. “Funny … she didn’t mention being your girl when she set up a date with me.”

  Boog stalls in the opening to the living room. He starts with what sounds like a warning, “Ian …”

  Tate smiles, interrupting Boog so he can continue taunting Ian. “Sorry to break it to you, man, but she’s done with you. Can’t say as I blame her.”

  I hold out my arm to stop what I see coming, but it does no good. Ian’s a couple feet away and then a second later he’s tackling Tate to the ground.

  They smash into a television and bring it to the floor in a mighty crash of broken glass and plastic. Girls nearby scream and jump out of the way. The guys stand their ground or move to better sightseeing positions, their overriding goal to not spill their beers. Tate and Ian are both roaring insults at each other.

  Boog comes over to me with his phone at his ear. “You ready to go home?” he asks, putting his conversation on hold as he waits for my answer.

  “Um … yes?” I look at Ian and know that he’s not going to be ready to drive me anywhere for a while. He’s too busy trying to fight his way out of a headlock.

  “She’s ready to go.” Boog says in his phone. He nods a few times while he listens to whoever is on the other end of the line and then looks at me. “I’ll tell her. Bye.”

  I lose all interest in Ian and focus on Boog. “What’s up?”

  “Mack’s outside waiting for you. Get your coat and I’ll walk you out.”

  I look from Boog to Ian, the latter now in some kind of wrestling position on the floor, legs all tangled with Tate’s.

  “What do you mean, Mack’s here?”

  “He’s out in his truck. Come on.” Boog takes me by the upper arm and guides me over to the front door where my borrowed coat hangs.

  I feel terrible. “I’m sorry about all this,” I say, gesturing back towards the other room where I can hear grunting and then another crash.

  “Don’t worry about it. This is status quo for Ian. This’ll be the third TV he’s bought me.”

  “And he’s still your friend?” I’m bewildered over Boog’s casual acceptance of the destruction of his property.

  Boog’s eyes crinkle up at the corners. “I’ve upgraded after each fight. This time I’m going for the fifty-inch high def model.”

  I laugh at the obvious excitement in his voice. “You’re kind of crazy, you know that?”

  His smile fades. “You’re kind of beautiful, you know that?”

  I’m too stunned to respond, but he keeps on going.

  “Just be careful. With Ian, I mean.”

  “What? Ian? He’s harmless.”

  “I don’t mean be careful as in he’s dangerous … I mean be careful with his heart. It’s pretty tender.”

  I snort, so fed up with all the pandering I see going on here. Boog’s getting free TVs when it’s practically his fault the fighting keeps happening. They’re all co-dependent sorrow addicts. “Please,” I say with as much scorn in my voice as I can manage. “You guys are all just a bunch of enablers.

  Boog stands up straighter and looks confused. Maybe a little mad too. “Come again?”

  “You’ve let him act like a giant baby for the last three years instead of kicking him in the butt and telling him to grow up and get over it. That’s not on me, that’s on you.”

  And they have the nerve to warn me away. Ha! They should warn themselves away. They’re doing more harm to Ian than I ever could.

  I grab the front door handle, more than ready now to leave this lame party. Boog just went from cool guy to butthead on my list. I don’t care if he gave me free chocolate.

  His hand on my shoulder stops me just before I pull th
e door open.

  “I didn’t mean to insult you. I think you’d be good for him. But only if you’re committed to seeing it through.”

  I don’t turn around when I answer, my voice going out into the cold as I open the door and step outside. “You don’t need to worry about any of that. I’m over him.” Just saying the words makes me hurt.

  The truck that Andie was driving before is parked at the curb, the engine rumbling and smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I trudge through the falling snow to the passenger side and get in next to Mack, ignoring anything Boog might be saying or thinking behind me.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  THE TRUCK IS WARM, BUT the reception cold. Mack says nothing for a few blocks. It’s so quiet in the car I can’t stand it.

