The Secret Life of Mac

by Melinda Metz

  Nate didn’t argue. It was pointless to remind her The Gardens had an excellent medical staff on-site who would have taken expert care of her grandfather.

  “The doctor said it was lucky I got him in as fast as I did. My grandfather was badly dehydrated. They immediately got him on an IV of fluids, with Toradol for the pain and Zofran for the nausea. He was in horrible shape.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

  “You were very sorry to hear about his ankle, too. Very sorry isn’t very helpful.”

  What could he say to that? It was true. He’d done everything he could to deal with the food poisoning and the malfunctioning treadmill, but it wasn’t enough. There could be more sabotage to come, even with the new cameras. And even if he did find who was behind it, it wouldn’t take away the pain Archie, and so many others, had gone through. “The health department people have been here. They’re investigating. So far, they haven’t found any cleanliness issues. They’ve taken samples of the food we served at brunch. I should have more information soon, and I’ll pass it on to everyone as soon as I do.”

  “You’re free to speak at the meeting for the families of all the residents that I have planned for tomorrow night. I thought we could use the screening room, unless you have a problem with that.”

  “A meeting?” Nate repeated.

  “To discuss the problems The Gardens has been having,” Eliza told him.

  He quickly assessed the situation. A meeting wasn’t a bad idea. He needed to talk to all the families. But he didn’t want Eliza running it. Too late, though. If he tried to take over, she’d make a thing out of him being unwilling to let the families be heard.

  “I think that’s a great idea. You’re certainly welcome to use the screening room,” Nate answered. “I can have refreshments—” Eliza gave a snort of derisive laughter, and Nate winced. “Or not. But I’d appreciate having a time to talk and address questions.”

  Eliza nodded. “I’m sure there will be many. I’d like the contact information for the families.”

  “That’s confidential. But if you’d like to compose an e-mail, I’ll be happy to send it out.” That would at least give him a heads-up before he got in front of the group.

  “Fine. I’ll have it to you within the hour. I’ll also be speaking to the residents directly. I’d like to talk to staff members, too. Unless you have an issue with that.”

  “Not at all. I’ll tell everyone you may have questions for them.” He didn’t want that, either, but it wouldn’t be good to look like he was trying to hide something. He needed to schedule another meeting with the staff. They’d need reassurance and explanations, too, and he wanted to thank everyone for going above and beyond today. He shot another glance at his sister. She was still at work on the bows. It’s like he’d stumbled into an alternate reality. “Would you like me to set up a place for you to work on the e-mail? I can get you a laptop if you don’t—”

  She cut him off. “I have everything I need at Grandpa’s. I suppose he’ll be all right over here for now.”

  “If he wants to go home, I’ll make sure someone takes him over so he won’t have to maneuver the wheelchair on the streets.”

  “Don’t bother. Just have him call me.” With that, she walked away.

  He shouldn’t be irritated that she didn’t say thank you. He was the one who was in the wrong. Her grandfather had been injured—twice—on his watch. But he had to push down a burst of anger as he watched her leave.

  The anger immediately rose up again as he walked over to Archie. Briony’s face was animated, her eyes bright, as she talked to the group, looking like she completely belonged. This time he didn’t attempt to shove the anger down. He forced himself to exchange a few polite words with Regina and Janet and to ask Archie how he was feeling, then he turned to Briony. “I need to talk to you.” He led the way out into the hall. “I told you to leave,” he said as soon as he shut the door behind them.

  “You told me you didn’t have time to talk to me,” she protested, but her cheeks flushed. “I stayed to help out.”

  “And you called your whatever he is to help, too?”

  “No! I texted him to tell him I was going to be back later than I thought. I said I was helping out with an emergency at a retirement home. I didn’t say you owned it. I didn’t tell him to come. But he found out this place was near Storybook Court, and, of course, he came over. He’s perfect. That’s what a perfect man does. He helps in an emergency.”

