“No, just cute like one.” Audrey playfully smacked his cheek, the blow softened by Mac’s facial hair.
“Hey man.” Dean held a hand out for Mac to shake. “Glad you’re here.”
Mac stared at the offered hand. Then he shook it with two quick pumps before dropping it like an angry rattlesnake.
“Sorry for crashing your date,” Mac said to Dean, his voice flat, but his eyes strayed to Maggie.
“No worries.” Dean wrapped his arm back around Maggie’s shoulders and pulled her into his solid frame. “The more the merrier. Right, Babs?”
Maggie flushed, but held her smile. “Yea. It was your idea to visit. You deserve a chance to enjoy it.”
Hot, dark eyes searched her face.
“I want to see the baby animals,” Audrey said, tugging on her boyfriend’s arm, and Mac dropped his gaze. “You guys coming?”
“Lead the way.” Dean said. Maggie didn’t realize they were moving until the weight of Dean’s arm propelled her feet forward. Mac fell into step behind them, his heavy footsteps echoing hers.
The pen to the left of the entrance held sheep and goats and one disgruntled turkey. Most of the animals were watermelon fat, their bellies swaying as they moved around the pen, nibbling at the dried corn eager guests had dropped for them. A few tiny brand new babies hopped and skipped after their mamas, unsure about the crowds.
Audrey wrinkled her nose up at the smells, but Maggie let her knees hit the dirt as she kneeled next to a tiny fluff of a lamb pressed against the fencing. It allowed her to reach through and stroke its soft back before it scampered off with a soft bleat. A little goat with nubs for horns ran up and smashed into the fence directly in front of her. With a shrieked laugh, Maggie sat back hard on her butt.
“Alright, Babs?” Dean called from a few feet away. He leaned over the fence to wiggle his fingers at one of the larger goats.
“I’m fine.” Not even her bumped pride overrode the joy at seeing those tiny babies frolic.
A tanned hand with short blunt nails capping the fingers appeared in her line of sight. The hand attached to a thick arm dusted with dark hair. Mac's frowning face stood above her, dark chocolate hair falling into his eyes. He wasn’t looking at her, but at something or someone just beyond her.
“Are you going to leave me hanging? Or will you take my help?” Mac scowled, his broad shoulders backlit by the bright sun.
Maggie’s grin tripled in size as she slipped her hand into his larger one. His calloused palm was rough against hers. The small patches of scar tissue, where his skin healed around minor burns, were soft against her skin. Mac’s fingers flexed and then he hauled her to her feet as if she weighed less than one of the baby goats. Maggie knew she was a small woman, her body flat and rectangular. Still, the ease with which Mac lifted her was a bit of a surprise. She knew forging was hard labor, but his biceps stretched the sleeves of his shirt. The flutters started up in her stomach and she ruthlessly tried to drown them. This was Mac.
“Dean?” His voice pitched low, for her ears only, and it took Maggie a moment to realize he was asking her a question, not looking for her fake boyfriend.
“You said to pick someone I trust, someone I love.” Even through his beard, she saw Mac tighten his jaw.
Maggie bit back the apology that sat on her tongue like a prisoner, watchful for any opening to escape. She didn’t know what she would apologize for, but the urge to soothe Mac was undeniable. Mac, who looked like someone had mixed glass shards into his morning cereal.
He took his hand back. “I didn’t know.”
Maggie wanted to ask if it would have mattered if she’d told him, but that seemed like an inappropriate question for her best friend’s boyfriend’s brother. She almost told him the relationship was fake, but something stopped those words in her throat.
An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into a firm, male chest.
“Hey baby,” Dean said, his voice low and against her ear. “Everything okay?” He’d called her ‘baby’ and not ‘Babs’ and she bit back a nervous giggle as her pulse increased speed. Her eyes stayed fixed on the hot depths of Mac’s.
“It’s all good,” Mac said, “Just giving her a hand.”
Dean's kiss was a warm caress against her flaming cheek, and Mac took a step back. Maggie wanted to bask in the softness of Dean’s lips against her skin, but couldn’t take her eyes off of Mac’s hands, clenched into fists so tight the white of his knuckles pushed against his tanned skin. Then Mac shoved both hands deep into his jeans pockets and she shook her head to clear her thoughts.
“Come on.” Dean pulled on the belt loops at the front of Maggie’s shorts. “Let’s get you some of that dried corn to feed those babies.”
Maggie turned her smile back on Dean. She was here to spend time with him. It didn’t matter that Mac was grumpier than usual. He could have stayed home.
Dean put some loose coins into the gumball machine and Maggie cupped her hands to catch the tumbling feed. When she approached the fence with her bounty, the sheep and goats trampled each other to get as close as possible. They hoovered the corn from her palms like little vacuums. Even the little nips of their blunt teeth tickled.
Maggie let a laugh bubble through her chest. She hadn’t had this much fun in ages. She spent most of her free time curled up on her couch or draped over Audrey’s with a romance novel on her Kindle or glued to her laptop screen while working on her own writing. She rarely chose to vary her plans unless Audrey kidnapped her. It wasn’t that Maggie didn’t like people—she just preferred fictional ones to most real ones.
After feeding the animals, they washed their hands under a nearby spigot and explored some of the other tents. There were a few with prize-winning vegetables and pies. One housed homemade quilts, another showcased competitive table setting. Maggie didn’t understand any of what she was seeing, but she stuck close as Audrey peppered the women running the booths with questions. She asked about the vegetable judging criteria and the creative process that went into the quilts. Dean held Maggie’s hand through each tent. Every few minutes, he’d squeeze her hand in his and send her a smile out of the corner of his eyes.