  “So, thanks for the ride,” I finally say, trying to break the ice. It’s horrible to think that he’s blaming me for the fight at Boog’s. And how did he get here so quickly? Was he already in town? Why not with Andie? I want the answers to all these questions, but I’m too embarrassed to ask them.

  “No problem.” After a few seconds he glances over at me. “You okay?”

  I shrug, not returning his gaze. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just …” I can’t say the rest.

  “Just … what?”

  I give up quickly on the idea of confessing to Mack. He’s not the confessor type. “You don’t want to know.”

  He makes a right turn, and the back end of the truck slides a little. He gets it under control before responding. “I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”

  I’m debating whether to tell him what’s really on my mind or to make something up when he continues.

  “Andie asked me to talk to you about Ian,” he says before I can decide what I’m going to say.

  I’m instantly on the defensive. “What about Ian?” I’m kind of offended that she didn’t just bring it up with me herself. Since when does my friend have conversations with me through her husband? That’s not cool. That’s not cool at all. It makes me angry at him that he thinks he can be that person, that intermediary in our friendship that was in place long before he came sauntering into her life, and it makes me doubly angry at Andie. It feels like our friendship is taking a very distant position behind her entire family. And maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to work when a girl gets married and has a baby, but it feels pretty terrible and I don’t like it one bit.

  He sighs. “I suppose she’s worried you’ll get hurt.”

  “Me? Or is it Ian she’s worried about?” I roll my eyes as I look out the side window at the snow falling in the glow of the streetlights. “Like everyone else in town seems to be.”

  “Oh, it’s you she’s worried about. Definitely not Ian, believe me.”

  I look at him sharply over his tone. “What’s that mean? You don’t agree with her?”

  He taps his thumbs on the steering wheel. “I guess it’s a little complicated where Ian’s concerned.”

  “Un-complicate it for me.” I really want to get to the bottom of this thing for Ian. It’s so stupid how he’s gotten stuck in time like he has. Even though I’m no longer planning to get into his Wranglers, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help him.

  “I wish I could.”

  “Try.” I’m getting crankier by the second. It’s like Ian is a lost cause to everyone or something, which he totally isn’t.

  Mack starts talking, but he doesn’t sound all that tough or confident like I expected him to. He sounds … sad.

  “My brother has had a hard time of it lately.”

  I resist the urge to snort my disbelief. Ian being the baby of the family has taken on the worst kind of meaning. They totally treat him like he’s ten.

  “He finally made the decision to leave town and strike out on his own, which is a pretty big deal around here but more so in my family, and everything got messed up.”

  “So?” I counter. “You move on from stuff like that. You don’t wallow in it for three years.”

  Mack shakes his head. “No, it’s not that simple. See, he’s been living in my shadow his whole life. I don’t like it any more than he does, but it’s a fact. Getting into architecture was his way of trying to distance himself, to be his own person.”

  “Well, it is very different from ranching.”

  “Yeah. The problem is, he’s not really interested in doing architecture. Not at all, actually.”

  I frown. This is the first I’m hearing of this. “What? He didn’t say that to me.”

  “How much has he told you?” Mack looks at me for a moment before going back to focusing on his driving.

  I shrug, trying to remember. “Not much. Just that he’s not a fan of the winters here but he likes taking care of the animals. I think that’s what he was saying, anyway.”

  Mack nods. “That’s about right. Fact is, he was all set to move to Portland and be this person he really didn’t want to be, just to get out of here.”

  “Sooo … Ginny messing that up wasn’t really a bad thing is what you’re saying.”

  “Weeelll, it was and it wasn’t, depending on your perspective.”

  “How so?” I feel like I’m being given the keys to the kingdom here, learning all Ian’s secrets.

  “It was good in that it kept him from making two mistakes. Ginny being number one, and starting a career he doesn’t really like deep down being number two.”

  “And what’s the bad part?”

  “He had to start all over. Back under my shadow with the added rumors going around that I destroyed his marriage and chance at life.”

  “He doesn’t believe that garbage.” I’m mad at the people who are saying those things, whoever they are.

