“Three you can hear.”
One, Audrey’s calm and clear voice. Two, the sound of a car engine turning over. Three, a dog from a few houses down the block.
“You’re doing great. Two things you can smell.”
One, the lingering scent of propane and metal from Mac’s forge. Two, the floral and woodsy musk of Audrey’s perfume.
“One thing you can taste.”
One, salt from a tear that caught on the edge of her lips. Suddenly she was mortified that her one thing she could taste was always tears, but the panic attacks always made her cry. Just another fun side effect to deal with.
“I’m okay,” Maggie said, willing her pulse to even out. “Sorry.”
“You never have to apologize for that,” Audrey said and squeezed her hand tight.
Maggie looked around Mac’s forge. She didn’t remember sitting down, but she was crumpled on the floor, Audrey sprawled out next to her. Mac was gone. She took a deep breath and pushed down the stab of pain of realization. He’d left her on the floor while she fell apart.
“Let’s get you up,” Audrey said. She dusted off the legs of her jeans and offered Maggie a hand to lever her to her feet. “We’ll go inside, grab some food, and watch that dating show we love. I’m pretty sure Will is going to pick Jane.”
Audrey looped her arm in Maggie’s and slowly pulled her out of the converted garage. She stopped to close the rolling door and then continued on to the back door of the house. A quick peek showed Mac’s car was gone, and Maggie felt her tears prick against the backs of her eyes again. She’d been holding on to the hope that maybe he was in the house waiting for her.
“How’d you find me?” Maggie asked, anything to take her mind off of the implosion of her life.
“Oh, sweetie.” Audrey pulled her in for a squeeze. “Mac got me.”
Maggie couldn’t stop the tears from flowing again.
Audrey pushed her hair back out of her face. “You can tell me whenever you’re ready.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Twohourslater,Maggiewoke up on Audrey’s couch, bathed in the gentle glow of the television screen. She blinked a few times, trying to remember how she’d made it inside, and felt the couch shift under her body. A soft knit blanket was wrapped around her shoulders and Maggie freed her hand as Audrey held out a glass of water.
“Eat,” Audrey said, and traded the water glass for a chocolate chip cookie the size of Maggie’s head. Maggie examined the cookie in her hand. “It’s not poisoned. It’s from Mac.”
That brought Maggie’s head up. Her last memory of Mac was cold, dead eyes, mouth set into a firm line as he told her that sleeping with her had been a mistake. As he told her they weren’t friends. And still the thought of him, frosted over and untouchable, turned her heart over in her chest.
“Mac?” Maggie asked as Audrey guided her hand to her mouth.
“He left literal tire tracks in the driveway when he went to get it for you. He left it in the kitchen while you were sleeping.”
“He’s here?” If he was, Maggie should probably go.
Audrey shook her head. “He had to go stop by his office and finish grading some papers or something like that. I’m pretty sure he sleeps in his desk chair sometimes because some nights he doesn’t come back. I’m surprised he left, actually. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mac so torn up.”
“I messed up.” Maggie’s voice came out a whisper and Audrey leaned in to hear better. “Mac and I had sex,” Maggie said, knowing it would get Audrey’s attention. “It was fantastic and heart stopping, and I was looking for ways to set up a round two when he turned frosty.”
“That doesn’t sound right.” A frown had replaced Audrey’s smile. “Cal says he’s besotted, enchanted, in love. The sex was a given—hello, you missed an entire movie behind a locked door—but I was sure you guys walked out of that room in a relationship. What happened right before he iced over?”
Aside from multiple orgasms? Aside from feeling her soul vibrate while he pushed into her body? Aside from the way his eyes softened as he’d pulled her pants up her legs?
“We were talking about my book, about the plan you and I had to help get the romance back on track.”
Audrey closed her eyes and lay her head back against the couch cushions. She looked so much like Dean that, for a millisecond, Maggie lost track of where she was and which Crandall sibling she was talking to.
“Is it possible that he thought you only slept with him for research?” Audrey asked, eyes still shut. “That would be enough to piss off anyone.”
“I told him it wasn’t like that. That I’d wanted to sleep with him because he was safe and we were friends and—”