  “If he’s so perfect, why’d you leave him at the altar?” Nate demanded. “Because that’s what you did, right?”

  Briony lifted her hands, then let them fall in a helpless gesture. “Yes.”

  Yes. That’s all she’s going to say? Yes. “What did you tell him about us? Or did you lie to him, too? Say I was a neighbor or something?”

  “I told him. Not the details. But I told him I slept with you.”

  “And?”

  “And he understood.”

  “He understood. He understood. Well, I sure as hell don’t.”

  Her chin came up. “You knew I was just out here on vacation. You knew this, this thing between us, was just for fun.”

  “Yeah. I’m having a great time,” he bit out.

  She pulled in a long breath. “Nate, I came over here because I know I owe you an apology. Things happened really fast between us. You know that. When we first met, it’s not like I was going to blurt out, ‘By the way, I’m here because I fainted on the way down the aisle and was too ashamed to stay and face my fiancé—ex-fiancé—and the wedding guests and my parents. ’ We were going out for a friendly drink, remember? Not a date. Then it got . . . well, you know how it got.”

  “What about the next time? You couldn’t have mentioned it before we were screwing up against that wall over there? Oh, wait. No explanations were needed. It was just fun. At least it’s just fun if you’re a—” He stopped himself before he said the word, but they both knew what he’d been about to say.

  And who cared? It was the truth. You had to be a slut to do what she’d done. That’s why he wanted her out of his sight. “You apologized. Thank you. Now I think it would be better for you and Caleb to leave. If you still have the urge to help, there are places all over LA that need volunteers.”

  Nate turned away and strode back to the dining room, not checking to see if she was following. Nathalie was still over there with Caleb, tossing her hair all over the place and shooting him little glances. In about five minutes, she’d be crying because he’d rejected her. That’s about all it took. A little attention from a guy and she assumed it was forever. Didn’t their parents’ marriage teach her anything?

  “Just so you’re aware, this guy was about to get married a week ago,” Nate told his sister when he reached her.

  “I know,” Nathalie answered.

  She knew? Well, at least Caleb did the stand-up thing and told her right away. Unlike the way Briony had dealt with Nate.

  “Can you believe what happened to him? And he came all the way out here to try and fix things,” Nathalie continued. “If I was Caleb, I’d never forgive her. Never.” She looked over at Caleb. “I’m the possessive type,” she confessed.

  She was in full-on flirt mode. But that was Nathalie. She was a flirt. At least she understood the situation. That’s the only reason he’d come over there. “I’m going to go check on the kitchen.”

  “Wait.” Nathalie caught him by the elbow. “I thought it would be nice if we took Caleb and his ex out for dinner tonight. As a thank-you for helping out.”

  “No!” Nate shot back.

  He heard an equally horrified “no!” from behind him. Briony.

  “Thank you, but no,” Briony said, more calmly this time. “Caleb came out so we could spend some time together. Some time alone.”

  * * *

  Mac jumped up on Gib’s bed and cuddled up close to him. The man reached out and stroked his head. Gib’s skin felt unpleasantly damp, but Mac didn’t move
away. His friend needed him, and Mac was going to stay close.

  There was the smell of illness coming from all directions. Later, he’d see what he could do for the other humans. He might only be one cat, but he was MacGyver. He’d do what had to be done.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Nate, why didn’t you tell me about the food poisoning?” Nathalie asked as she tied bows on the last few care packages.

  “You have enough going on. Work. The kids.” That wasn’t the big reason, but her lack of interest in The Gardens wasn’t something he wanted to talk about when staff and residents were within earshot. “Where are the kids, by the way?”

  “At Mom’s. That’s why I was over here. I was walking back to my car and I met Caleb. He was trying to figure out where to go to help with ‘the emergency.’ Which I didn’t even know about. We came over to the community center together. People were working on the care packages, so the two of us jumped in. If you’d told me, I would have been here earlier.”