  “Not on the surface, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a piece of him that does believe it … the piece that doesn’t want to get up and start over.”

  “See? That’s what I’m saying.” I’m getting all excited. “You get it, Mack. He’s totally wallowing in the past. He just needs to forget all that and move on. I mean, all of it. Being under your shadow, Ginny, the architecture thing … everything.”

  Mack chuckles. “You got it all figured out.”

  “Of course I do. That’s my special talent you know … solutions. You’ve got problems, I’ve got solutions.”

  “So what’s your solution to the problem of an almost thirty year old guy who doesn’t want to move on? What’s the solution there?”

  I chew on my lip as I consider what my plan of attack would be, if I were still into Ian, which I am not.

  “First, I’d talk to all his friends and family and tell them to stop feeling sorry for his sorry, pity-partied-out butt.”

  “Then what?” Mack’s voice has laughter in it, but he’s holding back, so I continue.

  “I’d sit him down and ask him what he really wants to do with his life. If it isn’t ranching and it isn’t architecture, it has to be something.”

  “Okay, sounds reasonable. And then?”

  “And then I’d kick him in the butt until he went after it. Went to school or started doing that thing, whatever it is.” I smile and look at Mac. “See? Simple.”

  He nods. “I agree. When do we start?”

  I blink a few times as his words sink in.

  The truck goes silent.

  “Well?” he prompts. “When? Tomorrow?”

  I shake my head. “No, not me. Someone else has to do all this.”

  “Why not you?”

  “Because.”

  “You like him, I know you do.”

  My face goes red, but he can’t see it because it’s too dark, thank goodness. “Sure, I like him. As a friend.”

  He chuckles. “You always chase your friends around the house naked?”

  “Maybe.” Now my face is on fire. His whole family saw that, and now my humiliation is back full force with him bringing it up.

  “I doubt it. Andie says you like him, so I know you do.”

  “Andie’s wrong a lot, you should know that about her,”
I say.

  “Oh, I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure she’s right a hundred percent of the time.”

  I look over to catch him smiling. It’s sweet and annoying all at the same time.

  “You are so whipped it’s not even funny.” I try to sound disgusted instead of jealous. I’m happy my friend has Mack beside her when he’s clearly awesome, but it makes me acutely aware of the fact that I don’t have something like that and I want it. I want it bad.

  “Whipped and proud to be.” He looks over, catching me scowling at him. “Ian’s the same kind of guy, you know. Once he loves a girl, there’s no going back. He’s in for life and there’ll never be another one for him.”

  I swallow with effort, the feeling inside me difficult to understand. It hurts way too much. “That’s why he’s so messed up over Ginny, is that what you’re saying?”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. Not at all. He never felt that way about her.”

  I look over to see if he’s joking, but he seems serious. “I find that hard to believe. They were together forever.”

  “Yeah, but Ian wasn’t there. The real Ian was never there with her. He was always acting like the guy he thought she wanted him to be.”

  “The architect,” I say.

  “Exactly. Did he ever tell you that it was her idea?”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. She was with him in high school. She controlled his class schedule, told him she thought he was suited to drawing buildings and stuff. She always wanted to leave this place.” He sighs. “Called it a hick town.”

  “She sounds like a manipulative bitch.”

  Mack sighs. “He was her way out. I can’t blame her for seeing her opportunity and taking it. I just wish it wasn’t on my brother’s back.”

  “But she’s still here. I’m sorry, Mack, but this makes no sense to me. This isn’t the eighteen hundreds. If Ginny wanted to leave, she could easily do that. And you’re telling me Ian was a pushover? I don’t think so. He’s totally bullheaded.”

  “Ian may be bullheaded on the surface, but when he’s with a girl, he’s different, focused on making her happy. That’s what we were taught by our father so that’s just how we do things. The reason Ginny’s still here is she hasn’t found someone to hitch her wagon to yet that’s leaving. But she will someday, believe me. She wasn’t meant for this place.”