Driven to Distraction & Winging It

by Tina Wainscott

  Ripping the envelope open, Angie slid the card out, then looked back at Mackenzie and smiled. “It says, ‘Love me? Love me not? But you could still have dinner with me one night. Alec.”’

  Mackenzie grabbed the card back.

  “He’s getting to you, Mackie, I can see it on your face,” Angie said, prompting a stern look from Mackenzie. “Well, the least you could do is think about it,” Angie insisted. “Besides, wouldn’t it be better to find out, instead of wondering the rest of your life if things might have worked out if you’d given Alec a chance?”

  “I’ll think about it,” Mackenzie mumbled but she thought, Who am I kidding? That’s all I have been thinking about!

  “Just don’t forget to let me know what you decide,” Angie called out when Mackenzie walked out of her office. “If you won’t date Alec, maybe I will. You already know I’m a sucker for a romantic man.”

  MACKENZIE RETURNED to her office, trying to ignore Alec’s daisies and trying to convince herself that dating a safe, down-to-earth, predictable man like John Stanley was the best decision she could possibly make. And John Stanley was definitely safe, down-to-earth and rather predictable.

  With John, Mackenzie’s tongue didn’t stick to the roof of her mouth when she saw him, nor did her pulse race to the point she found herself clutching her sweaty palms in order to still her thumping heart. She didn’t even jump as if she’d been poked with a high-voltage cattle prod when she and John accidentally bumped into one another. In fact, the one and only time John had actually kissed her, Mackenzie had been amazed to find she had the ability to stay perfectly cool and collected.

  She also kept telling herself that she really preferred cool and collected to the pandemonium a single look from Alec could produce. And that she favored safe over reckless any day of the week. The only problem was that boring seemed to tag right along behind safe and calm every time the adjectives popped into Mackenzie’s mind.

  But boring was safe. Just like John. And since she didn’t feel like a powder keg ready to explode when she and John were together, they could take things nice and slow. Get to know each other. Fall into a comfortable routine….

  “The answer is still no,” Mackenzie said to the knock at her door without even looking up. “The flowers were nice, but I haven’t decided to jump in bed with Alec, yet.”

  “Well, I certainly hope not,” a stern voice announced from Mackenzie’s open doorway.

  “Mother!” Mackenzie gasped and bolted from her chair.

  “And who, pray tell is Alec?” her mother wanted to know. “What happened to that nice microbiologist you were dating? The one with the PhD?”

  Mackenzie ignored the question, dumbfounded that her mother was actually standing in her office. It had been ten years since she’d moved away from home, and not once had the distinguished Dr. Barbara Malone dared to leave her collegiate surroundings at Purdue University. Mainly, Mackenzie knew, because her mother had never truly forgiven her for leaving Indiana, not to mention her choosing interior design over some scholarly degree that would have put Dr. Barbara Malone’s daughter safely in the bosom of modern academia.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” Mackenzie said, wondering why a woman who kept a schedule so rigid you could predict what she was doing at every moment during the day, would show up now, not only uninvited but also unannounced.

  And then it hit her.

  “What’s wrong?” Mackenzie demanded as she hurried across the room, but a closer look proved to find her mother looking better than Mackenzie had seen her look in years.

  Her stylish turquoise sweater and matching skirt was actually short enough to show off her still shapely legs. Her dark hair wasn’t pulled back in that severe schoolmarm bun Mackenzie despised. The woman was even wearing a flattering amount of makeup.

  Had another degree recently been added to the long list of initials that flowed behind her mother’s name like an impressive banner, Mackenzie wondered. Because since her divorce nineteen years ago, furthering her education had been the only thing that seemed to turn her mother on.

  “I mean it, Mother. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Instead of answering Mackenzie’s question, Barbara Malone sent a semiapproving look around Mackenzie’s office and actually smiled. “I never thought I’d admit it, but I guess you did the right thing staying here in Charleston, after all. Of course, while you and Angie were still in college, I have to admit I had my doubts about your big idea of opening your own…”

  “Stop stalling, Mother,” Mackenzie said, giving her mother a warm kiss on the cheek.