  Yeah, but would you have jumped in if there wasn’t a guy involved? he couldn’t stop himself from thinking. “How is Mom?” he asked. He wanted to know. He also wanted to change the subject.

  “Same as always,” Nathalie answered. “Happy to see the kids. She likes being Grandma. So, are you going to tell me why you didn’t call me about what was going on?”

  He knew her, and she wasn’t going to let it go. Not now that she had her teeth in it. “Want some coffee?”

  She tied the last bow and gave it a little pat. “Sure. Looks like there’s not much more to do until the caterer comes with the food.”

  LeeAnne and Hope were working on the kitchen when Nate and Nathalie came in. Nate gave LeeAnne a look, and she got it. She pretty much always got him. “Hope, I want to see what’s what in the walk-in.” Hope didn’t ask questions. She and LeeAnne quickly left.

  Nate poured him and Nathalie both coffees and sat down with his sister at the table. “Okay, what didn’t you want to say in front of people?” His sister also got him, when she bothered to pay attention. “No offense, Nathalie, but—”

  “No offense. That’s a great way to start. I can tell it’s going to be wonderful now,” she snarked.

  Sometimes she made him feel like they were both still thirteen, but he didn’t let himself get sarcastic back. “I didn’t call you because you’re not part of the day-to-day running of the place.” That was diplomatic.

  “But this wasn’t day-to-day. You had people you barely know helping out.”

  “Not really. Briony . . . Briony’s become a friend.” He wasn’t going to get into the Briony situation with his sister. She might be more than willing to give him way too many details about her relationships, but that’s the last thing he wanted to do. “She’s met some of the residents. I guess Caleb wanted to help out since she was.”

  “She wasn’t even around when we were putting the packages together.” Nathalie looked around the table, and he got up for the cream. “He came all the way across the country and she disappears,” she continued. “That’s not the way you act if you want someone back.”

  She managed to distract herself, he thought as he set down the creamer. Unfortunately, he didn’t want to talk about this, either.

  Nathalie poured a dollop of cream into her cup, then hesitated as she raised it to her lips. “Is this safe?”

  How could she even ask that? “Yes, it’s safe. Everything in the place is safe.”

  “Well, obviously not.” Nathalie put the cup down.

  “You can drink it, Nathalie. Don’t be stupid. If you don’t trust me, trust the health inspectors. They’ve been all over this place, and they didn’t find anything.”

  “Then what happened? People got sick right after eating here. At least that’s what I heard—from people other than you.”

  “Someone’s been sabotaging the place, okay? The food poisoning’s not the only thing that’s happened. The ventilation system was tampered with, which means replacing carpets and drapes and probably furniture in the library and TV room. Books too, unless there’s a way to get the smell out. And one of the treadmills jumped up a bunch of levels and threw one of the residents off. He only sprained his ankle, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his granddaughter sues. And after what happened today, she might get some other families to go in with her.”

  “Oh, Nate. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She didn’t sound accusatory anymore. Just sympathetic. And maybe a little hurt.

  “I’m the manager. It’s my job.” Nobody had said they wanted in when he took over after his dad left. And it’s not like Nathalie and his mom hadn’t seen him struggling with his online classes when it was taking almost all his time to keep The Gardens running.

  “But this is huge. Did you tell Mom?”

  He shook his head. “Come on, Nath. You know how she is. She barely holds it together when she doesn’t have anything to deal with except knitting, and cooking, and watching TV. And the other night . . .”

  “Spit it out.”

  “She said she smelled Dad’s cologne,” Nate admitted.

  Nathalie drew in a sharp breath. “She brought up Dad?”

  “Yeah. When she started talking about the smell, I immedi ately started thinking ‘brain tumor.’ You know how it can make you smell things that aren’t there?”

  “Jesus, Nate. You have to tell me this stuff. She’s my mother, too.”