  “I’m not stalling, Mackenzie,” Barbara said, returning the kiss affectionately. “Is there some written law that says a mother can’t drop in and check on her daughter now and then?”

  “I hardly call traveling seven hundred miles dropping in, Mother. Not to mention the fact that I’ve lived in Charleston for almost a decade now and not once have you felt the need to come check on me.”

  This time Barbara flinched. “If you’re trying to make me feel guilty, Mackenzie, it’s working. And I guess I don’t blame you for being a little surprised that I’m here.”

  “A little surprised?” Mackenzie wailed. “I think the term shocked out of my gourd would be more appropriate.”

  Groaning at Mackenzie’s choice of words, Barbara said, “Well, if you’re shocked out of your gourd as you so crudely put it, I can’t help it. But I am here now. And there’s no point in denying that I wouldn’t be here at all if we definitely didn’t have something to talk about.”

  “Then let’s get out of here where we can have a little privacy,” Mackenzie said, already wincing at the huge knot of concern that was quickly forming in the center her stomach.

  Unfortunately, it was much later that evening before Mackenzie and her mother were finally seated in a quaint little restaurant in the heart of the city. And at that point Mackenzie was ready to scream. Not only had her mother insisted on taking a grand tour of Mackenzie’s office facilities, she had also chatted rather amicably much longer than necessary with both Karen and Angie, and had even insisted on stopping to browse in the rare edition bookstore they’d passed on their walk to the restaurant.

  Mackenzie, on the other hand, had spent hours agonizing over what could possibly be so important that her regimented mother had made an unscheduled trip to Charleston. Of course, envisioning her mother with every horrible disease known to modern man had certainly come to mind, which was why the instant Barbara finally made her choice from the menu selection, Mackenzie wasted no time cutting to the chase.

  “Spit it out, Mother,” Mackenzie said when the young waiter walked away from their table. “I’m going slightly crazy here.”

  Never one to be rushed into anything, Barbara took her time opening her linen napkin and placing it properly in her lap, then she took a leisurely sip from her chilled glass of wine. When her eyes finally met Mackenzie’s, she took a deep breath and said, “I’ve been dating someone, Mackenzie.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Mackenzie said as the room started to spin around her.

  “I’ve been dating someone,” Barbara repeated.

  It was all Mackenzie could do to keep from reaching across the table and shaking her mother’s shoulders until her teeth rattled. “My God, Mother,” Mackenzie gasped. “Don’t you realize how scared I’ve been? Here I am thinking something horrible is wrong with you, and you came all this way just to tell me that you’re dating someone?”

  Barbara took another leisurely sip from her wine glass before she leveled the second blow. “It’s your father,” she said with a matter-of-fact little sigh.

  Mackenzie laughed out loud until she realized her mother was serious. “You’re dating my father?” Mackenzie said so loud everyone in the restaurant immediately turned and looked in their direction.

  “Lower your voice,” Barbara whispered, squirming slightly under the scrutiny of the people who surrounded them.

  “You’re j
oking, right?” Mackenzie insisted. “You and Daddy? Dating? The lofty professor and the woman-chasing, snake in the grass, cradle-robbing, lecherous, philandering, seducer of anything wearing a skirt…”

  “Your father said you probably wouldn’t take this very well,” Barbara interrupted.

  “Take this very well?” Mackenzie squeaked, then snapped the bread stick she was holding into two pieces and literally pounded the table until nothing was left but a dusty pile of crumbs.

  Glancing anxiously around the room when Mackenzie’s actions brought even more eyes to their table, Barbara reached across the table and grabbed Mackenzie’s clenched fist. “You’re going to get us thrown out of this place,” Barbara warned, her face now flushed a pretty crimson.

  “Well, excuse me, Mother, for having a slight nervous breakdown here,” Mackenzie said, slumping back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. “But if they do have to take me out of this restaurant in a straight-jacket, I hope you realize you and Daddy are the ones who will be responsible for it.”