  “I’m going to get her in to see the doctor,” Nate reassured her. “I’ll let you know what she says. But I started thinking that Mom was missing him. It’s right around the anniversary of when he left.”

  “Like I don’t know that.”

  “I didn’t know you still thought about it.”

  “Of course I still think about it. Just because we never talk about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

  “She told me that she has a bottle of cologne he left behind and some other stuff in the crawl space.” Since they were talking about it, they might as well talk about it.

  “I thought she got rid of everything. I wanted to keep his watch, you know, something I’d seen him wear so much, but she wouldn’t let me.”

  He hadn’t known that. He hadn’t asked to keep anything. He’d obediently helped put everything in trash bags, then hauled them out to the dumpster.

  “My brain is psheew.” She made an exploding gesture over her head. “So, you’re getting Mom to the doctor, just in case. What do we do about the sabotage?”

  He noted the “we.” “I got new surveillance cameras put in. The security team knows the situation. Maybe the health department will turn up something we’ve missed,” Nate told her.

  “And the lawsuit or lawsuits?”

  “For now, all there is to do is wait and see. I’ll talk to all the families and address their concerns as well as I can.” He thought about mentioning the meeting that Eliza was planning. But he had it handled. Nathalie might have enjoyed tying on bows for an afternoon, but he knew she didn’t really want to be involved.

  * * *

  Caleb took Briony’s hand as they walked down the Santa Monica Pier that night. Her blood started to thrum in her ears as her heart sped up. But not in a good way. Her instinct was to pull away, but she wasn’t going to do that to him. He’d come all the way out to LA when he’d be justified in hating her.

  She forced herself to tighten her fingers slightly, and he smiled in response. “Beautiful sunset,” he said.

  “Gorgeous,” she agreed. That’s how their conversation had gone since they left The Gardens, nothing more than an exchange of pleasantries. But what did she want? She’d told him she didn’t want things to go right back to the way they were. And she didn’t want some deep discussion of her feelings the day of the wedding or the underlying reasons for sleeping with Nate.

  She knew what she didn’t want. But what did she want? She didn’t know. That was the problem. Same as it always had been. She didn’t know what she wanted.

  She tried to focus. D
id she want to be with Caleb? Her body kept saying no. But it’s not like her body always knew best. Her body had wanted to hurl itself at Nate. And Nate hadn’t turned out to be such a great person. He’d barely stopped himself from calling her a slut, as if he hadn’t been right there with her doing all the supposedly slutty things. Except he hadn’t been engaged a few days before.

  She had. To Caleb. She was supposed to be using this time to figure out if there was a future for her and Caleb. Briony had been with Caleb more than three years. Was it all because she’d grown up feeling like she couldn’t take care of herself? Was it because her parents thought he was good for her and she pretty much went along with what they thought? She realized her palms were starting to sweat. “Sorry,” she murmured. She slid her hand away and tried to casually wipe it on the side of her skirt. It left a sweat stain on the pale green fabric.

  “Are you okay?” Caleb asked. “Are you feeling panicky right now?”

  “A little,” she admitted.

  He led her over to a bench. “Why don’t you sit for a minute. I’ll get you something to drink.”

  Briony let her head drop forward. She listened to the sound of the ocean, hoping that rhythm would steady her. Instead, she found herself thinking of Nate. They might have been looking at this spot from the restaurant patio above the city.

  Today, Briony had hoped she’d be able to explain things in a way that would make him understand, at least a little. She’d wanted to tell him how terrifying it had been in the church when the floor wouldn’t support her and everything went blurry. He hadn’t wanted to hear it. He’d wanted her out of his sight as soon as possible, like he found her disgusting.

  Briony heard footsteps approaching and lifted her head. She managed to smile as Caleb handed her a bottle of water. He was considerate. He wasn’t someone who condemned someone else for one mistake. Look what she’d done to him. And here he was, wanting to give her another chance, to give them another chance.

  “Feeling any better?” Caleb asked after she took a sip of her drink.