  “Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Barbara accused. “You’ve always worshipped the ground your father walked on no matter how many ugly things I said about him. And I was wrong to say those things, I admit it. But you have no idea how hurt I was over our divorce. I never got over David, not really. Which is pretty obvious from what I’m telling you now.”

  Mackenzie still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “And now, after all this time, you’re ready just to forgive and forget the last nineteen years you’ve spent making yourself and everyone else around you miserable?”

  Seemingly unaffected by Mackenzie’s accusation, Barbara said, “I think David and I are both at a different place in our lives now. And we’re certainly mature enough to realize what we both want out of a relationship.”

  “And when the next pretty face comes along?” Mackenzie couldn’t resist saying.

  Barbara never took her eyes from Mackenzie’s face. “I’ll deal with that problem if it ever comes up again, Mackenzie. But your father isn’t stupid. And at the risk of sounding conceited, I don’t think David would take that chance with me again.”

  Mackenzie shook her head and sighed. “So? Just how long has this been going on between you and Daddy?”

  Now that Mackenzie was asking for a little more detail, Barbara’s face instantly brightened. “It was the strangest thing,” she said with a smile. “David and I bumped into each other at a local fund-raiser, and a few days later he called and asked me to lunch.”

  Mackenzie forced back the urge to gag, then motioned impatiently for her mother to continue.

  “Well, I started not to go, but David seemed so sincere, I decided it really couldn’t hurt anything. I mean, it was only lunch, after all.”

  Mackenzie rolled her eyes.

  “And then one thing led to another, and before I realized what was happening we started meeting for lunch almost every day.”

  “And where were giggling Gina and the nutty professor during all of these secret luncheons you and Daddy were having?” Mackenzie wanted to know, referring to her father’s latest live-in with the hideous laugh, and her mother’s companion for the last fifteen years whom Barbara claimed was only her learned associate.

  Barbara blushed. “Well, Theodore was so angry with me after my first luncheon date with David, he still isn’t speaking to me. And Gina was still living at your father’s place when we first started meeting for lunch. But then when David stayed over one night with me, well…”

  “Stop right there,” Mackenzie said, holding up her hand. “You’ve already told me much more information than I needed to know.”

  It was Barbara’s turn to roll her eyes, but they were both saved from a rather awkward moment when a wary-looking waiter risked returning to their table long enough to deliver the two dinner salads they had both ordered earlier.

  “I know this has to be a shock for you,” Barbara conceded as she sprinkled a few condiments on her salad. “And I understand how you might feel a bit confused about us getting back together after all this time.”

  Mackenzie almost choked on the lettuce she had just placed in her mouth. “Getting back together?” she asked with a cough. “What happened to dating? I thought you said you and Daddy were just dating?”

  “Well, we have been dating,” Barbara said, “but your father just received a big promotion. David’s company wants him to transfer to California and open a new communications office in San Francisco.”

  “So? What does that have to do with anything?”

  This time, Barbara sent Mackenzie a perturbed look. “Well, I would think it was obvious, Mackenzie.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mother,” Mackenzie said with an amused laugh. “Don’t you think I’m a little too old for you and Daddy to continue that silly game of tug-ofwar for my attention? Are you really so afraid Daddy’s going to ask me to move off to California with him, that you felt the need to rush down here and warn me not to go?”

  Barbara’s irritated expression quickly faded into a look of genuine concern. “I’m afraid you don’t understand what I’m trying to tell you, Mackenzie,” she said so softly Mackenzie found herself leaning across the table in order to hear what her mother was saying. “Your father wants me to go to California with him. And that’s why I’m here. We plan to be married next month. And we want you to be with us when we say our vows.”

  “Married?” Mackenzie tried to say but the word came out as a croak.

  Letting out a sigh, Barbara’s perturbed look quickly returned. “Well, really, Mackenzie. I just don’t understand why you’re reacting like this. I thought you’d be happy about our news. After all, us getting back together is something you’ve always wanted.”

  “Maybe that’s what I wanted when I was a bewildered ten-year-old, Mother, but not now,” Mackenzie cried out in protest. “Not when it doesn’t matter. And certainly not after I’ve spent my entire life walking a tightrope, trying to do a balancing act between you and Daddy. So please don’t sit there and tell me it didn’t cross your mind that your little reconciliation just might push me over the edge.”

  Barbara placed her fork down on the table. “Well, whether you realize it or not, you’re contradicting yourself, Mackenzie. If our getting back together doesn’t matter because you’re an adult now, then why in the world are you making such a fuss?”

  Knowing there was no hope of winning an argument with her mother, Mackenzie leaned forward and put head in her hands so she could massage her now throbbing temples. She was trying to be logical about the situation, but the problem with logic was that it sometimes didn’t apply to the real world.

  Like now.

  Mackenzie had spent most of her life watching her parents go out of their way trying to annoy each other, yet now they’d decided they couldn’t live without each other? Did that seem logical? Hell, no! Was it logical that her mother would forgive her father after nineteen long years? Absolutely not. And what about her father? Was it logical to think it had taken him nineteen years to realize he really loved her mother? Or had the greener grass on the other side turned out to be nothing more than artificial turf?

  Deciding there was nothing wrong with her life that a good miracle couldn’t fix, Mackenzie finally looked up at her mother and said, “You’re right, Mother.” And she forced a smile she certainly didn’t feel when she added, “I am making a big fuss and I’m sorry. Of course, I’ll be there for your wedding. I love you and Daddy very much. I’m happy for both of you.”

  Barbara’s eyes filled with tears when she reached across the table for Mackenzie’s hand. “We love you, too, honey,” she said sincerely, but before Mackenzie had time to enjoy such a warm bonding experience, Barbara squeezed Mackenzie’s hand and said, “And I just can’t wait for you to see the fabulous gown I’ve picked out for you to wear as my maid of honor. I know you’ve never been that fond of green, but this gown is more mint than it is lime, and…”

  “Excuse me,
Mother,” Mackenzie interrupted and bolted from the table.

  Unfortunately, by the time Mackenzie reached the rest room, her face was more of the lime green variety, instead of the mint color she would soon be wearing to her own parents’ wedding.

  4

  BY THE TIME MACKENZIE pulled into her parking space it was midnight. To say that life had performed a lively little tap dance on Mackenzie’s last nerve was putting it mildly.

  After her mother’s shocking announcement, she had been forced to listen to every sordid detail of the fifth wedding she would be attending this year. Not to mention the fact that she was thoroughly convinced her parents’ guests would surely be whispering behind their hands over a soon-to-turn-thirty woman having the nerve to call herself the maid of honor.

  Mackenzie had then taken her mother to the airport where she spent every minute looking over her shoulder half-hoping, half-fearing Alec would make another of his surprise appearances. And then, when she was only seconds away from putting her mother safely on a plane back to Indianapolis, her mother must have read her mind, because she looked directly at Mackenzie and said, “So who is this Alec person you’re not going to jump in bed with?”

  “He lives across the hall in my building,” Mackenzie volunteered with a sigh, praying her mother would just drop it.

  She didn’t.

  “And? How long have you known him? What does he do?”

  “He’s only been in Charleston about six weeks. He’s a pilot for United Airlines,” Mackenzie said, suddenly relieved that they were standing at a Delta boarding gate.

  The way her luck had been running lately, it wouldn’t have surprised Mackenzie if Alec had turned out to be the pilot on her mother’s plane. Mackenzie could just picture it. Dr. Barbara Malone forcing her way into the cockpit. Interrogating Alec to the point he had to call the control tower and request permission for an emergency landing. CNN announcing on the evening news that an enraged professor from Purdue University had hijacked Flight 602, demanding that the pilot keep his grubby hands off her pitiful, still single daughter.